Alcalde & Coalfield High Line

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JBodenmann
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Joined: Sun Oct 26, 2003 1:37 pm
Location: Tehachapi, California

Re: Alcalde & Coalfield High Line

Post by JBodenmann »

Hello My Friends
First off thank you to Harold and Russ. I agree that poppies are beautiful, The color of the blossoms is one of the wonders of nature. As I have said before, I might get tired but I never get bored. You find what you are looking for in life. If you are looking for a case of panty bind you will find it, if you are looking for beauty and happiness...you will most likely find that. :)
As to the length of an engine house...how long is a piece of string? What sort of engine will be living in the engine house, a Raritan and a riding car, or a Northern and it's associated rolling stock? One thing to consider when building things like engine houses would be to design it's length in multiples of four feet. That way if you use plywood for the sides, with the grain running vertically, you will get good cutting efficiency and little waste. Also, a small long engine house without access towards the back end can be a real problem if something derails way back there. So hinged roof panels can be handy. An engine house on stilts to match the height of the turntable is handy, but you might consider enclosed storage underneath which would be very handy for toolboxes, air and water hoses, and buckets of coal and such. Just my two cents.
Now here are some snappies taken yesterday and today. Look out! Railways coming through!
See you in the funny pages...
Jack
Attachments
ValleyDiv.1.jpg
ValleyDiv.2.jpg
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JBodenmann
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Re: Alcalde & Coalfield High Line

Post by JBodenmann »

Here are a few more. I just love my little piece of dirt here in the mountains. The trees are finally starting to be real trees instead of pitiful little twigs. The railway is well over half finished. At one time this railway was only a hallucination, with a line of rocks in the dirt to show where it might hopefully be someday. Look back at the early photos in this thread. Optimism is a good thing! So now I have more earth moving to do. The fill between the valley and mountain division is embarrassingly low. I guess I'm just not cut out to be a surveyor! Ahh, but I have a tractor, a shovel and a rake. Optimism...or lunacy. Mental illness can manifest itself in many ways :D
See you in the funny pages...
Jack
Attachments
ValleyDiv.3.jpg
ValleyDiv.4.jpg
ValleyDiv.5.jpg
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Zach_Jones
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Location: Costa Mesa, CA

Re: Alcalde & Coalfield High Line

Post by Zach_Jones »

Looks great, love that last picture with the track going through the cutting.
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NP317
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Re: Alcalde & Coalfield High Line

Post by NP317 »

Jack:
Mental illness is a relative judgement.
Lunacy and genius are also on the same spectrum.
I look at your work and see lunatic brilliance.
Keep smiling and producing.
RussN
Andy R
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Location: So. Calif.

Re: Alcalde & Coalfield High Line

Post by Andy R »

Over half-way done!
FKreider
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Re: Alcalde & Coalfield High Line

Post by FKreider »

I really hope to someday visit this track! Beautiful highline and scenery!
-Frank K.
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JBodenmann
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Location: Tehachapi, California

Re: Alcalde & Coalfield High Line

Post by JBodenmann »

Hello My Friends
Thank you for the compliments, I really appreciate them. F Kreider you would be very welcome to visit. In the future when the railway is finally finished there will be many small meets. I have all weekend to play around on the railway. This morning I will be planting some trees along the Valley Division fill by where we were working the other day. At one time I had about thirty Willows planted there. They grew fine for a year or two and then died. I hate it when that happens :cry: These trees will be part of the screening between the railway and the road and will be planted on fill built up about three feet. These will be Cottonwood trees that were started from cuttings. On the way to town there used to be a town called Monolyth. The town is gone but there is a grove of cottonwoods there. They haven't gotten any water for many years and are doing fine so I figure they are pretty hardy trees. After that work will move to the other end of the railway where a stone retaining wall is going in with a small mountain behind it to plant more trees on. In some areas it's so rocky that this is the only way to get some trees to grow. These trees will be Lombardy Poplars, also started from cuttings.
No shortage of things to do!
Jack
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JBodenmann
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Re: Alcalde & Coalfield High Line

Post by JBodenmann »

Hello My Friends
Just a little update on the high line. Not much has happened with the railway this summer, mainly a lot of gardening and planting more trees. As this is the high mountain desert the native trees are mostly junipers. Now junipers are cool because they are natives but they don't require any care, but a monoculture can be boring. So quite a gaggle of trees have been planted over the years and many are actually trees now and not twigs. I wanted some trees on the west side of the steaming bays to provide some shade in the afternoon. The problem was that area is really rocky with only about a foot of soil. So a little mountain was made. First a stone retaining was was plunked down and then back filled with soil. This was started last winter but ended up getting sidelined due to other projects. I had some Lombardy Poplars that were started from cuttings in January and they were ready for planting so the wall was finished up and the back filling was completed. The little twigs were planted and now lets see what happens. Planting trees is always a roll of the dice, some thrive, some linger, and some just up and die. The first two photos show the wall and the twigs. The last photo is just for fun. The maple trees around the steaming bays are really doing well. In the spring the bed between the retaining walls was just full of California poppies. The railway is slowly coming together. As soon as the wether cools off the priority will be to finish the grading. There is only about two hundred feet left to complete. Compared to what's already been done that's not much.
Happy Model Building
Jack
Attachments
Aug.2020-1.jpg
Aug.2020-2.jpg
Aug.2020-3.jpg
Glenn Brooks
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Re: Alcalde & Coalfield High Line

Post by Glenn Brooks »

Jack, your landscaping really provides the finishing touch! Congrats on an extrodainary amount of work and very cool presentation.

Sounds like you haven’t had a need for irrigation? Wondering if a drip line running amongst your seedlings would help survival and early year growth rates??

Regards,
Glenn
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Motive power : 1902 A.S.Campbell 4-4-0 American - 12 5/8" gauge, 1955 Ottaway 4-4-0 American 12" gauge

Ahaha, Retirement: the good life - drifting endlessly on a Sea of projects....
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JBodenmann
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Location: Tehachapi, California

Re: Alcalde & Coalfield High Line

Post by JBodenmann »

Hello My Friends
Thank you Glenn, it's been a lot of work, but it's also been a lot of fun. And the fun hasn't really yet begun. No drip irrigation here, it has to be burried and then the natives still chew it up. I have run hundreds of feet of waterlines on the property and there are hoses going all summer long. It's really dry here in the summertime. I set the hose bib so it's just a trickle about the size of a piece of spaghetti. Then I let it run for at least twelve hours on each tree. I move the hoses every morning and evening. No shortage of things to do!
Jack
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NP317
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Re: Alcalde & Coalfield High Line

Post by NP317 »

Jack:
You are creating one of the treasured high lines today.
Most wonderful to see.
RussN
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JBodenmann
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Joined: Sun Oct 26, 2003 1:37 pm
Location: Tehachapi, California

Re: Alcalde & Coalfield High Line

Post by JBodenmann »

Hello My Friends
Thanks Russ. Not much happening here with the railway but fall colors. The weather has started to change and the days lately have been in the seventies. Time to start moving dirt again. The goal is to finish the final grading on the remaining two hundred feet of high line. Also time to cast concrete uprights. There are about 35 to make. Here are a couple snappies of the steaming bays and the maple trees turning red.
Jack
Attachments
A&C1.jpeg
A&C2.jpeg
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