Hi All… Enough construction is now completed to permit at least limited operation over a portion of the right-of-way. Here narrow gauge Boxcab 103 waits in the hole at Nullarbor while a short string of varnish with company Brass aboard rumbles through.
Because the DC&M’s Brass Hat (me) is an old geezer with bad back and weak knees, the railroad is built on elevated benchwork. Let me say right up front that almost everything I’ve done is a direct rip-off from either Richard Smith or Rick Marty, or both. I am deeply indebted to both gentlemen for all their kind help and wise advice. Seeing their work got me out of my armchair and into the back yard at last. Still, no two railroads are exactly alike, and I’d like to tell you a little about mine. It’s an ambitious project (for me, anyway) with about five hundred feet of point-to-point mainline wandering around the verges of our property. Here’s an aerial view, with the route roughly sketched in. About a third of this is now in place; the part from A to B is in operation:
If I can claim anything I’ve done is original, it’s in the prefabricated modular benchwork. I wanted it to “flow” smoothly along the route, so I chose to use plywood, which can be bent (with care) to any reasonable curve. Here my son-in-law George is holding a “typical” single-track curved ladder module (26 ft radius). It’s 8 ft long, 16 inches wide, and 8 inches deep:
Five of these modules, strung end-to-end, make up the big curve between La Mange and Dry Creek:
The porous deck is just half-inch wire mesh, topped with polyester landscape fabric and a loose fill of fairly coarse gravel. I’m still experimenting with different fills to find the best balance of drainage and appearance. The deck at Nullarbor is filled with “Montana rainbow rock” which is just natural (not crushed) pea gravel with a fancier name, a little more color when wet, and a higher price:
Redwood riser blocks are nailed to the underlying ladder cross-members; these provide firm anchor points for the track. I haven’t decided what to use for ballast yet, but even without ballast the track doesn’t seem to move around much at all. Here are the lap sidings at Nullarbor, looking east toward Turnback Curve:
The DC&M is intended to be an “operating” pike, with train crews (so far, that’s me) following along with their trains. Locos are battery powered and radio-controlled. Switch throws are manual; here’s my interpretation of Fr. Fred’s “Original (patented) KayDee barrel-bolt ground throw.” It’s softly sprung, to permit trains to pass through “wrong way” without derailing:
That’s a quick overview of the DC&M as it is today. I still have two thirds of the railroad to build, including major terminals at Delores and Dry Creek, so I won’t run out of things to do anytime soon. Life is a journey, right? For now, I’m just happy to be operating over a portion of the railroad.
Thank you for taking time to look.
