For the first time in too many months (a good thing we are not on a fast clock!) a surveying/engineering crew was sighted on the mainline of the Vail and Southwestern Railroad today. There had been skepticism on the part of exectutive management that the right of way was actually going to be used, but this appears to have been misplaced. Even so some management is still not very interested:
Others are stern:
And yet others are wide-eyed with excitement:
The crews were surveying the mainline east of Vail, which eventually will (hopefully) bring to mind this scene:
Jeff But it's a dry heat!
Continued:
The new construction will take place in this area:
The surveying work took place across the garage:
Yes, that's water outside. A nice thunder storm came through this afternoon, making work in the garage much more bearable!
Eventually resulting in this:
as well as the next piece in line. Those will make up the roadbed that runs cut into the side of the wash/creek. This weekend crews hope to mount this roadbed in place, and, if luck holds (and it isn't too dang hot) to add the upper track. The construction crews have let management know that a spline roadbed construction might have been much easier, once the strips were cut, as laying out the templates, even at one-to-one was a pain (the printer doesn't always pull the paper exactly square, for text it doesn't matter, for this it does). The designer told them to quit whining and get back to work, though he is seriously considering their position!
Here is the plan, so you can see how it fits in:
Lower level:
Upper level:
All of the benchwork is in, the helix is complete (though probably needs a thourough cleaning, and I have no idea how it has survived the heat of the summer) and the upper level track from the helix to the corner opposite the helix has been layed.
After and off day that included grilled steak (that someone else cooked) and a swimming pool (that someone else takes care of) crews were back to work on the Vail and Southwestern this afternoon. And there was roadbed:
Maybe there will be track down this week! Or not, that remains to be seen.
Here is a shot of the area above the helix. Since it is pretty high, this pic is the best I've seen of what it looks like. My son did the ballast, as we have been trying to get a feel for things.
Alright! There is a right of way, and soon there will be rails. And at some poitn perhaps terrain! At some point there is going to need to be a bridge:
This is N scale. The deck girders at either end can be done easily enough, I think ME's versions will do. The Truss in the middle is more of a challenge. I would really like it to look enough like the actual that someone who has been there will know what it is. I just haven't seen anything that has yelled to me that it could be adapted. I am thinking scratchbuild, and it would be a great project, but I'd like to use the time on the rest of the railroad, right now. So, does anyone have any suggestions for kit bash cadidates for this?
Those hardworking N scale people were back at it tonight. Last night they layed the cork on the lower line, tonight they caulked down three pieces of flex. Not a lot, but a little bit at a time helps. The broad S curve along that line really looks good with the track on it, but they forgot to take the camera out there tonight. While they were doing that (who am I kidding, it was me....so after they did that) I built up the turnout that will create the spur in the corner (at Vail, the town between the tracks) though I still need to make and glue down the wooden ties. I think that in the 50's that siding actually should have joined back up with the main, and there may have been several more, but it isn't happening! I want to have room to put a couple of the recognizable buildings in there. In the midst of all this, my son was fixing a bike, and had the garage door open. As he was going out once he came face to face (perhaps face to foot) with a rather large tarantula. He was sufficiently impressed to say that he might reconsider his habit of not wearing shoes in the garage. I was working on the turnout near the front of the garage, and later, after the door was closed, I headed back to the layout to see how it was going to look. Then I met (at a range of eight or ten feet) an even larger tarantula. I think I exclaimed! I went in the house, and my wife came out with a camera, and a son. If the pic gets uploaded I'll post it. They herded said tarantula out of the garage. I think I've seen more this summer than I have before, and quite large......
Anyway, that's the story of the evening's work. I find that posting here helps motivate me, feel free not to read it if it is not interesting! I'll try to post more pics, they are always more interesting than my drivel!
Jerry SP FOREVER http://photobucket.com/albums/f317/GAPPLEG/
Tarantulas! oooooooooooohhhhhhhh. Two inch barn spiders make my adrenelin flow. I'd carry my .357 around if we had tarantulas.
Oh yeah, the layout is really progressing. Nice work. Keep up the momentum.
Karl
The mind is like a parachute. It works better when it's open. www.stremy.net
So they were at it again tonight, got the new turnout in, and the cork and track on the upper line. So here are some pics:
The curvy lower line:
I think in real life it looks even 'curvier'. The wheels scream as they go through. This track is cut into the side of the creek'wash about half way down.
Where the tracks cross:
The ticks on the side of the raodbed on the top track are about where the different bridge sections are. From the left there is a short deck girder (I'm going to use 40 feet, I think it might be a little shorter), then the first truss span. I making each of the two about 140 feet. That might be a little small but it will get the depth proportion about right and leave room for the lower train. I couldn't get quite as much clearance as I would have liked and gotten the tracks back together when I wanted.
Another angle:
No undesired wildilfe spotted tonight! There were bats drinking from the hummingbird feeder, though, so it will be empty in the morning when the hummers want to drink!
Last night there was more progress. I built the skeltons for two more turnouts, and glued up the ties for one. Then I wanted to start terraforming, and I realized that I didn't really have anything to connect to in the front. So I got out the saw, and:
Today I hope to cut up some cardboard and make some terrain, if non-railroad tasks don't take over!
I've got no clue what I'm doing, I hope it works out. I have watched the Dream Plan Build videos (which have a couple of relevant sections) and Joe Fugate's videos. It looks like it can be done, but it is intimidating. I need to get over my fear of backdrops pretty soon, too!
Well, there is a new update, some time later!
As happens so often, life intervened. There was a rather complete change in management (a divorce, and, eventually a remarriage), a total makover of the residence, and a departure of children. There was a unanimous decsion that the house that was holding the railroad was too large, on more land than we wanted to keep free of weeds. So, the somewhat bittersweet (we had done so much work on the house that it was looking pretty nice) decision was made to dismantle the railroad, and move to a smaller place, on a much smaller lot.
The move was made over a weekend, the following Tuesday it was learned that I had cancer, and would require radiation, surgery, chemo, and more surgery. So that was the next fourteen months, followed immediately by another surgery for a gallbladder gone bad. So that was fun!
The good news is that while not perfect, the recovery has been workable, and I am at the present time free of that nasty disease.
The other good news is that when we chose the new place we allowed for the possibility of using the den/office as a railroad room! Air conditioning and everything! I have started trying to plan version 2. I have about 13x13 to work with, with an inconvenient intrusion in one corner where the water heater lives in the garage. I bought Track Planning for Realistic Operation for the third time (I think a son has one, and one is ????), and I am brushing up on XtrkCad. I'm not sure if I am going to try to model the area I was looking at before, it is very interesting, but takes a lot of space. Where we are now the branchline to Mexico passes nearby, with spurs off of it to some copper mines. I may sketch out something that brings that to mind. The era will remain 1955ish, as I have a fair amount of motive power that fits that timeframe, and don't really want to buy a lot more! OK, I suppose I want to, I'm just trying to be reasonable!
The empire's new name is the Sahuarita Southern, at the moment. Subject to change!
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."