I was planning to try the video on my new camera today, and sent the diesel around the layout for quick trial run before putting on the camera. The train stalled in one of the tunnels, one which usually never gives me any trouble.
I pulled up the access panel and found that water and mud had been collecting in the middle of the tunnel. The track was sinking into mud. Had to dig out a lot of muck, then put some patio tiles under the track. Also poured some cement into the floor of the tunnel.
Are you venting Ray? At least where your at it’s warm enough to work on your RR. Wanna see the video though!
Currently I’m patiently awaiting the 3 to 6 inches of SNOW we are supposed to get. Got the plow out tonight and I’m ready baby! Knowing my luck it will be mixed with sleet and freezing rain like it has been so far this year.
David Russell said:I hear you. At least you can run your plow. My layout has over a 1/2 inch of ice on top and now forcast is calling for 6-10 inches of snow. Based off the forcast for next few weeks temps are not going above freezing for a while. Im getting anxious for spring so i can start my expansion
Are you venting Ray? At least where your at it's warm enough to work on your RR. Wanna see the video though! Currently I'm patiently awaiting the 3 to 6 inches of SNOW we are supposed to get. Got the plow out tonight and I'm ready baby! Knowing my luck it will be mixed with sleet and freezing rain like it has been so far this year.
Hmm. Sounds like you need to reengineer that tunnle.
Tom - If you haven’t already, go look at Ray’s website. Re-engineering the tunnel may not be an option :o
Ray - I hope your fix works. Excavating at this point would be a real bear.
Not venting really, just rambling. 
Mostly I was kind of surprised because it’s been a couple weeks since we had any rain.
It appears to be a two-fold problem. Water is seeping in through the wall of the tunnel on the uphill side. The curved track is on a grade going through the tunnel. Somehow I ended up with a slight dip in the middle, which allowed water to accumulate. Filling in the dip with cement should help with the drainage.
I’m not sure about the seepage issue at this point. I think that a lot of it is due to water collecting in the hollow cement blocks that form the sides of the tunnel. These were filled with dirt and gravel during construction. The access panel rests on the top of the tunnel walls, and rainwater likely was pouring in through the gap. I plugged the top of the wall with cement today, hopefully that will prevent water getting into the wall in the future.
The repairs I’ve made are kind of patchwork, but I think they’ll be sufficient. If not, I’ll have to undo these repairs and do something much more extensive. The tunnel itself can’t be dismantled. On the plus side, if the more extensive work becomes necessary, I could always write about it for the last page of GR. 
I think the lesson here was that I should have cemented the floor of the tunnel when it was first built.
One other lesson, you should put french drains on the outside bottom of the “uphil” tunnel walls. That way any water that trickles down drains away. I know it’s no help now, but it’s always good to imagine a sea of water on the other side of any retaining wall (or tunnel wall)…
You could always make drainage channels on either side of the tracks like real railroads do… some concrete carving might be in order.
Regards, Greg
How come the engineers render free advice after the flood, but before, they charge for it? :lol:
Steve
Have you ever seen a $ sign before 20/20?
Steve Featherkile said:Because they don't know either! They are taught text book and have their badge. Then 1/4 of them thrive on the blue collar worker with their trial and error methods that cost 1/8 of the college education they just received and work off of that! Have seen it so many times in my profession I could puke! ;)
How come the engineers render free advice after the flood, but before, they charge for it? :lol:
Things are looking pretty good in the tunnel. I built up a small cement berm between the track and the tunnel wall. The seepage is now running out to the end of the tunnel, and the track is no longer sitting in a puddle.
David Russell said:I always thought he was the first guy to die when there's a train wreck........;)Steve Featherkile said:Who's an engineer? ;)
How come the engineers render free advice after the flood, but before, they charge for it? :lol:
I went out this morning and there’s more water than ever coming out of the tunnel – and more seeping out of the steps and hill. Obviously, this isn’t natural and it’s not a drainage problem. Turns out the neighbor installed a sprinkler system at the top of the hill just on the other side of the fence, and the pipe’s leaking underground!
Neighbors are wonderful, hope you don’t have the type relationship I have with mine!!!Hee hee Now what to do Ray???Nicey Nice or sue the b-----d’s hee hee LOLhttp://
At least its not a leak coming from a crack in a swimming pool, seen entire hillsides and houses taken out by that kind of leakage. 
Fortunately we don’t have any rotten neighbors. Unfortunately, this guy isn’t home and I don’t know how to get ahold of him. I hope he hasn’t gone out to sea again.
Do him a favor a shut the water main off. He’s going to have one hell of a water bill.
…and leave a note on his door.
Ric Golding said:Yes...... If he's not a rotten neighbor do him a favor or call the water company Ray! He probably already has one hell of a water bill! I have a rotten neighbor so I would just re-direct the water onto their property and say nothing! Tee hee hee ;)
Do him a favor a shut the water main off. He's going to have one hell of a water bill.
I left a note on his door this morning. I would have turned off the water except that I’d have to turn it off for the entire house, and he had a contractor there doing some work this afternoon. (Repairing damage from a pipe that broke in the attic last month!)
Anyway, he was home this afternoon and turned off the water going to that part of the sprinkler system.
For the record, if it had been a big gushing leak I would have shut it off at the main regardless of anything else. I did that for him before when his front yard sprinkler system was doing an “Old Faithful”.
