Large Scale Central

Spring Maintenance

Track and Trestles
#1

Now that the weather is finally warming up again it’s time to get busy. Today’s task was to procure and unload a half ton of Stone Sand (also called Stone Dust). My utility trailer is still full of leaves from 4 years ago (probably compost now) so I borrowed my brother-in–law’s utility trailer on Sunday. There is a stone plant directly across the street from my job, so I went in early and stopped to get a load of stone before work. I bugged out right at 5 which gave me enough time to clean out and repair my ballast bin and hand unload the trailer before dark.

I must have guessed exactly right as they were dumping the stone from a 4 ton loader bucket - I was within 80 pounds of the trailer weight rating and had about half a Homer bucket more than would fit in my bin

Tomorrow heavy rain is forecast, so I’ll skip towing the trailer again until Wednesday. I need a load of 3/8" or 3/4" for walking areas and maybe another load of Stone Sand before the weekend if the budget holds out. A half ton was just over $18. Years ago I was buying bagged goods; around 50 pounds for about $4 each. This is much more economical.

#2

Let’s see, removed and replaced 2x material on the elevated section of the RR. A rather regular chore, as I use untreated lumber during the initial building before the 2001 Convention. Also, have the blow off the elevated portion and replace two ground throws that the ‘Tree Rats’ chewed away! And of course the weeds, always the weeds! We all have that to deal with except for those who build in-doors. It would be nice, no rain, no cold, no ‘Tree Rats’, no other problems, but there is a requirement for a larger building, like a couple of acres!

Paul

#3

I hope I can started this weekend. This will be the filth week I have been in York for training, and I am getting rather tired of hotel living. I just hope, that when I am home this coming weekend, that the weather is good enough for me to work outside. I have the railroad to beat into shape, and I have the new spur to cut in. I am going to connect the abandon track from the old S curve to the main, on one end, so that Jessie can ship her crude from the Big Schmitt she had built.

#4

David Maynard said:

…This will be the filth week I have been in York for training, and I am getting rather tired of hotel living. …

Are you getting dirty doing this training?

#5

No Joe. In fact, I was just noticing today that my hands haven’t been this clean in years. No toner stains, no grease embedded in the skin, nor under my nails. Its rather disgusting for a person like me. I enjoy getting my hands dirty.

#6

John

Do they have rice stone?

1/8 size gravel. I found it to work the best and the nicest looking size wise for our track.

#7

I inspected all of my springs and none of them required any maintenance !

#8

Sean McGillicuddy said:

John

Do they have rice stone?

1/8 size gravel. I found it to work the best and the nicest looking size wise for our track.

That looks pretty good Sean but I like the stuff I get too. I don’t have a recent picture, but this one is on-line where I can grab it…

I’ve not seen the 1/8" here. My place has this Stone Sand, 1/4", 3/8, 1/2", 3/4", 3/4 Process (dust to 3/4), 1" and 2".

Today I got a load of 1/2". I used most of it to cover a walking path / shady area that has been dirt since I built the RR. I’ll get one more load of Stone Sand and maybe another load of 1/2" before I return BIL’s trailer.

Track leveling / ballast replace work begins Friday evening :slight_smile: Supposed to be a great weekend weather wise.

#9

I haven’t decided if I want to use stone ballast or not. I have found a use for the ashes from the woodstove, though I don’t know how long they will last out on the layout. The only maintenance I’ve had so far is picking up pine cones and sticks.

#10

I cleaned up most of the mainlines and tuned up a couple of switches with replacement switch parts.

Bachmann makes some nice switch throws!

#11

Ken Brunt said:

I haven’t decided if I want to use stone ballast or not. I have found a use for the ashes from the woodstove, though I don’t know how long they will last out on the layout. The only maintenance I’ve had so far is picking up pine cones and sticks.

If I was in your situation, and I hope to be partially by fall, I would use stone ballast in the photo areas and leave the rest as-is.

#12

I brought home another half ton of Stone Sand today. Not all of it is for the railroad. I finally finished filling in between some dry set flagstones we use for a planter area at the front of the house. I have a dry set walkway that needs fresh sand and I may add some the the 1/2" stone I put around the back side of Coal Dump Curve to help cover the dirt better.

As I was washing the 1/2" I put down on Wednesday I noticed that the re-built Coal Dump Curve is in really bad shape. Many of the stones that were holding the ballast in have fallen away. I will probably spend most of the weekend repairing that. Maybe I’ll take some before and after pictures.

#13

Please do Jon. You know we love pictures. They tell the whole story! (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)

#14

pics or it didn’t happen

#15

My major Spring (not spring) cleanup has been to trim back the roses and pick up the oranges and tangerines. I built about three feet of retaining wall.

#16

Pictures you want? Pictures I got.

Here is the current state of Coal Dump Curve. Many rocks have fallen away spilling ballast and exposing the roadbed. This is after at least 3 winters since it was built…

This area was faced in rock, all of which collapsed in a heavy rain. I’m glad I have pictures of this area when it was completed so I can put the puzzle back together…

At the top of the shot below you can see the 1/2" that I put down in the walking area that has been unfinished for a very long time…

I didn’t get any ‘before’ shots of the upper end. Here is the Walk Trans-Load Facility after reclaiming the roadway and fixing the ramps…

Indian Hill Junction…

And finally the Engine House and lead. I use this as an industry, but never named it…

It was a very productive weekend. Besides all the railroad work I repaired several dry set walkways, re-built a set of dry-set brick stairs, built a new cover for my ballast storage bin, helped my brother-in-law pick up a couch, dissembled an old gas grill for disposal, picked up 10 bags of mulch and a new gas grill from Home Depot and went out to dinner with the wife. I’m glad tomorrow is a work day so I can rest (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-surprised.gif)

#17

Just wait 'till you retire! There just isn’t enough hours in the day, every day. (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)

#18

Good luck with all the stone! We moved 2-1/2 yards over the weekend and I have muscles sore that I didn’t even know existed!

#19

I have spent some time getting things in shape. The Narrow Gauge convention is in town in September and I am on the tour…best not have to many derailments! I ran though my normal just make it look better run but still had some issues so I went all High Tech…you know I actually used a level!

The photo above shows the track after some work. it is pretty well ballasted and more or less level. but you can see it is not quite straight! gotta fix that. As my track just rests in the ballast it is a simple matter of pushing it over a bit. Done that on the real railway too

once the track is lined correctly ( straight with smooth curves ) i had to level it. I start by setting up a flat car with two levels on it, one for grade one for cross level.

when the track is not level, it has to be straightened.

on the real deal we jack the low side up through loose ballast and tamp the ballast down under the ties.

on my line I can use my fingers to poke the ground and push ballast under the track raising it. if the ballast is too hard, I use a stick or the handle of my trowel.

I try to get the track level cross wise at least so that the bubble is between the lines.

on switches, I spend extra effort

Being live steam, I want my track to be as flat as possible, up and down grades are hard to deal with especially without radio control. I used a long framers level on my main line in front of the station and saw that I could (should) remove about 3/4" of ballast from the road bed in one section. I actually removed the track and re-graded. the excavated material was useful elsewhere on the line! I checked the track carefully as I relayed it. it was a little tricky blending it back into the original grade at each end of the work area. I checked cross level and smoothed my curves and it seems to be a big improvement. got more to do though!

#20

For tamping ballast under the ties, I used a slat out of a shutter, and when that disappeared, I started using paint stir sticks.

Stuff disappears around here quite often, and them magically shows up in one of my mom’s ill fated projects.