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.