It’s been awhile since I’ve shown any progress on the RCRR, but that doesn’t mean it hasn’t been happening!
Over the winter I removed quite a few trees and surveyed about an acre of land. To get started, I had to build some walkways and bikeways using 1-1/2in crushed stone as a base. This will make wheelbarrow moves much easier since the ground is a bit soft, and biking will be much cleaner for the kids. The railroad will skirt the edge of the new clearing and should add at least 100ft of row to the double track mainline. Most of this will be elevated trackage, but it will eventually settle back to ground level where I will be placing another 20ft dia reverse loop (temporary?).
Anyways, the only new track in place for the expansion are the two turnouts which will allow trains to bypass the existing reverse loop at the end of the line. This loop will be retained for some of the live steam engines (and perhaps operators) who struggle on 2% grades.
the wooden bridge off to the right was from an older project, but it shows the approximate height and curve that will be built there. The curve will be retained with local field stone and filled with crushed stone
The big improvement from this weekend is the turnout configuration of the live steam tables!
