Large Scale Central

Wife approves move and expansion!

Track and Trestles
#1

This afternoon, while out enjoying the milder weather, the wife and I were talking trains, and the problems we’ve had with our current lay-out…mainly the grade and drainage we suffer from…she suggested I move the entire line, then gave her blessing… the new location is a pie shaped raised bed in the front yard to the left of the house, beside our drive. The new property is nearly ‘grade-less’ and should be much easier to maintain (minus the leaves in the fall-though that has always been a problem)…so here are some shots…

What a Gal!..room for big sweeping curves and an over/under figure 8…oh, I’m excited! cale

#2

And The new e-mail address is… “That’s Cale” @ hooked the “@#$%” up .com
Looks like a great site!
:wink:

#3

yeah, she rules…really!

so who wants to venture out with a track plan…minimal switching…over under…mulit-loops

#4

That will be a great site. What are you going to do with all your old, finely crafted tunnels? :wink:

-Brian

#5

Cale,
After you get started…you may wish your wife had said no :slight_smile:
Good luck.
Ralph

#6

Had to rebuild my layout a few years back. It was one of those “damned if ya do and damned if you don’t” kinda things. My problem was not the location but the PT ties used for a retaining wall. They were starting to rot out and while I wasn’t looking forward to ripping all of that out, in a way I was anxious to get started on it to correct a lot of mistakes that were made the first time around. This time around I had the wife and my oldest boy who’s in the landscape business, involved in the planning and I’m quite pleased that all the hard work paid off. Before:

(http://www.geocities.com/RodeoDrive/4497/train05.jpg)

After:

(http://www.geocities.com/kenbrunt/layout008.jpg)

(http://www.trainweb.org/rgs/walk03.JPG)

Good luck, Cale…

#7
Brian Donovan said:
That will be a great site. What are you going to do with all your old, finely crafted tunnels? ;)

-Brian


I plan to use at least one…but it will sit on flat ground-No grade on the tunnel, ya know what the plumber says…runs downhill.

That has been the biggest headache, drainage through the tunnels…with the kid factor, I need as little extra work as possible! I usually spend 30 min digging out the track inside the tunnel after a rain, or before a run-argh.

I hope to place the tunnel in the middle of the line to add that visual break and to make an over/under…since the bed is flat I hope to use plantings to also add some breaks and character.

We plan to get out later this am-if the rain holds and look over the site again, maybe lay down a few 100’ drop cords to get a feel for what is avail.

cale

#8
Ralph Berg said:
Cale, After you get started.........you may wish your wife had said no :) Good luck. Ralph
I don't know Ralph..what you got to see the other day is what we have been looking at for 2 years and a few weeks! I [b]think[/b] this could be the answer we've been looking for. I'll get a Bobcat in here to move and smooth down the mountain, but the new flat surface is what I'm looking forward to working on...and to think...........this was all my wifes idea!

with the maint of moving dirt every time we want to run a train, mixed with laying w/o my bender has left a great deal to be desired. I think I’m gonna order me some aristo brass slide on joiners and get to soldering all this track I’ve got. I’ll prob be on the look out for more EURO ties if anyone wants to trade for some USA Style.

cale

#9
Ken Brunt said:
Had to rebuild my layout a few years back. It was one of those "damned if ya do and damned if you don't" kinda things.

Good luck, Cale…


Ken, I am of the mind that anyone, whether they’ve been in this hobby for 2 months or 20 years, could write for the GR mags last page…“If I’d only known…”

I think you have provided an excellent story with those three pictures, of which the last is beautiful!

thanks
cale

#10

Cale,
If possible…I would leave one track operational at the old site, until you have one operational at the new site.
It is nice to be able to take a break from construction and run trains.
Ralph

#11

And then you have the ones who spend all their time researching the “right” way to do things. From what I’ve seen, there are no right or wrong ways to do it. Just what’s the right or wrong way for you to do it and what your comfortable with. The fact you have the CFO’s blessing is a big plus!.

#12
Ken Brunt said:
And then you have the ones who spend all their time researching the "right" way to do things. From what I've seen, there are no right or wrong ways to do it. Just what's the right or wrong way for you to do it and what your comfortable with. The fact you have the CFO's blessing is a big plus!.
Ken ther is a right way to do. Win the Lotto and pay someone to do it for you. that way you always have someone other then yourself to plame if it all goes wrong. :)
#13

Cale, looks like a nice location… Will be waiting to see how it goes…

good luck,

#14

Neat. Looks like a good place for some large curves. :wink:

#15

Thats going to be a great spot. Dont tease me “mild weather” I forgot what mild felt like. I have not seen the ground or been above freezing since well before x-mas Cant wait to see the progress

#16
Shawn said:
Thats going to be a great spot. Dont tease me "mild weather" I forgot what mild felt like. I have not seen the ground or been above freezing since well before x-mas Cant wait to see the progress
Tease you? We had 65 degrees Friday. I was out in shorts. However, it was 22 degrees when I got up Friday morning. Your situation is why when I turned 18 many moons ago I left Michigan, with no desire to return. Ralph
#17
Ralph Berg said:
Shawn said:
Thats going to be a great spot. Dont tease me "mild weather" I forgot what mild felt like. I have not seen the ground or been above freezing since well before x-mas Cant wait to see the progress
Tease you? We had 65 degrees Friday. I was out in shorts. However, it was 22 degrees when I got up Friday morning. Your situation is why when I turned 18 many moons ago I left Michigan, with no desire to return. Ralph
Western NC is where I would like to retire to. Still have over 20 years for that. We have 6-12 more inches of snow forcasted for tue-wed. Another end of the week. Winter is never going to end.
#18
Shawn said:
We have 6-12 more inches of snow forcasted for tue-wed. Another end of the week. Winter is never going to end.
I hear you. I think this is the 17th week of January....
#19

What happened to your name, Ralph? Do we have to buy a vowel now? :wink:

#20
Bruce Chandler said:
What happened to your name, Ralph? Do we have to buy a vowel now? ;)
There you go :) I run my mouth too much. Google my name and you have to wade through a ton of LSC posts. Not that I've done much of anything else......good or bad :) Ralph