Large Scale Central

Spring Maintenance

Track and Trestles
#21

Spent the last two evenings working without much to show for it. I didn’t like the rise on the dry-stack brick stairs I built, so I tore them down and re-built them. Still not perfect but workable and quite stable for a pile of bricks (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-surprised.gif)I used antique brick reclaimed from several sources. I like collecting old brick so I installed it all with the name of the brick factory facing up. Pictures soon.

I really need to finish the bridge I started last June. The one it will replace is near collapse. I reinforced it with some sheet aluminum but I think the railroad needs to issue slow and weight limit orders until it is replaced.

I still have half of a load of ballast stone in the BIL’s trailer. Need to get that used or stored soon. Also thinking about one more load of 1/2" or maybe 3/4 just to have around.

#22

Hi John, It was great to meet you at York.

Due to a recent wind storm, we had a major tree-fall issue a couple weeks ago; so the cleanup will now take up my foreseeable spring weekends.

Then, back to the layout. Yee haw!

Cliff

#23

Nice work guys. I just re leveled my line and gave everything a fresh coat of ballast. I figured we should be done with frozen ground.

I also use the stone dust. Jon I like the color of your stone dust. mine is lighter in color. I think it holds best in my area. I was surprised how well my line held up for the first winter, especially one where we had a lot of freeze and thaw cycles. Only had a few spots where the side to side level was off.

Now that youer line is almost ready Jon, I really need to get up their one saturday and run with you.

#24

Shawn Viggiano said:

Now that youer line is almost ready Jon, I really need to get up their one saturday and run with you.

I’d love to have you over - but I’m not quite ready yet, but soon!. I have 3 problem areas left to fix. I left them for last trying to get BIL’s trailer empty of stone as fast as I could. I’m going to start on them today.

#25

I spent pretty much all weekend finishing up track repair and ballasting. When I finished I got out a train and took some pictures. Here M-10 approaches Wall Station. The new passenger shelter is still on it’s temporary base and needs to be moved back further from the track…

Fortunately I had some photos of this spot from before the rocks fell down so I could re-build the jigsaw puzzle. It’s not exactly the same, but it works…

M-10 would do some serious damage to the new shelter if it was left here…

These are the brick “stairs” that I rebuilt. They lead to a new heavy duty top over my ballast bin. The bin is chock full as are 25 gallons of buckets on the ground in front. I won’t need to buy ballast for a few years…

The steps are made from old brick. Collecting different names is fun…

Coal Dump Curve is back together and looking good…

I also reset the top three stepping stones in this picture…

And added even more ballast and fill stone on the Engine House lead…

And finished leveling and ballasting the main seen here crossing the diamond at Walk Transload…

And returning to Coal Dump Curve…

And a parting shot at Wall Station…

#26

The spring maintenance is done, for the most part, here on the P&CS. I still have to cut in the switch for the new/old spur for Jessie’s oil well. But before I start cutting track, and splicing wires, I wanted to make sure everything worked. Part of the spring rehab is replacing broken ties. Between the ham fisted track crews, and the critters walking on the railroad, ties get broken.

First I had to undo the rail clamps.

But that isn’t a rail clamp. That’s an olde, original, Aristo rail joiner. 14 years in service and its still doing its job. So I had to search the shop for one of them blue handled Aristo Hex key drivers. Once I found one, I removed the Aristo joiner, and tossed it.

Then I worked the joint apart, since its a staggered joint, and then I slid off the broken ties.

Then I slid on some new ties, appropriately painted with Krylon rattle cans, and worked the joint back together.

And then I put on some rail clamps.

After 2 weekends of rehabbing the railroad, things are looking good.

But, more importantly, things are running good.

#27

If the weather cooperates this week I hope to have the track cleaned, the tunnel’s winter inhabitants evicted and the repaired mogul (damaged by last winter’s tunnel inhabitants) running again.

#28

With all the honey-dos done early this year, I had some time this weekend to do some RR work. Replaced three sections of track that one of the dogs dug up. Replaced a bunch of faded/broken ties on some AMS track from the rest of a box of ties I had. Replaced some more bad track with better track. Surveyed between Pearce and Majestic for re-grading. Did an initial design of how to get 12/120v power out to the rest of the RR.

#29

Nice work guys. David love the track view picture.

John your line is looking great, the addition of buildings really brings it to life. Let me know when your ready for a visit.

#30

You guys are lucky! Mine is still cover with tarps. Have to wait till the trees drop their flowers, and the maple tree next door drops all

those damm helicopters.

Don

#31

David Maynard said:

But that isn’t a rail clamp. That’s an olde, original, Aristo rail joiner. 14 years in service and its still doing its job. So I had to search the shop for one of them blue handled Aristo Hex key drivers. Once I found one, I removed the Aristo joiner, and tossed it.

Wow!, that’s gratitude for you. Thanks for 14 years of good service, enjoy the garbage can! (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-tongue-out.gif)

Seriously you guys are inspiring and I can vouch for how much maintenance it takes now. I tried running a week ago with the tracks having less than good ballasting and had a near disastrous derailment. ( my live steam #12 was upside down with the steam coming out the safety like I have never seen before, scarry ) I spent a few hours this weekend re-ballasting and things are much better now. I need to get ground throws put in on all my switches now instead of using rubber bands to hold the points over. (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-embarassed.gif)

#32

Randy, many, probably about half, of the Aristo joiners failed during the first few years of my railroad. I do not use them anymore, but there are still quite a few in service. In fact I had to go searching for the tool to remove that bugger, and one screw was so bad that the tool didn’t even work on it. As they failed, I replaced them with Hillman’s clamps. Now the Hillman’s are failing and are being replaced with Spit Jaws. My little railroad has a history, and I enjoy discovering bits of it as I go. 2 years ago I discovered that my REA boxcar has Aristo wheels in one truck, and USA wheels in the other. I am sure that one truck had been swapped out for one reason or another, but I do not remember when nor why.

#33

David - Are these Aristo brass joiners? I still have a bunch of the stainless joiners on my railroad that have been out there for 10-15 years. I only use SplitJaw’s between sections and at switches. What I did do was remove the hex cap screws that are very difficult to use and replace them with the same truss head screws they use on the ties. They come out easy with a good #2 Phillips driver.

The joiners I can’t figure out are the AML/AMS joiners for aluminum track. They are almost impossible to get on the rail.

EDIT to add: I hooked up the trailer tonight for a 4th trip to the stone plant. I can’t decide on what size to get, smaller 3/8" or bigger 3/4". My new walkways could use a little more and I have some holes in the driveway to fill. I’ll probably wimp out and get another load of 1/2".

#34

Jon, get the 3/4 inch to build up to grade, then use the 3/8 as finish ballast. That works well for me.

#35

Steve Featherkile said:

Jon, get the 3/4 inch to build up to grade, then use the 3/8 as finish ballast. That works well for me.

Steve, you are a little behind the curve here (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)Ballasting and grading are done. I’m working on pathways and driveway repair. I’ve started to put down 1/2" on the pathways. Thinking that the 3/8 might filter down and fill it in a bit.

#36

I stand by what I said. 3/4 to grade, then use the 3/8 to smooth it out. (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-laughing.gif)

#37

Daktah John said:

David - Are these Aristo brass joiners? I still have a bunch of the stainless joiners on my railroad that have been out there for 10-15 years. I only use SplitJaw’s between sections and at switches. What I did do was remove the hex cap screws that are very difficult to use and replace them with the same truss head screws they use on the ties. They come out easy with a good #2 Phillips driver.

John, they were/are stainless steel joinres, on stainless steel rails. Within the first 2 or 3 years, several of them opened up, and were no longer keeping the rails aligned. Since almost each stick of rail had its own power feed, I didn’t have power problems, just the odd derailment. That’s when I bought a bunch of Hillman’s clamps at the ECLSTS. The Misses (Mrs Hillman?) told me that the Aristo stainless had a thicker foot then most rails and so I needed to get a certain kind of Hillman clamp. Yes, the slot is larger in that model of Hillman, but the slot is rectangular and the slope of the rail foot pushes the top part of the clamp up, and eventually fractures it off. So I am using Split jaw clamps now. I am supersized at how many Aristo joinres are still in service on my railroad. It looks like a bit less then half of them are still out there and working fine. They may just outlast all of the Hillman’s clamps that I was replacing the failed Aristo joinres with.

#38

Thanks David. I’ve had a lot of them out there for going on 15 years now and no failures. I did change out the screws; don’t know if that made a difference or not.

@Steve - I took your advice and got the 3/8" since it was a size I have not tried before. It is a lot larger than what I would use for ballast unless it were screened to only save the smaller chips which are not plentiful. I’ll stick with my Stone Sand for the top ballast. The 3/8 did fill in the walkways nicely over top of the 1/2" I already put down. It’s just a little more expensive than the 1/2" - 1200 pounds cost me $16.

Since I now have a nice variety of stone in stock maybe I’ll set up a comparison photo and post it over the weekend.

#39

I thought you were using 3/8 crushed rock, not 3/8 minus. For ballast, I’ve settled on 1/4" crushed rock, no minus mixed in. Its hard to find, my dealer went out of business last year, so I have to let my fingers do the walking.

#40

I’m sorry for the confusion. It is 3/8, not 3/8 minus. Some smaller stuff slips through in processing, but not much. It passes ASTM-8 grading. Yes, 1/4" would be hard to find. I’m not sure what the largest chips in my Stone Sand are, but I would bet there are not bigger than 3/16. I sifted up about a gallon of that for “dress ballast” that I was going to use in staged photos, but never used it.