Spring is here and while I was out cleaning and tuning up I found some things that need attention.
#1st is ballast … where does it go??
#2nd some of my switches throw’s tab have seen better days … hence :
http://www.largescalecentral.com/forums/topic/24338/new-aristo-throw-bar/view/post_id/307838
Are there other options?
Thanks
A true roundy round does not require any switches.(http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)
Hmmm … Ron I didn’t think you were a rivet counter! (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)
I swear the ballest trolls come and take away the ballest with little wheelbarrows!!! I need to reballest most of my track again this year, and fix a massive wash out where the downspout that runs under that corner, plugged up, overflowed its tube and took the ballest with it. Gonna back fill it with 2b stone there this time, then ballest on top instead of dirt. The plugging up with leaves/silver maple twirrly seeds has been stopped from happening again. I need to rework the one end of the loop anyways to get rid of some of the grade, plays havoc with the old Kalamazoo 4-4-0’s. Mike
Ron Tremblay said:
A true roundy round does not require any switches.(http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)
Yea, that can be true, but I prefer my back and forth set up with 2 reverse loops. Its a bit more interesting take on the roundy roundy.
Mike Toney said:
I swear the ballest trolls come and take away the ballest with little wheelbarrows!!!
I dunno about that, but they do take away a lot of ballast. I wonder what they do with it all.
Talk about clean up. I just had a big ass hemlock tree come down on my layout.(http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-yell.gif) When the snow melts I will hire a tree guy to clear the mess. im sure ill need to replace quit a bit of track. I thought I was out of the woods this spring with a great winter.(http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-tongue-out.gif) . Mother nature is a Bitch.
Now that the tree is down, you just my be “out of the woods”. (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)
Will your homeowner’s insurance cover any of that expense?
Nope only if if the tree hits a building
fortunately I did not have my buildings out yet.(http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-foot-in-mouth.gif)
well im not not happy, going to eat and bed. maybe better times tomorrow. although the same weather tomorrow(http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif).
Any more trees?
“#1st is ballast … where does it go??..”
Bkyard trolls, but also;
"…Many birds swallow sharp pebbles and grit and hold these rocks in a muscular part of their stomachs called the gizzard. The gizzard contracts and grinds the gastroliths against each other and against the food that the bird has swallowed (remember that birds have to swallow each bite whole). The rocks grind down the food — essentially, the bird is using the gastroliths to chew the food in its gizzard — and the rocks grind each other down, too. Eventually the sharp, jagged chunks of rock become smooth, rounded pebbles, and they are not much good for grinding anymore. So the bird will vomit them out and find new, sharp rocks to swallow… " So keep an eye on dem flocks of visiting/migrating birds !
ref.http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/taxa/verts/archosaurs/gastroliths.php
At least once a yr. have to reballast with #1 chicken grit since the rain and some r/w cleaning does tend to cause the ballast to ‘disappear’. Just a side effect of outdoor railways 
My ballast goes too. Mine sinks into the ground ala “quick ballast.” Also, it now costs three times what it did when I put in the railroad in 1997. Luckily, my car is smaller so I can only haul 1/3 of the bags. Boy that gets messy. (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-undecided.gif)
My ballast is a bit cracked, this is it’s story and we’re sticking to it…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTymtAbaG08
Sorry could not a figger the embed thang.
John
I had 5 tons of crushed limestone delivered so I could put in a sidewalk and have enough left over to reballast the railroad well into the future.
Dammit, now I will have that tune playing in my head all day !
“#1st is ballast … where does it go??” I think Mike got it right…trolls. At least that is what I have recently discovered:
Turns out, there is a county runoff pipe running through back yards in my neighborhood. seems they have a leak/broken pipe and I now have a sink hole forming under my middle raised bed (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-yell.gif). Track has been pulled up and we are waiting on the county to report that they fixed their pipe so I can fix my raised bed and run trains again.
I hate when that happens !
Well, I am in York again this week, and then again next week, so I may never get my railroad re-ballasted and up and running. (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-yell.gif)(http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cry.gif)
And I have like 4 tons of ballast under tarps, just waiting to be used on the railroad, then stolen by the ballast trolls.
