There it is I don’t like this time of year. It was warm out today here on the Cape so I decided to run a train before the forcasted rain started.
I got out the leaf blower and blasted a huge pile out of one section of the RR, blew out the tunnels, pulled handfuls of leaves from in between trestle bents, those sure are leaf traps, cleared the rest of the main and accidently blew some spotted cars that were buried clear off the sidings. I then grabbed the pole sander to brighten the rails. After near an hour of clearing, cleaning and setting cars and buildings back up it was time to run a train. I made 2 loops and it started to rain. So much for that.
Anyone else care to share their tales of fighting the Fall or maybe some of you Southern gents would like to brag and rub it in that you can run 24/7/365 unimpeded. LOL
I’m with you. Temps make it nice to be outside, but ALL the fallen leaves present a problem. I’m lucky that most of my railroad operates on battery power so that part is nice. It’s this time of year I’m jealous of those who don’t have to worry about fallen leaves, cold temps, and snow & ice.
I head over to the Colorado RR museum and run on the elevated line where the leaves blow off on their own. I’ve still got two trees yet to shed their leaves, so until they drop, I’m not even attempting to blow off the tracks. Fortunately, this being Colorado, we have the occasional 50 and 60-degree days into December, so I should be able to get something going shortly.
Later,
K
Being in SoCal, I certainly have it better than most. But this time of year we start getting rain fairly frequently… not everyday, maybe every week or so, but combined with the shorter daylight hours and such, I usually bring the trains inside and just concentrate on building models and/or doing work on the layout that would prevent running trains anyway.
I do get some leaves too, mainly from a smallish tree next door. I’m not sure what it is, some sort of ornamental tree, but its leaves are reddish-black, never green. This time of year they fall off every time there’s a little wind. But at least they’re not very big, and they dry up quickly and become brittle and fall apart. Until they do, they pass for rusty, crumpled metal.
In the spring this tree produces lots of white flowers that drop tiny petals all over the layout, like snow.
I usually use this time of year to plan any projects for over the winter. Most of the leaves that fall on the layout are from the plants around the layout and are easily blown off with a leaf blower or just wait for a windy day. I finally found a pretty good picture of the station in Mancos CO, and it’s similar to the other 2 stations I built, so that is on the drawing board for this winter. Along with that will be a rearrangement of the track work in Mancos in the spring. Right now, with some of these dreary fall days, I’m replacing the round metal bands on the Piko water tanks with flat bands. Looks a little more Colorado narrow gauge-ish…
I have to agree Im not a fan of running trains in the fall. My leaf season was over about a week ago. From this point its not too bad anymore. When I am battleing the leaves I use that time to water seal all my buildings and do minor repairs. Although days are much shorter and the weather is getting colder. I dont mind running in the cold and snow. I actually enjoy it. I do use this time to work on the layout until; the ground freezes. I have a small reroute Im working on and hope to get it dont before the ground freezes.
My track is between 18 inches and two and a half feet off the ground, so the pile of leaves would have to be pretty high to have any effect on it. Not that we get many leaves anyhow, after the recent introduction of a ‘falling leaf tax’ here in UK. Many people have been putting nets under their trees to prevent the leaves from touching the ground, and therefore rendering them liable to a ‘ground occupation tax’ or ‘temporarily unlicensed landscaping tax’.
Just kiddin’.
Meanwhile, back on Planet Reality, I enjoy running trains in the Fall mainly because it makes my loco steam plumes that much more impressive.
tac
The few trees (small ones) that I have here are shedding their leaves very slowly; so not many issues due to them. I find Fall/Autumn the more maintenance intensive time of the year: at least one gets some excercise and this keeps you warm on the cooler days.
I don’t have live steam but I must agree, from what I have observed, is that live steam looks far more impressive in the cooler, colder days.
I knew I was forgetting something… There is a bright side to the dreary days approaching us and that is planning for next season and building new projects for our RRs.
I like to run in the snow albeit briefly as it gets cold out there. Last year I made a video of my Heisler making a run down to the wood pile and bringing a load back all the way to the hearth and as fun as it was I froze my butt off! I will watch that to remind myself not to venture out.
There is a section of my mainline that is elevated near 24" and that seldom needs any attention. It would make maintenance alot easier to have the entire line elevated like some have. After pulling all those leaves from between the trestle bents and rorm under bridges etc… I’m sure glad I didn’t put in that water feature I was thinking about. Nice as it would be in the summer it would have been a potentialy major headache now. I have enough to worry about.
Projects this year include making a open passenger car for the railfan excursions. designing and constructing a few extra buildings including another factory which will include a covered track unloading section. Building 5 roof section to make my scratch built hoppers covered hoppers. Very soon the Christms tree will be going up and the tracks around that will be going down so I will have a warm, dry place to get my train fix.
TAC don’t be giving our politicians any ideas to further tax us here, the last thing I need is to get a permit to rake leaves.
Happy RRing all
When I had my garden railway, it was under the white pines at the back of our lot. I found out that pine needles are very troublesome - more so than leaves. Someday I hope to rebuild - at a level of 36 inches or so above ground. Like others have noted, then stuff like leaves and pine needles should blow off the layout.
Yours,
David Meashey
I actually HATE this time of year, I go to work in the dark and I get home in the dark, and a dark yard is unfun to work in.
Did I mention it seams to rain every weekend?
“I actually HATE this time of year”
Victor;
Time to get back with your “Marx - ist” trains. They run small loops indoors very happily.
Best,
David Meashey
Okay, how do you get smilies to work here? I see others doing it, but cannot figure out how to get to them. Found out that I cannot copy them from another site.
Dave Meashey said:
"I actually HATE this time of year"Victor;
Time to get back with your “Marx - ist” trains. They run small loops indoors very happily.
Best,
David MeasheyOkay, how do you get smilies to work here? I see others doing it, but cannot figure out how to get to them. Found out that I cannot copy them from another site.
Actually I’m waiting for a package from Japan. More on that once it arrives.
I just turn on the lights in my shop and go to work on far too many projects. I may even resurrect my 0 gauge railroad so my grandkids will have something to do when they come for a visit.
So far we have weather where we can work outside but I have indoor projects I’m working on! Go figure!
I was keeping up pretty good on the leaves, but the oak in the back finally let loose and my railroad is buried under about 2" of wet leaves now. THe good thing is that only the railroad is still covered. MB raked the whole rest of the yard!! Awesome! So, I have one big pile of leaves to rake and then I am done!
A raking leaves tax? Oh, I could only hope!! That’d be all I would need to let them lay…stupid grass.
I like this time of year. It’s Jan, Feb that I’m not fond of. And this year my new neighbor let me cut down all his trees…before the leaves fell. Then I discovered that another neighbors trees were mine so I cut those down too. Now there’s only one tree anywhere near the RR. So more sun in the winter and summer…and no leaves worth worrying about.
I don’t know how I’m going to fair out this year.
It’s the first holiday season I will be doing alone since I was born some 62 years ago.
To tell you the truth I’m not looking for this year’s festivities.
I just haven’t been able to focus on any thing.
I have an indoor track that needs cleaned so the train can run, but I just can’t get it in me to do it.
larry mosher said:I agree!!
I like this time of year. It's Jan, Feb that I'm not fond of. .
Make sure that you are around friends, David.