New Railway

[jhsimpson62]

Thanks Matt. Nothing like a verbal pat on the back to keep a guy going. Jack

[Train 284]

WOW! Thats all I can say!     

[jhsimpson62]

underworld. I' affraid I've been a little laxed in the picture taking. While I was waiting for the trestle bents to dry out from a downpour, I started laying the next section of track bed(approx 30 feet). That is now ready to be ballast and the bents ready for the side bracing. In the mean time a friend clearing a piece of land found some nice rocks, so I have been hauling them for the future mountain/waterfall. After a load of rock this morning I hope to get the bracing on the trestle bents and take a few pictures for posting. Jack

[underworld]

jhsimpson62  Do you have any more recent photos?

 

underworld

[jhsimpson62]

Ian. More of pain in the neck than anything. Spent half a day redoing and than mixed some portland cement with the fines. Shouldn't have any more. I'm trying to use a mixture of portland cemnent and fines along the sides of my track bed and ballast where the possibility of washouts exist. I'll look for stone sealer and give it a try. Jack

[Anonymous]

I am really sorry about you losing some of your soil. I also get heavy rains from time to time and i use cement powder (not concrete) mixed with the fines in strategic places, to stop this a bit. We also use stone sealer on the fines to hold them in place; as well we intermix stones with the fines etc.

Rgds Ian

[jhsimpson62]

Now that the Holidays are over, work has continued on the railway. Upon return from Pennsylvania, I found over 15 feet of packed crusher fines washed out. Must have had some really hard rains. After repacking it, I've finished the bents for trestle #2 and yesterday packed crusher fines with portland cement around all the basses. That should eliminate future wash outs. Today is to bring hard rains, so I should find out. Sorry, I never thought to take pictures of washouts till I was finishing up yesterday. Tomorrow if it isn't too muddy, I hope to start installing the side bracing and top rails for the trestle. Will post some pictures when finished.

[jhsimpson62]

Ian, The quarry is less than 5 miles from the train lot, so gas is no problem. Jack

[Anonymous]

Jack how can you say that, the quarry is so far away what about the extra cost of petrol (gas)

Rgds Ian

[jhsimpson62]

Ian. Thanks. I go directly to the quarry and get my fines. Save the expense of the middle man. Jack

[Anonymous]

You should be able to get Quarry fines from your local landscaping supplier, it is nearly the cheapest thing that comes out of a quarry and it is ideal for ballast.

Rgds Ian

[jhsimpson62]

Great weather since last posting. Completed backing in stone base for Trestle #2, built and installed 53 bents. 17 more to go, along with all the bracing and the top layer of stone dust mixed with portland cement. Here is a few photos: http://www.helping-friends.us/sj/smilin_jack002.htm Will be in PA for the holidays. Everyone have a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year.

[jhsimpson62]

Just posted a few more pictures at http://www.helping-friends.us/sj/smilin_jack002.htm These show the progress for the week. Finished geting the wiring in the conduit and the conduit in the gound. Packed the ballast around about 60 feet of track. Yesterday I started work on the second trestle. Have dug out for the stone dust base and today started laying the base and some bents. I am just placing the bents  every 5th or 6th one for now, I will fill the in after getting all the base and grading set. When all in, I'll pack stone dust mixed with some portland cement around the bases of the bents to hold them and keep water runoff from washing them out.

[Anonymous]

Fines in general are very cheap, as i think they are what is left over and what no one else wants.

We use portland cement as well but what also works for us is tile sealer, i prefer mat stuff and my wife prefers gloss.

rgds ian

[jhsimpson62]

Thanks Ian. Actually the fines are working much better than I thought they would. Just a few spots where I've added some portland cement with the finds to hold them in place where there is heavy runoff during hard rains. I'm quite lucky in that the county operates a rock quarry and their fines are really reasonably priced.

[Anonymous]

I have lost the word temporarily, for the stuff they put in concrete which was referred to as gravel but you can get it from just about any lanscaping supply place. Ie you should be able to get it from the same place you get yout fines.

Aggragate is the word and you can buy it just about anywhere. However try to get one with jsagged type surface, as smooth types are bad news, in that they will not adhere to each other properly.

Rgds Ian 

[jhsimpson62]

A little progress. Roadbed is complete from the end of trestle #1 and what will be the begining of trestle #2. This will be a station area and is now wired to allow for pausing one train there while the second complets a loop then stops while the first on leaves the station. Wiring is encased in PVC and ready to be burried. I started digging last week, but we had showers for two days. Its first on the list for this weeks work. http://www.helping-friends.us/sj/smilin_jack001.htm has a couple pictures of this area.

[jhsimpson62]

For those of you who may have been looking for an update, I'm sorry to say there has be no progress since the last entry. Loooong weekend in Las Vegas where the only thing I got was a good old fashion cold. A couple days of rain followed by another trip. (This time to Pennsylvania for the Thanksgiving holidays). Will head back saturday and hopefully get some work in on the railroad between than and the next holiday period. Ready to ballast some track and start building the next trestle.

[jhsimpson62]

Another week and have made some nice progress. Ballast all the installed roadbed. (approx. 120 ft.). Dug another 30 ft. of roadbed and filled about 12ft. with stone. Must go get another load. Installed some of the track wiring. Had to redo the stones around the base of the trestles. They are at the low end of the garden and a hard rain washed them out. This time I mixed portland cement with the finds. Haven't had any rain since, but I think it should hold. I may have to do the same with some of the road ballast. We'll see. Next week will be a short one, since we'll be heading for Las Vegas for a long weekend with some old Navy buddies. Hopefully I'll finish the roadbed dug this week and get the track in and ballasted.

[jhsimpson62]

Thanks for your interest and compliment. This trestle is just a little over 15 feet long and is made up of 29 bents. When finished the railroad will have at least two and maybe three more. Since the last post, I have finished another 40 feet of ballast. Suppose to have rain tonight and tomorrow so guess I won"t get anything done. Must get some wire and other small things. A rain day should be good for that.

[Anonymous]

Nice work! I'm enjoying watching and reading about the progess. How long are the trestles? They look huge!

[jhsimpson62]

Made some headway this last week. The first section of trestle is completed and the roadbed leading to it is in place. Trestle bents are build of cedar and the bases of composit decking material. Will pack crusher run stones around the bases to help slow down erosion (as soon as I get to the rock quarry and get some). For the staining I am using used motor oil. It would be a whole lot easier to do before installation, but the glue don't stick to the oiled wood. Some pictures of the trustle are located here: http://www.helping-friends.us/sj/smilin_jack001.htm

[jhsimpson62]

Yes, when moving south the goal was to build a railroad. This will be one of those projects that is never finished. Once the track work is finished then the fun will begin. Don't really mind the track work, but it seems to take forever. Have gotten some more trestles bents installed and some more made and ready to install. I'm using composit decking trim for the bases and it was too windy to cut some more today. Jack

[Mike Dorsch CJ&M r.r.]

Wow thats one awsome railroad that you got there . I thought I had a lot of work to do when I started mine . Looks like yours should keep you busy for many , many years to come . Great job so far , have fun !

[jhsimpson62]

Finally some progress! The new pictures show a box I installed to hold the electrical equipment. Its a "dock box" (at least here by the lakes), is lockable and most important, stays dry. Also shown is the water supply. Electricity is ran and connected as shown in the third photo. The wire running out of the ground fault recepticle feeds another double recepticle, so I have six in all. Also as shown in the first new picture, I have completed, and have started to install some of the trestle bents. This will take you to the pictures.

[jhsimpson62]

No new pictures, but I just realized its been two weeks since my last up-date. Been busy building trestle bents. Have completed a dozen or so and cut some more lumber down to size for some more. I figure I'll end up with about 275 before its over. Tomorrow's project will be to dig some post holes and install  the housing for the electrical equipment and start wiring some things up so I can finish working on the road beds. Will keep you posted.

[jhsimpson62]

Construction on the railroad was halted for the last two weeks in order to install a new lawn around it. We now have green grass and construction can commence once again. Only managed about 10 ft of roadbed since last update. Been busy keeping lawn watered. Next to come is some sort of shelter to house my electronic equipment. Before seeding I ran Electric to the lot along with water for drip system and future water feature. Not sure what to use for equipment, but I imagine I'll have to construct something to ensure water tightness. Want something that everything can stay in and be secured when not in use. Any ideas?

[jhsimpson62]

Camaro1967: Thanks for the tip. I'll be looking for some block to build up a water feature. Jack

[jhsimpson62]

Thanks for sending the article. So far I've found one garden railwayer in the area as a result of the one on my GRR. Have been hearing rumors about one being, but no one knew for sure where or who. Jack

[ttrigg]

JH, 

Go to a local cement block plant, and ask them if they will sell you the gravel that they make cement blocks out of. 

Another thing to look at is their waste pile.  Most block plants (at least the ones I've gone to) have a "cull" pile located just outside their fenceline.  These are the blocks that are too cracked, etc. to sell as "seconds".  I've picked up quite a number for a nickle each, and on occasion, when the plant manager is in a good mood, for free.  These bolks are very good building the "subframe" for a mountain structure that will be covered by dirt and rocks anyway.