[snowshoe]

I got all the grass up and layed the track down to get an idea where it is going.  I measured the slopes I have to deal with.  The front left of my layout is a 6 inch rise over 15 ft. (Just under 4% grade if I did it right) and goes to 4 inches over 15 ft on the front right of layout.  I started laying rock around where I have to build it up.  mainly the front of the layout.  I am going to go with a more natural  look.   I plan on digging dirt from the back and brining it to the front to fill in the grade.  That way I can use the back as cliffs.  Eventually I plan on putting one or two turnouts in.  That all depends if I can come up with the money.  Here are some pics.  Again I apologize for the large pics my program will not let me get them smaller. 

 

Where the track will go.  I used steaks to mark the location of the track.

This is the start of the rock wall I plan on doing.  It is not going to be very high maybe one more smaller stack on top.  After the rocks are in I plan on taking dirt from the back to fill in the front.  

 

[Guest]

to make your pictures smaller is easy.
open a picture with MS Paint.
look in image - attributes that tells you how big your photo is.
make an estimate, how much percent of your width the allowed 640 pixel might be.
go in image - strech and skew, put in that number in both 'horizontal' and 'vertical'.
revise with 'attributes'. if it is not right, use Edit - Undo. if it is right, save the picture and load it up.

 

[ralphbrades]

Shawn,

Althouh I have no "true" datum line... Could I suggest that you run your locomotives in a counter clockwise direction. This is because a locomotive works better climbing gradients if it attacks it in a straight line. Curves increase the load on it.

regards

ralph

 

[snowshoe]

kormsen thanks for the tip  for some reason when I got my computer it had microsoft paint and others but it was a 30 day trial.  I never bought the program.  That is the biggest problem with computers today.  They go down in price but you dont get all the programs anymore, everything is 30 day trials. The way I have always done it is through tinypics.com.  You download your image and then it gives you an adrress to cut and past.  It is suppose to keep it to the correct size for forums.  Anyway got some more work done today.


It sure is nice having more daylight now. After work today I got to do a little more to my wall and built one drainage so far.  This one will act as a drainage and a real stream bed.  Im going to have a trestle go over the stream bed.  Eventually I am going to put some cribbing to level it.  The other side  am going to do the same except the wall be lower and I am going to put another dry stream bad for drainage.  Here is a picture of my latest progress.  click on the link and it should bring up the picture.  Hopefully this will work out better.


    http://i30.tinypic.com/5nt7ir.jpg
 


For a roadbed I am going to dig a trench a few inches deep and then put the crusher fines in.  This should do the trick I hope.

 

[Guest]

when i see your terraforming, i am content to be only an indoor-modeller. /DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/whistling.gif

i hope, you enjoy it!

 

[snowshoe]

I got my wall finished and leveled the area out.  I plan on giving it a week or so to let all the dirt settle and then I will see where things stand.  After that I will lay the track back down and outline where the track will lay.  Then I will start digging my trench for balast and add the tunnel.  I think the next hardest part is going to level the track.  Never did this before so I hope it goes all as planed.

 

[jimtyp]

There was a good supplement in the latest GR that gave good ideas about laying track, including leveling. Looks like you are off to a good start! The one thing that may be of concern is the S curve. You may want to just run some rolling stock through it to make sure they won't derail.

 

[snowshoe]

I have the next two days off, Im hopping to get some landscaping done. I got most of my wall complete. I got a load of top soil and some hose for my water fetures. My turnout shouldbe coming in the mail any day. Then I will be able to start laying down some track. I also got great deals on Dwarf Alberta spruce $7 for 2-3ft tall trees. I picked up 5 for now and probably in the next few weeks I will pick up a bunch more. Cant beat that price. got them at Lowes. Will post some more pics of my progress when the rain stops.

 

[snowshoe]

The rain stopped finally. I was able to get a little more work done. I started building my mountain/ridge. The picture below is the front of the ridge. When done it will extend to the back with a tunnel running through the back part. As it goes further back it will get a little higher. To the right is going to be a ravine with a creek. Eventually I plan on putting a fire tower on the back part of the mt (highest Point). Next step is to get some track down so I can get an idea where to build the tunnel. Once the tunnel is built I will build it up to form the rest of the mountain. I may need another load oftop soil. I also picked up a few more Dwarf Alberta spruce and some Dwarf boxwoods. Boxwoods were 5 and change and the spruce 7 bucks. Cant beat that price.

http://i27.tinypic.com/2mfgbo1.jpg
http://i25.tinypic.com/n3xf0o.jpg

 

[Bob Rich]

Shawn,
Looks like you are on your way.
I sent you an e-mail with some information that you might find helpful.
Keep up the good work amd post more pictures. Have you tried setting you camera to take photos at 640 X 480? I usually do that if I am going to post the shots. Then there is no need to shrink them. If you can't take them in that size hopefully you will find a way to shrink them afterwards.
Regards,
Bob Rich

 

[blackburn49]

Posted By snowshoe on 03/23/2008 6:06 PM

I got all the grass up and layed the track down to get an idea where it is going.  I measured the slopes I have to deal with.  The front left of my layout is a 6 inch rise over 15 ft. (Just under 4% grade if I did it right) and goes to 4 inches over 15 ft on the front right of layout.  I started laying rock around where I have to build it up.  mainly the front of the layout.  I am going to go with a more natural  look.  . .



 

Where the track will go.  I used steaks to mark the location of the track.

Looks more like stakes than steaks to me. I like the approach of going for the "natural look," which is my approach for my garden railway, which actually takes advantage of the native plants. 

 

[snowshoe]

Posted By blackburn49 on 04/04/2008 10:14 PM
Posted By snowshoe on 03/23/2008 6:06 PM

I got all the grass up and layed the track down to get an idea where it is going.  I measured the slopes I have to deal with.  The front left of my layout is a 6 inch rise over 15 ft. (Just under 4% grade if I did it right) and goes to 4 inches over 15 ft on the front right of layout.  I started laying rock around where I have to build it up.  mainly the front of the layout.  I am going to go with a more natural  look.  . .



 

Where the track will go.  I used steaks to mark the location of the track.

Looks more like stakes than steaks to me. I like the approach of going for the "natural look," which is my approach for my garden railway, which actually takes advantage of the native plants. 






That is good I guess I head steak on my mind at the time. Now you got me hungry. Didnt even catch that one at the time. Plus I am not good with spelling. LOL

 

[snowshoe]

I havent been able to get much work done outside, been a typical Northeast spring, cold, damp misty weather. The only good thing about the weather is it gives my soil I added a chance to pack down nice. I have been trying to figure the best (cheapest) way to connect my rails. I am using the screws Aristo provides but I also wanted to solder jumper wires. One thing I learned is a can not solder if my life depended on it. Thanks to tangerine-jack who had a great way to do jumpers on the track. Using the screws that holds the ties to the track underneath, I make a loop at each end of the wire. then I slip the wire loop ends under the plastic tie. Then I put the screw through the loop and screw it into the rail. Why did I not think of that. Works out great. Only difference is I did not solder the loops. The loops I made seemed fairly secure. At least I have something to do until the weather clears up. Tomorrow looks like I nice day and I am off. going to start on my tunnel. Here is a pic of my jumpers. (click or cut and past the link below for picture)
http://i31.tinypic.com/o5vl1y.jpg

 

[snowshoe]

Well the sun fiinally came out and it got real nice outside. I started work on my tunnel. So far it is coming out nice. Here is what I got so far.

http://i27.tinypic.com/wugyme.jpg

Im using cinderblocks and paver stones for the roadbed through the tunnel. I might keep the paverstones as the roadbed. I may end up just using stones. Stone might help drainage better. Will see when I get a good rain storm. It works great I burried the cinder blocks in the ground a few inches and then fill the holes on top with stone and soil.

http://i29.tinypic.com/2luxsvc.jpg

This is the tunnel with the roof. I had some nice large paverstones to use as the roof and another layer of cinder blocks. Again I will fill the holes in the cinder blocks with stone/soil. On top I will put plastic down to help keep moister/water out. Then I will put stone and rock on top to form a mountain.

http://i31.tinypic.com/2058ldg.jpg

This is a close up. I have some nice rock shaped like bricks with a nice texture to it. I will face the outside of the tunnel with those. This will close in the entrance of the tunnel to look more realistic. The tunnel is about 13inches high.

 

[snowshoe]

Taken a break from my tunnel construction. I started digging my trench for my water line. Going to feed the stream I am going to build. Not sure exactly how I am going to do this but probably use cement for my stream and bubling spring. Is there a special type of cement I should use. What is the best approach. I want to avoid plastic liners for the stream. It is hard to get them to look natrual. Any thoughts?

 

[Big John]

Don't mess around with cement for your stream. Plastic liner is the only way to go if you do not want to have leaks in the future. I have installed three ponds and two water falls with streams. The only one I had leak problems with had a cement base. You can cover the liners with river pebbles that look very realistic. Go to a pond place and see what they have to offer. They usually have sample ponds, waterfalls and streams set up for the customers to see how they will look. I can guarantee you every one of them has a plastic liner.

John

 

[snowshoe]

I started some work on my creek, so far this is what I came up with. I wanted the stream to start out as a calm creek and then end with steep sides. (Ravine) This is the point where the train will cross over. The upper end is going to be a bubbling spring. Not sure how I am going to acomplish this yet. I have a small hard pond liner. I am going to try and drill a hole in the bottom and stick the hose through the hole. I just have to come up with a way to seal it. Any ides??? Garden RR had a small article were someone took a pvs pipe T joint and hooked either end of the T with a small hose. In the small hose they put small holes around it. This is what gives the bubbles. The stream is going to empty into a pool except the pool will be filled with rock, that way it gives the appeares that the stream goes underground. We have a few stream like that in my area. They just go underground, sort of disappear. That is where the pump will be located. Now this is all just ideas, Im sure things will change some especially if anyone has better ideas.

I have to get some contact cement to hold the rocks in place especially on the steep section of the ravine.

http://i30.tinypic.com/27zal3t.jpg

(image exceeds 640px max width (i.e. 1600), changed to link, SteveC mod.)

 

[snowshoe]

I had my stream running all day yesterday. When I got home from work last night I found the bottom pond had very littlewater in it. It was leaking somewhere. This moring I refilled the pond and ran the stream. Found my problem. The flow I had was to strong and the water was spilling over the sides of the upper spring. I took a garden hose (I had a large fish pond hose but it seemed to crack pretty easy) and cut it to length. Turned the punp on and had a perfect flow with no spilling. The stream runs a little slower then I wanted but overall it is not bad. I also put the hose end above water level and created a cascade. looks much better. When I had the hose under water the water would run back down to the lower pond (when I turned the punp off) ANyway here are some pictures, once the water cleares up i will worl on hiding the hose better etc... Next step is start playing with the track.

Upper spring with small cascade.I have to work on the spillway a little more.

Lower pond.

 

[flatracker]

Your creek looks good! Did you end up using a plastic liner like someone mentioned? I've seen the cement ones crack and leak, so the advice was correct. Hope yours lasts a looong time. Good luck!

 

[snowshoe]

Thanks, I used the rubber liner for the stream and the hard plastic liners for the upper and lower pond. I solved my leaking problem by using expandable foam where the water leaves the upper pond and goes into the stream. Water cleared up. Now I am working on laying my track down and hopefully have a train running very soon.