December 17th, 2011
One of the first things that I needed to do to build the railway is install retaining walls. Out here, the soil erodes quickly, so even a slight slope in the dirt needs to be terraced and leveled to protect the trains. For the retaining walls, I had 8' long landscape timbers at my disposal. These work great out here, as the climate is dry, which preserves wood longer. The main problem I faced with these retaining walls, especially on the first railroad, was that the outward pressure from the dirt would cause the whole wall to move outward too. I fixed this by pounding fiberglass fence posts into the ground (roughly 18" or so) cutting them so they were level with the wall's height, then attaching the posts to the timbers with fencing staples. I believe this method should work well for walls up to about 18" high. So here is what I ended up with:
I put posts in about every 4 feet. These posts go down to the frost line to my knowledge.
Sometimes the posts aren't close enough, but not to worry. The extra pressure should hold the timbers back easily enough. On the corners, I also put a post on the outside to reinforce the joint.
This shows basically what I did, the post goes down 18" or more, and the staples hold the timbers to the post. the best part is that I didn't need to use screws, and the posts are completely invisible once back filled. The staples should last a few years too, as they are galvanized stainless steel, meant to hold up fences for generations.
And here is what I have so far. The wall to the right has been buried in the dirt, but in spring, I will level that out so that I can have paver stones put in place, like a patio.
December 26th, 2011
The day after Christmas, and there is still no frost in the ground. Because of this, I made my first trip to a washout on the property to get fill dirt. The consistency was something similar to gravel which is great for a base level because it prohibits plant growth from below the gravel layer. Also, the dirt is free as it is on the property. In total, the first load was about 300lbs and got about 20 square feet filled 4 inches. Now I have to think about what I should do with the top soil layers.
December 27th, 2011
After sleeping on the idea all night, I have come up with two possible solutions to my top soil problem:
Regardless of what I choose, I still need to bring in gravel to level out the landscape enough for track bed to rest on. So after the first two loads, here is what I have done:
Looking from the end of the retaining wall across the ravine to where the bridge abutment will be placed. for the 4' trestle.
Here is the deck. I thought it would be nice to have a level, and somewhat clean area to sit and watch trains.
So far here are all the town buildings. There are three birdhouses which look western that need to be painted. There is also a bird house on top of the mountain with the greeting, "Welcome."
I got a hammock! This seems like a good place to watch trains, observe the landscape, and read books and magazines.
This is the area for unloading all the lumber. It is right up close to the deck so that the train can be easily switched.
here is one of the lights that I am using. It is stainless steel so that it can't rust out. so far, I have 7 of these operational.
Here is the "river" which consists of an old pair of preformed pieces. I tested them and they have no leaks.
Right about in the middle is the spotlight for the pond and waterfall. All of these lights are solar powered and so there is no need for wiring.
My water tower is in another garden for now, but when the track is laid, you can bet it will be track side, fueling locomotives.
Here is the overall shot of the railroad. It really isn't that small when you look at it is it?
One of the first things that I needed to do to build the railway is install retaining walls. Out here, the soil erodes quickly, so even a slight slope in the dirt needs to be terraced and leveled to protect the trains. For the retaining walls, I had 8' long landscape timbers at my disposal. These work great out here, as the climate is dry, which preserves wood longer. The main problem I faced with these retaining walls, especially on the first railroad, was that the outward pressure from the dirt would cause the whole wall to move outward too. I fixed this by pounding fiberglass fence posts into the ground (roughly 18" or so) cutting them so they were level with the wall's height, then attaching the posts to the timbers with fencing staples. I believe this method should work well for walls up to about 18" high. So here is what I ended up with:
December 26th, 2011
The day after Christmas, and there is still no frost in the ground. Because of this, I made my first trip to a washout on the property to get fill dirt. The consistency was something similar to gravel which is great for a base level because it prohibits plant growth from below the gravel layer. Also, the dirt is free as it is on the property. In total, the first load was about 300lbs and got about 20 square feet filled 4 inches. Now I have to think about what I should do with the top soil layers.
December 27th, 2011
After sleeping on the idea all night, I have come up with two possible solutions to my top soil problem:
- I buy top soil and ballast for the track. Then I plant what ever I want in the topsoil (4-6 inches deep) As illustrated below:
2. Also, I thought about leaving out top soil except for areas with plants. The rest or the area would be covered with 4-6 inches of mulch and other areas could have limestone rocks as pictured below:
Regardless of what I choose, I still need to bring in gravel to level out the landscape enough for track bed to rest on. So after the first two loads, here is what I have done:
February 18th, 2012.
Well, January had some snow, as well as the beginning of February however today the 18th I managed to get a lot done. Here is what I accomplished today:
- The deck has been moved to the "front" of the railroad, or the West end.
- The back filling process is just about complete
- I have finalized my track plan and am now concentrating on roadbed.
- The hammock has been put up!
- The gravel base at the bottom of the washout has been laid. Now I have to lay rock down up the valley.
- A signaling system has been built.
- All parts of the railroad right-of-way are ready for mulching and ballasting.
- The parts for the fence have been rounded up.
So here is everything in the photos:
And here is the completed gravel base at the bottom of the washout.
March 17, 2012
Today is the first day of true pond construction.
That's right, the pond today has been fully installed, with only some minor additions and tweaks to fix. Last fall the pond was put in place, but today, the pump, waterfall, and river are now working. Below are the steps I took to finish this 1 day project:
Here is the spot for where the river and waterfall will be (the spot with no rocks). It is important to make sure you have enough space.
For this natural waterfall, a basin to catch extra water is needed. Here you can see that I took a bucket cover, and cut part of it to make a nice bin that will catch any water that goes the wrong direction.
The next step is to level out part of the area for the waterfall and pond. Here you can see I used crushed rock which helps keep the whole water basin level.
Finally, here is the semi-finished waterfall. The basin is well hidden on the underside of the wall of rocks.
And here is the waterfall close up. As can be seen here, the waterfall is small, but looks pretty good in my opinion. A helpful hint is that if you want a bigger volume of water to go over the waterfall, get a larger pump. I personally like this as is, but for someone with different tastes they might want to upgrade pumps. The pump I am currently using is a 150gph (gallons per hour) pump and I get little more than a trickle. For more flow, I would recommend a 300gph-400gph which would give you a strong stream of water.
Also, the rocks have been being put in and I am almost done with the "rockery" as our friends across the pond in England call it. The stone archway will be a kind of tunnel. I know I said I didn't want one for maintenance reasons, but this one is tall and short enough that it can easily be serviced.
March 17, 2012
Today is the first day of true pond construction.
That's right, the pond today has been fully installed, with only some minor additions and tweaks to fix. Last fall the pond was put in place, but today, the pump, waterfall, and river are now working. Below are the steps I took to finish this 1 day project:
As you can see, you can get a lot done in one day! My next move is to lay track, finally!
April 9, 2012
Well, in several areas on this site, the headlines are buzzing about the first train to run on the railroad. The track, however, is relevant to this page. So with that, here are photos showing off the track instead of the trains:
Here are the clamps, doing their job on the line prior to being installed.
Before>>>
Before>>>
After>>>
The view from the North end of the completed track. The green wires are going to run power the length of the line.
April 9, 2012
Well, in several areas on this site, the headlines are buzzing about the first train to run on the railroad. The track, however, is relevant to this page. So with that, here are photos showing off the track instead of the trains:
