Visiting Carl Hoffman's railroad

[tangerine-jack]

On one of my frequent road trips to strange and exotic lands, I happened by Carl Hoffman’s very nice garden railroad in Delaware. Since this is Capt Bob’s stomping grounds he came along for the ride and we both enjoyed Carl’s hospitality. The weather was a balmy 30 degrees and windy, so no trains were running but that didn’t seem to matter much to anybody. Carl runs battery/RC on aluminum track with cedar ties. Carl uses a minimalist approach to scenery; it’s mostly natural and heavily wooded with a few artificial water features. The overall effect is impressive without being overwhelming. Nice.

Carl’s railroad has a number of interesting features; the most noticeable is the large viaduct located front and center. I really needed to see this as my own Dixie D is going through a rebuild and I was stumped for an idea of how to easily make a low cost viaduct that looks great. Carl made his out of PVC, steel and blue foam. Sorry, Carl, I’m stealing your idea!



Here is another great feature of Carl’s railroad. This is a trestle built from cedar. I looks even better in real life!


This is what I came to see. Carl has a car float (temporarily closed for the winter) made from wood and styrene. Very impressive piece of work, and yet another idea I will probably adapt to my own railroad. There is a car float very similar to this still in operation on the Eastern Shore RR right in my own back yard (and I never knew!). This car float has it’s own little pond to sit in and is an important part of the railroad’s operation.





I thoroughly enjoyed my visit to Carl and I am looking forward to seeing more of the railroad later in the year when freezing to death isn’t a danger! Thanks, Carl, you’re the best!

[tmcc man]

Wow, that is a great looking line. I really like the car float idea. The only thing that e needs to do is make the pond larger, add an addition to the RR on the other side, and buy and R/C Tugboat to push it from one end to the other. Now that would be cool. Maybe I will be able to do that when I put my Garden RR in.

[ttrigg]

I agree, a tug would top it off. Doesn't need to be operational, however, that would make it so........!!!!!!!

[tangerine-jack]

There are a lot of fundamental problems with an operational car float, not the least of which is the scale 20ft tides every time it rains in our little ponds. I have a conceptual idea of how to do it without the float actualy floating, but sliding on two pieces of PVC or galvanized guide pipes. I will experiment with the idea and see if it is workable. I wasn't going to use a tug, but maybe a donkey engine with a rope?

Carl's car float is so well executed it really doens't seem to matter that it's only a prop. He went the simple route and it works very well.

[Ray Dunakin]

Beautiful! The viaduct is especially impressive.

[Anonymous]

The photos were terrific and i congratulate Carl on a great layout, i couldn't understand why you couldn't run trains at 30 degrees ; then i realised you were talking farenheit not celsius.

I have a very good viaduct it is 450 mm high 5 m long with 17 spans and i built it out of concrete (cement) using a "JIgstones" kit. The person that sells them lives near Syracuse University and i am not sure where that is in New York state in think.

Ian

[tangerine-jack]

Quite right, Ian, I apologize for not being more specific about it being farenheit. I thought about using the concrete, but it just wouldn't work for me well enough. Carl's way of doing it is very well suited to our particular environment. In fact I had come upon the same basic concept independently of Carl, but I couldn't get the finish work just right. Basicaly you sink a PVC pipe verticaly at the proper interval for the span, and use those for the structural support. Mine are filled with concrete with a stainless steel bolt set in the top for roadbed mounting. Around that you build the viaduct using blue foam covered with a thin layer of cement over chicken wire backing. What you have then is a solid roadbed (Carl uses structural steel, I'll probably use pressure treated wood) supported by PVC pylons, and the viaduct itself is really just window dressing. Easy and low cost with simple repair should the worst happen.

[bman36]

Hey there,
Thanks for sharing the visit with us. Less is more really does apply here. There sure is a lot of work done between the viaduct and the trestle. Nice! Later eh...Brian.

[Anonymous]

Cool looking railroad ! Thanks for the pictures . I like the viaduct idea too , might have to look into building one someday for my C J & M railroad .

[Anonymous]

NICE RR! Thanks for sharing!

TJ, better rethink the pressure treated wood thing, It might make the concrete explode[:0]. Wood moves plain and simple with change in humidity with relation to the moisture content. His use of steel works good because if I understood correctly it's out of the sun. Metal expands and contracts with heat or lack there of (like your track) but it being covered by the concrete it doesn't get direct sun so it stays more stable.