The Kittatinny Mountain RR thawed out early this year do to some warm days. The guys will be able to start expanding the railroad by about another 50ft with a siding. They are working on the hardest part, that is removing the grass. I found just after the frost melts is the best time to get the grass up because it is very soft. Im about halfway done with the grass.
I also made the railbender from the Garden railraod article on how to make a rail bender. It was in one of the 2002 issues. It cost less then 10 bucks and actually works very well. (I was little worried that it was going to be hard to work with). I started bending the track in my garage.
Basically the layout is going to stay the same. I plan on expanding the right side of the layout by taking out the right side turn that comes off the s curve and connects with the tunnel. I dont have any way to draw what I want to do but as the trains comes off the s curve it will then ride down a long straight. From there it will go around an 8-10ft curve (3/4 of a circle) Then it will turn right with a short straight. From there it will connect with the straight from the tunnel entrance using a curve. Heres a picture of the current layout. All expansion will be on the right side.
The area is mostley level. Any low spots will become a high line or a trestle. I dont plan on putting any mountains in but I do plan on doing a lot more with rock and a possible water feature. I will also have a siding where I plan on putting in an engine house (double door) As I make some progress I will start posting pictures.
Sounds as if you are about to have more fun than you can handle. Patiently awaiting more pix.
Tom Trigg
Hi Snowshoe, It loioks great and the changes sound good. I hope you have confirmed with the other director that the changes are ok. In my part of the world the other director does the planting and bush trimming to keep track clear but any layout changes that may affect the flower beds have to be cleared before any alterations start.
Age is only a state of mind, keep the mind active and enjoy life
The good thing is i dont need permision, thats only because I have 9 acre. I can always plan around the flower beds LOL
I have the main curve complete and I was able to lay out the track in the basic area I plan on expanding. I still have to remove more grass but not as much as originally planned. I was able to conserve the dirt. I dig up the grass and then I put the grass in the wagon with grates on bottom. Then and mix the grass around until the dirt falls out of the roots and through the grates. Creating nice soft piles of dirt. Saves me money because now I dont have to buy any soil. Talk about me being cheep LOL Here is two shots so far of my progress.
Heres the rail bender I made. Works very well and I found it very easy to use. I just have to round off the corners so it is not as sharp. To bend the rail just bend the two halfs together to creat the curve you want. When putting the rail together you have to have the indents of the rail (between the top and bottom) ride along the middle larger washers. The rail passes through very smooth
I finally got the track down and balasted. It went a lot faster then I thought. I only had to do a few minor adjustments. I did a test run and the trains been going for a good two hours with no derailments. The part where I have the red block holding the track is going to be a mixture of log trestles and log piers filled with stone. (I saw this in my Logging RR book and really liked the way it looked). The area after the trestle is a high line with rock to hold the balst in. I plan on taking a few of the rocks out and replacing with some wood cribbing. SHould give it a nice touch. The siding is where I plan on moving the water tower, wood shed and tank. I also plan on making this the logging camp/very small town. I still have to secure the siding and bring it in a little closer to the main line. The inside is going to consist of a lot of rock work (at least thats the plan for now) I also might replace my current stream and put it into the new area.
I did not get to use the rail bender so no pictures of it with the rail going through. Hopefully when I work on the siding I will get that picture.
i love the way track looks when freshly balasted
Shawn
Looks as if you are indeed having more fun than authorized! Making me a bit jealous.
i know what you mean with the permission thing... i live on 1 acre myself in the country 2.5 miles from city limits. i need to sart at some point with getting going on garde railroading. i wouldnt mind something to run around the front of the house along the deck we have around the flowers. the deck doesnt stretch the whole front of the house, so i have a great turnaround place with where i can do a small town look if i wanted or fill in with flowerbed. i like how yours looks and need to get in gear and get started in this hobby.
I finished the siding and relocated the water tower, tank and wood shed. Here are some shots
Howdy Snowshoe, you’re doing fine work. I don’t recall seeing any overall photos of your railroad before. Not only is it a good looking railroad, but your setting has a nice inviting ambiance. Sure would like to pick one of your benches, the one under the tree, and just watch trains run breathing it all in.
Have fun, Rob
Snowshoe
The more pix of yours I see, the more I get the feeling of "putting on the old straw had, grabbing a tall glass of ice tea (adult flavored) kicking back and watching the local freight as it passes by."
Like I said, I'm almost starting to get a bit jealous.
Thanks guys. I have to admit do spend a lot of time on those benches just watching the trains go by. Something I will never get tired of doing. I even caught my wife sitting on the bench often. Of course she will never admit to it LOL
I spent the last few days working on my cribbing colums. I was going to make trestles until I saw a picture in one of my logging books that used this system. I liked it alot because it was something different. I wanted to get away from the more common trestles etc... I used wood from a P u s s y Willow tree that has spent a year drying out. I cut them to length and then shaved off the top and bottom of each end to make them flat and a small groove. This helps the logs fit better. Then I nailed the cribbibg together as well as used glue. At first I was going to keep the bark on but after carving one I really liked the no bark look. All I need to do is soak it good in some thompson water seal. Here are a few shots set up in my kitchen. They will actually be placed on a curve with some wood supports under the track connecting each colum.
Another winner of the REuse, REduce, REcycle award. Snowshoe, I enjoy construction projects where the "local native timbers" (read "yard waste") are the primary component of the project. Cutting up tree branches for loads is one thing, but to build something with clippings is another step.
Instead of going to the train show I was able to get my cribbing colums done. It worked out pretty well although somehow I screwed up the spacing. Hey nothing was perfect on logging railroads so I figured I leave it alone especially since the train runs great over it.
Looks like a little bit of a rise in the middle might have to fix although the train runs fine over it.
I took a short break from my expansion and decided to redo my creak. I was not crazy about it for a few reasons: one it was to much maint. The dirt would always wash into the creak. Second whenever the power went out the pump would stop causing the reservoir to overflow, when the pump came back on it would use up all the water in the reservoir just to fill the stream up. The third reason I wanted something with a waterfall. This is what I ended up doing. It came out great and no leaks. I did plant trailing ground cover all around the waterfall. Once they take over a lot of the rock will be broken up with ground cover. It should look real nice.
Looks like we are missing the fish and fishermen! Looking good my friend. Question: looks like you did not preserve treatment the wood, therefore you're not going to poison the fish. Is that true? What kind of fish are you planning?
ttrigg Shawn Looks like we are missing the fish and fishermen! Looking good my friend. Question: looks like you did not preserve treatment the wood, therefore you're not going to poison the fish. Is that true? What kind of fish are you planning?
Thanks: No fish in this one, too much to have to worry about. I want to be able to pour bleach in it when it starts to turn green. Plus its not big enough. I would love to have trout in it but gets too warm in the summer.
Thanks everyone for the kind comments. I have not done alot in the last week. Mainly because of the weather. Its been rainy one day, snow showers the next and cold. But I have been keeping busy with a few inside projects. I have been kitbashing my 4 HLW mini flats into new rolling stock. One I made a tender for my porter, the other Im making into a small box car, the other is a wooden gondola/ore car and the other is staying as a flat. No pictures until they are complete and painted. Today I did manage to do some rock work in the trestle area. Its been on and off snow showers all day. :-( Here is what I did so far. I built up behind the cribbing colums and on top I planted my spruce. I also added some rock work inside the layout. Still have more to do. Ground cover is slowly turning green.
Back side of the rock mountain
some of the rock work I started inside the layout
The weather has not showm much of an improvement but I did manage to get a little more work done.
I made a bumper for my siding. Used left over branches from my cribbing colums
I built up the mt one more layer high. This will make a great photo spot once the plants get established. (notice the dead guy LOL)
A further picture of the recent addition. I dug a trench and added stone for a dry stream bed
Bonus pictures
Love your "native timber" bumper.
For having "foul" weather you are getting more done than I am in sunny 60~75 degrees. Guess I'm going to have to get busy just to keep up. Thanks for sharing, of course you have given me a couple of ideas, unless your are claiming "copywrite infringement".
You might have your maintenance team take a look at that leaning water tower. If an OSHA inspector shows up you might be facing a big fine.
Get the Garden Railways newsletter delivered to your inbox twice a month