Rebuliding the Dixie D Short Line

[tangerine-jack]

I’ve decided to make this my thread where I can place all my construction photos of my rebuilding of the Dixie D Short Line. The Dixie D started out about 5 years ago as an addition to the garden pond. Over time it grew and evolved as I experimented and learned, somewhat haphazardly. Last fall, I decided it was time to pull up ties and reform the railroad into something a little more planned out, using what I’ve learned from experience and from this forum. My biggest enemy at this point is time, I wish I could just take off a few weeks and work on the railroad, but since that is an faraway dream at this point, you will get irregular updates as I complete various stages of construction, with a before and after photos wherever possible. Ok, now to the railroad!

Track- I started out using Aristo-Craft sectional track, and I don’t see any reason to change it. I like the way it screws together (I’m still young enough to see the screws!) and it has given me exceptional performance over the last 5 years. I will reuse almost the entire track, but I will not reuse the switches/ points/ turnouts or whatever you want to call them, I’ve had 2 failures in a short amount of time and that is not acceptable to me. I plan on using LGB for switching duties.

Diameter will remain 4ft (2ft radius), I know that limits me in a lot of areas, but no design I could come up with using a larger radius worked. I have a rather large yard, but my actual space for the railroad is limited, so 4ft it is.

Track plan is similar to what I have now, but I will add one or two passing sidings near the pond for more interesting operations.

Control- Aristo TE with 10A power supply, plus I am converting some of my locos to batt/RC. I am planning to automate the passing sidings for hands-off train control, automatic start and stops with selective switching. I can't think what the official name for all that is, but I will be running two trains, one goes around and when it reached the station the switch is automaticaly thrown and the other train goes in the opposite direction and the cycle repeats.

Roadbed- raised. I originally used trenched/chicken grit roadbed and it worked great. After 5 years I’ve yet to have any real problems with it. The problem I do have is that the ground cover constantly grew over the track requiring frequent pruning with a pair of scissors, not real fun. Also by being on ground level it limited the visual impact of the trains and made the whole thing very dull in a lot of ways. The new track will run on a raised brick wall and viaduct with two lift out bridges for the walkway to the pool.

Plants- Most of the original plants will remain, with the addition of 14 new species. By using raised roadbed I can do a lot more with vegetation and not have to worry about encroachment into the right of way.

Pond- Major revision going on here. I am planning to say bye-bye to the waterfall and replace it with an in pond fountain spray. Two reasons for this, the first is the waterfall uses a lot of water from evaporation and constantly leaked, and two, I need the space for a little town. The pond will keep most of the original plants, except for the ones that have proven to be too invasive. The shape of the pond will change a little and all new edging will be put in place.


Overall before shot- this was I think the first or second year of the railroad


Here is some raw material for the new railroad- I'm not "cheap", I'm "thrifty"


A before and after pic




I'm no stone mason, but I figured I could handle a three brick high wall. The orginal road bed remains in place and is used as a footing for the wall.



This is a steel bridge in progress that will be front and center when the railroad is finished. You can expect to see more of its construction later………


The brick wall transitions into a viaduct to be constructed of PVC, wood and blue foam.



More to come- stay tuned![;)]

UPDATE...........................................

I completed one of two new passing sidings. This one is on the back side of the pond near the pool. I constructed another brick wall for the siding, then (not being "cheap" but "thrifty") I filled the center portion with building debris and topped with gravel. One of two passenger stations will go here.



Here is a current overview. It's dark, I know, but better lighting is part of my plan. Compare this to the first year photo taken at the same angle.

Stay tuned....................................

...........................UPDATE..............................
All righty then, it’s time for another update. I’ve started the removal of the waterfall area and converting that into a nice little town. I’ve also removed part of the stairs leading to the pool deck and even managed to get some seedlings down.

Here is a close up of the transition joint from the brick to the viaduct. I’ve left about a ¼” gap for expansion.


steps gotta go bye-bye



Steps are now gone- look at the space I freed up! The waterfall has been flattened in preparation for the town.



Here are some of the plants I’ve got going in. The first here is Monarda Didyma “Jacob Cline” commonly known as bee balm. I have these set in the back. I also have a map of all the plantings I will post once construction is completed.


This is Scabiosa columbaria, commonly known as “butterfly pincushion”


This is a good shot of the viaduct supports and some more seedlings. Ready for planting are Petroselinum Crispum, AKA parsley, and Coreopsis Grandiflora, or Sunray Coreopsis.


Here is a good before and after shot of what is now "Coreopsis Corner" and station. The old waterfall is completely removed and a short wall put up in it's place. Squatters and claim jumpers have already moved in to what will be the town. Obviously the plants are Coreopsis Grandifloras, giving the name to the area. Off to the far right on the after shot you can see the Scabiosa, as soon as the local greenhouse gets the stock in I'll be putting Liatris Spicata (spike gayfeather) and Echinacea Purpurea (purple coneflower) in the remaining space.



All materials and workmanship on the Dixe D SL are rigorously quality checked by the calibrated eye of Spliff the Wonder Cat. No job is "certified" until Spliff is "satisfied".

More to follow……………………..

[Ray Dunakin]

Very nice! Your brick wall looks good. The 4' radius curves sound pretty generous to me.

[kimbrit]

Off you go Jack, welcome to the work crew. I'd forgotten what hard work it can be getting them rails down on new ground, worth it in the end. Keep the pics coming.
Kim

[John Busby]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Ray Dunakin

Very nice! Your brick wall looks good. The 4' radius curves sound pretty generous to me.

Hi Ray
I hope he does mean radius
What it means is that most of what is comercialy avalable will get round it.
Got a USA Trains cat today and that's the recomendation for their stock.
Most live steam will not get round anything much smaller

Hi TJ
Keep us posted
signals this time ??
regards John

[tangerine-jack]

[vsmith]

Dont listen to them big enjin' guys Jack, those 4 footers are just fine....work well for me!

Besides I dont have anywhere to park that Big Boy either, I'd need to add another stall onto the garage for one! I'm finding that 4 foot diameter still offers a lot of opportunity for bigger engines than just the little 0-4-0s. My Climax is not tiny, nor is my Dunkirk, Aristos FA1 will do 4', so does the Rogers 2-4-2, as will Bachmanns Annie, mining Mogul and the siderod diesel (Wow thats a big engine). USAs SW will, I've managed to find that my Cheeepie Buddy L engine actually runs fairly nicely if not taxed too much, and thats a rather big engine (just make sure the tracks nice and level). But my "Monster" takes the cake! ...its almost 24" long and operates rather nicely on my tiny layout.


PS The "Monster" is still in the Lab, no pics for now, but I'll send progress pics via e-mail if you can keep the secret! Its a surprise for the BTS show....

One thing, watch the side to side camber on that raised section, dont want a train to fall off the side now do we.

[John Busby]

Hi TJ
Thats some signaling system you have chosen there.
I think I will stick with the manual signals I propose on using.
If I can find out what I want to know.
Which reminds me you where going to see what you could do
about producing a drawing of that bar signal for tracks crossing on the level.
regards John

[Train 284]

AWESOME! Can't wait for more updates!

[Capt Bob Johnson]

????? forum says updated 3/11, but last i can find is 3/2. Somehow maybe it's not listing a 2nd page?

[tangerine-jack]

I've been editing the original post. Look there for updates. When I get the whole thing finished I will nuke the topic and reform it into a compilation posting with before and after shots side by side with a detailed description of what I did. For now, I'm updated as I get the more obvious things done.

[FJ and G]

cool; thanks for photo updates.

How is the PVC viaduct constructed

1. How deep is it buried?

2. Is it filled with cement

3. How are the pressure-treated track supports attached to top of PVCs

thanks; and nice cat inspector[:D]

[ttrigg]

TJ:

If you were to put as much energy into working on your rebuild of the Dixie-Duh as you spend inciting riots and discontent with the residents of Rosebud Falls, the Dixie-Duh just might be an operational and marginally profitable enterprise.

But Nooooooo..... You gota run around the country side disrupting the lives of innocent citizens, dispatch your gangs of assorted thugs and hooligans to destroy other peoples property, and assault honest hard working fishermen.

Ain't life a blast! Especially when you've got "friends" to harass.

[tangerine-jack]

Now now Tom, this is the "play nice" thread! Besides, once the Dixie D is back up and running in it's new and improved form, Vinny and his delinquint friends will return to their proper rolls on the Dixie D as doormen and cooks. I'm just letting the boys blow off a little steam, no harm in that!

No real progress to report today, but the weekend is looking very nice, so I should be able to redo the pond. Stay tuned...............

[tangerine-jack]

QUOTE: Originally posted by FJ and G

cool; thanks for photo updates.

How is the PVC viaduct constructed

1. How deep is it buried?

2. Is it filled with cement

3. How are the pressure-treated track supports attached to top of PVCs

thanks; and nice cat inspector[:D]

The PVC pipes are hammered into the ground about 18-24" or until something very solid was hit. I filled them with cement and inserted a 3/8" SS bolt. The roadbed is attached with a low profile nut that will be countersunk into the roadbed then filed smooth. This way I can easily remove the roadbed for repair or additions.

[tangerine-jack]

Quick update:

Put in some more "scenery" this weekend. In the photo are coreopsis, scabiosa, sage, yarrow, monarda, echinacea, buddleia, and liatris, with creeping ground cover of flox, clover and shamrock. This coming week I’ll add spurge, alyssum, aster and stonecrop. By the end of summer it should all have grown in nicely.



Note the smaller pond in the picture, the old pond has been completly filled in. A smaller pond here gives me more room for plants and better visual impact. A new Koi pond is being dug on the left side of the foot bridge using some EVPM liner from the re-roofing job on my Armory building (waste not want not!). The city area is begining to take shape as well.

[ttrigg]

TJ:

Here in SoCal, spurge (at least our local variety) is considered to be a weed, grows so profusely that it has caused derailments. It spreads by root, seed, and rhizomes. To kill it off, I had to spray every week for six weeks, following up with a propane torch to burn off the dead.

[tangerine-jack]

Ah, but Tom, if you know your plants, you will see that almost every plant I picked is either a hardy wild flower or a native of Virginia, the ground covers are all considered "invasive" to some degree. Any plant that grows in an unwanted area can be considered a "weed". My idea is to have a low maintenance, vibrantly colored garden that can withstand brutal conditions and thrive. The ground covers will battle for dominance and choke out any grass that may pop up, the wild flowers won't care what the ground covers are doing, and the track is elevated out of danger of encroachment of the organics. The variety of spurge I'm planning on using is Euphorbia Epithymoides (cushion spurge), it doesn’t grow very well in the humid climate here and only reaches about 12” in height. I will take your warning into consideration and maybe substitute with Festuca Glauca (blue fescue). I may be a little slow, but I'm far from stupid. Now where did I put that Kudzu seedling?[:-,]

[ttrigg]

TJ

The variant of spurge we have here is MUCH different than what you describe. Our kind (not certain on the scientific name) grows from a single sprout to about six inch diameter and one sixteenth of an inch tall in a week (with lots of water) (without rain, make that three inch dia.) Given the right conditions in a month it can reach over a foot in diameter and half an inch tall. It grows up the hill, down the hill, it will even "crawl" under cinder blocks (if just laying on top of ground) to grow on the other side.

[tangerine-jack]

OK, I finally did something useful today, I went to the Zoo. But after that I got to working on my viaduct. I know I was going to use the blue foam, but a friend of mine gave me a sheet of ½’ by 4x8 ft of pink foam and not being “cheap” but “thrifty” I said OK. Anyway, apart from the color, it’s the same stuff as the blue. It was a quick and simple matter to cut a slice off the sheet with a utility knife, then fasten it to the roadbed with liquid nails and screws. Then I simply cut a rough archway with the utility knife. Later I will tidy up the cuts and put on the finish work.



I’m using copper flashing for the bridge supports where it meets the viaduct. I am hoping to make this area just a little fancier than my skill level currently will allow me to build. I figure if I don’t pu***he envelope, I’ll never progress.


This area will be known in the future as “Iandor’s corridor” in honor of Ian from down under, who did in fact inspire me to try the viaduct idea in the first place.


As always, a detailed inspection by Spliff the Wonder Cat is a Dixie D SL construction requirement. Let’s just say he was NOT pleased with the work, no not at all.



More to follow……………..[;)]

[Capt Bob Johnson]

Dern Finikey Cats! Get a dog; if it's edible it's ok, if not, they'll try. Once they figure they can't eat it, pee on it, or chase it, they don't care one way or the other about it!

Looks like you're progressing faster than I am, of course my labor force augmentation is restricted to "Teen whowants money" and he has to go to school.

[Ray Dunakin]

The viaduct looks great so far.

[kimbrit]

Nice work Jack, please get that foam painted a different colour before the neighbours start talking!![;)]
A pic of my recent efforts taken through the back bedroom window on a very rainy day in Blackpool.
Kim

[tangerine-jack]

Thanks Kim, don't tell me it's raining in England? Unheard of! [:D]

Anyway, a quick update

Before:


After:


Look how nicely the plants are growing up around Town:


Still lots more to do on the viaduct. I will be adding some side railings and maybe a little ballast. I should be able to run my first train in a week or two.

[Anonymous]

Looks great! I think I'll do an elevated line over and around my first project sometime in the future! I really like the bridge!!

[Anonymous]

TJ, Looking Good!

[Train 284]

Looking good!

[tangerine-jack]

Getting closer every day!.

[Anonymous]

TJ, glad to see someone making progress! Nice work.