Tell Tom I said hi, thinking of him, Bill
Nice to see the next generation growing into the hobby.
Dictated by Tom, typed by Carrie, Tom's daughter.
Tom Trigg
Neiler,
If you ride the Ewa train, the LIONEL club in the railyard had LGB for sale from a large donation they took in a while ago. You sort of have to show interest. I picked up my LGB 2018D for a song, which the guy there still put them ahead relative to a consignment sale.
Lunch and then to the garden!
ALoha,
Eric
Neat engine. Too wet here to play in the garden.
My son flew over from Oahu last weekend and helped with stuff that has been bugging me. I should head over to take him to Ewa. He still likes to ride the rails! I did something right. Good for you to instill a passion for creating things in hour children.
Malahini boy, Neiler
Eric it sounds great and I'll bet the youngster well have it done in half your time, sure I don't need to tell you but keep those pictures and post cards coming, Bill
Aloha All!
Just a couple quick updates. First, Gustav, our venerable 0-6-2T made "his" way back from repairs at Western Edge of Tombstone. The old fellow had been a featured derelict on this and another site as I chased faults that had accumulated over 30+ years. Basically, he needed every last link, gear, and rod replaced. He came home with us after a visit with family in Arizona. I'll try the video:
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Failing that, here's the photo:
The trip provided an opportunity to take advantage of the hobby's congeniality, and yet another Tucson railroader opened his home and shop. I got to hold a live steamer for the first time...Hmmmm....
In the meantime, the "strategic parts order" arrived, so we can slowly build up our war chest of traction tires, idlers, rail clamps, coupler bits, etc. Again, another generous hobbyist unexpectedly donated a collection of LGB hook-and-loop parts, so we can start double-ending some cars and reparing / replacing worn out couplers. Oh, the railclamps are the type with vertical screws. I am curious to see how they compare with "Split Jaws." They cost much less, for sure. Anyway, rail clamping is on the agenda for tomorrow.
Meanwhile, the tablesaw follies continued. I'd hoped to find a cheap 4" one in Arizona. Nope. Our local big-box hardware store has one for ~$100, making it almost a wash with regards to shipping. Our truss is giving out, so there is a need (in the hobby sense of the word) to cut timbers for a replacement trestle, probabaly one along the lines of the one in the most recent GR. I have a book full of trestles from our local sugarcane plantations, so I might even make an attempt to at least be evocative of those. Then again, I might just focus on not cutting off a finger...
Our 1:1 scale fence goes in later this month. As mentioned elsewhere, I see no better use for the dirt than to put it into raising a portion of our inner loop. Salvaged lava rocks are on hand for that one!
I should mention I had to divert time to another project. A well meaning relative gave Oldest Son a roughly HO-ish toy train for Christmas. He wants to use it for his own garden railroad. I had a pallet in my garage from a home improvement project, gave him my hot knife, glue and styrofoam, and off he went.
I am not sure how far he will get, as it is his project, but, at Bill's (aka ChochoWilly) prodding some time back, I have been looking for a way to get him going. I consider the time diversion as a strategic investment for later.
And that is that!
Hope all are having a great weekend!
Aloha,
Bill & Tom,
Thanks as always for the encouragement and kind words!
Bill, the my father-in-law built a pair of little switch towers to hide light switches tha turn the two station tracsk on and off. The 2x4 beauty the gang and I crafted for the build challend on Large Scale Central is just visible in the rear. You can see its outsized observation platform. This, too, has swithes to turn tracks on and off, but we've yet to wire them in due to family travel and bad weather.
Next on the "need" to build is a replacement for that little truss. Kid-zilla did a number on it. It is holding for now as I dither looking at options - wood vs. vinyl; deck girder cs. trestle. At this stage, simple and durable will win out.
Oh, photo proof of progress...
Oldest Daughter buttressed this turn into Haluku'ilio. She observed Mr. Otto the Cattle Dog follows this path to the guppy pond, and figured we should double brace the curve:
My father-in-law built the structures from his scrap heap, by the way.
We worked together to countersink stones in here to suppor the outer loop, add visiual separation, and give more sense of mass to the tunnel complex. These are before and after shots, though obviously taken from opposite sides of the railroad:
Before: After:
We also replaced a series of small stones with larger rocks to shore up the mainline to Pu'u'oma'o. Again, you have different angles, but you get the idea. Also, I thought it time I submit proof I occassionally get dirty on the railroad, too!
Trains ran great after we leveled the grade, though the slight rise from right to left where you see the caboose disappearing still seems to slow trains down.
Hope your week is going well!
Eric, really looking good, the pile of rocks reminds me of the good old days of coquina rock finding, as they use to say "the mother load". What is the building in the corner picture, in front of the water tower, looks like a 2 story switching tower? Is that one you were working on for the MLK? Keep up the great work, Bill
Looking good.
Aloha all!
I thought a quick update was in order. We hosted an annual potluck for my work teammates, team alumni, and their families late last month. An unspoken rule is the first drink comes by rail! The Saturday beforehand, it was all hands on deck to ensure the Triple O ran smoothly..
Rails got buffed, joingts got clamped, trees got trimmed, etc. to ensure that the Triple O ran like clockwork! Although some of the luster of having a garden railroad has worn off, the kids all still take pride in showing it off!
The next day, the snapshot below reminded me of an important element of this hobby and this undertaking...shear joy:
The anticipation of kids and parents alike as a train rumbled by with a load of beverages made the previous day's efforts worhtwhile.
Anyway, this weekend we began moving rocks to shore up some of the mainline and took possession of the oft-mentioned cinder blocks for a possible future project. The former is, if nothing else, a visual improvement! Photos to follow!
Have a great week!
Aloha!
OK, first, proof of rocks:
You'd think on a volcanic island, these things would come cheaply. They do not, costing about $10 a rock minimum. We can easily hide the concrete when we place them. This was a real rock...I mean WIND...fall!
As for use, one will go near our guppy pit to serve as a stepping stone. No point in fighting kids or dog on their preferred access to the pond!
Some of the smaller ones will be countersunk to shore up the mainline and to help blend it visually to the lava-rock tunnel and cut network. Our shattered but venerable "Little Thomas" came out to help me visualize the project (He may yet get a makeover if for no other reason than to gain practice.):
As I alluded to earlier, that tunnel lacks mass and thus looks a bit spindly. The inner loop has sunk beneath the outer loop which bothers me a bit aestehtically. The pictures below help scope the issue (pardon the foot):
I can add mass to the mountain by building "back" (travel right from my foot in the left hand picture) towards another mountain. It has the advantage of space, would allow an elevated section for structures, and would add a sense of trains going somewhere by providing a visual block. The back side would be half hollow tile, and, yes, I'd leave plenty of access ports as otherwise it would put my most notoriously cantankerous run of track out of reach! On the other hand, this would accelerate funding authorization for additional 4' lengths of track.
The other option would add mass and attack that aesthetic issue by raising the inner loop where "Little Thomas" is parked in the right hand photo. I like the idea of a vertical separation between the two loops, as it reinforces the idea they serve separate communitites and industries. My tunnels have the extra vertical clearance to allow the trains to start their climb, peak about where "Little Thomas" is sitting, then drift down back into the tunnels. I am wondering if I have the clearances, however, between the loops to allow this, especially where that tank engine is sitting. As the area sees lots of 0-2-0 and cattle dog traffic, letting the tracks leave a raised peninsula and arcing out on a trestle is not in the cards. We have salvage rights on some hollow tile we found abandoned at our church, so that provides options in terms of a sub-roadbed and / or wall, using the scribed and stained concrete technique we employed elsewhere early in the project.
Anyway, these rocks are our summer project! In general, rather than fight logistics, I am trying to remain open to projects as materials become available. Others in the works include lights for my coaches (the electronics store may as well be in Idaho given its locaiton and hours), the "Little Thomas" makeover (Pending a parts queen of any make that appears locally), or a buildng (getting my little table saw this summer on a run to CONUS!). In the short term, it is time to work a few weeks' rain and oxidation out of the line to prepare for our annual "Grill & Chill" next week!
Have a good one!
No photos, no proof! What is this, one of my SCUBA or tropical fish forums?
On a more serious note, no, Tom, the lava won't impact us. We will get hit with the sulfur rich gas plume, but I am typically not much impacted by it. Now if Pele really wants to speak, a tsunami could be an issue.
As it happened, I was at Kilauea Crater on 1 May (I was in Hilo for May day for, of all things, a Civil War living history. Google "Spencer's Invincibles" if interested.). Halemaʻumaʻu was filled to the rim and overflowing in a few areas. Quite an awesome spectacle that puts human power and time itself in perspective.
Not train related, but neat (and photographic "proof" )...
Hope these lava flows are not raising too much havoc in your area.
Well where is the proof, no picture, LOL
Aloha All,
In the spirit of Bill (aka Chocho Willy), I saw opportunity in "garbage." Today, we slavaged four wheelbarrow loads of lava rock from a neighbor's yard. There is some concrete, but careful placement should allow for any of a number of uses...
I have had a number of projects founder on the Shoals of No Locally Sourced Parts, but Quickcrete and dirt are always available. With things largely working, I am approaching the future with an attitude of having multiple projects at the ready so I can get folks moving as tools and parts and whatever come available.
Speaking of tools, I will be getting that cheaper table saw when I pass through the Contiguous 48 later this year. No point in paying 1/3 of the price of the product for shipping!
I have now put myself on notice I intend to do something with these rocks. The crew and I will hold a council, then I'll post an update.
In the mean time, malama pono (stay well)!
Personally I think Nurnberg is a great name, very fitting being as your father was very instrumental in it's arrival. There will always be time for you to have your way. congratulations on your new "Hao Lio", Bill
Looking good, my friend. As for the "black art of tool weilding", looks to me like you are doing rather well. "Made in Western Germany", haven't seen that one in a long time. Back then, they were made to run forever. A little TLC andd it should keep running after you stop.
I am overdue for an update, but, in fairness, we have been busy! Also, the regular maintenance routines are far less dramatic than creating mountains from rubble or the Wild West from PLAYMOBIL. Progress though is progress and deserves some mention (and even some bragging)!
In February, we took part in the Large Scale Central sponsored "Mik's Annual Build Challenge". This got me off my duff and into the woodpile to make a building that would house electrical switches for a passing siding and enable even more trains to operate at once. The kids and I missed the deadline to finish, but we had a gas making our 2x4, popsicle stick, and shishkabob skewer wonder. I'll post the final picture when the Pu'u'omma'o Yard Station and Observation Platform is in in place.
Spring also saw the renewed effort to reforest a section of the railroad using rosemary, our preferred plant. In the picture below, you can also see how our sedum is finally starting to spread:
Oldest Daughter also helped with beach restoration. Cattle Dog baths and guppy fishing took their tolls on the pond foam that we use to hide the liner. I should mention that covering the exposed black liner also kept the pond cooler, which did wonders for the guppy survival rate:
The foam will weather away nicely, and we actually salvage chunks of the old stuff to serve as "rocks" in areas where we needed to shore up and level the mainline.
Meanwhile, my ever resourceful father-in-law spent a buck fifty and saved this toy loco from the scrap heap:
You can see Kid-zilla sneaking up on the poor thing. Though this thing rarely makes a full loop without derailing, it serves both as a distraction while we are engaged in other activities and a as training device for little engineers.
Given Kid-zilla's propensity to attack non-moving trains, this loco has probably saved more than a few handrails on more valuable rolling stock! It really deserves a name for its prophesied martyrdom, but none has come to mind yet.
I should again give credit to my father-in-law's creativity tonight as well. He recently applied it to salvaged toy cars to make the hand car and little diesel pictured below:
Both went back to his shop for tinkering. We'll see if they return to the Triple O or morph into something new. Oh, and yes, I am plumbing him for every trick he wishes to divulge in what is for me the black art of tool wielding!
The other big arrival, as mentioned elsewhere on this forum, coincided with my parents' visit. By shear coincidence, a model my brother and I lusted over in the 1990-s was available locally. Like all new motive power before her, the newly christened Nuernberg poses with the Triple O work crew on the Pu'u'oma'o Trestle:
I had wanted to give her a Hawaiian name, but CINCHOUSE said the new mogul had Christmas colors, Oldest Daughter wanted the mogul to have a German name, CINCHOUSE suggested "Nuernberg" because of its Christmas market, and I let slip that this loco probably came from Nuernberg based on its "Made in Western Germany" stamp. I posed the issue to my Dad / the kids' "Opa," who happened to mention that same fact and then preceeded to remind the family he had lived in Nuernberg. That sealed it. Someday, I will have my way on something...anything...
Naturally, like all my purchases, this one had its issues, and I had to rip the old girl apart to get at a connectivity problem. "Fortunately" I had help:
It turned out she had been reassembled incorrectly somewhere along the line, and simply cleaing the innards and flipping the brass busses did the trick.
Back on the line "Opa" volunteered to serve as track gang, got dirty doing some regrading...
...and the Triple O is now able boast Nuernberg as its second - and last (Is there really ever a "last?") - big American locomotive. We can now go "all in" American, inching the Triple O closer to its real world strategic guide - the OR&L.
I may as well update all on our venerable 0-6-2T Gustav tonight, too. Gustav hitched a ride with my parents back to the Mainland for repairs. I simply could not crack the code as to why the after idler would not enage the after set of drivers. With luck, Gustav will again pull the Triple O's "Festzug" come later this summer!
Lots to mention and lots of ground to cover tonight! Thank you for your continued forbearance as I document obstacles and the occassional spasms of progress!
Holy smokes! This weekend marks three years of operations - such as they are - on the Oberammergau, Ogden & Olomana RR! As such, below please find the obligatory overhead and crew shots when we brought out everything but the Christmas stuff to celebrate the occassion:
And the crew, to include the oft alluded to, rarely seen, CINCHOUSE:
And, yes, the above are shameless "proud parent photos."
To be honest, when I reflected over the last year, I was a bit disappointed about the progress. We suffered plant die offs, and my efforts at building making were, while educational, a bit rough and even more infrequent. On the other hand, with lots of help from you guys, we got this system up and running well. Whereas it used to take an hour of trouble shooting to get a train to move, with a little spot polishing, our iron horses are off and running in minutes these days. Also, time intended for buildings went to locomotive repair, so, while I regret the mechanical issues, learning happened. Likewise with the plants. We now know what works. We can move forward from there. Overall, we have firmly set what is possible given costs, interests, and stage of life to make this a living, breathing, family (if dad-led) project.
The kid of course have drifted in and out in participation, with Oldest Daughter being my chief companion and Youngest Son (aka Kid-zilla) being the most enthusiastic - if dangerous - partner. CINCHOUSE has determined that the whole project is of sufficient value that non-railroad items count as household, vice entertainment costs (I cannot convince her that LGB's "Olomana" would improve our property value...). The project also continues to serve as a center point for entertaining and family get togethers. I would score these all as successes.
Looking ahead to 2018, I hope a few more buildings will pop up and that the environment will continue to green as sedum, rosemary, blue daze, and impatiens begin to spread. We are debating a "strategic purpose" - a table saw for modeling? a new loco to give my decades old locos a break? more long lengths of track to make things more reliable? We shall see. There will be more stabilizing of the roadbed (might actually try those culvert!) as well as more strategic rail clamping on trouble spots in the meantime, to be sure. We are pretty happy with the track plan, so I MIGHT actually solder some of those 1' tracks together this year (Soldering as a skill continues to allude me.). Even better, the first rumblings about an expansion have emerged around the dinner table. If the road serves Hawai'i in the sugar era, shouldn't it have a mill at Pu'u'oma'o? Hmmmmm....But that is for another year!
I would be remiss if I did not offer thanks for the guidance on this forum, to include some personal correspondence from "Chochowilly." It hard to be the only show in town. You guys make this a lot less lonely proposition!
So, with that I close a year of operations and start a new one. And remember, when booking your Hawaiian vacations, tell your travel agent, "Eh! I like go on the Triple O!"
I just scratched tunnel portals off of my 2018 "to do list" based on this just discovered photo:
This could've gone terribly wrong, but the little 0-2-0 just barely had the clearance! The photographers have been advised next time they should work to prevent the attempt...
Hauoli Makahiki Hou (Happy New Year) to all!
"Saftey railings will have to wait."
I was going to ask. Well done. Keep expanding your skill levels.
I trust all had a Happy Thanksgiving. All was well here, if "cold" in the low 70-s...
Anyway, as promised, photographic "proof" of some attempt at progess follow.
First, the little steeple top. To be clear, the old PLAYMOBIL buildings only come out for special occassions and then go back inside. They also come off the shelf if I need a diversion for the crew during inclement weather, which does, in fact, occur. I opted to use foam for its price, ease of cutting, and forgiving qualities. I did purchase a block for this at a craft store. I shaped it with a HotWire foam knife, and after gluing back on some "over shaping" planked it over with craft sticks:
I sealed the lot with exterior paint, before painting the front and back blue. 100 grit sandpaper serves as roofing material, and bit of a shattered epee became my roof topper (the second function beyond staking plants I have found for broken epees). I think the reverend is quite pleased, even if his congregation seems a bit tardy this weekend:
Meanwhile, my much simpler if rain addled efforts to put a foot path over the trestle seems to have held up well. The Triple O's work crew was pleased with the results:
And "North Star's" crew posed shortly thereafter...and shortly before she ate her own gearing for lunch...
Saftey railings will have to wait. They will not survive Kid-zilla, even if they would make life better for the good folks of Pu'u'oma'o!
A new chassis for the 4-6-0 is on the way. "North Star's" gearing failure coincided, happily enough, with a sale at BACHMANN (Whatever will I do with all those spare wheels and rods?), and this week I am going to get up the nerve to cut that part holding 0-6-2T "Gustav's" two sides together so I can replace his idlers. The part is not structural, barely visible, and standing between me and getting the old fellow back on the rails. The Triple O will have a prime mover before long!
Have a wonderful week!
Aloha and Early Happy Thanksgiving!
Lots happening on the Triple O. The last two weekends proved too windy and rainy for beach activities, so the crew (or elements thereof) and I took to the garden. Pictures will follow later this week.
Rosemary trees have gone back into the "forest," and I have noticed that as dust and debris settle into the rocks, my sedum seems to be grabbing little toe holds here and there. At least one of the 3-4 species I have tried seems to be working...Today, for fun, we also planted some out-of-date seeds we got free from our nursery. At worst, we get nothing. At best, some greenery for the railroad and the kitchen.
We also turned-to on the bridges spanning our gorge. Shifting tracks had caused the mainline and trestle to misalign. Rather than break the trestle free (I had accidentally cemented it in place when I installed it. Ooops.), I ran a stringer along its length. The track now sits on the bridge again. This left enough space on one side to run a walkway along its length. Of course, as soon as my daughter and I got the glue down, it rained, the wood swelled, the walkway buckled, and we learned another lesson. Suprisingly, the glue remained in place, and by noon today the good folks of Pu'u'o'ma'o (Green Hill when we are in Wild West theme) had a safer way to cross. We plan to install a safety rail next.
I have never like the approach to the neighboring truss. The Triple O doesn't have much going for it in terms of "realism," but I loathe "flying tracks." I am happy to report my oldest daughter used a handheld hobby saw to cut some timbers and assemble some cribbing. Looks much better.
Meanwhile, the I broke out the foam cutter and some scrap wood to build a new steeple topper for the 1st Congregational Church of Haluku'ilio (Dog Wallow in the Old West), an old PLAYMOBIL builiding I have on my shelf. Not overly detailed, but a good enough solution and good way to develop what the ancients called a "skill."
On the downside, "Gustav," my LGB 0-6-2T, remains down as I ponder how to get at his fried idlers. Tonight, just as I sat back to enjoy dinner, a beverage, and a sunset, "North Star," a BACHMANN 4-6-0 started whining and stopped moving. This leaves the Triple O with no prime movers and only one operating American locomotive. Frustrating, but I suppose this is the price I pay for starting with 30+ year LGB and gambling on a used BACHMANN starter set. Got to do some headscratching on how to proceed.
Anyway, again, let me extend a Happy Thanksgiving to all!
Aloha,Eric
As summer bleads into fall and winter (time to get out my 5 mm wetsuit for diving! 72 degree water...Brrrr....), I thought an update was in order on this "build log." To be honest, progress was a mixed bag. On the one hand, we addressed some niggling issues with electrical connectivity and with settling, installing scale retaining walls to address the latter. We also experimented with materials for buildings, though I made less progress in urbanizing than I'd hoped as RR time had to go to repairing a loop coupler on the kids' battery powered loco and some other locomotive repairs (one is ongoing. I now get to learn to replace idler gears in LGB's 0-6-2T! What could go wrong?). The biggest disappointment, however, came in the reforestation department. The lavendar bloomed and bit it. Half of the 6 rosemary trees followed into the compost bin. The heather struggled mightily then succumbed. The mulch allowed strawberries to take root and flourish, which brought back snails and slugs. Snails and slugs love strawberry plants, apparently. Worst of all, white flies found my purselane, which had formed a nice mound of green simulating a cut. No more purselane. You can get a sense of it below:
At least half my dwarf lavendar died to make sure a little bit of everything got off to the compost bin.
The return of cooler weather, though, will bring with it another go at reforestation. Sedum and native succulents seem to be doing OK atop Hell's Montain, even spreading in the case of sedum to the mountain's base. Experimentation will continue, one $2.00 plant at a time, and I hope cooler, wetter weather will give things the chance to root before the summer.
On the upside, the effort continued to keep folks entertained. We had another little people on the railroad day, and, of course, the Triple O delivered many a libation over the last couple months. I also had a chance to get some 1:1 motivation at the Colorado RR Museum and chat with the volunteer running the garden RR. Having been inspired to at least think about kitbashing (Why do used bits cost more than whole used locomotives?), I picked up "Next Stop Honolulu" at a revisit to our historic line last weekend. A quick skim showed, with regards to Hawaii, anything went and thus anything goes!
OK, I don't like to end on too negative a point, so here is a shot of part of the RR where plants did seem to grow. The flowering things are impatiens, which a.) don't die, b.) serve as a nice view break, and c.) look nice. Native Akulikuli is growing over the tunnel complex, "some kine tree thing" and Thai basil serve as trees, our roses are recovering from white flies, and blue daze is, if not thriving, at least surviving.
Off to ponder getting at those idler gears! Have a great week!
OK, per my Q&A post on the subject, thre first "timber" retaining wall is in! What a visual improvement! Now, if I could get over my reticence to try to solder my sectional track, I'd get the operational improvement, too...I've gotten lots of ideas how to proceed, but, for the moment, jiggling joints is OK by me!
The rehabilitation of my fatherr-in-law's water tower is effectively complete, besides some touch up paint and some shims to level the tower.. The legs fell victim to the dog and kids, so I mounted the structure on a "pump house." I had intended to make a foam core and scribe stones. Botched it. Then I planked the sides and intended to scribe a foam base. Botched the base. I shaved off the excess foam, mounted it on HardieBacker, made a fill pipe, and called it a day. Beyond the door, I do not intend to add much detail. The cattle dog has discovered the amazing cooling properties of the nearby guppy pond!
Anway, here is the project's start:
And here is its effective finish:
I am much enamored of the sticks-on-foam method I used here, and I plan to experiment with it a bit more. I have a need for a tool-shed / siding isloation switch for which I think this would be very applicable. Given I have no workshop, no storage space, lots of people interacting with the garden, no hobby shops, and limited skill, this may be a good way to start getting something - ANYTHING - out on the road that can last!
Reforestation is at a standstill as I wait for my preferred rosemary - tuscan blue or verbano. They seem to be the most treeish. At least the sea urchin sedum is not dead. Yet.
As for a final follow-up, we place some mulch over the newly planted strawberry beds. The plants did not fry. We will continue the experiment if dwarf elfin thyme ever shows up in the area again.
Finally, I thought it would be fun to close with a series from earlier this summer...
Cue "Jaws Music..."
The predator lurks...
An innocent railfan surveys the surroundings...
THE ATTACK!!!!
But, don't worry, this story ends with a rescue!
No actually offspring or railbuses were injured in the capture of this story. In fact, no actual railbuses were even derailed! Got to love LGB!
At any rate, have a great week, and thank again in indulging me and letting me use this blog as a way to keep me honest and (wait for it) on track with this project!
OK,
Lots going on in parallel on the Triple O!
On the downside, Little People on the RR Day did not come off as planned last Friday. A cartoon and the arrival of the kids' playmate preempted the effort. I have had, upon reflection, a good run as the center of the children's universe. Still...
Lots going on in parallel, but the trains are really running great, and they provided a wonderful backdrop for the summer. Pictures of my latest efforts to make them run better (the settling solutions) and to make a better backdrop (the plantings) as they are warranted.
Thanks as always, Tom. I have to make a stop by the hardware store and local nursery this weekend, and I'll see what they have.
- Eric
PVT Kanaka I am wondering if my low plants get cooked from the heat reflected off the stones.
I am wondering if my low plants get cooked from the heat reflected off the stones.
Very possible. In my case I found yellowing of the leaves on the underside close to the stem. I substituted a darker crushed rock to solve the issue, with a bit of extra watering.
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