[cmjdisanto]

Since the old info will not transfer over and this project will be ongoing for some time, I felt this would give things a starting point for the topic in the new forum. I will be trying to bring all of the posts that are relevant to the consrtuction over to the new forum. This sure will beat the heck out of trying to relocate all the photo's and remember what was said or done. It was kinda like a one shot one post kinda deal. Didn't think I was ever gonna have to repost things so why remember?/DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/doze.gif

Here is a link to the old post in the old forums. http://archive.mylargescale.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=44703 (actually I don't know how the heck to make it a link so just cut and paste the gawd dang address if....)




Originally posted February 11 2007

It's now officially started. RR Track program is up and running and we're taking measurments of the beds later this week. Inorder to make the necessary measurments some foliage need to be relocated. Today we started that relocation.



The first issue was "Where do you move 39 Azalea bushes to?".

Well I had just the spot. We decided to use them as the outline for the area in back. These will define the boundries of the yard space.



So with a hand full of Vodcodine, a shovel, rake, tiller, wheel-burro and hand-truck I set out to get a potion of things done today.



Here before pics of the second area that we cleared today. This takes care of 12 of the 39.

And after.

And here is the new outer edge of the yard.(Far right side looking back away from the house.)

I know they're kinda faint in this pic but you can just make out the whole row of Azaleas.

For what it's worth it was a good solid day. I may nnot move outta the chair for a couple days but I have to say it was worth it. Plus we are expecting that "Significant winter event" the next three days. Now I know that it will pale in comparison to the folks in up-state NY but down here 4" down here can make a real mess of things. This will give me time to recuperate and play some with the design of both layouts. Now if I could only stumble into that scenario I hear a certain person with odd colored stars happened into.

There will be more to follow just not sure when.



Later

 

[cmjdisanto]

Originally posted March 19, 2007

Otay!!!!!! We have been busy is correct.

I was able to get some work done in the yard yesterday in preparation for the pond and seeding. The bed for Martha's layout is starting to take shape. We moved some 20 azaleas yesterday to the outside perimeter of the yard in hopes that they kinda "Hedgeout" or act as a natural privacy fence. With the irrigation back there now this should prove helpful for that to happen.

I also included a couple shots of the shed with new siding and the additional areas that have been cleard in the back. I'll try and explain what's happening around the pictures as best I can but since there's no "chiseled in rock plans"... Much may change.

These two are of the shed before and after.

This shot looks back to the left rear of the area that was just cleared. The shed is directly behind me in this picture.

This shot is from the back corner of the last one but looks down toward the area that is directly behind the shed. This was once planned to be a street (some 45 years ago) but the plans were abandoned. Ohhhh lucky us

.

This shot is from same position as the last one only it looks down the length of the area for the layout umm err uhh I mean yard. House and shed are on the right.

Looking back up the yard to the previous point. House and shed are on the left.

This is the area for Martha's layout before we removed the Azaleas.

After. with house on the right.

After with the house on the left

The tractor has played a key role in all that has been recently done and Pod.... We're working on that. I just don't know how to justify the front scoop/bucket to SWMBO.

As far as BBQ sauce goes, Ill have a detailed explanation (with pictures in a couple weeks.

Until then we have more planning...

and work.(ugh!)

 

[cmjdisanto]

Originally posted April 26, 2007


Back to all things Garden Railroading. Mainly since the house (AKA Casa de Hades)is really becoming overwhelming. (Still no kitchen and we're in week 9?

)

Anywho, I took the trestles out of the shed and placed them today. Just a preliminary thought and I had to do something since I could not get these things to work on my RR software. I guess you could say they were going to be used one way or another.

Here are a couple pics just to show that we're still in the planning/planning/and more planning stages. The building stage may start as soon as I get all that planning finished. Hehehe

Note that there are some "modifications" that need to be performed on the recycled structures but they seem to be very useful for the intended application. IOW I really lucked out that we have a grade to contend with.

There will be a new bridge traversing the water fall area and use of the old bridges to allow water runoff to "flow" smoothly.

In other news....The main layout is on indefinite hold since we have been forced into a purchase of the land we just cleared. Seems a nosey neighbor that didn't even reside in the City complained about all the clearing we did. Well one thing led to another and the City Board will discuss the land use in a closed door session on the 8th of May. City Engineers were out to survey and take pictures today. In all honesty it'll be a load off if this purchase goes thru. Then we know it's ours! Now I can make plans for the 12ft, electric privacy fence.

BTW here are a couple pics of what the back area looks like as of today.

 

[cmjdisanto]

Originally posted August 31, 2007

Here are the shots of what we have completed. There has been no fianl grade set and none of the alterations to the existing structures have been attempted. This is just a rough idea of how we are going to get started. The next pics I post will hopefully have much more completed in the way of roadbed and such.

 

[cmjdisanto]

Originally posted October 28, 2007


I've edited the whole post to reflect the work that was done today and the new pictures.

Basically it's been a while since I posted anything in this topic. Moved allot of dirt yesterday and set the trestle to the left side of the pond. Right side was worked on today as well as a couple other things. The bridge and the trestle sections have been adjusted to work togeher and are finally connected. Now all we have to do is get going on the remaining grades and road bed. There are still plenty of drainage isses and some design issues to tackle, especially the left side of the pond where the HoweTruss is just sorta sitting there. We did redo the yard/garden bed on that side as well to reflect our inability to grow grass in that area. Unfortunately most of this is just to get things going for a Christmas layout. There are several drainage issues that will need to be addressed before everything is complete. With last weeks rains, we have discovered a whole new set of issues. Just too much fun. I have to say that it's a good feeling seeing some stuff come together and now that the weather has gotten somewhat cooler we're gonna be at things until.....

Anyhow here sare the pics. As a point of reference...The House is behind me in all of them.

This is the right side of the pond. The trestle was set today and still needs some ballast around the bent's legs. The bents are actually resting on some old slate shingles as a base. I was going to crush broken roof tiles for the ballast around them.

Again the right side. The bridge had ot over hang the rock border of the pond due to the fact that it was designed for another application. Didn't want to rip too much appart so we left it whole.

This is the work we did yesterday. The trestle is resting on Granite Cobbles that were used in a path on that side. We removed the path to make room for the layout and the planting bed.

This is the Howe Truss Bridge I mentioned earlier. Note the grade change and the path being removed. We are going to add a stacked stone wall on the ground level to form a raised bed. This is also where we have a good portion of our drainage issues. I'm not sure how I'm going to get the track to connect here. Just depends on how much dirt I can pull out of the back corner of the yard. The trestle bents you see holding up the bridge are just there to set the height of the grade.

There still needs some ballast to be added to the bottoms of the bents here as well. Difficult to retrofit things into a new setting but sure does save a ton-o-bucks in the process. Recycle things that's the ticket

 

[cmjdisanto]

Originally posted October 30, 2007



Here are some pics of a layout plan I played with today. It was easy to almost get carried away given the amount of track, bridges and turnouts I still have in the shed

, but I just reminded myself that this was just the start.

Of course, like I stated earlier, some grade need to be set and all but this give a good idea of things.

 

[cmjdisanto]

Final edit on November 3, 2007


Here is this weekends work. It was getting dark so the pics are kinda dark. I'll try to get some better shots tomorrow. Actually I played around abit with the photo editor and was able to lighten things up some.

 

[cmjdisanto]

Final edit November 16, 2007


I've been talking 'bout pictures for three days now and did get a chance to snap some. Been a few inconveniences around here and well.....I guess talk is cheap so.....

Rock still needs to be added under the curved trestle up to the bridge abutment for drainage.

There's a bit of a grade here. The track will be sunk in a rock lined trench to simulate a carved grade.

This was the staging table trestle deck for the old layout. The trestle bents didn't survive the move. It is basically resting on solid paver bricks until I figure out an alternative if any. The bricks look like concrete abutments so they will probably do. Good'n'cheap too!

There will be a grade climb to a staging table here. I haven't decided if it will be a helix or just a trestle. I hope to some day have a shed back here for the trains. We had thought about using the existing shed and running a track to that area but there's too much that needs to be stored in the shed. That's considering it has to hold the contents of the attic, shed and garage we had in KC.

Not sure what we'll do with this area here..... But I think Martha will figure it out. I think there may be some sort of narrow gauge line that ties to the otherside some how but it will have to run behind the pond since that trestle is not going to be made a double track.

If I play my cards right I might be able to have a track loop around the front and cross under this area. Not sure yet since we need some really good rain systems to determine whether this can function as a roadbed or just a dry wash.

That's all until later.

 

[cmjdisanto]

Originally posted November 19, 2007



No golden spike yet (Don;t worry Tommy. We're saving that one for later

) but we have completed phase one of the layout. As you can see there are still turnouts that need track added (as well as a plan for using them) and much needed vegetation needs ro be added. There are a couple leveling issues that need to be attended to but I was able to take Martha's Sachsen IV K and three cars for a flawless run. It's just not quite ready for the SD-45. I do have my Annie ready to pull the christmas train if the weather is good and if not the Sachsen will do the work. Something about the weather durability of those LGB Loco's.

The MTS system is installed (I was able to mount the original breaker box I used in KC too) and just needs the additional track work to complete things. (The reverse loops we had in KC will be used once again in the conservation of space.

I'm really not sure if it will ever be a true mainline run like I had back in KC but we still have one planting bed that will be looked at for using as a layout.

There is no train running today or in the pictures because we have quite the comotion here with the foundation work so I hope ya'll enjoy the pics none the less.

 

[Duncan]

Ennybuddy gotta grenade??? " align="absMiddle" border="0" src="/DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/biggrin.gif" />  /DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/crazy.gif
Thanks for putting that all in one pile, Joe!
Much easier to see the progrssion.

 

[cmjdisanto]

Grenade huh? Where should it be tossed? We have a spot located on the NW side of the house (chimney and wall) that would be perfect.

Not much has changed since I made the last un-copied and pasted post. We have however been focusing attention on the rest of the yard. The leaf fiasco with all of the Azaleas proved to be way more than we wanted to deal with so out came the Azaleas. Easy fix. Now we just have to wait for all the mess underneath them to sprout up and either be transplanted. /DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/hehe.gif

Other than that the 70+ degree weather we have been enjoying did allow me to smooth over the beds where the Azaleas were removed from. They were also transplanted throughout the entire back section of the yard. This will hopefully make more of a screen for the busy-body that live behind and to the left of our yard. /DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/pinch.gif

Amyhow the yard now has more possibilities that ever. Whether or not those possibilties add up to more track an a Mail line only the future knows. Right now we have to focus attention once again to the house. These foundation issues are never ending./DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/sad.gif


This picture shows the area that is next to the shed. You should be able to see what was there in one of the earlier pictures.

I know this one doesn't show much but it's a current view so........

This is where we had most of the Azaleas. We removed close to 60 from this bed. There is a slight grade so if it becomes rail site then there shouldn't be too much of a challenge. This is also the bed that has most of the low growth plant and weed matter. The srping will show what I missed. 

This is to the right of the last picture.

These two last pictures are of the back yard and what removing the Azaleas near the shed has opened up.

Later all!

 

[cmjdisanto]

Even though I had already mentioned that we were focusing more attention elsewhere, in order to clean up some of the elsewhere it was necessary to move ballast, rocks and dirt so instead of moving it twice I decided to start the next phase of the layout. Basically this was the easy part so I was able to complete in in just two days. The fun starts where the track ends. I have an idea of what path I'd like the track to follow but we have to figure more definitely whether or not all this will tie into a larger rail line that we have talked about running the perimeter of the planting beds. This would tie in somehow with the large bed we just cleared on the opposite side of the yard. There will need to be a real grade crossing installed to get the tractor from the back yard to the back-back yard.  If that isn't possible then we may consider a tunnel to get around that area but there's a good deal other stuff that'll take place before we make that addition to things. 

Anyhow we've made some unexpected progress which is a good thing. I guess. /DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/blink.gif

 

[cmjdisanto]

Here's this weeks work. I was able to add close to 15ft without too much difficulty. Actually this will probably be it for a while since I................................. /DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/ermm.gif ran out of ballast./DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/shocked.gif I wanted to provide another angle to show things but the sun is setting now and I couldn't get a good picture. There are actually 3 turn-outs in a row 1 to the right and 2 to the left. The #6 in the first pic will be a closed loop and tie to the one 10ft to the right.

There is a 10ft left that will tie into the 10ft left that is in the upper portion of the picture. The #6 left will actually be used to cross over the main track and create a branch line...................................Maybe/DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/whistling.gif.The turn out or curve in the bottom of the picture was to have bridged the track and tie around to form a loop but we ran into tree roots when we tried to tunnel deep enough to create the 11” clearance for the trains and the bridge. I’m not sure what will become of the area now or if the turnout will be removed completely.

.

 

[ByrdC130]

Looking good there Joe, I knew that you'd come up with something neat. On your post from the 10th in the second picture, what kind of grade is on the track comming from under the bridge? Looks kind of steep. Are you planning on running a line to you shed? Man oh man with the kind of room you have to play with now you'll be layin' track for a loooong time!!!! Have fun.

 

[blackburn49]

Posted By cmjdisanto on 01/08/2008 1:05 PM
Originally posted October 28, 2007

  The trestle was set today and still needs some ballast around the bent's legs. The bents are actually resting on some old slate shingles as a base. I was going to crush broken roof tiles for the ballast around them.

Nice work integrating that bridge/trestle into the scenery.

--My regards,

--Ron at the CRD, Cicely, NX-AK

 

[blackburn49]

Posted By cmjdisanto on 01/08/2008 1:10 PM
Originally posted November 19, 2007



No golden spike yet . . . but we have completed phase one of the layout. As you can see there are still turnouts that need track added (as well as a plan for using them) and much needed vegetation needs ro be added. . .

And the track bedding is looking really good, too.  Good integration of materials.

--Ron in Cicely, NX-AK

 

[cmjdisanto]

Thanks Ron (and Terrance/DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/whistling.gif) 

Had the SD making some laps so's I could relax some from all the excitement around here yesterday. We are expecting snow today so maybe I can get some plow time in. We'll see. Granted we're no Savannah GA or Beaufort SC but considering how green everything is here during the winter months this area has always been one known for all or nothing when it comes to snow.

 

[ByrdC130]

Oui, moi ??????? (said with pinkie finger sticking out whilst sipping hot tea)

 

[cmjdisanto]

Oh yeah to Byrd! (oh I mean Terrance)

The grade is close to 3.5%. It will be reduced some when I get more ballast to elevate the track. But it's kinda like the way the layout back in KC looked in pictures. It's sorta deceiving because of the landscape distractions. And the fact that I don't always stand vertical too well./DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/whistling.gif BTW I hope in true fashion you have something other than "tea" in that cup

 

[ByrdC130]

Maybe some sparklie wine.....

I have been mildly chidding the ma-in-law about how she choked when it came time to name the road.