Building a revese loop

[Marty Cozad]

Its not what you may think. The idea is to be able to reverse a whole train around yet not making it to apparent.
Once i finally have all the thoughts click in my tiny brain ,things start to happen.
Before

The main body of the RR is a big dog bone. I want to run a track from the lower center to the upper right bridge.

He with my chief engineer SPIKE you can see the plants have been removed and from the bottom of the photo the mark in the dirt and I also layed a switch to the far right of center where it wiull go. We will go around the tree. (because they get bigger than you think,,FAST.)

Looking north

The farm has been in deep need of repair for a long time . so this is good . the RR will pay for lots of their repairs since the RR bought some of the land and right-of -way.


here you can see the path of destruction. I want to make it easy for folks to access the switches.


I also installed the extra plants in front of the Garden metal Models bridge hoping to stop people from walking over it. they miss the stone path by 2ft.
This new line will only need about 32ft of track and I can store a train on it when not in use.

[Marty Cozad]

Next step is grade stacks. I know that the line at the bottom of the photo is about 2" higher than the far line. So i use a 4ft level to see who much dirt has to be moved.

When i get to the far end I start back hammering the stacks in till i split the difference the whole 22ft.
I plan to leave the dirt "cut" to give some age to the area. This is a midwest hilly boring area.

[cit51]

Marty Keep up the great work. It must be great working on the railroad this time of the year. I cann't find my tracks,under 2 feet of snow. Dave Reed

[Marty Cozad]

Dave , I feel for ay bud.
OK,, I am lazy, I went out and bought some steel.

There is about 6" of fill at the south end and this way it saves so much time. Now I just have to back fill and install the track.

Coupler of extra pointers later.

[Anonymous]

I hope trains don't run late at night! The poor souls who bought that house are going to be upset!
Marty, have you noticed any expansion problems with the steel roadbed method?

[Marty Cozad]

Matt
Not yet, Jens told me I need one every 80ft. but my eastern line was put in on 100 degree days so far no problem. I am going to remove the screws from under the ties in many places and screw the ties to the roadbed and then the rail can move easier.

[Anonymous]

Just wondering, I've had steel doors in masonry frames on comercial buildings that operated well in the morning but couldn't open in the afternoon because of the heat from the sun. And no I did not set the frame the masons with the bad level did[:D]

[Anonymous]

Looking very nice Marty, I love seeing photos of people working on the railway.Gives me ideas.
For once,my garden is under 6 inches of snow .
Any website for this steel base thing.Looks interesting.
Troy

[Marty Cozad]

Troy
no sites, I have couple of threads on MLS if you use search for steel roadbed.
Matt Last summer I ran the eastern line the whole time and no problems. Plus the canyon bridge has been up for 3 years and its 25ft long and no problems. I understand doors, I have couple simple storm doors on the south side of houses that heat up and soften the sealer around the entry door window. I warn folks about how hot a steel door can get that is on the south or west.
I took about two hours and had this 32 ft cut and installed. its ready for track. No worry about washouts, no track moving out of line or the dog kicking it.

[Marty Cozad]

Got a few things done today.

Got some work done around the farm,,heheheh

[;)]
Moved lots of dirt from the grain Elevator area. Now I just need track.[^]
John J. asked about the revese loop. Yes i will have to back the train up at the same place I came onto the loop, which is a slight down grade and a long straight section ;and with body mount couplers on the cars its no big deal.
The lower loop has not been able to reverse a whole train. The upper loop we do short trains.
The lower loop is not around the 500 ft mark. I think??

[Marty Cozad]

Track finally came and after weathering it, I installed it. This time I'm tring a method of removing all screws from the bottom so the ties are free. Thus after screwing the ties down the rail can move with the heat yet stay some what in line.


Will for sure be a great rail fanning spot after the plants all fill in. Remember it takes about a year for an area to start to fill in.

[Marty Cozad]

Before



after