Large Scale Central

When nature gets in the way...

Track and Trestles
#1

Get out the chain saw!

When the outdoor division was first built it was decided to bridge over the roots of a very large Maple tree. Here’s a photo from long ago…

At the time - more than 10 years ago, there was plenty of room between the bridge deck and the root…

As the railroad grew so did the root to the point that it made contact with the bridge deck and began pushing it upward. This spring I decided that something needed to be done. The bridge was temporarily removed and a triangular slice of the root was removed to get the deck back where it belongs. I forgot to get pictures before the bridge was put back…

The cut in the root brought the deck down at least an inch and leaves an inch or so of clearance under the deck. I’ll probably need the remove a little more as the 10 year old plywood deck bridge it beginning to rot. I’ll replace it with a deck girder bridge made from 2" aluminum tube and PVC.

“Natural Bridge” has also grown infringing on the clearance below. An early photo…

And here’s the same root late last winter…

This one won’t require major surgery, just a little chunk taken off the lower right. Most of my stock still fits through, but caboose smoke stacks get bumped. The biggest problem will be the pitch dripping from the wound once it’s cut.

#2

Jon, don’t kill the tree slowly, just take the thing down. That cut will allow disease to enter the tree, and you will be taking it down in a few years, so you might as well take it down, now.

#3

Not possible to take it down. Because of it’s size (3 foot diameter and over 50 foot tall) and location (between two houses, overhanging both) it would cost a small fortune to have it removed. Someday a storm will take it and if we live through it, either my neighbor or I will get a major remodel out of it :]

Would it be beneficial to spray the cut with wound dressing or paint?

#4

Check with the local nursery, I think there are products available.

#5

on my ranch i had a five acres orchard.

you can use stearin/paraffin (candles), floor-wax, natural resin, any unleaded "oil"paint, even grease for machines, or tar (not tar paint, that got too much petrol in it)

or you can buy some expensive stuff from a garden center.

#6

Amazing how those roots can grow.
I have a section of retaining wall that was built over a root and it is now being pushed up and needs to be addressed. Instead of cutting the root I will chop the back and bottom off the blocks around that root.

In the future you might need to move that bridge over Jon.

#7

If the grade wasn’t already ridiculous I would have left it be and evened out the track, but at 4%+ I can’t take any more. Moving away from the tree to the right might be possible but would screw up a lot of track alignment. Just on the other side of the 8 foot bridge are the three #6 switches that make up Indian Hill Junction. Any movement of the main would require realignment of the three tracks that branch off there.

The only real choice that doesn’t involve major construction is to keep the root in check.

Thanks Korm - going to see if I have any oil based paint left in my inventory. That would be the easiest to apply

One thing I forgot. The root has definitely grown, but a realignment of the grade lowered the far end of the bridge by at least 4 inches closing the gap to less than what is shown in the first pictures.

#8

Jon,
if you got simple housepaint, it will do the trick as well.
the importance is, to apply the paint or whatever as quick as possible.
so that the wound is closed, untill the tree itself eventually builds up some scartissue below the sealant.

in germany the “treedoctors” even use portland cement to close and fill up holes in trees.

#9

I’ve got lots of exterior paint - but I think most of it is water based (acrylic), not oil based. It’s already been nearly two weeks since the cut was made. I’ll try and get it sealed up in the next few days if the good weather holds.

#10

(http://lsc.cvsry.com/post4/TunnelInspection03-02-14-05.JPG)

Is that a tunnel? If so how do you keep the critters from making a home in there? I need to create a tunnel in my layout and have been wondering about this.

#11

Yes Mark, it is. There is a very long thread on it’s construction here.

I’ve done nothing to prevent the critters from moving in, but except for a few spiders, none have. Maybe the fact that neighbors on either side have outdoor cats has something to do with it.

#12

Jon, I think this picture express my feelings on how you should handle your situation.

I was going to get a picture of the tree you drive though, but then found this one.

![|600x382](http://freightsheds.largescalecentral.com/users/nutznbolts/Tree Train.jpg)

#13

no problem, if you use waterbased paint.

whatever you use, it is nothing more for the tree, than a band-aid is for a bleeding finger.
just a cover, that the wound can heal, without stuff getting in.

#14

You just create problems for yourself in the future, if you build too close to trees, whether it’s their roots, or the above ground stems.

Stay away from them, at all costs, unless your interest in the hobby of outdoor railroading is very short term.