My railway is visible from space!

My railway joins the Great Wall of China and the Pyramids as one of the few human constructions visible form space!

Older videos during track construction

Now that I've figured out how to add videos I've posted two more from last fall and early this spring during construction of the railway.  Nice to see the progress in the line and the flora.

First ride around the track

Here is my you tube post of a ride around the newly completed track.

Finshed!

 Finished the line yesterday morning!  Completed the last 13 feet of track and then added balast around the line to even it up a bit.  A gold painted screw was ceramoniously placed and the line was opened.  After a quick adjusted of some rail on the big bridge I was able to go around multiple times without a derailment.  My daughter then became engineer and she made multiple loops without a problem.  Still some areas with too steep a gradient, will need to fine tune with more ballast to minimize these so I can haul more cars and people.  The following photos show the line as you would travel it. 

It was alot of work but I am pleased with the result.

Almost finished!

 The bridge framework was completed so now I installed the rail.  I used the spacing jig from Real Trains and secured the track down with screws. 

 Bridge is now functional.  To complete will put in guard rails on the inside of the rails to prevent derailments from getting too far.

 The bridge a few weeks ago and now.  Pretty impressive what a few weeks of good weather will do to the greenery.  I have already had to cut back the plants on the other side of the pond as the railway was impassable.

We are down to the last 13 feet to connect the ends and complete the 235 foot loop.  Just a few more hours work and we will have a completed railway!

Making ties and big bridge completed

 My last day to work on the track started out rainy so I finished up some more ties.  I use a self made tie jig to predrill the holes for the screws at just the right distance apart.

 The jig is just a short piece of angled aluminum bought at the local big box store.  It was cut to size and then I screwed on an old tie with just enough space for a tie to fit snuggly in it.  The holes were drilled with just the right spacing so when the rail is slipped through the screws it is in the proper guage.

Screws were then screwed into the predrilled holes.  Now I can slide the tie on the rails, space them right and then hand tighten them down.  I bought a tool from Real Trains to put on the ties and keep them at the exact gauage when I tighten the screws down in the field.

The weather cleared enough for me to lay out the last 8 feet of the bridge/trestle.  I laid the cedar 2x4's on top so it had a look of a curve instead of three straight sections.  Now just the last 3 feet or so of fill needed at the other end and then I can lay the rail and connect the line.

Making the big bridge

 A few days of good to mediocre weather allows me to got to the point where you see the begining of the line from the end.  But we have a decent gulch that must be bridged to connect the line.  Can't avoid a bridge here.

 This was the last bit of curved track that had to be run from the small bridge over the stream .  No boulders, minimal grade, good weather, pretty easy going.

 This is a view of the gulch from the begining side.  I've laid out eight foot 2x8's to figure where to dig the posts.

I dug the first two post holes and drilled out 4x4 posts then bolted on the 2x8's.  Put them in the ground to see where to dig the next set of holes.  I made it bridge have a 1% grade to avoid having to have too much of a grade to reach the low spot of the little bridge.

 ‏ These 2x8's are bolted directly onto the 4x4's.  There is a 24 inch span between them and I'm using cedar 2x4's as ties to lay the track on.  I decided to add a third 2x8 joist between them to make it extra solid.  I did this by attaching a 2x8 accross the edge and using a joist hanger to attach the third 2x8 joist.  Once both ends were in I filled the post holes with quickrete fast set for post holes.

Since this end will need to accomodate joists from both sides, and since there will be an angle between them (this is a curved bridge) I'm using 2x6 cross beams to rest the ends of the beams on.  These are screwed to the 2x4's and 2x6's and a metal strap will connect each 2x8 to the next one.

 The completed joisted bridge frame with the middle 2x8's in place.  I used 1 1/2 inch trap rock for the approach for stability, this will be covered with the standard 3/4 inch trap rock (in use as ballast around the rest of the track) before the rail is laid.

 Cedar 2x4's cut and laid out, not secured yet.  Looks like a bridge!

The rail still needs to be attached to the bridge but the excitement is building as the two ends of the line are within spitting distance.  I haven't finally decided whether to continue the bridge or to fill in the gap with stone and dirt.  Looks like alot of (heavy) 5 gallon buckets so I think I'll extend the bridge a little more.  A gold spike ceremony is in the near future!

Adjusting the line

So after riding on the line with the new engine I can spot a bunch of  mistakes, this turn in particular was too sharp and many of the gaps between the rails were too big.  This was causing frequent derailments.  I decided to desharpen the curve so moved over the brick edge (luckily I had just set them on the ground and they weren't cemented down.)  Then I disconnected one end of the rail, loosened up the ties and made the curve more gentle.  I had to cute off about 8 inches of rail on both sides and redrill holes for the rail joiners, the drilling jig from Real Trains made this very simple to do in the field.  At the same time I closed down the gaps in between the rails.

Here is the corrected and reballasted curve.  The train runs much better on it.  I've built up the ballast some but the gradient is still too much.  I'm going to raise the line at least another 6 inches with more ballast, just a few more dozen trips to the stone yard with the minivan.  When all is right I'll move the other brick line over to keep it even looking.  Proper planning would have avoided the need for this adjustment so learn from my mistakes.  Now I can ride the full 170 feet of track that is down.  So the next step is to finish the last 50 feet of line before I get to the last 30 feet the will require alot of fill and a larger bridge.

First ride under motive power!

  So I've got 150' of rail down and a working engine and flat car.  Time to ride!  I've got the controller in my hand, the lights show battery status, the thumb lever controls your speed (if you let go it drops to zero,) the I/O switch changes forward and reverse and the switches on the bottom are for sound/horns/lights.  Once you have an engine going you can really tell everything you've done wrong.  I've got way too high grades (I have a digital grade level somewhere in the garage - must find), uneven side to side track, my gaps between the rails are too big and cause derailments (especially on curves), and my curves are too tight.  Otherwise all is well. 
  After getting the engine going there was essentially no further progress on extending the line, just fixing what I've got down so far.
  Here's a you tube link to the first drive:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EgwvLGIfoI

Spring returns and work resumes, now with an engine!

We have our first few days into the 50'sF, so back to work.  We're heading towards the first small bridge. 

Child labor laws are no obstacle on this railway as my railway gang removes ties from an old panel so they can be reused.  The rail needs to be bent for these curves so the ties must be removed first.

We make it to the first bridge going over a small stream.  About 150 ft of rail down now, 80 to go.

Motive Power!  I've got a Maxitrak chasis kit from the UK put together and upgraded the motor controller to the 4QD VTX with hand controller.

Attached it to my home made flat car.  Trucks (the wheels and axels) are from One Inch Scale Railroad Supply.

Coupler is a home made one with spare parts from the local big box store conecting to the Maxitrak chasis connector.

Work Recommences

January is not the best month for outdoor railroading in Wisconsin.

 

  



I waited for this to improve...

Getting above freezing for a few days in February, start to see the track again.



I was able to predrill the rest of the plastic lumbar ties and place them under the rail I laid out in the Fall. 













Here's a view of progress since starting at the end of last summer.  The snow is easier to work in then the mosquitos.