Progress on the Triple O

[ttrigg]

Glad to hear progress is being made.

Double check your photo link. I'm thinking you just copied the web address, instead of using the "share" link. Your link takes me directly to my Google Drive.

Hint: the "share photo link" is not so good of an idea, at least as I've found. I've created an entire directory and shared that with family and friends. Works well. Have a look at "Photobucket" from there you can paste the photo into the page here so that no one need travel outside to look at your photos.

[PVT Kanaka]

Latest update...

The form is a bit less straight than I hoped it would be, reflecting my lack of skill and the excite if dubiously useful help from my work crew, but the foundation is laid.  The perimeter is just over 100 ft.  I have some professional obligations that will prevent the retaining walls from going up in the next couple weeks, but progress is progress.  Still, I am backing down from my goal to have a mainline ballasted in by Christmas. At this point, I just want it filled with the sectional track down and tinkering for final arrangement in progress..oh, and train(s) running! 

In the meantime, the concrete has brought family and friends on board, as the whole thing is more than a dirty gash in the yard.  We will stage the retaining wall progress to allow us time to determine if it should be one or two blocks high.  CINCHOUSE, in the meantime, is developing her plant wish list, so all is well!

Here is a photo of where we stand at this point:  [View:https://drive.google.com/?usp=web_ww_after_dl#folders/0B4R0NqTe3DtiZWVUY1g2b2lRRkk:600:0].  Our cattle dog is inspecting the work!

[ttrigg]

By all means, keep the family excited and involved. Especially CINCHOUSE! 

As for photographs, there are a great many free cloud storage sites to put your photo and link them here. My two favorites are Photobucket and Google Drive. For videos, most use YouTube. All provide a link to photo (video) that is easily pasted into your text.

[PVT Kanaka]

Latest update... My leveling job seems to have succeeded.  I just need to see if we can figure out a date to lay the foundation and build the bed.  If the date slips too far, we'll hire someone for this phase.  I was going to upload a photo, but it seems I have to put in a hyperlink...I'll figure this out yet!

We visited the Hawaiian Railway Society to get some 1:1 motivation.  One of the volunteers had had a garden railroad and reconfirmed suggestions from earlier in this post - keep the family involved!  In this case:

1. If the wife wants a pink one, get a pink one!
2. If the kids want something goofy with eyes, get something goofy with eyes!

I'll post the next update when the bed starts to take shape.

Aloha!

[ttrigg]

Sounds like you are making progress and learning at the same time. Glad to hear of you success with CINCHOUSE. In my case SWMBO issued approval at each level of planning and construction. She only allowed me total freedom on one of her requests. "I want to be able to send a train somewhere and it not come back for a while." That meant a branch line leaving the pond area across the back fence to the other side of the yard where it wound its way among her fruit trees.

[PVT Kanaka]

Status update:  

• We dug out the retaining wall's perimeter.  CINCHOUSE has approved the final shape and size (phew!).
• Test fit some track to make sure we could actually turn the trains around at each end of the garden.  More digging followed; however, that is better than finding out I'd screwed up AFTER I had made the wall and filled the garden bed
• Following the father-in-law's inspection, I now understand what is meant by "leveling" the foundation.  Forgot about that.  More digging to come!  With the zoysia cut away, it is more a matter of breaking up and moving the sand, so that should be comparably quick.

Because i had not even thought about leveling, I am pushing my estimated fill date back to late July or early August.  Progress is nonetheless continuing!

[PVT Kanaka]

Thanks, Tom.  I wouldn't have thought of either trick!  Right now, it looks like we'll be on schedule to fill in late June or early July.  I'll post some photos as we hit various milestones.

[ttrigg]

Glad to here the progress report.

HINT: Just before you start to fill the bed do a couple of quick "fixes." 1. Put down a couple layers of cardboard boxes as ground cover. Will STOP any grass growing up into the layout. Garden fabric will do the same but cardboard is cheaper. 2. Use garden fabric up the inside of the wall to prevent your fill material from seeping through the "leak gaps". If you have any old 'plastic' cloth sandbags, they will work as well.

[PVT Kanaka]

Aloha,

FYI I have taken the advice of all those who gave so freely and finally put pickax to sod this weekend, trenching out the bed for the half hollow tile retaining walls for the garden.  The pile of concrete blocks had proved insufficient to get me going.  The 1/16 scale trench line through my backyard, however, is a motivator!  A few notes based on my earlier inquiries and experiences to date:

1. Sprinkler.  Positively confirmed Schedule 40 PVC.  Good to go!
2. Kids.  This was a great challenge, as whatever digging implement I wielded was the one they wanted!  Anyway, there was a lot of positive commentary on our plan to keep this an all hands,age appropriate project, so I manned up and worked through it.  
3. Construction.  We are proceeding with the raised bed, with a plan to leave gaps between blocks for drainage.  This, I am finding, allows for a degree of :slop" as I cannot leave surveying flags around the yard (See #2 above!).  Hopefully, this will have minimal impact down the pike when we lay track.

A round of 'flu put be back about a month, but we are moving forward!  I'll post updates as we go.

Thanks again to all!