This is the 12 foot space between the shop and the boundary fence where the main yards of the railroads major town will eventually be established. The area was a low mud hole so I piped out the downspouts and water line drains to daylight further downhill and back filled the area with ¾ minus road base.
The same area now looks like this after 8 tons of road base moved with a shovel and wheel barrow. Hopefully the Oleander shrub will grow fast and provide a view block from the driveway.
Ah yes, the nice double post, don’t you just hate that. Looking good Rick. I’m glad you have some nice weather to work on your railroad. Currently my railroad is under 12 to 18 inches of snow. The poor dog is having a hard time just trying to go potty because it’s so deep. Just think only another 3 to 4 months until Spring.
Well now Rick that makes more since to me. I was wondering how you got all that nice weather and we were being dumped on. I have to agree below freezing temps are keeping me in the house.
Im looking forward this new builds. Everything looks great so far ad I think your working faster then Ken.
The shop looks great. I need to build a shop like that. I could easily get comfortable in that shop and never want to leave. For now Ill have to live with my basement even if it looks more like a dungeon.
Im guessing your new place gets more rain and cold then in CA? Might need a roof in spots so you can work and run trains while staying dry.
Im looking forward this new builds. Everything looks great so far ad I think your working faster then Ken.
The shop looks great. I need to build a shop like that. I could easily get comfortable in that shop and never want to leave. For now Ill have to live with my basement even if it looks more like a dungeon.
Im guessing your new place gets more rain and cold then in CA? Might need a roof in spots so you can work and run trains while staying dry.
Shawn,
Yes, the shop is very comfortable especially with the rocking chair in there(http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-laughing.gif) The climate seems a lot wetter and colder even though we are only 200 plus miles further north than we were before. But then it could be we are just having a wetter and colder than normal winter in the Pacific Northwest.
May as well sneak in an update here.
This picture shows the starting of the ladder roadbed. A 10 foot 2X6 Cedar decking plank provides 30 feet of ladder. I rip six 5/16ths strips off of the 2X6 for the sides and the remaining piece is cut into 6 inch blocks. All these pieces are screwed together to form the ladder sections to lay the track on.
The start of the wye is shown here, it is an open ladder running tracks (my term for this kind of construction) and will have no landscaping potential. The straight through section along the fence will receive a bridge to complete the circuit, so to speak.
This is the tail track off of the tables shown in the far distance of the previous picture. This will be used as a back into area to enable a switchback for trackage to come over to the shop wall , shown in above pictures. This will be used to develop the future main town and railroad yards at this end of the line.
I searched all my old files and discs last night and could find no build photo’s of that bridge but on the bright side I will be posting pictures of it in it’s new location very soon
As a matter of fact I do have plans for it on the new line but will use each 6 foot section separately. I have one section already set to go at a gate opening that leaves the property. The bridge will be set up as a lift out section to access the gate, I don’t think there will ever be any reason to have to remove it but ya never know.
This morning after 2 days of snow and mixed rain, seven inches on the track, and everywhere else. The good news is it is only supposed to last a couple of days then just rain.
Chuck, I don’t know how you and others in the “cold” places live with this crap all winter
Oh, here is a shot of the old bridge that Sean has been wanting to see, to bad ya can’t really see it
Now back to our regularly scheduled development update.
I could see right from the start that grade for the railroad was going to be an issue due to the raise in ground level going back to the hillside behind our property. Using a transit, well actually a “builders level”, I shot some rough grades to see what kind of challengers I was going to face.
After getting this information I scratched my head for a while trying to fit it all into a workable plan. If I established roadbed level at 44 inches above the train shop floor slab and maintained a level run I would only be 18 inches above grade at the ground high point at 140 feet away by track line. To further complicate the issue by using the 44inches as the “bench mark” and going the opposite direction on the wye toward the front of the shop the track, if kept level, would be some 70 plus inches above the existing grade by the end of the tail track.
Eighteen inches was not an acceptable height above ground for me, I like to maintain at least twice that height for comfort and visual enjoyment. The 44 inches as the train shop bench top was a little high but very doable, not perfect but a livable compromise.
By maintaining a 2% grade, well actually just a hair under, I could bring the extreme high and low points into acceptable height ranges above the walking ground level. This would also allow me to run the bench work level in the areas of sidings and still allow enough elevation to put me at 38 inches at my high ground point instead of 18 inches.
The area beside the shop was still a problem. Even going down at 2% grade there just wasn’t enough distance to make a significant drop in track height. Only option was to raise the ground as much as possible, hence the 8 tons of road base mentioned earlier. By doing this I was able to keep the far end of the tail track at 54 inches above grade, not great but it is what it is.
I don’t really like to have any grade on my railroads but short of major earth work and landscape re-engineering this is what we have. Also I tell myself that I am modeling a mountain railroad there should be some grades and switchbacks to keep things interesting.
The above picture isn’t the best to see the grades but allows me to point out the areas of change. As you look at the picture the far leg of the wye comes out and joins the tables along the fence. From the first bench leg you see on the right side to the end of the tables the bench work drops on the 2% grade. The tail track runs out level for 12 feet from that point. Because of the fence being level then going down grade and the bench work running down grade then going to level it creates a very interesting illusion.
Coming towards us in this picture the near leg of the wye and the first 4 feet of bench work are raising on the 2% then the next 24 feet of bench work is level to allow for sidings. From that point we will start the long climb up to the back of the barn.
Oh hell Rick, 7 inches of snow is nothing. The front retaining wall portion of my layout is 24" high. Right now the snow is about 6 to 8 inches above that. The tunnel is completely berried, in fact the only thing visible on the layout above the snow is the pine trees. I deal with this stuff every well, I STAY IN DOORS where its warm. Which means I’m either in the house or the shop, unless I’m out on my tractor blowing snow.
