[kennywsp4]

 I live in the Northwest Bremerton WA. I was out digging moving soil around and found out ,it is all sand after about two or three inches under the ground. Am i asking for problems if i use this for fill and mountain making?
   I plan on using the ladder method for securing the track with very few turnouts. And have it contained behind concrete cinder blocks no more than two high. Any suggestions or warnings would be great thanks

 

[sheepdog]

Well, I tried to answer once... This place dumped me while I tried to look up a members name so I would not misspell it. Had to go back to the old forums to find it. So, anyway, knowing this place will dump anything you type at any time... I did copy the small amount of text I had typed......... Good thing.

Anyhoo.. Put the sand in sand bags! Make any shape you want. And thanks to Ric Golding for that idea.

[url="http://www.triplecrails.com/2003/2003Exp2.htm">Sand[/url] Bags

I'll be damned... it worked... I think.

Craig

 

[work4fil]

Jeepers Kenny, I am on the other side of the Sound, up in the Cascade foothills and I got clay and rocks.  I would love to have some of your sand.

 

[kennywsp4]

 Yes it easy digging only problem is i have to get it up about a six foot high terraced slope/DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/crying.gif> so its shovel sand to one level shovel to next  level repeat etc /DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/cry.gif plenty of sand down below wish i could rent a conveyor belt/DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/whistling.gif

 

[Rod Fearnley]

Kenny, in Orlando they have, or used to have, a Model RR that was built on a mound of sand.  They piled it up and gave it a coating of concrete/cement and  shaped it as they went along. Wether or not it would hold up in your environment is another thing.
I have used sand before, but only behind a good solid backing of rock. It will settle far more quickly than ordinary garden soil.
Rod

 

[lvmosher]

Kenny,
My whole back yard and RR is sand below 8 inches. All of my raised sections are 12 inches of loam on top of sand. I even trucked in sand to get the elevation I wanted. There's no serious slope with the sand though.

 

[bottino]

The whole eastern shore of Delaware and Maryland is flat and basically sand.  The good news is that it drains very well, so we don't have to worry about drainage from our layouts. The bad news is that there are no hills or rocks here. We have to buy or steal the rocks, and haul in fill to make mountains. I would think that the sand bag idea is an excellent one for shaping mountains, or just hills, followed by fill. 
Paul

 

[g-guage-trains]

Many years ago, people repaired road fills using sand, water and cement as a slurry. (2 sacks for every cubic yard of sand) Mix together and pour it into sacks, tied it and place them a wall, etc. The cement harden and the sacks disapear in time
alan

 

[LOST AND CONFUSED]

I live in florida and all I have is sand. My wife is the one who designed a way to

put sand on a slope and get it to stay. She first sets her slope and holds sand in place with a land timber cut to size. Then she gets a piece of weed block cut to size . Final step is to add a top layer of small 3/4 inch river rock on top. We get very hard rains here and its still sloped after 1 year.I hope this helps.I have built a elevated trestle on top of the slope to allow the train to go on top of it. The most important thing is to have fun doing it. We sure have been having fun building it.

 

[Bob Pero]

When we built our layout, I was lucky to get a couple of truck loads of fill from a swimming pool company. We live on the West coast of Florida and the fill was a mix of sand and clay. Once the fill was in place, I let it set for a month before laying track. Have not had any problem with major settling.