In the real world most mountains are made of just dirt/earth, and i guess the railroad companies install tracks in the usual way, with railroad ties, and ballast. But there are montainous areas that are solid rock. I would guess that they carve out a path and then plane a flat surface. But how do they place, and secure the track? Knowing that would tell me what it should look like so that i can make my modelling it look relistic. Does anyone know?
Same way as anywhere else.
Blast yourself a path, fill it out to level it, track and ballast like anything else.
www.rr-fallenflags.org/drgw/drgw-trn-dbr.jpg
HOnewcomerJBut how do they place, and secure the track?
If I remember correctly, Ambrose's book on the Transcontinental Railroad said they didn't even use ballast in some places. Durango and Silverton's High Line cost $100,000/mile in the 1800's. Could they have had custom T-shaped pieces of steel drilled into the granite and bolted to the track? Maybe, I wasn't there but I doubt it.
Ballast is your answer
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
Do a search for
how to make mountains and hills for your model railroad
Many links and videos you can keep. I just looked. Books you can buy.
Too difficult for me to explain.
Rich
If you ever fall over in public, pick yourself up and say “sorry it’s been a while since I inhabited a body.” And just walk away.
In the mountains a railroad track is rarely level. It is always either going up or down. The more steady the climb the lower the grade percentage will be and the easier it will be on the locomotives. In construction there is a process known as cut and fill. You cut the high parts down and use the rubble to fill in the low parts. Whatever rock you remove from a tunnel is also used in the fill. Either way you will always be building on a roadbed that has been graded. On top of that there will be your standard technique of ties and ballast. Besides holding the tires in place ballast helps drain water from the tracks and melts snow and ice.
HOnewcomerJBut how do they place, and secure the track? Knowing that would tell me what it should look like so that i can make my modelling it look relistic. Does anyone know?
Gravity. Gravity works the same on the plains as it does in the mountains. They grade a right of way and then put down ballast and track. No difference between mountains and prairies.
Dave H. Painted side goes up. My website : wnbranch.com
HOnewcomerJ In the real world most mountains are made of just dirt/earth
In the real world most mountains are made of just dirt/earth
Hills, perhaps. Mountains are pretty much all rock. Some have areas covered with soil and so can have grass and trees at the lower elevations, but mountains are basically rock pushed up due to geological forces.
Tunnelling through soft earth can be harder in the long run than going through rock. If the rock is hard enough, the rock walls are strong enough to hold up the tunnel. If not, extensive supports have to be put in place to prevent cave-ins.
HOnewcomerJ In the real world most mountains are made of just dirt/earth, and i guess the railroad companies install tracks in the usual way, with railroad ties, and ballast. But there are montainous areas that are solid rock. I would guess that they carve out a path and then plane a flat surface.
In the real world most mountains are made of just dirt/earth, and i guess the railroad companies install tracks in the usual way, with railroad ties, and ballast. But there are montainous areas that are solid rock. I would guess that they carve out a path and then plane a flat surface.
Important to remember that generally railroad track isn't built by just by placing railroad ties on the ground, attaching ties, and adding ballast around the ties. The railroad prepares the track bed by grading the line to be built, then adding a layer of cinders, then adding ballast, then track and more ballast. Building a rail line in a tunnel wouldn't be much different than normal rail line construction...maybe a bit closer to building a line on a ballasted deck bridge I guess.
They are pretty good at laying charges to blow the right amount of rock away, however, they aren't good enough to have a flat hard rock surface so they can just lay the track on that. There will always be drainage concerns and that requires loose rock. Without good drainage under the track snow and standing water would linger far too long.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
BigDaddy HOnewcomerJ But how do they place, and secure the track? If I remember correctly, Ambrose's book on the Transcontinental Railroad said they didn't even use ballast in some places.
HOnewcomerJ But how do they place, and secure the track?
If I remember correctly, Ambrose's book on the Transcontinental Railroad said they didn't even use ballast in some places.
Just to clarify, this was an example of substandard construction techniques the use of which is outside the scope of this thread. Track layed like this was a temporary expedient and was either quickly improved or fell apart.
I am not an expert, but I have read that track-laying will depend on expected longevity and purpose. For the logging industry, temporary tracks were a common practice, and some tracks were laid with little or no ballast. I saw historical pictures of tracks laid on floating logs on swamps! I assume that mainline tracks in the mountains will meet the highest standards as described by others above.
Simon
Thankyou for you input. That helps a lot.
Thankyou for your input. That helps me with my plans.
Thankyou for your insight. That helps.
Thankyou for your insights. I appreciate it.
Thankyou for a helpful reply.
Thankyou, thankyou. That helps a lot.
Curvy Potash by Mike Danneman, on Flickr
Regards, Ed