In effort to improve live steam ops on the main line of the railroad I am adding several tons of crushed stone to fill in the dips and miscalculations of the original construction.
Here’s how it looked last fall:
And Now:
As you can see, I’ve gone from essentially ground level with a thin layer of roadbed to a substantial raised roadway. The formula includes local (backwoods) field stones for retaining, local riprap to save $, and 1-1/2in crushed stone which I bought yesterday. I also have 1/2 in blue stone which will be going down over the larger stone to soften the appearance. The final ballast will be 3/8in crushed stone poured over the tracks. I’ve gone away from using crusher fines to avoid the dust and grit.
The wooden stakes (sticks) indicate the final height of the roadbed. Its about 8in low in this area, and tops out around 10in behind the photo spot. If I were to fill with only using crushed stone I would need several more yards of material. Thankfully, I live in the granite state where rocks appear like dandelions…and I was also blessed with a giant pile of discarded stone leftover from 19th century farming.
Good thing you have a young back Jeff. Let me know when you are finished moving all those wheelbarrows full of stone so I can come offer to help!
I’d send a ballast train but looks like the track is up.
Good Luck
Scott
No problem, Scott!..I’ll still have plenty of holes to dig for new plantings all summer long.
Rockwall, you’re making my back twinge with that talk. Good luck on the project (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)
At the rear left on this pic it looks like steps on the path and a tunnel near them. Will the tunnel be replaced with a grade crossing with this redo ?
Looking great. Look forward to seeing the first trains run.
Stan
Hi Dave,
The track from the bridge is already level, and happens to be level to the improved section. However, I will be pulling out the stone dust from that section and replacing it with crushed stone to make it all look uniform. The pedestrian bridge has over a foot of clearence and will remain for many years to come. In addition to being convenient for crossing the doubl track, the bridge is also the only way to access the railroad with a loaded wheelbarrow.
Looking good Jeff but what happened to all the new expansion (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)
Seriously! I’ve actually been rethinking the location for branching off. With the mainline at Boroxo being 8-10in higher, its not looking ideal anymore. Current scheme has a wye exiting/entering the southbound main in the area where the crushed stone begins midway. Guess its a good thing I didn’t get too much done on the expansion, or I would have even more to rebuild!
It looks like you have some great land for this! Nice work.
I’ll bet with that rock base, you’ll have some good drainage.
Thanks for the encouragement, Stan and Joe P.!
Hope to have the mainline running again on Friday. I have a friend who is giving me some used PT lumber to help finish up my new steam up tables and storage shelves (for visitor’s train boxes)
Looking good! My roadbed is between 8"-10" off the ground too.
Looks like a job I’d rather you be doing than me (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-smile.gif)And you’re doing a great job of it too!
Okay time for an update! A major push to re-open the line in early May was made to accommodate the NHGRS for our monthly meeting.
The photos show the new roadbed composed of 1-1/2 in stone base with a 1/2in blue stone top layer. 3/8in ballast stone will be added once everything settles in place.
I also made some improvements to the steam up tables. I have added a large addition to the tables allowing three tracks of the north yard to extend all the way around. Also, im begining to add shelves beneath the tables to accommodate steam supplies and boxes from rolling stock.
Really like that paint job on thro. Eng’s. Very very nicely done.
Jeff are you making a live steam RDC???
The layout looking great. I hope all that work was worth it!
Thanks Noel!
I have a fourth unit in RCRR green, a GP-7 with AAR trucks (Aristo) modified to handle passenger trains. I find the run time is longer with the Aristo trucks; which is good news for me and bad news for the passengers who get to sail around the layout for four hours or so!
Thanks Sean!
I had the RDCs running around this weekend actually (and the live steam)! With the leveled corners and solid roadbed the RDCs are running (tracking) better than ever. Since I will be using them as coaches, I tried removing the power blocks from one of the cars. In its place I machined brass bushings to install in the “decorative” side frames and mounted LGB ball bearing wheels. Without the thick power block, I will be able to lower the RDC by simply mounting the side frames higher up on the A-frames. Piko recently released a 35mm dia ball bearing wheel set which would probably be a better fit…so testing continues.
It’s looking great Jeff and thanks for hosting everyone again.