The DÜRR 🏜️ (A Trilogy in 5 Parts) PART 1

[Korm (Korm Kormsen)]

@Hines

When I looked up how to spell umlaut it said “do you mean diaeresis?

hmmm…
about words, one has to look up* that reminds me, that before writing about you, i’ll have to look up the different meanings of mad, crazy and loony etc. to find something, that is not offending.

• looking up: “the diaeresis” translates to german “die Diäresis” - result: i’m just as ignorant as before.

ps: i love your nice little hail bits. last hailstorm we had brought eggsized hails with some orange sized ones thrown in.

pps: i’m envidious to the quantities of water, you must have for your gardens.

[Neil_Wiggins]

I got it laser cut Cliff. If you believe - that tree started life as a 640 x 480 internet image. And yes again to the black stained wood.

Cheers
N

[Cliff_Jennings]

Good call! I shuddered to imagine you’d gone through several saber saws and 100’s of metal blades, then I thought naah, Neil’s not stupid, so I thought I’d ask. Cool!

Did the Corten company offer that service, or did you get it done locally?

Also, did you have it shipped from Arizona or Texas, or is there a local dealer for it? I ask because, out of curiosity, I checked, and the only option I could find for myself (in Maryland) was to have it shipped from either of those other states.

Neat product! Never had heard of it. I’ve probably seen it everywhere… and probably now will, since I’m looking for it. Thanks Bill and Neil!

[Neil_Wiggins]

I’m even lazier than that Cliff, one of my mates is a steel fabricator with a small home business on the side. We (he) gets the Corten sheets from town - just a regular steel supply Co in Christchurch, then took it to another friend of his locally who has a kick-ass laser cutter. They’re both ex Air Force techs so everything they do is precision to the max. And way less than retail…

I just had to supply the cad file, he generated the tool path from that.

Corten isn’t in wide use here, but it’s freely available and there’s plenty around once your eye is dialed in… Nothing special re cutting or welding like stainless.

Cheers
N

[Rooster]

Almost got busted on that one as someone was backing out of the garage! I just hid in the herbs until clear.

[Neil_Wiggins]

Standing invite to come over anytime Roo, no need to hide in the bushes. I’ll let you discuss the ‘improvements’ with the missus…

Cheers
N

[Hines (Bill)]

I am constantly amused that when I start typing, I am generally the only one on line as it’s the middle of the North American night, then suddenly Eric, Sean or David are logged in. So much for my defence that I’ve been left unsupervised.

Sean, you read our minds and we have temporarily laid down segmental track to get an idea of what we liked and what didn’t. Since then we have taken Jim Rowson’s template suggestion on board, which is so much better for quick assessments, while we trench for the edging.

We now have had a chance to see what is practical and what doesn’t work. Korm don’t get too excited about the sidings. Herself has now had other thoughts.

As much as we considered just a roundy-round, we discovered that digging down to the base of the garden bed was going to leave little garden.

We then figured out that we were going to need a diamond crossing.

And through trial and error one of them worked.

So we trenched the outline to see how much garden would be left for plants, buildings and track.

But wait! There’s more. The ore tipple I constructed 12 years ago in Broken Hill is tall… too tall to remain on the garden bed. Luckily the landscaping team made sure it could sit on ground level. So now we need to address a way to get track to the ore tipple from the garden bed.

So luckily we have been able to complicate the interchange even more, with yet another switch.

We moved mountains… again. Very DÜRŘ looking.

So we now have a basic outline of the track bed, which gives us an idea of how much space we have.

I so wish we had your ACE HARDWARE edging instead of our floppy style. Que sera sera…

CONTINUES…

[Eric_Mueller]

@Hines

I am generally the only one on line as it’s the middle of the North American night, then suddenly Eric, Sean or David are logged in.

Timezone-wise, we are practically neighbors, even if you are in tomorrow!

Eric

[Hines (Bill)]

Eric, I keep forgetting to say I’m always happy to send you my “tomorrows lottery numbers” if you get into a bind.

[Hines (Bill)]

As things progress it’s starting to look like we could run out of garden space.

But the hill does allow the possibility that the train can disappear.

And we had a number of ugly rock that we had moved from house to house.

And surprise! They actually don’t look that awful.

So we continued the rock placement and installation of the irrigation system.

Bonsai trees getting trialled in double pots.

Then the cacti. Well Korm, that solved the short sidings issue.

And maybe more cacti

Then the succulents.

And test locations for buildings, with ash bonsai trees.

[Rooster]

@Neil_Wiggins

Standing invite to come over anytime Roo, no need to hide in the bushes. I’ll let you discuss the ‘improvements’ with the missus…

Cheers
N

That’s probably not a good idea Neil. I will have her growing barley,hops,wheat and hemp in no time. Not to mention she will want to start modeling Amtrak and make you restore a Victorian house for her.
However I have had afternoon tea and fancy sandwiches with the ladies of the museum association so I’m up to date on my etiquette and social skills.

Just trying to help ya’ out buddy.

[Korm (Korm Kormsen)]

@Hines

As things progress it’s starting to look like we could run out of garden space.

and it will never stop looking, like there is need for more space.
my penultimate (unfinished) layout’s room was 7 meter/23 ft by 6 meter/20 ft - the last one was 13 m/44 ft by 5 m/16.5 ft (unfinished as well)
for my next (?unfinished?) layout-room i already began to clear out and recondition an attic of 20 m/67 ft by 7 m/23 ft…

but i’m not afraid for you. in the pics i see a nice lawn for future landgrabs.

i’m envidious of your break-neck speed at landscaping.

these bonsais - did you “grow” them yourself, or did you buy them?

[Hines (Bill)]

Korm,

When we lived in the outback town of Broken Hill, Herself suggested we join a Bonsai Club so we could add some realism to the Garden. We joined the club in Adelaide.

The National Park is currently being overrun by an invasive species of olive trees and a couple of days each year, the club has been allowed in to remove what we want. So we occasionally go on a dig.

The only cost for us is in the effort of digging them up. The club has a number of bonsai gurus, some of whom have spent time in Japanese bonsai nurseries, so there’s classes and always advice on hand.

We are double potting these and burying the double potted trees in the ground, so we can easily pull them out for maintenance and then easily inhume them back on the DÜRR.

[Neil_Wiggins]

@Rooster

That’s probably not a good idea

That was my middle name(s?) earlier in my growing up stage - no, not finished yet…

[Cliff_Jennings]

@Hines

Luckily the landscaping team made sure it could sit on ground level. So now we need to address a way to get track to the ore tipple from the garden bed.

Hmm… I’ve been thinking that other box was layout Part B… but you’ve committed to it being “the garden bed”? Huh. Am I missing something?

If not, I truly applaud, your “tipple scheme” as a way to get over there, good move.

I also think it’s great that you’re going heavy on the “garden” aspect of your latest efforts in the layout box.

Seems to me like this all feeds, eventually, into extending the siding for the tipple (and over the TBD trestle) just a bit more, creating a tiny mine scene in the garden side, with foliage galore. And a return loop. And voila! Garden railroad Parts A & B!

[Hines (Bill)]

ShamWow! Cliff! You’re cleaning up in the prediction department. Are you related to that American reporter Peter Jennings?

• I think Korm saw this coming too.

We interrupt this program at the special request of the Jennings House. Please stay tuned for further instructions…

please tune your browser to The DÜRR (A Trilogy in 5 Parts) PART 2

[Hines (Bill)]

Coming up next… Roadbeds!

[Hines (Bill)]

Ballasting has been done in a bit of haste, in getting ready for the club meeting. It is no where near complete.

This is how we have approached it.

We had pink crushed river gravel in this size only….

…and multiple choices for crushed dolomite.

Here they are side by side.

We have some thick plastic left over from the house build.

That we’ve cut…

…and lined between the edging.

[Hines (Bill)]

This is the crushed river gravel which is approximately 14mm in size.

This is crushed dolomite which is 5-7 mm in size.

We will use the crushed river stone with the cacti and succulents. The track just settles into the dolomite better.

200kg worth of ballast here.

The orange plastic will be hidden by the time the ballast is fully in place

8 x 20litre buckets have been applied to about 5cm depth and we probably need 2 more to finish this bed, so that the edging all but disappears from view.

[Hines (Bill)]

The additional buildings seen in these photos were hastily placed for the Australian Garden Railway club meeting here.

We’ve got no idea how or where we are going to fit the mill, and Herself bought another mill kit that needs assembly too. We have no streams…

But that spring house that Rooster & Dave mentioned may become a necessity. Let the Devoning begin!

The double pot bonsai seem to be working.

We also replaced all the early flagstones in this bed with bigger slabs, as Herself was finding the first ones be trip hazards.

The plan is to put larger buildings in this area but remove them when weeding and maintenance is required.

We have run some wire under the ballast for future jumpers and building illumination.

Anyway, Cliff that’s the idea for the roadbed…

For now…

CONTINUES…