Some updates

It’s been awhile since my last report. A lot of progress is being made in several different areas at the same time and my engine house is taking forever to complete. Perhaps I’m being too careful on it…

The Engine House…

I have one wall boarded now for the windows and battens. I finally have a plan for the removable roof. But here’s some pics of the recent progress.

Engine House

Engine House Inside

Layout…

The layout is getting it’s much needed finalization. I hope to complete the line down the side of the house. This will complete the large loop and allow for longer train runs than my weird oval in the middle of town (if you can call it a town yet). This track section is one of the most challenging sections I have done so far. It will be built on the side of a hill which is roughly a 45° slope. Much of this will be a trestle, and will require concrete footings for a level foundation. The rest of it is cuts and fills in the dirt. The trestle will be fun to build but a lot of work!

The future site of track expansion including a trestle.

Recent View of the Layout

Some more plants are growing. But I’m still not sure what to do with much of the rest of the layout that is still dirt. That will come with time. I’m not familiar with which plants I like and grow well in my area. Most of the layout has Alyssum growing. It grows a little too big for my taste but is easy to grow and remove. In fact it needs almost no water to propagate and grow. I have some test patches of Irish Moss that are growing well in the sun, and one small section of Yellow Star Creeper. I’m surprised these survived as I planted them in November!

Bridge Abutments for the drip system span.

Locomotives…

You may have noticed an old locomotive sitting on a flatbed car. This is temporary while we retrofit the locomotive with a new drive system. The plan is to go wireless and run my locomotives wirelessly off of battery power. So far I have not liked any of the wireless packages for sale. They are very highly priced and I don’t like the proprietary nature of the hardware. I’d like to have something I could control from my computer or smartphone via WiFi… I’m a long ways from that goal but I’m working toward it faster than I thought.

[Picture coming soon]

I decided to use electronic modules from Pololu , “ your source for robot kits, robot parts, and robot electronics.” They offer custom programmability coupled with products that are easy to use. Not being an electronics guru I need something that can get me up and running relatively quickly without much effort. At the same time I want it to be programmable to I can expand the controllers functionality for things like simulating momentum and pulling more weight vs less. One big bonus is that this costs about 1/3rd the price or any packaged controllers and are much more flexible.

A couple days ago I started testing on one of my locomotives. I was able to get the test up and going very quickly. And was able to get the wireless card to communicate with the motor controller quite easily. So this is going well. It took me about an evening to get the test working for the electronics. There are still a few more steps needed in the communication module programming to have one wireless device send signals to the other and control the motor. This will probably go more slowly as I want to do the programming correctly rather than just quick tests.

Rolling Stock…

Seeing the cost of  ALL things G-gauge I plan to build as much as possible myself. I’m looking forward to building some flat bed cars and some others as needed.

Structures…

I have already drawn out plans for more structures and bridges. I’ve been thinking about some quick buildings to give the town nice feel or even just see if I like the buildings I planned without putting too much effort in them.

Disaster Strikes!

Burst Pipe

A pipeline built by the John Black Water Company burst and eroded away a section of track from the Back Yard Railroad Company. The highly inexperienced engineer John Black quickly fixed the pipe the best he knows how. However, he left the railroad to repair the eroded section of track with no compensation to the railroad. Luckily for John Black the railroad needs him as he is the only engineer in the area willing to take on the task of supplying this area with water.

Earlier this year the Back Yard Railroad Company sought the help of the John Black Water Company. The railroad needs water for locomotives, a lumber mill, and for a small town that needs to be built for the railroads logging operations. The water is essential to the survival of the small town and the operations of the railroad. The railroad plans on using the water to power the lumber mill, supplying water towers with water, and for local residences. John Black and the railroad have plans to dig a small canal through the center of town. Both John Black and the railroad engineers miscalculated amount of water which flows through the flattened section of land where the Lumber Mill is to be built. A small canal will provide relief and also serve as a method to transport the water.

One town resident commented, “Having to walk only a few yards to get water is a welcome luxury indeed! I may be able to wash my clothes every week! What will these inventors think up next?”

Another resident commented on the event, “If I had a house it would have been flooded and filled with dirt! Makes me glad I don’t have a house yet.”

The burst pipe flooded a section of track while eroding another section of track. The images below show the extent of the damage.

Erosion Damage Caused by the burst pipe.

Section of Flooded Track

John Blacks response to the burst pipe was, “Whoops!”.

The First Building

Work on the railroad is changing quite a bit. There’s still plenty to do outside, like lay a few more pieces of track, grade the new hill, plant some plants, decide on some plants to plant, build foundations for buildings and so on… In the meantime I’ve begun work on my first scratch built structure. I am starting with a single stall engine house. It’s turning into a nice challenge but it’s been fun when things work right.

I’ve been developing my own plans for awhile. I decided to use Google SketchUp for my CAD program. I’ve used many different CAD programs but the free ones have everything I need except for one critical item and they drive me nuts. I found Goggle SketchUp to be very easy to use and is feature rich. Much of the menu’s are turned off in the beginning to ease getting used to it. But once the correct ones are on it can do anything you need it to. All I was wanting was to draw lines on a surface accurately.

Engine House Plans

The design for the single stall engine house itself is a compilation of several different designs. I found many free railroad engineering books available online with Google Books. Some of these are Excellent! The one that I like to use for structure ideas is Buildings and structures of American railroads. This book is full of illustrations / plans of real Railroad buildings from before 1893. Pictures of these structures are very hard to come by so it’a great help when planning to build a structure. There are many other free books like this one with different emphasis. This one is very helpful as they describe each building in detail. They give enough information so that someone skilled in construction could build the same building. There are other books that focus on track work, and some on locomotive design. These are an excellent resource to have for someone interested in the history of trains and looking to build as much as they can from scratch.

One of the first issues I ran into was the issue of Scale. Many people build structures at 1/2″ scale (1:24), because they can use doll house parts likes windows and doors. The trains I have are 1:22.5 and 1:20.3. A train needs to fit into the engine house. So I drew my plans to full scale and printed them at 1:22.5 (seems like a happy medium). The other issue was my ink jet printer doesn’t want to print anything to the right size. So I had to use a laser printer.

So the first step in this process is cutting scale wood from larger boards. We have a cheap supply of good redwood fencing. For about $12 I can have enough wood for the engine house. The difficult part comes in cutting to scale sized beams. I only have a band saw and I had some difficulty in ripping the wood accurately to smaller sizes. I found the blade likes to wander a bit too much for my liking. So I started to look for a table saw. However, I didn’t find any table saws I liked, Not even the $500 range models. Then I tried cutting more wood and found the quality of the wood effects how straight my band saw cuts. Wood is cheaper than a new saw! Since then I’ve had no problems cutting scale lumber. I’ve been able to cut 1/16″ and 1/32″ lumber with problem. So the band saw will work great and it’s quiet! Here’s a great tutorial I found for cutting scale lumber.

Lumber Man Bob with some lumber ready for construction.

Once the scale timbers are cut The construction can begin! Well almost… I need a couple tools namely clamps so I can glue and clamp the framing together. I will try using a brad nailer but I think the brads are too big for the wood. While I’m waiting for the clamps to arrive I’ve been busily cutting the pieces of wood needed to build the structure. So for I have the sizes for the main structure only. The smaller sized lumber will be next, but I’ll cut those as I need them.

I’m always on the lookout for more engine house ideas. I’ll probably add a machine shop on the side of my engine house. Just something small. I’m not into detailing as many people are.

Lumber Man Bob (seen in pictures). Lost his arm long ago in an unknown accident that didn’t involve lumber. Here’s some more pictures of the progress…

Workbench

Lumber for Engine House

Engine House Roof Truss

Big Update

I’ve been busy on the yard and the train and have not had time to make any updates. So this one is a big update with lot’s of progress. I finished 2 retaining walls and laid most of the track climbing the hill.

On my last post I was working on the retaining wall that would help support the track which winds up the hill. I was part way done with my wall when I realized that the wall did not need to be as tall as I was previously thinking. So I backfilled it and then added more fill on top to build a foundation for the track and ballast. It came out much better than I thought. I was surprised with the finished result. It looks like I knew what I was doing!

Looks like I knew what I was doing!

Track side View

For determining the slope of the track I am using the old fashioned method of pounding stakes into the ground every few feet. The top of the stake is the height of the track. I cut my own “stakes” from a piece of 1 x 4 laying around. I find this is easier simply because I can cut them to be small in size and the length needed. To determine the slope I am using 2 different levels. One is a basic 4 foot level that is great as a straight edge. The other level I use is a small level with a slope bubble on it. The slope bubble indicates the slope in inches per foot, up to 1/4″ per foot. It just so happens that each indicator line also matches up with 1%, 2%, 3%, and 4% grades! Since railroads use % grades it works out great! In my track plan I was using a 6% grade, which is very steep even for logging railroads. I ended up using a 2% grade, which can be used for all railroads.

My "Grade" Level

Next I moved on to stake out the rest of the track climbing the hill. I heavily recommend, getting the track out while doing this and seeing exactly how it fits together. My hill was nothing like what I had drawn up in my plans. Instead of changing the hill I decided it would be more interesting to follow the  natural form of the hill. Because, this is what real railroad do. I liked this better than my plan anyways. I published my original track plan today, and added some more content to my original post, for those who haven’t seen it. The hill had to be cut as the track turned into the hill and continues to climb.

Once I had the stakes in place I could start on the second retaining wall. This wall goes just above the current wall to support the track that is looping around and coming back in front of the house, to form 3 levels of track that is pretty close together. This wall was built in a couple evenings. My daughter decided to play Godzilla on the wall and ripped it out of the ground. Funny thing is that it was easy to put back. This time I backfilled it so she could walk on it and couldn’t pull it up. My soil has a lot of rocks in it. I tend to collect them as they float to the surface. I first backfilled the wall with these rocks then sand and dirt. This seemed to work really well. When I finished it I soaked the dirt to help it settle. The water ran through very quickly but the soil stayed in place.

I filled in the soil where needed and laid the track. This is where I ran out of sand for ballast. I know sand is bad as ballast but I had about 1/8th a yard left from putting in my patio, so I thought I’d use it. So far it’s working out ok. Next I will get crusher fines for ballast.

The next step was to make a clear path to my daughter’s play house that would work for everyone. I used some stepping stones that were all different shapes. And put them in as steps up the hill with “safe” crossings over the track where my daughter could easily step over the track without tripping on the track. This could also double as a “road” and have railroad crossings at these places.

I’m re-thinking about where I want the logging camp to be. I have enough leftover dirt, that I have a small hill in one corner of my yard. I may spread out this small hill to make the logging camp next tot he fence line in the highest part of the yard, or keep it behind the play house. Either way I need more track so that will be something for later on.

With the time left over I started running some trains and cleaning the track. I have been using a giant rubber eraser to clean the track. My track is old and weathered. Most of it has been outside for almost 10 years. The rubber eraser works pretty good.

I forgot to take some “in the middle” photos. But I will leave you with these…

Overview of the full layout

Climbing the grade, from track level.

Rounding the bend

Shay with Logging trucks

Climbing the grade

Resting at the top.

Next I’m starting to work on an engine house and some other structures for the layout. I’ve never done a scratch built building before. We shall see how it goes!

A little Progress

I’ve made some progress since the last post. The bottom Loop is in! This allows me to run small trains and will allow for better loading and unload of wood at the lumber mill.

Bottom Loop is in!

Here’s the same thing from the end view.

Bottom Loop from the end view

The next step was to begin on the cribbed retaining walls that will allow the track to climb the grade while traversing the hill. I’m building the cribbing in place. So far the hardest part is bending over to ground level. with the pieces pre-cut the cribbing comes along rather quickly. This being my first retaining wall I haven’t used as many sleepers as I need to. I’ll be usign more as the wall get’s higher.

Cribbed Retaining Wall from the End

Cribbed retaining Wall from the side

I’m still figuring out how to gracefully end the retaining wall as it will not end with a gradual slope like it began. That will come with some time and thought…

For the cribbing, I’m using a brad nailer air gun. I can’t imagine doing this without this awesome tool! Previously I was planning on pre-drilling the cribbing and using metal rod to help hold it in the ground. The metal I got was too soft and the pre-drilling can be time consuming. The brad nailer saves much of the prep work time, and it allows me to nail parts together that a hammer would destroy.

Under the cribbing I use a little bit of sand to keep the redwood off the soil and dry. This should help it last longer (in theory at least). The soil I have is mainly clay and it holds water a long time. Not that good for wood.

That’s all for now.

A Train in the making…

Welcome to my little area where I will attempt to catalog the making of my backyard train. The train itself is G-Gauge. The scale is around 1:22.5. I have some cars that are 1:20 and 1:22.5. I plan to build my buildings at 1:24 scale as that’s 1/2″ scale and it makes distance conversions simple.

I like Steam so I’m shooting for an old west steam train logging railroad. I like the older style things better so I’m shooting for the 1900′s era. Not very precise but this is for fun not for my job right?

I started planning the layout when we moved into the house. One of the interesting features that we have is that our yard slopes up to the neighbors yard. In an area that’s very flat this gives me a great advantage to make a hill to build on with little effort. Also all the way down the side of the house is a steep 3 foot high incline to the neighbors yard. This seemed perfect for a gentle grade while my Shay can climb the steep grades.

One of  the inspirations for my layout comes from an N Gauge layout. The Possum Valley layout. This little layout was done very well and it’s easy to like. Over time my layout ideas have changed to better fit my needs and the space I have. Now that I have finished with the grass and back patio; I can start on my train!

Theses are the "Plans"

The layout consists of two parts the lower small logging town and the upper logging camp. I may add also add a little town on the high plateau as another point of interest. Or place to stop my train and deliver goods.

Spreading Fertilizer

The Soil is so bad in our area that the farmers can’t grow anything good here. After having the soil analyzed, we found it would take a ton or more of material to balance out the soil properly. So we got a couple hundred pounds of materials to spread on the yard to get us started. After each type of fertilizer or mineral was spread. The ground changed to the color of the fertilizer that was spread.

After Spreading fertilizers and before Rototilling

The yellow flags are where my sprinkler pipe was buried. It was not hard to find it again.

The "After" Shot

I graded the hill as I was working on the yard. This way I could let the dirt settle over the winter and so on. After doing the patio the hill ended up 4-6 inches taller. Than I expected. Then when I thought I was done we bought a small play house for our daughter. The best place to put was on the hill I had made.

After careful consideration and checking with my CAD drawings I found that I could put her house up there and not effect my train layout at all. It means I have less space for buildings and trees and such. But part of that space I wanted to make a walkway. So it works out in the end, and I think she likes it better up there. I used paving stones to make a small foundation for her house. Here’s how it turned out. I like it!

Play House on a hill

After a few days of working on the hill grading more carefully I began to lay my track! It’s probably a bit premature, but own well, I’m having fun!

First track Layed!

Now I need to remember to keep snapping photo’s so I can watch this thing progress!