Ken Brunt said:
Joe Zullo said:
Mike Morgan said:
Tree tunnel .
That’s a plan ! The only one in the USA!!! Fame and fortune!!! Go for it !!!.
Mike
Mike,
It kills the tree, But his would NOT be the only one in the USA…
Joe, Gee, no shit, would it really?
it was a joke!
I KNOW. That’s why I posted the picture. Sheesch!
My apologies, Joe.I misconstrued your comment, though I did like the picture.Reminded me of a Paul Busse original…
Greg , that looks a bit big for G scale .
Mike
Last year, I put down the rolled roofing and it has really held up well. However the yard was still a bit too tight.
It could hold eleven cars in a pinch. If any of my 33 foot cars got in there was no room to go around them.
So, I move some of the switches up a bit.
There’s 3 30’ boxcars in the near track, and there’s even room for some 33’ cars.
In fact, there’s actually room for another boxcar on the middle storage track.
I could probably do a bit more, but I’m out of joiners and only have small sections of track left.
I should get a box of AMS brass 250…but I haven’t found a deal yet.
Back in 2006, I built a turntable and it’s been outside ever since. It has been weathered a bit now…
A couple of the solder joints had broken on the railings. I had nail pops on the decking…but…
The worst part was the ties in the turntable pit! Mostly rotted away…and not doing a very good job of holding down the rail.
First up was to clear the rot away.
Once that was complete I built some new ties. These have a stain/sealer applied, plus also got a coat of boiled linseed oil.
I cut out a couple of spacers from scrap wood and start spiking down the rail.
Meanwhile, the turntable railings have been soldered and I’ve touched up some areas with ruddy brown primer. I also applied a coat of boiled linseed oil on the decking.
I ran out of stain sealer, so I only did about half of the ties. More to repair later, but at least it’s ready for operations this Wednesday.
Bruce, is there a way for water to drain out of the pit?
When I first built mine I did that with the ties, but they kept popping off. So when I get around to redoing mine I’m thinking of cutting the ties from PVC board and using the pipe cement to glue them down.
The linseed oil is old school but real good stuff!
Steve Featherkile said:
Bruce, is there a way for water to drain out of the pit?
Steve,
I drilled ten 7/8" diameter holes inside the pit circle; I’ve never seen any water in it. But, when I look back at some of my early building pictures, it doesn’t appear that I treated the ties completely.
Treating is key. The linseed oil treated ties I use have been outside for nearly ten years (2006), and other than some dust, are as good as the day they went in.
When I first started, I didn’t replace all the ties, but the more I looked at it, I decided I better replace them all. I had run out of the darker stain I used earlier, but went ahead with a lighter stain for the rest. Doesn’t seem to matter that much.
I was using TiteBond 3 to hold the ties in place, but they popped off. So, black E6000 was used.
I ended up re-spiking everything, as I couldn’t get the old ties out with the rail in the way.
Good thing I got it down before this spell of rain.
Hey Bruce,
Conversation came up of how you get your rolling stock out on the railroad. I know some is stowed in the Matheson Building, but is the rest brought out in racks?
He has one of those Rubbermaid cabinets sitting next to Green Springs yard. That holds whatever doesn’t fit in Mathesons. There’s a method to that madness too…
That there thing behind me.
Now the biggest issue is maintenance (well, besides dodging the acorns that seem to be continuously falling).
I built my stone mill back in 2004 and it really looked good then. (Originally documents on another site - so that log is gone. But you can see it here.)
I made the windows out of styrene…and also glazed them with styrene - it feels like about .010" thickness.
Well, needless to say, the mill has suffered being outside for 13 years…
In 2008, it got a new roof, as the original was just too thin and rotted away. The roof looked pretty good, but the windows were already in trouble.
Pieces of the thin styrene have fallen off and the “clear” styrene was turning frosty and yellow.
A picture from a few days ago shows even more window deterioration.
I THINK that IF I had used acrylic for the glazing that I might still be OK. The styene sticks to that very well using acrylic cement - and the cement doesn’t fog the window at all.
Anyway, I decided to replace the windows. I tried ordering some and cutting them to fit, but that was pure aggravation plus tedium.
I have been thinking about a 3D printer for some years and finally decided to give it a go.
I ended getting the Qidi Tech X-ONE2.
I was very apprehensive that this would take a LOT of tweaking to get it right, but I was pleasantly surprised to have it print perfectly the first time out.
I had designed my window in Tinkercad - a free online tool. It worked wonderfully and I used my design as my first test print.
It was fascinating to watch the window being printed. But even more exciting when I removed the “print” from the printer.
Wow. I couldn’t be more pleased.
I primed and painted the windows and then glazed them with some 1/16" thick acrylic, glued in place with liquid acrylic cement. Today, I started replacing the windows.
The roof was removed so I could glue these in from behind. I used silicone cement to hold them in place. (And for some reason, this picture gets rotated left. Open in new tab and it shows the correct orientation. Why? Because.)
When all done, it sure looked a LOT better.
I watched the initial build. This is great.
Kewl. Now I know who to got to for windows…
Microsoft?
I was out working in the yard the other day and I heard this crashing sound. 
I looked towards my big oak trees and saw a branch come tumbling down on to Green Springs Yard. Ouch! I like the trees for shade, but between the acorns and branches, they are not as nice as I would like - but - I would rather have them than no shade.
Anyway, it didn’t look like anything was damaged as the other branches seemed to slow down the fall.
If there was any damage, I sure didn’t see it.
It did give me an excuse to clean up - but man, is it ever hot and humid!
The rolled roofing has held up very well - and sure beats dealing with the ballast!