… one has to move “mountains”. Even if they are small ones.
And one has to build retaining walls. The transition between the elevated portion and what’s on the ground needs quite a bit of both. But it’s just cut and fill, except the fill happens a few meters from where the cut takes place. Moving small mountains.
Pictures to follow once the first retaining wall is in place and the “tunnel” under the stairs dug to the level required. 
Sure is alot more work then indoors, Huh .
I hate the word retaining walls, I helped my Dad build many as a child. Those railroad ties were a booger to move.
Funny thing…with indoor layouts…the mountains tend to stay built, instead of washing into the neighbors yard…
Or on the desert we don’t get enough rain to wash away the mountains but in April it blows hard enough that some of it blows away!
Doug Arnold said:Doug,
Or on the desert we don't get enough rain to wash away the mountains but in April it blows hard enough that some of it blows away!
I haven’t seen enough rain around here to wash things down the mountain, but it is a regular occurance East and West of the Okanagan.
Oh yeah, great digging yesterday, but that damn clay below the topsoil sure takes a lot of umph. I even did a test setting of the Allan Block; that should look OK when done.
Hi all, First section of retaining wall is built, dug down to the proper level of the tunnel entrance on the “Preda” side. The retaining wall should keep the rose garden in place (no, I wasn’t promised a rose garden, but it came with the property )
How much will the offset between rows need to be?
Easy acces to the “tunnel”, just remove the three 24"x24" concrete slabs.
Red line indicates the approximate location of the track - a large S-curve - that cuts fairly close to the LH block to keep the radius as large as possible.
The two furry girls are in charge of “security”, quite a bit more dirt to be moved in the next days to get to the proper level on the RH side of the stairs.
There will be Allan Block as a border along the stairs (trial fit LH bottom), with nice reddish chipped gravel from there to under the elevated portion. Keep the weeds at bay!
And this is what it looked like when there was a plan, but no construction, yet.
Looking good HJ , I am happy for you to be outside and laying track !
Fred Mills said:Fr. Fred,
Egads......it looks so complicated.....try our method at: www.ovgrs.org/
Nothing complicated about it. Just very carefully planned. 
And fitted to what was already in the garden , sort of. Besides the RhB has a lot of curves and so will the mini-RhB.
Mind you I read a post today in a forum where someone - after paying a visit to the upper Albula Valley recommenede not to get rid of the R1 curves. They look just like the stuff on the spiral tunnels between Bergün and Preda.
Hmmmmm really??? Yes, a 3.5% grade with R1 would be really smart. Blessed be those who have no inkling of engineering for they shall inherit the earth. Eventually!
Dennis,
I’m not laying track, yet. Just shifting a lot of dirt around to then lay track.
Rest of the gang,
Just finished watching “Life of Brian”; YES that crucifixion is priceless, especially the foot tapping suicide brigade. I guess you ain’t dead 'til you stop twitching in perfect time. :lol: :lol:
Probably need to watch it twice more, that damn accent really gets to you, especially Brian’s “Mom”. :lol: :lol:
Apart from the minor snag of having to get a diamond cutter to trim the capping stones … all is well. The caps will get done last, when all the walls are up.
Sometime next week I’ll start on the wall to the right of the stairs. There’s another minor project ahead of it for SWMBO.
Hans-Joerg Mueller said:"Yes, dear!" "Jump? How high, dear?" "At once, dear!"
... There's another minor project ahead of it for SWMBO. ;) :) ;)
Chris,
Not quite, doesn’t work like that in this house. It’s more of a sequential schedule, I finish this, then I’ll do that. Unless there’s a fire. :lol: :lol:
That’s the whole point HJ…the fire…the one she’ll light under your butt… :lol:
Warren Mumpower said:Good one Warren,
That's the whole point HJ...the fire...the one she'll light under your butt....:D :lol:
She can’t anymore, I made her quit smoking several years ago. All the matches in the house are in my possession for such things as lighting the brandy when doing the “flambé” trick.
Oh yes, in our house when the fire alarm goes off dinner is more than likely ready. :lol: :lol:
HJ said:Have you considered letting your wife cook?? :D ;)
Oh yes, in our house when the fire alarm goes off dinner is more than likely ready.
Warren Mumpower said:Warren,HJ said:Have you considered letting your wife cook?? :D ;)
Oh yes, in our house when the fire alarm goes off dinner is more than likely ready.
That stupid fire alarm goes off even if you open the oven door, never mind doing a “flambé”. Apart from that she likes it much better if I cook :), she just hates the weight gain.
The alarm will be toast when we get our new kitchen middle of July.
Prodigious effort, Hans!
I have about ninety 300mm square slabs in my immediate future, now that the infrastructure for the electrics is in place. Have laid many 600s, but these days find the smaller variety easier to handle.
If the undersides of your 600s are as rough as ours, then those steps in your photos took you more than a few hours to get right.
Hand-digging in clay is winter work here (e.g., now) and I’m glad I don’t have any. When I first came to Perth in '75, I bought a house on a clay block and went to dig a trench from the house to the shed in January (i.e., summer). First pop of the mattock left me vibrating like a flipping tuning fork!
Question: I’d like to post some photos, but haven’t a clue how to go about it on LSC. How did you do it?
Dave Healy said:
Prodigious effort, Hans!I have about ninety 300mm square slabs in my immediate future, now that the infrastructure for the electrics is in place. Have laid many 600s, but these days find the smaller variety easier to handle.
If the undersides of your 600s are as rough as ours, then those steps in your photos took you more than a few hours to get right.
Hand-digging in clay is winter work here (e.g., now) and I’m glad I don’t have any. When I first came to Perth in '75, I bought a house on a clay block and went to dig a trench from the house to the shed in January (i.e., summer). First pop of the mattock left me vibrating like a flipping tuning fork!
Question: I’d like to post some photos, but haven’t a clue how to go about it on LSC. How did you do it?
The stairs were done by a contractor, I came up with the design and the materials to be used. The contractor liked it that way, too.
Looks like I managed to get to the clay early enough, before it got really hot and dry.
For picture posting see the FAQ on the subject: http://www.largescalecentral.com/FAQ/index.php?q_id=4
Bruce did a very nice write-up!
TY, Hans. Now that my LSC link is set to the home page, rather than the Dash-9 review, I can actually see what LSC offers. I’d never even seen the home page before.
Looks like you have a non-slip finish on your 600s. If I’d gone to that expense, I’d use a contractor, too. All our 600s are either inside (shed floors) or around the sheds. We used contractors for the concrete and paving brick on the sides of the house where traffic is high.
There will be a lot of money for someone who invents a root-deterring brick paver!
What a neat idea. I would have liked to run mine that way, but the ROW was the same level as the walk, so I had to cross it. I already have one section running under the steps.
I could have double tracked it , but then I would have needed more space for a loop in front of the roses.
