Fred Mills. said:
I look forward to people finding new materials, and new ways of building their railroads.
Stay healthy…
Fred Mills
This may be correct however “you cannot accept” the findings!
Padre,Friar, Father Fred, Taster of Holy Water, or whatever “nickname” you prefer to be called which is acceptable?
Have you heard anything from David Russell lately ?
So I ended up going with 2x4 PT lumber for the curve sections as, well, that’s what I had on hand. If worse case, I can add more supports. I did switch to 2x6 beams for the main layout area where the feed mill will be.
Hopefully today, I can rip the remaining 2x4 to tack along the back edge as a backdrop/dirt catch. The front I think I’m just going to use fence boards. Yes, I will have to use 6’ strips instead of 16’ strips of siding, but for me this makes it a little more manageable during construction. If I can get this done, I,might try and get a 1/2 yard or yard of play sand to backfill before ballasting. Any extra sand can just go into the kids sand box that got dumped at the last house.
For the large elevated section, I’m planning on making 1x1 squares to support the hardware cloth, but I’m wondering if I should continue to run the 2x6’s every 2’ with a 2x4 at the 1’ mark? Or?
Craig Townsend said:
For the large elevated section, I’m planning on making 1x1 squares to support the hardware cloth, but I’m wondering if I should continue to run the 2x6’s every 2’ with a 2x4 at the 1’ mark? Or?
1 FT x 1 FT squares might be overkill, but if you decide on that, I don’t think that you would need a 2X6 every foot.
I was thinking 2x6 every 2’, with a 1x1 at the 1’ mark.
Or 2x4 every 2’ with a 1x1 at the 1’ mark.
Jon Radder said:
Craig - I did the curve test for you today at work. I did not measure what I had, I’m guessing it was 8" wide and 12Ft long and definitely a Hardi cement board product.
I chalked out a 9Ft Radius arc on the floor, held one end tight to my workbench and forced the other end into an arc by pushing on the free end. Gallon paint cans were not heavy enough to hold it in a smooth arc, but I had it bent even tighter than the mark on the floor. I’m certain that with wide head fasteners (truss heads, or washers) it will conform to an arc even tighter without breaking. 9 foot radius (16 ft diameter) is pretty broad. I wouldn’t be surprised if you could get it to conform to as shallow as 7 foot radius.
That being said, the stuff is kind of nasty to work with. It will cut with wood tools, but will dull a carbide saw blade in a matter of hours. The dust is very nasty too - be sure to wear a good fitting dust mask when cutting.
Good luck with whatever you decide on.
I have used a diamond blade in a 4" angle grinder to cut Hardie Plank, but when I wore it out I used cheap metal cutting blades to score it and then just snapped it.
The dust protection advice is definitely recommended.
It will bend to a very tight radius.
Steve Featherkile said:
1 FT x 1 FT squares might be overkill, but if you decide on that, I don’t think that you would need a 2X6 every foot.
I was thinking 1x1 squares to support the hardware cloth wouldn’t be overkill based on Rick Marty’s comment about hardware cloth sagging.
Rick, you have 1x1 squares of support, correct?
Craig Townsend said:
Steve Featherkile said:
1 FT x 1 FT squares might be overkill, but if you decide on that, I don’t think that you would need a 2X6 every foot.
I was thinking 1x1 squares to support the hardware cloth wouldn’t be overkill based on Rick Marty’s comment about hardware cloth sagging.
Rick, you have 1x1 squares of support, correct?
Craig, they’re going to sag, no matter what. Hardware cloth does that. Rapidly, the sagging stops, and you can level the dirt. If you are using the ladder method, that sag won’t affect the track. If you float your track, once the dirt is leveled, sag is not a problem.
So what spacing would you recommend? I’m using a ladder roadbed.
Steve Featherkile said:
Craig Townsend said:
Steve Featherkile said:
1 FT x 1 FT squares might be overkill, but if you decide on that, I don’t think that you would need a 2X6 every foot.
I was thinking 1x1 squares to support the hardware cloth wouldn’t be overkill based on Rick Marty’s comment about hardware cloth sagging.
Rick, you have 1x1 squares of support, correct?
Craig, they’re going to sag, no matter what. Hardware cloth does that. Rapidly, the sagging stops, and you can level the dirt. If you are using the ladder method, that sag won’t affect the track. If you float your track, once the dirt is leveled, sag is not a problem.
To help educate a foreigner what is “Hardware Cloth”?
GAP said:
Steve Featherkile said:
Craig Townsend said:
Steve Featherkile said:
1 FT x 1 FT squares might be overkill, but if you decide on that, I don’t think that you would need a 2X6 every foot.
I was thinking 1x1 squares to support the hardware cloth wouldn’t be overkill based on Rick Marty’s comment about hardware cloth sagging.
Rick, you have 1x1 squares of support, correct?
Craig, they’re going to sag, no matter what. Hardware cloth does that. Rapidly, the sagging stops, and you can level the dirt. If you are using the ladder method, that sag won’t affect the track. If you float your track, once the dirt is leveled, sag is not a problem.
To help educate a foreigner what is “Hardware Cloth”?
wire mesh