The first ride!

With about 70 feet of line down, Ryan gets ready for the first rideon the railway.  It went well, no derailments, and he did not fall into the pond.  The car is a flat car I made from plywood and oak with trucks from one inch scale railroad supply.  I've got an battery powered engine that is not fully wired up yet but I might be able to get it done before the snow starts, haven't built a plow attachement yet.

Kylie takes the second ride with a friend.  They made many runs back and forth and had a good time.  The car got up to about 60 mph (scale speed, 5 mph actual speed.) 

Adding ballast

Pouring the ballast over rail.  I used 3/8 inch trap rock from the local rock yard.  Used a broom to spread it out after.

Track work begins

I was able to buy some used 4 3/4 inch track.  To make more track I bought extra aluminum rail and spaced out the plastic ties more to give it a narrow gauge look. 

To make more track I spaced out the molded plastic ties and ripped a whole lot of ties from a 10 foot long piece of  2 x 12 HDPE plastic lumber.  I attached these with screws staggered as above (staggering keeps the tie from slipping diagonally.)  I used a template to predrill the holes to keep the plastic ties from splitting and to keep the gauge accurate.  I'm not crazy about the way having two different size ties look but using the molded ties also helps keep the gauge accuturate.  It is much less noticeable when the ballast is laid out.  The plastic has the advantage over wood ties in that it should last forever, no replacing ties due to rot or insects.  Disadvantages is that it is expensive but this was left over from another G scale train project.

First section of track down!.  One piece was a littel bent so I replaced it with a straighter section.

Coming round the first curve.  I prebent the aluminum rail along the edge of a circular outdoor table.

Through the garden and over the creek

I'm past the lawn and into the garden area on the far edge of the pond.



There is a small creek which trickles from our pond to a larger creek.  I crossed this with some 2 x 4's screwed into 4 x 4's spanning the creek.  The aluminum rail will be screwed directly onto these 2 x 4's.




Past the creek now, I've laid out the weed blocker and dug up and moved any ferns I'm going over.  Easier to work in October, you couldn't walk through this area over the summer due to the overgrowth and mosquitos.  It takes a lot of pavers and 5 gallon buckets of stone finish this part, and all have to be hauled in by hand and the kids wagon.



A view from the upstairs.  I've laid 200 feet of roadbed and this is as far as I can go, the last 30 feet will have to be trestle work and a short bridge to reach the other end.  That part will have to wait for Spring.  Next on to the track work!

Crossing the Lawn



I've come out of the elephant ear forest and am crossing the lawn.  This part was easy because it was pretty level.  I added curves for interest.  I dug up the grass underneath and used this along areas where the bricks were above ground and had no support on the side.  I use the short level above to keep the track level side to side and use the longer one to keep it level lengthwise.




The gentle curves look nice.You want to avoid sharp turns as much as possible.  Although smaller 4 and 3/4 inch gauge engines can handle curves as small as 10 feet radius, the more gradual curves the less drag on your engines and you'll be able to accomodate bigger engines as well.




Out of the lawn and back into overgrowth.



Looking good so far.  Again I should have waited to throw the track down before putting in the ballast.  Try to keep straight lengths of track between curves, S curves can cause problems.

Finished cribbing and rock wall

Here is  a view of the finished cribbing project over the low area.  I used 2x2's secured with screws and filled in with 3/4 gravel with fines.



This is a view of the cribbing form the side.




Moving through an area that had a rock retaining wall that went smack in the middle of where the line would have to go.  I dug out the rocks and moved them to rebuild the wall a few feet over.  Had to move a few again after I put the bricks down as it looked like they would be potential sites to whack your knees on as you drove through.



Put more rail down (not connected together yet) to see how it looks.  Looking like a railway to me! I'm happy because this part required the most earth moving and is now done.

The line continues and filling in a low spot



Here is the new ballast, 3/8 inch trap rock.  I like the color better then plain gravel.  In retrospect it would have been smarter to wait to put down the track before putting down the ballast.




Couldn't resist throwing down a track panel to see how it looks.  This one was made from aluminum rail from realtrains.com and ties cut from plastic lumber left over from a G scale train project.




This is the first low area I encountered.  I was originally planning on a bridge here but by the time I had dug out the high areas it was almost completly filled in.  It is right up against the pond so i figured I'd make a retaining wall with concrete blocks.




I abandoned the concrete block retaining wall since I forgot to get rebar.  Instead I went with a process called cribbing.  This involves making a wood framework that gets buried as you fill it in.  Seems to hold pretty good, just a question of how long before the wood rots out.



Surveying the line and starting construction

I began by placing stakes every 10 feet after some bushwacking.  I tried to follow a path that was as level as possible.  You want to keep the grades to a minimum because it will greatly decrease how much of a load your engine can pull.  Ideally you want less then a 2% grade (a change of 2 feet in height over 100 feet of track.)  This is next to impossible to tell with the naked eye so you should use either a long level (would need stakes as close together as the level is long) or use a laser level.



I have some pretty good overgrowth to go through. I used a 100ft tape measuer to track out my path.



I threw some of the track panels I had built around where the line will go just to see what they'd look like.



Now comes the fun part.  This was the highest point of the line where I would be limited by large tree troots.  In this area I had to dig down as much as possible to minimize the grade to the low areas.  Once I got to tree roots I dug to that level and used the dirt from this cut to fill much of a near by low spot.  After tamping down the dirt to get it pretty level, I then put down a 24 inch wide section of weed blocking cloth.  I am using brick sized paver stones (29 cents a piece at the local big box store) to line the edge of the track path (got the idea from rideonrailways.com)  The bricks will help keep weeds and grass from encroaching on the line, helps limit the movement of the track, and also looks nice.  For the ballast I was initially using 3/4 gravel mix with fines.  I did this because it was cheap (about $150 bucks for a dumptruck full) but I didn't really care for the color.  I later found a landscape supply place that sold a variety of rocks.  I choose a 3/8 inch trap rock which cost $5 per 100 lbs.  I can load about five five gallon buckets of the stuff in my minivan each time I go into town.  Always be sure to use a rock with sharp edges for your ballast, the round river rock stuff won't hold your track in place well.



Starting on the railway

  This site will document the building of a ride on railroad in my backyard.  I've been fascinated with this since childhood when a house on my paper route had a small railroad going around the yard.  Several years ago I stumbled on the websites of companies that sell the rail and cars and I've been planning on it since.  After several moves we are finally in a home we intend to stay in for a long time, and by a great coincidence it just happens to have a yard perfect for a railroad :)

          The affectionately named "Swamp House" with pond in back, the train will go around the pond.


 
  With our new property I began by surveying a good area for an interesting run.  We have a small pond on the property which would make for pleasant views so I staked out how far it would be to go around it laying stakes every 10 feet.  It winds up being around 235'.