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[quote]QUOTE: <i>Originally posted by kbrown</i> <br /><br />Great forum! Lots of interesting ideas here. I still can not settle on a method to begin my GRR. Put in a raised area (brought in around 20 yards of topsoil) about two years ago so it is settled for sure now. Problem is time. With a 10 month old baby in the family now, time & $$ are two things we don't have. I was leaning toward the plastic roadbed method since you can remove it and take it with you when done and very easy to level. But at $2.89/ft ....well, does anyone know about how much in terms of crushed stone & ballast it takes per foot and what it cost them? I need to set up a budget for this. Still open to other methods that would make it easier to make modifications or remove if we should move. <br />Thanks! <br />[/quote] <br /> <br />I don’t have a lot of time either, which is why I decided to go the HDPE road bed route. Mine came to $2.50 a foot delivered. I also have the benefit of a well equipped ww’g shop, so milling it flat and ripping the rails wasn’t a hassle. If you don’t own a table saw or have access to one, you’ll need to factor that into your considerations. <br /> <br />Anyhow, HDPE is a very easy material to work with. Bending it into curves does not require all of the cutting and fitting conventional techniques do for raised roadbeds. Continuous , flowing curves are a breeze with this stuff. The track screws right to it and doesn’t require ballasting at all, unless that is desired for cosmetics. The plastic ties and HDPE have almost identical ratios of expansion and contraction so that isn’t really an issue. <br /> <br />There are a lot of considerations when formulating a plan of attack for GRR construction. I chose the HDPE method because my ROW varies in height by as much as 4’ in certain areas. My back yard is not easily accessible for backfilling and I didn’t want the hassle or expense of that anyway. My roadbed will be elevated a minimum of 1” (for drainage) to a max of about 3’ – 4’. Very little of it will be ballasted because I just don’t want the expense and maintenance issues ballast has. <br /> <br />I began a thread on my GRR a few months ago showing my progress. You may see the latest photos posted there. HTH and best of luck. <br />
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