I thought I would post up some photos taken throughout my layout construction. I should have taken more pictures during the process. Nothing too pretty here. Just a lot of infrastructure stuff. But we all have to do it! The first phase of construction was to build benchwork in my shop for a yard that could double as storage. It’s tall at 5 feet, because it must exit the shop immediately to the retaining wall which stands at 4’6". I have two access points, one through the small roll top door in the rear and one through a port I installed in the wall. Both have removable bridges/roadbeds that can be set up in around 5-6 minutes.
Here’s a view of the rear with the hinged yard in the "down position
Next came some steps to gain access to the back hill. Although this picture was taken considerably later, it was constructed very early in the project. The retaining wall above the steps were constructed after the PVC ladder and track were installed. The track came first because I needed to know that my “grand plan” and slope calculations would work. After it was installed and tested, I built the retaining wall and leveled the ground in front of it
Between the shop and the retaining wall I build a 6’ long step/platform next to a series of manual switches. This puts the operator at waist height to the track.
Here are a couple of shots of the PVC ladder where the steel bridge was eventually installed. You can see some partially completed PVC sections held up by stakes and clamps, also a surveyors line that was used to map out the initial layout on the hill. The ladder suspended on the tall 1 1/4" poles is actually quite stable. The curve provides lateral support and the long poles are galanized chain link fence posts left by the prior homeowner.
Here are the bridge and tower segments I fabricated. You can see the PVC ladder that was removed.
Fitting in place:
Final product:
I hope you enjoy the pictures. I’ll throw up a few more soon. Joe
