OK I have spent a little over a month worth of weekends so far and am pleased with the progress. I am using the ladder system and have used Tuf board and Trim Plank (honestly I prefer the trim plank, a bit more flexible). Anyway I have soldered all my rail joint"YES I’M USING TRACK POWER" and have no intrest in battery as I want to run M.U’ed diesels pulling long drags(kinda like Jen’s Bangs) but on a smaller scale.
I will go back and install expansion joints but I wanted to see how the track does expand. Just as I read, it expands on the turns in the heat. I am actually more concerned about frost heave this spring and I will find out. I used Choice Dek 31" balasters knocked into the ground every 24" as we all know the system. I’m guessing they will float and can be knocked down in(if they move) as part of spring maintenance.
I’m posting as to insite on landscaping and any thoughts or suggestion’s as to what I should do before backfilling…actually I’m just posting to get beat up and degraded…LOL>>> I just want some “PRO” insight as to my progress so far and any ideas ?
There are 4 pages too look at but I’m posting the link to the final page and finishing the loop around the bottom end of my folded dogbone. One picture can say 1,000 words as you can see my son running the train. It’s a simple set-up but makes no diffrence when he is occupied for an hour or so. (should have grabbed mom for five minutes upstairs while he was occupied…could have said an hour for that but you know I would be lying…lol)
Let the verbal beatin’ begin…
Thanks for this great site Bob and all that make it happen!
http://saabpics.com:3000/gallery2/v/MrWinkey/Railroad/?g2_page=4
Hi David.
I can’t really comment about your RR but I certainly approve of your choice of rally car.
I used to navigate for a Volvo driver here in OZ and once or twice for a SAAB driver as well.
David Russell said:Now I can't give you any expert commentary, but it certainly looks good. It also helps me with my planning for an improved (well, I hope it'll be better) raised circuit that does [u]not[/u] occupy the centre of the backyard, as my beginner effort does. Give the grandkids room to play without colliding with the layout ("Massive temblor hurls trains off tracks"). Wife thinks current effort is just fine, and why do I want to change it .... :( Went to Home Depot the other day to see if they carry TrimPlank. "Never heard of it," says the guy at the advice desk. "All we have is Royal." Well, Royal is the Canadian importer for TrimPlank (I had googled that info beforehand), and when I toddled around to the aisle Mr Advice Guy pointed me to, the stuff sure 'nuff had TrimPlank stamped on it. I didn't enlighten Mr AG. As for legs, driving anything more than three or four inches (quite often less) into the ground in my yard requires either dynamite or a very big piledriver, so it's more deck blocks or ... (idea or two percolating through what passes, in me, for a mind). Thanks for the pix.
OK I have spent a little over a month worth of weekends so far and am pleased with the progress. I am using the ladder system and have used Tuf board and Trim Plank (honestly I prefer the trim plank, a bit more flexible). ... I used Choice Dek 31" balusters knocked into the ground every 24"
David, looks like you are all set for some serious fun…
I think it looks nice. The only caution I would give is back filling around the tree. It may not appreciate that and die on you as you would be burying the roots too deep. But…what I see as future improvement is that curve begging for a long curved trestle…when you feel your skills are sufficient to tackle that kind of a project. In the mean while it’s still quite functional.
I don’t know how handy you are but from the looks of what you have done so far, I think I’d be safe to make this suggestion. I’d add a retaining wall around the layout before I did any back filling just to add to the appearance and to help keep the back fill from washing away. And like Warren suggested a trestle and maybe a few bridges for that dramatic effect. All in all, I’d say you did a bang-up job…
Thanks guy’s for the replies. Tony I love my Swedish cars. I have been specializing in them for 13yrs at my shop. Warren…yes I know I cannot cover the tree base and my skill level is high enough to build a trestle(I have restored an old Victorian home so I’m handy with a saw) but with a 7yr old in the yard and throwing football/baseball/riding bike etc. I’m thinking STEEL all mig welded on concrete abutments sunk 36" into the ground with 3" tapcon’s bolting it down on skid plates for shift …Just kidding!
Actually a bridge would be nice there but I really am thinking steel. I’m into the late 60’s to mid 70’s diesel era and a beautiful wooden trestle just wouldn’t look right (at least for me anyway). I’m thinking deck girders or a couple of steel truss bridges.
Ken…I really don’t want a retaining wall and that is why I went with the sub-roadbed I did, that’s a lot of rock man! and the thought of PT wall’s just aahhh that’s out. Maybe in a few spots . What I would like to do is basically a hill 45’ed off the roadbed. I was thinking of laying some nice chunks of limestone out to the edge of the weedblock to essentially hold the fill in the areas no more than 12" off the ground then some PT 4x’s to hold the fill on the fence line behind it.
Down around the tree I was thinking limestone on the front then pour dirt on the inside sloping inward towards the tree but not burying it. I don’t know??? and I have time to think and run my trains… Part of the deal was allowing Mrs. Russell room for plants so I kinda need to make it happen eventually.
This is just a great place to vent and share , you all are very helpful and the post’s here are wonderful and informative!
Thanks Again
David
David,
9 miles south of Carlyle, the Norfolk Southern crosses wooden trestles every day. Boy, I hope nobody tells them they aren’t suppose to be using them.
Ric Golding said:
David,9 miles south of Carlyle, the Norfolk Southern crosses wooden trestles every day. Boy, I hope nobody tells them they aren’t suppose to be using them.
OK now were talking …what am I missing…I want to mimic the old Reading line from Hagerstown to Harrisburg that I belived used to be a double track main. It connected with the CVRR at one point in time via the Dillsburg junction or Williams Grove.
Anyway what I remember was night fishing on the Yellow Breeches Creek with dad, watching a trio of Chessie’ or more with a sometimes mismash of old Reading ,Blue schemed B.O. Geep 30’s ,sometimes P.C. Alco’s,then Conrail(over the years) just killer diesels pulling a coal drag or trailer train at the same ole night fishing hole beside the steel double tracked truss bridge. Was actually fortunate enough to still see a caboose in action.
After the thunderous display and my heart falling out my bottom end. I was totaly hooked. The train went by ,the peace returned and the fish lived for another day. But that’s what I want to re-create somehow in my yard .
I even thought about doing a 3 track Horse Shoe Curve around the tree and the Rockville Bridge over my water feature. However Webesters will probably define that as insanity and we all know it!
Sometimes I believe that dad was(and still can be) a brilliant man for selecting those fishing holes!!!
I do realize Rome wasn’t built in a day;)
Dave
The IPP&W still has one wood trestle, and it has guard rails on it. It is now just in place as a switch back into a mine, but there is word that a log dump may be established on the old right-of-way, on the West end of the trestle.
Wood trestles fell out of favour after a fire burned one out. They replaced the two after the fire with a deck girder, and a combined deck girder and through truss.
Fishing is out, on the creek, which is actually a dry river bed, that only sees water during the Spring melt.
Another thought…a stone arched viaduct. I know they still exist back East.
Warren is right. The Thomas Viaduct (the first stone curved arch bridge in the US) built in 1835 just a bit south of Baltimore is still in use. -Brian
That’s not a bad idea! Kinda reminds me of Rockville in a way. If I did just 1/2 the loop it would probably take me a year to build! lol
Thanks Guys!
David – Great progress and really good use of the yard!! I’ve been working on mine since september last year so to see this much in a short time …very Nice!!!
First I agree with Warren on covering the base of the tree as a fatal error, but unless your railway is outside the drip line of the trees your very likely to severely hurt them if you add 2 to 3 feet of dirt fill or cover to a significant portion of the drip area. It will basically starve them for water/nutrients and actually suffocate portions of the tree for a year or two as they try to get their roots back into shallow ground.
Second, even with weed cloth and covering with rocks and rock mulch a 45 degree slope is gonna create erosion and runoff issues in even moderate rains on taller slopes. A stair step with cribbing or retaining walls and plantings will handle the drainage better. ( and provide some significant planting opportunities for the better half of the management team!!
Keep the pictures coming.
Mark
Hi David, I have been thinking about you layout over the past couple of days (I’m a landscape designer so its in my nature). The first thing I would do is paint the ladder frame. It would blend it into the background. I painted mine (though only 20’ long and covered with gravel) flat brown and it took less than a can of spray paint. Next I would use a mixed media approach and alternate various methods. As others have said you cannot cover large areas of the root system with soil especially with a shallow rooted tree like your Norway maple. But it is safe to raise the grade 3 inches. You can raise it more in small areas especially if you use a combination of stones and a lightweight potting soil. Other areas could be planted up with shorter shrubs or tall ground covers (short azaleas, hellebores, hosta, variegated bishop’s weed for shady areas, medium height junipers, dwarf spirea, daylilies for sunnier spots). Also you could throw in sections trestle or arched bridge. A club member is making is trestles with cut down “timbers” from Tuf board and gluing them up with PVC glue. It makes for a very tough trestle. You can also make arched bridges like I did my tunnel portals using cut pieces of slate tile or flagstone mounted to hardibacker tile board.
You could also make them from pink or blue foam insulation board scored with a hot wire foam cutter and painted with exterior latex - http://users.stratuswave.net/~wd8jik/foamcutter/foamcutter.htm# Have fun, Brian
Thanks guys Again!..This is why I titled it what am I missing!
Well the RR saw it’s first flood last night as we had over 3" of rain in less than an hour(not normal). I watched all kinds of stuff float in the backyard until my wife said you have to see how high the water is on the street(front of the house). I went and looked out front and all I said was" Good Lord the basement". Going down the dark basement stairs all I heard was water pouring in. I could have cried! But all is well now and minor losses…Never been through that before. In 72 Agnes hit but that was over several days and I was 2(lol). Mother nature is unreal and unforgiving. One of the thing’s that excites me about outdoor R.R.'ing. Yes I have adult A.D.D and I hate daytime TV .
Your input is wonderful and well taken… when the big asteroid hit’s the planet all that will be left is the Cockroaches,Keith Richards,Ozzy Osborne and my railroad thanks to your input(possibly Fred as well…LOL!)
Dave
Brian,
I have been thinking about the plantings you suggested and they are all very good Idea’s. We already have Hosta’s and ferns(in the shady areas) My current issue is a train barn and where to put it???
I was goning to run them into the house but after final “CAREFUL” measurement instead of just guessing, in order to get them into the house the train must climb atleast a 5% grade?? I don’t think that will work unless I break the train down .
My question is what are you guys doing for storage? Does anyone have a barn on the mainline somewhere?
I would like about a 24’ barn if possible but will settle for 16’. I need some ideas and soon. I have browsed everyone’s Train Shed and websites but didn’t see many storage idea’s?
Dave
This is my train shed. I also ran electric in it for the train and radio power. -Brian
brian donovan said:
This is my train shed. I also ran electric in it for the train and radio power. -Brian
Brian Your shed is quite nice and well organized but that’s not exactly what I’m after. I don’t want to break trains down and put them away like that (doing so now) it’s kinda a PITA. I want to run them into a barn and lock the door. I have re-evaluated the line today and I guess it’s gonna be run them up a 5% or 6% grade onto the deck. I feel it’s my only solution unless I build a barn on the main somewhere? Has anyone done that and possibly made it look like a mountain or something? I need a minimum of 16’ to do so? I have been saving and collecting this stuff for several years and thought I had it all figured out, ready to go …boy did I miss some huge issues! Guess you have to build it and take it from there. :lol:
David Russell said:David,
Brian, I have been thinking about the plantings you suggested and they are all very good Idea's. We already have Hosta's and ferns(in the shady areas) My current issue is a train barn and where to put it??? I was goning to run them into the house but after final "CAREFUL" measurement instead of just guessing, in order to get them into the house the train must climb atleast a 5% grade?? I don't think that will work unless I break the train down . My question is what are you guys doing for storage? Does anyone have a barn on the mainline somewhere? I would like about a 24' barn if possible but will settle for 16'. I need some ideas and soon. I have browsed everyone's Train Shed and websites but didn't see many storage idea's? Dave
What does that carefully considered track alignment to get into the house look like?
Storing your trains in the house, by moving them on the track right into the house/garage/sunroom or whatever, is by far the neater solution than having “things outside”.
The “real McCoy” would be storing the consists, as they end up at the end of the day, without having to even split them. OTOH if they need to be marshalled for the next day I guess breaking them up is no big deal, either.
Another idea would be this type of gazebo, have the tracks run along the inner circumference; with passing sidings for extra storage.