30 days of 100+ degree F … baked, not fried … bits and pieces … then a dirty job… nuff talk…
The platform is ten years old and about 5 ago a micro burst flung it yards away. The roof exploded, but the rest will get rebuilt. The Post Office/Telegraph goes in the other end of siding…
During the heat wave, some of my rocks migrated to get a better look …
Stay hydrated my friends.
John
John Caughey said:
30 days of 100+ degree…
That’s just plain ridiculous. But the track and ballast are perfect, the final element that brought everything together. Now go turn down the heat.
Wow John! And I thought it gets too hot here in Taos in June to work outside. Our nineties doesn’t hold a candle. You must be half lizard to manage in that heat…despite what is said about “dry” heat…it’s still hot! As said, your track looks great. All your effort has paid off.
John Passaro said:
John Caughey said:
30 days of 100+ degree…
That’s just plain ridiculous. But the track and ballast are perfect, the final element that brought everything together. Now go turn down the heat.
Some days I pondered …
I cheated some, I used an Artic Cool cooling cloth, mico fibers slow down evaporation to vapor so it stays wet for several hours and is thin enough for air to pass through … almost caught a cold from it! Breathing in cold air is also good for my battered lungs.
I bought a knock off at bed bath and woolworths, but at it’s stiff and worthless … Heck where did I leave the good one? If I can’t find them local again, was at Costco last year… then I’ll get more online, they are that good. On some ponder days in the low teens ie… 113* F, I’d wear the rag under my hat Sheik style and not sweat at all! My fat head became a radiator and sent cool blood back to the core.
I’m sharing the above because we be getting warmer and even lizards like some cool.
Johnny P, that perfect track is all your fault! Thanks very much!
The section I painted is now my work bench test track. Kinda like a finger painting; the day you did it, it was great and too quickly we knew we could do better.
The ballast is winnowed on site, coarse sand ocean bottom land provides and Monsoon run off separates by size. I find patches of gravel and all of it gets raised high and dropped long, so a breeze can remove the dirt and clean ballast goes through the 1/4" screed screen. My layout dirt is redder than my property’s dirt. Years ago I hauled home 5 gal buckets of red clay and mixed it into my on the ground layout. I remember seeing red dirt near all the gold mines. Lay the screen on the layout and scoop up a thin layer of reddish, break up the clods and voila! Scenery!
I carved up the timber under the half circle to look like a fill, until I build the ballasted deck trestle … I’m recycling the scale lumber you see in the boneyard…
Happy Rails and stay Hydrated my friends.
John
Since it won’t go away and neither will I, I’ve been plugging away …
I’ve used rolled up paper, but the critters stole it for crib liners and spray foam, too messy and am back to an old favorite; mixing glue and dirt to pack all the holidays in the wood. As trim boards go up, the mess shrinks and the grounds will magically clean themselves … oh the heat … I just mix up a little work with the play.
My ballast isn’t deep, but really helps smoothing out the right of way.
107 and 2% of the rain that fell made it to the ground. I danced and chanted, alas only dust circles on the windshield.
Until all the bridges are built, including temporary, only the New Blight Grant Land has made several loops around the layout. If it wasn’t so loud grinding gears I’d let it run more … the High Line bobs and weaves perfectly! Can’t wait to see a train…
Sitting on the front stoop, I had some visitors;
First up was my Amorous Toadster;
He likes me, never runs away.
And Old Bill brought his little Curved Bill Thrasher to me for peanuts … today water brings him to the bottom of my steps, his wings hang open to cool.
Best I can tell you about this is it’s real pretty… Measures about 8" from head to tail.
Best of all, critters have walked all over the dirt portion and very little digging has been seen. Buried track drove me up.
So Devon, if you think 100 sucks, don’t even consider 107, that little bit drives sane folks inside. Half the time I make it!(http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-surprised.gif)
John
do you build at night, or do you refill yourself by the gallons?
Korm Kormsen said:
do you build at night, or do you refill yourself by the gallons?
Nope, usually I get out by 10 am for an hour or 2 to adjust. Back in for lunch and an unplanned nap … then out at 2pm to whenever. Much of that time has been on the stoop, imagineering and critter watching. Spurts of creativitivy usually leads to some progress, whether it’s seen or not.
I used to drink a lot of a sports drink, but too much sugar in it. My sister introduced me to ‘nut water’ as I call it or coconut milk. Has natural electrolytes. Water is good, but I need the potassium to prevent cramps I get from meds. A pint of nut water in the morning and a liter later …
I found if I wore one of these over my head, I didn’t perspire in 107F …
Snapping the towels stretches the micro-fibers into a tighter weave that slows evaporation way down. Took a couple of hours to dry too much to cool. Meanwhile my head becomes a fat radiator and sends cool blood back to my core. They show around the neck for a similar effect. I like it ‘sheik style’ for cool air to breathe. I’m even planning on some snaps for a working model.
I have no connection to Arctic Cool, but I tried a knock off brand and hated it. I ordered 5 (got one free) and a long sleeve shirt for the big chill! We’ll see.
Stay Hydrated.
John
i always used one of these triangular cloths from first aid kits under my hat.
looked like a terrorist-cowboy…
I moved this rock onto the layout last Saturday, this morning the pain left… What I thought was a one man job has been labeled; Dos Hombres.
Some roads piled up the ballast in the middle to protect the ties from dragging equipment, but on our road we do it to keep the hoboes honest!
Had a visitor.
Stay hydrated my friends,
John
The ballasting and rocks really make that trackwork come alive…
Greg
John, Not sure if you said earlier , what are you using for the ballast? I seem to remember you are using your dirt for dirt.
Ballast … ever see an old man use a whisk broom on his dirt drive way? Hunched over gathering gravel in a dust pan?
Coarser than beach sand and sized by rain run off, my property is tucked into a hill side and monsoons bring the top layer down the steep hill sides. As my property levels out the water slows and the heavier bits drop out first. It doesn’t seem to matter if I gathered there before, soon I’m at it again.
1/4" hardware cloth over the bucket sets the range and dropping from my shoulder height on a breezy day winnows out the dirt …
Not as good as crusher fines, it compensates by price!
The red in the soil came from a clay bank in Greaterville, I still have half a bucket in reserve.
John
I agree, your ballast work is beautiful John!
Thanks guys,
The ballast is actually a bit sloppy right now, the after noon monsoon cloud bursts have moved a lot and I’ll do final (what a joker) shaping when drier weather returns. I wanted to get excess in place as the rain helps it settle too.
John
To be candid, the bare boards and the irregular edges (before ballast) drew my eyes away from the trackwork and the “design”.
Looking at your latest work, to my eye, because I am no longer “distracted” from the layout, it is a quantum leap.
So, congratulations.
Greg
Too kind, what about the mess below and around?
As seen inside this loop the mass just fades away, piece by piece. Rocks in the back ground also are migrating into place which will help all y’all focus.
I guess it’s time for some story line…
The mine is located on an active fault line. {I have ore samples that show multiple fracture patterns}. When faults happen over hot spots in the mantle, minerals, both gas and liquid travel upwards through the crust. The lucky man that discovers the vent can become rich…
1850s a small smelter was constructed on the back side of the mountain and the copper ore was delivered through the mines to it. A crude wagon trail brought the concentrates to the closest rail head. Profits paid for a cheap slow speed Railroad line along the cliff face to the smelter. All this changed after the Earthquake of 1875! Dos Hombres rolled into the valley and the cliff sent large boulders down on the line. You can see where the earth tilts and canvas shacks have been left to honor the dead…
The magenta line shows the Original R of W.
The new alignment starts just before the bridge leading into the corner and continues on a new fill. The mine built the fill from over burden already piled up. Fill completed 1879.
In 1884 a Rich deposit of Verbateum pays for the completion of the horse shoe trestle from the mine to the smelter and before the Narrows line was built, Dos Hombres blocked that pass. The small part of the rock seen on the other side of the track was blown off the big rock, using a fault line.
The engineering Dept was very proud of their Sand Ramp which caught the rock face and tilted it enough for it to slide into the gap…
I hired a skinny kid with a pipe to illustrate the scene, but I dunno when we’ll see them, every time I looked he was doing Americana Portraits, Normy Stonewell was the name I think…
Anyway the mine was lucky to make a killing off the fad, as too soon Alternative Verbateum flooded the market… we made enough to build the Narrows Line and it’s 4 bridges on the level.
1890 Molybdenum is discovered and the mine has new life.
1909 and the Navajos want all our turquoise, we’ve come full circle.
They couldn’t post it if it wasn’t true, could I?
I hear there is a huge market right now for Debatium and its slag residue Argumenium.
Cooled off to a chiily 100F so I moved a ton of boulders!
Broken earthquake ruble on the right and worn boulders in the canyon, this side of the high line track. (above).
I’m slowly getting the back ground cleared out;
I think I can save The Bridge! (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)Stay tuned.
John
Beautiful work John! Atta boy working in that heat, wow.
Cliff
PS, I can’t help but imagine a nice network of CPVC pipe overhead, with mist nozzles every 2 feet, maybe supporting big triangular fabric sunshades… OK, never mind… (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-foot-in-mouth.gif)
