That wall is out 1/64" on the lower right
Daktah John said:
Randy Lehrian Jr. said:
dieseldude . said:
(more dirt, can’t wait, shoot me now!)
Wait, Given your source, if you were shot, wouldn’t that free up some extra dirt? (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)You’re making some great progress. The wall looks good and so does the long stretch of grading you did. When you get tired of digging just remember that yutz Randy is in the same boat down in Pittsburgh. Although I’m laying switches and digging. I just do which ever I’m least tired of that day.
Great minds think alike - I was busy trying to research how many yards a standard vault was while you were posting!
2.5 cubic yards.
Burial Vault= 3’ x 3’ x 7.5’
-Kevin.
Well, here it is- the end of railroad rebuilding season and I haven’t updated this thread since the beginning of railroad rebuilding season. While much has been accomplished this season, there is still much more to be accomplished. Here’s the scoop…
We definitely spent way too much time moving dirt! Unfortunately, about half way though the “big dig,” my favorite place for free dirt actually ran out. All good things must come to an end. But, not to fear- we found another inexpensive source and shoveled on.
Since, the retaining wall at the front of the layout turned out so good, we decided to do the same at the back of the layout as well. And, since that one looked pretty good, we did another on the side as well. At which point we decided that it would be nice to edge the entire layout so that the grass didn’t grow into the mulch/dirt. Up to this season, I would cut a trench between the grass and layout every couple of years. That gets old real fast! The cheapest solution I found was heavy black plastic landscaper’s edging ($ .50/ft.) The results were great and it wasn’t bad until we decided to edge the rest of the yard with it. After 600 feet of it, I never, ever, ever want to install it again! Ever. It was more painful than trying to reinstall those tiny Aristocraft truck springs!!!
We also solved our drainage problem along the eastern side of the layout, sodded (is that even a word?) the new path around the layout, built a new tunnel, and built a new pedestrian/lawnmower bridge.
During this whole process, I think that one of the harder things to deal with was, where to store, stack, and pile up all the materials from the previous layout. I think it’s easier to build than to rebuild!
Pics to follow.
-Kevin.
Your favorite source for dirt ran out? What happened, did Death take a holiday? (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-innocent.gif)
dieseldude . said:
During this whole process, I think that one of the harder things to deal with was, where to store, stack, and pile up all the materials from the previous layout. I think it’s easier to build than to rebuild!
-Kevin.
Hey at least you kept going all year. I stopped and then decided to start again at the last possible minute. As for you statement above I have to agree. As I’m building I’m also thinking about how I’l be dismantling things (hopefully) in a year or so. There is going to be a lot of long boxes! Looking forward to pics.
Alas… Some pics…
We raised the ground level on the east side of the layout in order to alleviate the washout issue. However, I was still a bit concerned that the tunnel area might still flood. So, I added some drain tile beneath the tunnel floor.
As fate would have it, I managed to find one of the feeder lines that connected to the main drain tile system that I installed many moons ago. I actually dug straight into it while putting in the new drain tile (yes, i do have a horse shoe up there. Thanks for noticing).
The “Y” was installed so that I could eventually tie in a bottom drain to my future water feature.
After back filling with stone, we blocked in the tunnel sides (finally got rid of some cinder blocks). I read a tip in Garden Railways from our very own Cape Cod Todd about the benefits of a smooth (not stone) tunnel floor. I still need the benefits of a porous floor for drainage, so I adopted a hybrid system. It looks like this…
The patio block floor will allow for easy cleaning (leaves, debris, etc.) and the gaps will allow for good drainage. Since, I have two tunnels in a row, I thought it might be good to include a retailer half way, just for insurance. The track is not permanent, yet. it’s just there to gauge the tunnel walls.
Stay tuned. More pics to follow.
-Kevin.
That is all you did all summer???
Nico Corbo said:
That is all you did all summer???
Wow…and we thought Shawn was a slacker !
I’ll have to send him out the pink hat…(http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)
Before you put a lid on it!
Shut up Rooster!
Run a video camera thru … it will give you an idea how it looks and how well you laid your track! (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)
Did I hear my alias mentioned??
Nice job dieseldude. As long as your patio blocks don’t move around that is a good idea to allow drainage. It looks like you are planning spots where you can reach a derailed train because those of us with long tunnels know that Murphy likes to hide in the deepest darkest spots to mess with your trains.
Well, Sean- the lid is already on (these are all pics taken during construction over the summer) and your right… Shut up Rooster! I took the time to properly tamp the stone down to insure it’s stability (hopefully). I was actually more concerned with the walls of the tunnel being pushed in by frost heave. The problem I experienced on the last incarnation of the IIRR was that some of the blocks tended to lean in at the top after the winter frost heave season. They never lean back afterwords- Mother Nature sucks! This time I added an extra step to my tunnel construction…
I took a piece of steel stud and cut it into sections like this…
Then, I laid them across the top of the tunnel before adding the roof. So, it looked like this…
Here’s another view…
The shape of the steel stud should keep the tops of the blocks secure.
Afterwords, I capped the tunnel, covered it with plastic, and backfilled with stone. I’m gonna wait until spring to finish burying it (just incase).
Here’s the somewhat finished tunnel…
There is plenty of stone backfill to help keep the hydraulic pressure to a minimum (I hope).
The other tunnel is for pedestrian and lawnmower traffic. I’ll post some pics later…Speaking of “later”…
Later…
-Kevin.
Kevin said :tamp
He said “hydraulic pressure”
Wow Kevin nice work this summer. Now I know were my hat disappeared to. Tat also explains why he didnt update us this summer. He was afraid I would see the hat. Oh and shut up Rooster
A few final pics for this seasons progress…
The other side of the double tunnel…
The pedestrian/riding mower bridge/tunnel. At last, we can finally walk all the way around the layout…
You can kinda see the gap between the two tunnels. The retailer is in the gap- cheap insurance. The gap also allows me some access to the longer tunnel when the cheap insurance doesn’t work!
A view along the former flood zone! The new ROW for the lower loop (right hand side of walkway) is above flood height and has been tested by some big summer rains. The two upper loops will run along the rock ledge on the left side of walkway. We were hoping for a more dramatic rock ledge, but that would mean more dirt. I think we’ve seen enough of the dirt truck.
The far end retaining wall…
We weren’t going to do a retaining wall here (well, I wasn’t), but the slope at the edge of the layout didn’t look so good. Mrs. Diesel said “Retaining wall.” I said, “Yes, Dear.”
Truth is, I’d rather install retaining walls than that black landscaper’s edging!
Lots of rocks and other assorted stuff from the last IIRR littering up the scene.
Oh, and if you’ve been following along- Yes, I did finally paint the stars on the back of the shop. Thanks for noticing.
Okay, one final pic for this season. A view from the blimp…
The back side of the pool, between the two stone paths, still needs dirt (shoot me now). That will help keep the look of the circular path around the yard. You can kinda see the line where the black edging is. Did I mention I hate black edging?
See you next year.
-Kevin.
Oh, and I almost forgot… Shut up Rooster!
edited to say, “Oh, and I almost forgot… Shut up Rooster!”
I hope you didn’t add all that dirt up around the base of that tree. It isn’t good for it and could eventually harm the tree.
Other then that small bit of criticism Looks really good.
David Russell said:
At a boy!
He’s learning … (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)
Kevin were the track?
Ken Brunt said:
I hope you didn’t add all that dirt up around the base of that tree. It isn’t good for it and could eventually harm the tree.
Other then that small bit of criticism Looks really good.
Ken- Thanks. Very good advice. I thought of that as I was building the walls and adding dirt. It’s definitely a bad idea to choke off the trees feeder root system. It’s probably hard to see from the pics, but I didn’t actually add any dirt near the base of either tree.
In the top photo, the ground around the tree was already pretty close to it’s current level. There is a line of rocks (not visible in pics) holding back the sight change in elevation. I definitely did add some dirt farther back (towards the wall).
In the second photo (view from the blimp), once again, the ground closest to the tree was left alone. I did build a smaller interior retaining wall out of extra stone (from the last layout) to keep the dirt away from the tree’s feeder roots. The space between the tree trunk and the interior stone retaining wall also gives me a nice path for maintenance and such.
-Kevin.