I'll try and gather a picture of the layout and am looking for some help with Oak leaves. Every year I get so many oak leaves that everything is covered. It's like a blanket of snow but oak leaves. I don't want to just keep piling them up around the layout. I was wondering if anyone has any good ideas for track laying to help make the yearly leave cleaning a much more pleasant one. LOL I am still learning to adjust and work around nature.
Thanks again everyone for all your help in everything.
J
I have a wooded lot with a lot of oaks and maples as well as some pines. I find the areas of my track which are below grade (in a "cut") fill right up with leaves, those areas that are raised on a "fill" tend to blow more or less clean of leaves. scale trees and buildings create a wind break which capture leaves.
The simplest fix is to have your entire layout raised from the ground with no artistic decoration in the form of trees and shrubs or buildings...but what is the fun of that?
If you can make alley-ways in those tough spots so you can get a rake or leave blower/vaccuum in to clean up leaves without wrecking stuff that will help.
P.S. Oak makes good firewood!
Winnegance and Quebec Railway
Eric Schade Gen'l Manager
captain perry Oak makes good firewood!
Oak makes good firewood!
That will definitely take care of your problem!
It does sound extreme, but the best thing that you can do for yourself and the future wear and tear on your body is to remove that tree. I have been fighting a 40' high Honey Locust and a 70' long 15' high Cedar hedge. I bit the bullet and had them removed. The yard looks huge and sunny. Anyone want to buy a leaf blower? Regards, Dennis.
If it is just one tree - cut it down! I have a 12" gauge live steam railroad that runs through the woods. It gets covered in oak leaves every fall. I try to keep them blown off the track, but it is impossible to keep it perfectly clear. So, every fall some of the leaves get run over by the train, squishing out the tannic acid, which combines with rain & dew to make the tracks slick as ice! Slick 50 must be made from oak leaves. When fall comes, a lot of time is spent blowing leaves off the track and sanding the rails. The leaves also tend to darken the white limestone ballast and stain the ties. It's just part of the fun of outdoor railroading.
However, it never occurred to me to cut down all the trees!
- James
Well I think I will just deal with it every year, whats a month or two plus the shade is awesome. It's really not that bad. These are some shots from the roof so you can have a good view of the layout. I'm hoping to expand this year around the entire layout back to the fence near the shed then deep into the vegetable garden. I'm hoping to go DCC soon in the next year to have lights and switches all controlled along with not having to run all those wires etc. I'm looking to improve some areas so if you have any opinions please share. Oh, I have 8 bags of leaves left if anyone wants some.
Thanks.
If it ain't your tree, it'll be your neighbor's. Falling leaves and other debris are just part of the fun of being outdoors. And the leaves of the oak tree are really the least of your worries. Acorns will quickly and easily roll a locomotive onto its side.
I use a leaf blower to clear the leaves off my railroad. I set it on the low setting, which is strong enough to move most of the leaves, but not disturb the figures, ballast, or other details. Or you could use a leaf vacuum. My dad uses a shop-vac to do the fine cleaning on his railroad, as he's got a gazillion pine needles to deal with (in addition to oaks and many other flavors of tree. His isn't called the "Woodland Railway" for nothin'.)
Later,
K
Very true. I did invest this year in a combination leaf blower/vac. As you can see there is no such thing as grass in my garden railway, just leaves and dirt. I figured others come into the same issues but wondered what they did. I do blow it off once a week and fine tune it up. I think this is the first year where the acorns are more of an abundance than the leaves. I've still have a lot of work ahead of me but keeping nature is a must and finding new ways to work around the yearly changes is part of the fun.
I visited a railway here in Wisconsin that put down large pieces of mesh (landscape fabric) when leaves started falling. They would haul away the mesh and leaves after most of the drop was over.
Rene Schweitzer
Classic Toy Trains/Garden Railways/Model Railroader
Admittedly bushes and trees can cause issues for outdoor railroaders: but hey, as other posters hinted, that's part of being outdoors. Just think of all the dust that can accumulate on the smaller indoor railroads.
I have a small pine that deposits resin on the track at certain times and many of the bushes here drop leaves and seeds - which do germinate in the ballast. My principal tree that causes work is a large magnolia. Petals and husks, long seed pods, leaves which all arise at differing times of the year.
However, as I have passed the three score and ten mark, I find the work needed to keep the ROW maintained beneficial to mind and body and it does get you outdoors.
In my view interest in outdoor railroading can be maintained just because there is more maintenance to track and stock in our scale than the smaller ones in other words there is always something to do.
Alan, Oliver & North Fork Railroad
https://www.buckfast.org.uk/
If you don't know where you are going, any road will take you there. Lewis Carroll English author & recreational mathematician (1832 - 1898)
G'day and congratulations on your attitude. Trees drop a few leaves, but they bring shade and beauty, they produce oxygen from carbon dioxide, and they ask nothing in return. In my backyard the trees attract birds and their song can be heard in some of my videos. It is enormously pleasant sitting under a tree, enjoying a beer, listening to the birds sing and the trains chuff.
I have a mulcher and I put the leaves and the odd branch through it to make mulch. I mix this with kitchen compost and a few lawn clippings and my garden looks fantastic most times of year. Long live mother nature!
Mick
Chief Operating Officer
Northern Timber Company - Mt Beenak
LOL be glad you live in FL. Try dealing with the leaves in the fall here in the Northeast. My layout gets completly burried with leaves in the fall. The best solution is before the leaves drop I take up all my little things like figures etc.... and smaller buildings. When the leaves are done falling I take a leaf blower and the layout is clear within a few minutes. Its all part of the fun and it only happens once a year for less then a month.
You could hire some workers to help out!
Charlie Brown hired two new guys to run the blower! His forman Grommet got to meet them. Hmm not to shure! ( Thing 1 & thing 2 )So he tells his superviser and was told he has to keep them!He then asks his friend what to do.His friend ( Charlie's buddy) asked Charlie if he can get rid of them?? NO part of the union!So they talked to the union rep!!He said it was amazing what those two could do!!
And you thought you worked with clowns!!!Sean
Kevin is right, leaves are part of being outdoors. I am completely in the woods, huge oaks, beaches, and maples. Tons of leaves. I have four leaf blowers. A huge back pack one, a hand held gas one, a hand held electric one, and a cordless one. I just keep blowing the leaves out into the woods. I routinely use the cordless one before every running session. That keeps the tracks clean, and it is always a good thing to walk the tracks periodically to just check on things.
By the way Kevin, just as bad as acorns, are those golf ball sized prickly fruits from a sweet gum I hate those things. I only have one sweet gum in the yard, and it is very prolific, but am considering removing it. I call myself a leaf herder. That's really what I do.
Paul
Ugh, yes... the gum balls. Nasty things, and murder on bare feet. Dad's got a grove of them in the side yard giving name to one of his towns, "Gum Grove." I will say, however, that they're easier to kick out of the way, and to date, the squirrels have not escalated to strategically dropping them as they do the acorns while the trains pass underneath.
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