The In-ko-pah Railroad!

[Ray Dunakin]

I finally have some pics posted of the work in progress, from the beginning up until almost the present:

http://albums.photo.epson.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=3009006&a=32116967

I also knocked out a crude 3D model so you can get a rough idea of what I have in mind. This is the first pic in the album. The second is a simple overhead view of the model, showing the basic trackplan. No spurs or sidings, and some of the route is a bit speculative at this point. Especially the upper levels of track, which may differ from the plan once I get that part of the hill cut and shaped.

I took eight days off from doing any heavy work, such as lifting or digging, to give my back a chance to heal. It's still not up to par but is holding up. Yesterday I collected a load of rocks and today I did a little bit of light digging, rock placement, etc.

During the downtime, I laid and ballasted a few feet of track leading into the first tunnel. Today I finished a small trestle too. No pics of that yet but you can see the wooden abutment for it in the pic of the ballasted track.

Tomorrow I may try casting some concrete abutments.

[kstrong]

That's one heck of a hillside! Keep the photos of your progress coming. It's certainly a very ambitious project, and the progress thus far looks great. Backbreaking, but great. Hope your chiropractor's on speed dial.

Later,

K

[Anonymous]

Kind of reminds me of my garden railroad.

[vsmith]

Dang thats going to one heck of a layout!

If any layout ever cried out for an LGB Uintah mallet, this on is it! It would look so at home on it.

[Ray Dunakin]

I just posted some new pics, beginning with this shot of the "roadside quarry" where I've been getting my rocks:

http://albums.photo.epson.com/j/ViewPhoto?u=3009006&a=32116967&p=73966259

I've finished the first tunnel and four small trestles, and made some progress on the second tunnel. A couple of the trestles have nifty concrete abutments formed over and around the "bedrock", just like the real thing.

Lately I've been removing a lot of dirt from the upper part of the hillside, mainly the soft top layer. Once that's gone I'll rent an electric jackhammer with a spade bit so I can cut the hard stuff into shape without further ruining my back.

Getting rid of the excess dirt is a real chore. I have to haul it, one wheelbarrow load at a time, to the edge of the canyon next to a neighborhood park. That's about 4-5 blocks each way. I can only get four 5 gallon buckets full of dirt in each load. Any more than that and it gets too hard on my back.

[FJ and G]

Ray,

I appreciate your efforts and sharing your photos. You've really nicely arranged your jumble of rocks into something I can envision as believable and you've made excellent use of your sloping topography.

I look forward to more photos in the future.

Keep up the good work. It appears you're having a lot of fun too!

[ttrigg]

QUOTE: Originally posted by FJ and G

Ray,
You've really nicely arranged your jumble of rocks into something I can envision as believable and you've made excellent use of your sloping topography. I look forward to more photos in the future. Keep up the good work. It appears you're having a lot of fun too!

Ray;

I think David said it all, you are building your terrain to meet the needs of your GRR theme. Fantastic!!!!!! Also being from S.D. (Oceanside) I'm curious just where your "rock quarry" (pic #12) is located. My wife thinks that is along hwy 67, and I have no idea.

[Ray Dunakin]

Thanks! Yes, my "quarry" is long highway 67, about a mile or two north of Slaugtherhouse Canyon Rd.

I'm having lots of fun on this, especially making the scenic elements. I've always loved the desert, and enjoy recreating it in miniature.

BTW, back around 1982 or '83 I did some of the Carriso Gorge scenary at the San Diego Model Railroad museum. Unfortunately I was only able to do a couple square yards or so before I lost my transportation and couldn't get down there to finish it.

[Ray Dunakin]

Had to stop taking excess dirt to the canyon area -- some environazi threw a fit (literally screaming at me) about "ruining the environment".

The so-called "environment" is a bare patch of dirt bordered by a sidewalk, some non-native iceplant, a couple non-native eucalyptus trees, and a few dead weeds. It's basically a toilet for the neighborhood dogs. Anyway, the jerk reported me to the city and I had to remove the dirt I'd put there. Which wasn't very much, probably wouldn't have filled the bed of a small pickup. Got rid of the last of it this morning. BTW, the gas burned during the numerous trips required to haul it away in my SUV had a far greater environmental impact than the dirt itself ever could.

In the meantime, I've also had to remove more dirt from my hill than I thought I would. So far I've just been piling it up in the lower yard until I can figure out what to do with it. I may try putting an ad in the paper for free fill dirt. If that doesn't work, I guess I'll have to hire someone to haul it away.

Currently I'm in the process of cutting away the upper level of the hillside so I can create the roadbed and lay track coming up from the lower level. Some of it will go through a series of tunnels, and once the tunnels are built I can fill in the hill again. Most of it will be built up with rocks, both for appearance and to act as a retaining wall of sorts.

When I get a little farther I'll post some new pics.

[FJ and G]

Man does that really suck (even tho he's legally right). I've got a neighbor who is similar to the one you have (there always has to be a bad egg). Sorry to hear that!

I went back thru your photos and found some useful things I might be able to use on my layout such as your concrete abutment.

I think your 3-D map of the layout is pretty novel. Sure a lot of rabbit holes for the trains. [:D]

Looking forward to more photos

[Anonymous]

ROCKS!!!! that's what I need a place to get some rocks.....Living on Maryland's Eastern Shore there are no rocks. I can't find any rocks at all?? I know of plenty of places in West Virginia....too far to drive. I'll be making a trip to Leesburg Virginia next week, I'll see if I can get some rocks there....

Your layout is looking great!!!! a lot of work...but a great job!!

dan

[Chompers]

HOW Did you make that small stone wall to hold the tracks up?

Looks great!

And i thought my hill was steep[:)]

[markn]

Ray-rent/buy/Tivo "The Great Escape"-just go for a walk around the neighborhood with your legbags everynight.

[Ray Dunakin]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Chompers

HOW Did you make that small stone wall to hold the tracks up?
Looks great!

Thanks! The "stone wall" was pretty easy. I roughed out the basic shape with vinyl patching cement and let it set. Then went back and added another layer of cement. While that was still wet, I pressed small, thin stones into it. In gathering the rocks for my mountains, I found a few rocks that had broken off in very thin sheets. I was able to cut those into roughly square shapes with a tile nipper.

[Ray Dunakin]

New pics!

I just posted a few new pics, beginning with this shot of the wooden tunnel portal I built:

http://albums.photo.epson.com/j/ViewPhoto?u=3009006&a=32116967&p=74072222

The timbers are red cedar and the planks were made from popsicle sticks. It was patterned after the wood framed tunnels of the Carriso Gorge. I painted the whole thing with Behr Semi-Transparent oil-latex stain, which approximates the reddish brown paint on the prototype. I had orginally used it on a doghouse several years ago and had some leftover.

The next set of photos show the mountain at the east end, as construction moves into phase two. I'm putting in the upper level tunnel and have some temporary track in place. Eventually there will be a beam or plate girder bridge spanning the gap where the track comes over the lower level tunnel portal. There will also be a trestle holding up the track where it curves around the mountain, and then as it comes off the mountain there will eventually be a long plate girder bridge. Currently I just have some concrete blocks holding up that end of the track. I've also begun building the top half of the mountain, so now it doesn't look like the top's been cut off.

At the end of the photos are two special pics. One is a shot of the old water tower at Dos Cabesas. I plan to build a scale model of it for my railroad. The last pic is a granite mountain in the desert that has a wide, dark stripe running through it. The stripe is as straight as if it were drawn with a ruler. I'm hoping someone can tell me what the correct term is for this unusual geological feature.

(From the above link, you can click through to the rest of the photos. Or you can use the link below to see the whole album...)

http://albums.photo.epson.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=3009006&a=32116967

[Anonymous]

"Had to stop taking excess dirt to the canyon area -- some environazi threw a fit (literally screaming at me) about "ruining the environment". "

Dang, now I've heard it all, I could understand if you were moving contaminated soil, or some such rot, but clean local fill.... I assume you should have no problem getting a buyer or at least a taker of the soil without having to pay to have it removed. You could do it after dark in black cammo...., with mission impossible theme song blaring on your head phones.... I love your layout, it makes what I have been doing look easy, and gives me ideas for my friends back yard which has a "steep" slope, but no where as steep as yours, which with his we would just use the excess to level up part of his yard.

[tangerine-jack]

I like the great escape idea, you could leg-bag the dirt then engage in a high speed Triumph-made-to-look-like-BMW motorcycle chase across this dude's yard. Yeah, I like that idea a lot.

BTW- great railroad! Certainly an evironmental improvement.

[Ray Dunakin]

I'm building my first plate girder bridge for the In-ko-pah Railroad. At risk of blowing my own horn, I'm really excited about how well it's turning out! I just painted it today. The simulated rivets look better than I'd expected.

I decided to use 1/8" thick G10 fiberglass for the main structural components. This is a material I'm familiar with from my other hobby, high power rocketry. It's extremely rigid, durable, and dimensionally stable.

I used Plastruct styrene angles for the ribs and flanges. Not the best choice for outdoor use, I know. But I figure as long as it's painted and protected from UV rays, it should be ok for these non-load-bearing elements.

The tricky part was simulating rivets. I'm not a "rivet counter", so I don't care if they're perfectly accurate. But I love the look of rivets, and feel that the bridge would look naked with them.

At first I tried dimpling the styrene with a punch, but the styrene angles are pretty thick which made it hard to get consistent results. Worse yet, it distorted the shape of the piece.

So what I ended up doing was dipping the tip of a nail in some thick acrylic craft paint, and dabbing it onto the surface. When it dries, it leaves a small bump. It doesn't really protrude as much as a rivet should but stands out just enough to look like there's something there.

Currently I'm making a mold to produce the pedestals (aka "shoes"). I built one up from styrene and a piece of wood, and used it as a master to make a silicone mold. Then I can cast as many as I want.

Next I have to add the ties, rails and a catwalk. I also plan to weather it to look a bit rusted, maybe even add a bit of graffiti.

I don't have pics yet but should have some in a few days.

[Anonymous]

Hav'nt read thru all of the responses to see if you got an answer to the dark section of photo 24 but looks like a geologic dike, an igneous intrusion into older layers.

Your hillside layout looks good.

Bill

[Anonymous]

Ray, I now wish I had called you back in February when we were in El Cajon. On top of it I would have loved to take some of your dirt (if you were closer). I had 30 yards of fill delivered to make one of the gardenrr plots that we are redisigning. It's 60' by an average of 35 ' and 18" high. Maybe next winter when we head for Ventura County.

Bill

[Ray Dunakin]

Made a lot of progress this week.

The plate girder bridge is finished except for the rails -- still waiting for my order of spikes and tie plates to arrive.

I also finished the upper level tunnel at the east end, and built most of the mountain over it. The wooden tunnel portals look great. There'll be an access path across the mountain, with part of the tunnel acting as a step. The concrete slab covering that part of the tunnel is designed to lift out so I can reach into the middle of the tunnel. There are stones on either side of it, so from most angles it just looks like a mountain there.

As you step down from the tunnel, there's a second step made of natural stone and tinted concrete. It blends in nicely with the rocky terrain.

I spent much of today digging out part of the hillside to form the upper end of a canyon, and also carving out the roadbed for the tracks.

I've been using so many rocks lately that I'm close to wiping out the original rockslide I've been taking them from. So last night I knocked down a few more big rocks that were precariously perched on the cliff and would have fallen sooner or later anyway. Although there was no danger of them getting past the concrete barricade along the road, I wanted to do this after dark when there was no traffic so no one would get the wrong impression. After the dirt dumping debacle, the last thing I want is some idiot stirring up trouble and possibly shutting down my rock source.

No new pics yet. Hope to have some posted in a few days.

[Anonymous]

I would love to see how this railroad turns out.

[vsmith]

Ray thats coming along great!

PS you asked what that geologic formation was in pic 24, its could be an Intrusion, where the rock fractures and molten material forces it way into the gap, later cooling and solidifying becoming part of that geologic mass. Intrusions can be as small as a few mm's or so big it can be mistaken for a completey different geologic layer.

It could also be a seperate geologic layer set down on the bottom of a sea then compressed hardened and uplifted and tilted when the mountains pushed the rocks up thru fault action. leaving it the way you see it

To me it looks like a magma intrusion from an ancient volcano. If this is in our Calif deserts this is almost 100% sure. theres lots of ancient volcanos and cinder cones out there. Later Vic

[Ray Dunakin]

Well, I finally got a few new pics uploaded. Nothing too spectactular but you'll see that I've made a lot of progress since the last pics.

This shot shows one of the wooden tunnel portals installed in the end of a tunnel. This is at the east end of the layout, on the upper level tunnel.

http://albums.photo.epson.com/j/ViewPhoto?u=3009006&a=32116967&p=74245598

From there, you can scroll through the rest of the pics. Or use this URL to view the entire album:

http://albums.photo.epson.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=3009006&a=32116967

The upper level tunnel and the "mountain" above it are basically finished except for a few small things. Eventually there will be a mine on the side of the mountain and a short spur next to the tunnel. A footpath crosses over the tunnel, with steps designed to blend with the rocky terrain. The top step is a slab of concrete with handles set into it. It can be lifted off for access to the tunnel interior.

One canyon has been completed from the low end to the upper level.

I decided to use pressure treated 2x8's to form a divider between the layout and the loose dirt and iceplant at the top of the hill. These are held in place by metal stakes and also by the rocks that form the "mountains". It looks a lot neater and will make it easier to keep the iceplant from growing down over my mountains.

I also finished the scratchbuilt plate girder bridge I've been working on. I don't have any good pics of it yet and also haven't installed it. However, there's one shot in there where you can see part of it, placed temporarily before it was completed.

[Ray Dunakin]

Installed the plate girder bridge today. Next I'll be building a trestle on the curve just past the bridge. Once that's done, then I need to build a four foot long plate girder bridge that will be the main span on a viaduct carrying the upper level track over the double track below and across a canyon.

Meanwhile, I'm also working on advancing the landscape work westward. That end of the hill has more tough sandstone, but the recent rain has helped a bit.

[tangerine-jack]

Very nice so far! It is truly shaping up to be a premier garden railroad.

I could only wi***o have some terrain to work with. I'm flat, so terribly flat.........
[:(]

[vsmith]

Dam Ray

Thats loking so real its getting scary. Evey time I look at pics of your layout I keep thinking of Carrizo Gorge and the SD&A RR. Have you considered adding a wood trestle somewhere on your line? It would be such a terrific addition for your layout!

[Ray Dunakin]

The Carriso Gorge was my inspiration for this layout. I do plan to have some trestles. The girder bridges are being used in spots where a trestle wouldn't be practical.

[Ray Dunakin]

Haven't had much time to work on the layout this month due to the grandkids visiting (meaning we've been taking them to the zoo, etc) plus my wife's medical appointments, biopsy etc (all results normal, thank God!)

But I have managed to squeeze in a little work. Mostly digging out the west end of the hill, which had the hardest "sandstone" type soil. I thought I'd have to rent a jackhammer for that area, but since the last rain I've been hosing it down every day. That's helped a lot. Before, the pick would only penetrate the surface about an inch. Now it's much more manageable.I'm also taking it a little at a time, and cutting trench-like steps into the hill as I go. These help to catch the water and give it time to really soak in.

I've also built a pair of long, parallel tunnels for the two tracks at mid-level. These will have removable covers in the middle in case of derailments, etc. I had planned a short tunnel but this way I'll be able to put in a larger mountain in the middle of the layout and do something more interesting with the track on the upper level.

And I'm working on building a small curved trestle on the side of the east-end mountain. It's a challenging bit of engineering. Each bent of the trestle has to be fit to the shape of the slope, with the legs cut to different lengths. Each leg rests on a concrete pedestal that has to be cast in place. Just like the prototype, I've had to "blast" (actually chisel) away some of the stone to cast the foundations. The whole process is time consuming but fun.

[MTCarpenter]

Man, I wish I lived closer also. I could use some fill dirt.

What a great layout! You're really making it fit well into the hillside.