Expansion Keith, Looks really good!!!! Good Work! Never underestimate the power of water!!! I have been amazed at what even a little rain can do on the layout....Even when one plans for and builds for runoff, it doesnt always work that way........ Like EMD said, soils are different....mine here in Illinois turns to mud easily......thats why I have to use a crushed rock base....... and even the crushed rock washes away. The important thing is to be flexible, and keep watching how the settling and errosion affect the layout, and adjust from there. Keep the pics and updates coming! I love to see others' progress! Darryl
A club display in the Garden Railways magazine learned the hard way about water hydraulics. There was a club display that had a 3 foot high wall made from cinder block, but they never thought of drainage. Then they had day after day of rain and then finally it pushed the entire wall over. One mistake they made was to tie the bricks together with re-barb, but the wall floated on the ground. The wall was also not tied to anything else. The next time around they installed drainage pipes and stone deep in the layout. Then they dug deep to lay in concrete bed with re-barb sticking up so they could tie the wall into something. Creating french drains seems to be the only way to disperse water rapidly. This is done by either using stone under the layout area contained or a combinaion of stone and cvp piping which is the best way to create french drains. As far as the road bed washing away, I heard of people taking the crushed fines for road bed and making a watered down mortar mix to help keep it in place.
Well, I get the chance to see how all of my hard work holds up! Had a major downpour about 7:30 tonight. At least that's when thunder woke me up! Will see how well of the hard work I put in held up against nature when I get home tomorrow morning. Thunderstorms with tornado watch/warnings in place until 9PM tonight. I'll consider things good, IF my semi finished mountain hasn't washed away! Maybe a photo or two in the morning. Not sure yet.
Did a bit more work on things today. Added a few more rocks, and Mom worked on getting more plants planted in the open areas between the rocks. Have a bit more to do, but gotta wait until the iris bloom, so they can be removed to make the needed room for track. Small flagstone patio started also, on the east side. Need to dig it down a tad deeper, set the rock in place and build up a short wall around the area. Hope to have a rock bench in that corner. A place to sit and run trains, or sit and enjoy the outdoors! A short path will connect the new patio with an enlarged brick patio that already exists. With a small bridge of sorts connecting both sections, going over my track. The idea is well liked by Mom. Dad doesn't seem to mind the idea. As long as I'm doing it.......... Hoping to set up track, and trains in the AM, when I get home from work, for a photo shoot. Should give me a real good idea of how things are gonna look when done. A few photos from today to be posted tomorrow AM as well. Gotta go and take a nap before having to get up and ready for work tonight.
"Mountain" with plants added. Track set in place, to check clearances. Train added, just because!! A lower level view of landscaped area. Overhead shot, from back of truck.
Should also mention, that the Iris on the left will be moved to new location, after they bloom. Mom needs to find out what color(s) they are, before she and I move them to a new location. Once done, they will be moved to the lower section to the right of caboose.
I was about to make a wise-crack about running into some "Endangered Specie" impact to the plans... :tb-wink: :tb-wink: :tb-wink: :tb-wink:
I like how you detailed the Rio Grande locomotives, looks good, I gotta get around to doing the same for my locomotives.
Well.....Iris have bloomed. did so last week. Removed and replanted by Mom today. I did get a few more sections of rock placed. Really can't do too much right now. Been raining on and off for the last 3 days! Too wet and too muddy. Will see if I can grab a quick photo tomorrow.
Keith, How well did the backyard layout weather the winter? I know there was some concerns about the frost heave and drainage. Eric
Back yard held up pretty good. Minor work to do. Need to add some ballast to a few spots. Biggest project is gonna be removing the #$%^& weeds again, so I can actually SEE my track! But, back yard is going to be completely redone, probably next year. Enlarging my curves, so I can run my SD70MAC around entire layout! While it will run out back, curves prevent me from adding cars behind. Pulls 'em right off the track! 8 foot Diameter curve is bare minimum. Last time I ran, things ran pretty good. Track still level, in all directions!
Have not done any work recently. No help, interest, or motivation to complete part of project, so as of this AM, I've given up. If I can get enough garbage out of the way, partial track could be going down. Could be another week yet also, before I can get enough additional curve track to complete loop. Might be done this summer yet. IF I have the interest and motivation to finish.
Got out today and got more rock for dry river, from roof downspout. Dry river to be worked on before too long. Then went and got a bit under 1,000 pounds of granite fines for ballasting. Did get a short section ballasted. But, I'm gonna have to pull it up and do it over again at a later time. Need to get more rail clamps first! Still have some minor dirt work that needs to be done first. Raise up a few low areas, and shave down a few high spots. But, I should be ready to run before summer ends! I hope! A few photos from today later. Still not feeling good.
A few photos of work done today. In this case, the rest of my track, making a complete loop. As well as adding ballast to a short section. Which will be pulled up and redone in the future, as I gotta add rail clamps to track, in place of joiners.
I must say your front layout is coming along well it looks like. Yep, hillmans rail clamps are definately a must outside, do yourself a favor however, if you are running transformer power which I think you are, buy a couple tubes of dielectic grease to put into the joiners before assembly, this will make your layotu conduct electricity for a while without trouble. Also don't forget hillmans rail expanders every so often of you could face a layout that has been made into a preztel, don't laugh I have seen this happen.
Used Split Jaw clamps in back, and since I still have several pairs left, I'll use those in front. Will also be adding extra power drops, so I don't have to rely on joiners only for power around entire layout.
It's alive!! Yes, I actually took the Goose, and my NW-2 outside this AM. And I ran both units around front layout for a little while! I have to adjust the track in places, raising some places, and shaving down high spots in others. Once that's done, I can redo my track. So far, I'm happy with results!
