Alcalde & Coalfield High Line

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Mike Walsh
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Re: Alcalde & Coalfield High Line

Post by Mike Walsh »

Jack,

If you are willing to divulge, how much would you say it costs per Pylon to build?

Mike
Rwilliams
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Re: Alcalde & Coalfield High Line

Post by Rwilliams »

Jack,

Truly amazing how the plasticizer material makes the mix conform to all of the shapes so nicely. Long ago the SP did all kinds of concrete castings with lettering and dates in their bridges, culverts and tunnel entrances. Often times if it was a big project, they got the rails in the sunset mold involved to really fancy up the final presentation. Makes me wonder if they used some sort of a material to make the concrete conform to the intricate shapes of their fancy molds.

Did you consider some sort of Alcalde & Coalfield Railroad logo or lettering to be included in the molds so each casting would have a special logo visible when completed?

Robert
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JBodenmann
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Location: Tehachapi, California

Re: Alcalde & Coalfield High Line

Post by JBodenmann »

Hello My Friends
Yes the pylons are a bit of work. The railway will require about a hundred and twenty of them and I think I just cast number fifty five and fifty six, so about half way done. The cost isn't too bad $4.80 for concrete, about $3.50 for rebar, $.11 for conduit, and $.66 for the carnage bolts to mount the anti tip rails. That's $9.07 per pylon. This doesn't include the concrete dye or the extra shoves of sand and Portland cement. Nothing compared to the time and effort to make them. From the time I start pulling the cast pylons out of the mold, cleaning the mold, making the rebar assembly, re assembling and pouring the concrete is about an hour and a half. But every time I cast a couple of them I think, ahh another twelve feet of railway. I have experimented with and without the plasticizer and it does make a difference, less air pockets and a very nice finish. I thought about some sort of logo cast into the pylon and that would have been a cool little touch. But that would have been more to clean up on the molds every time. Like I said, I thought about it but decided against it. Today the tractor will get a work out moving fill material. The mountain division fill is pretty low for a hundred feet os so. 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
Been Making progress on the railway, mainly adding to the mountain division fill. Also casting pylons and building track. Here is a photo of a gaggle of rebar assemblies. One goes in each pylon. Then a pallet of redi mix. It takes three sixty pound bags to make two pylons. Last photo, a truck and trailer load of road base for the footpath under, and on each side of the track. This is to cover the rocks and make a smooth safe walkway along the track. And unlike the dirt here it doesn't stick to your shoes when wet. I wanted the distance from the track to the walkway to be consistent all along the railway. That way if you have to step off what running there will be no surprises. No shortage of things to do!
Jack
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Sacrete.jpg
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JBodenmann
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Re: Alcalde & Coalfield High Line

Post by JBodenmann »

Hello My Friends
Grading and track building has been the big push lately and a break was needed from all this seriousness. Time for some fun, so some signs were started. There was some nice clear pine in the wood shop so some was ripped to 5/8" x 5/8" for the posts and the sign parts were made 5/16" x 1-1/2". The parts were all sanded, glued and nailed together and given a coat of wood primer sealer. They were dried in the sun for a day and then sanded again. Then they were painted light gray. Why not white? Bright white just looks too stark to me. So some white acrylic was given a dab of black. I have always made my signs this way. I made some for LALS and a gaggle of them for Bittercreek years ago. The top photo is a yard limit sign. I have always thought these yard limit signs were cool and sort of railroady. Is that a real word? These yard limit signs will go near either end of the high line switch. There will also be some Alcalde signs. As you proceed around the railway in a clockwise direction there is a great view down the canyon where the sun sets. This is where the mountain division fill runs into the cut. This location will be called Sunset. There is also a spot called Monolyth where the giant rock was in the Valley Division cut. There will be others too. Now these little signs are completely unnecessary and just for fun. They are part of trying to create the illusion that you have actually gone somewhere. Another part of this illusion will be some little towns and buildings and such. An oilfield with derricks and some working pumps. Even some sound effects. Making little baloney like this is just too much fun, and it's nice to be getting to a point when I can see the high line being finished and can start on these things. Having fun here.
Jack
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Greg_Lewis
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Re: Alcalde & Coalfield High Line

Post by Greg_Lewis »

Jack:
I'm with you on white paint. Refrigerator white is just too hot. Greying it down a little is subtle and when the color can't be compared side-by-side with pure white you can't tell, but it looks much better.

C ya.
Greg Lewis, Prop.
Eyeball Engineering — Home of the dull toolbit.
Our motto: "That looks about right."
Celebrating 35 years of turning perfectly good metal into bits of useless scrap.
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JBodenmann
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Re: Alcalde & Coalfield High Line

Post by JBodenmann »

Hello My Friends.
Greg is right about comparison. I would be discussing the signs with someone and they would insist they were white, until a piece of white paper was held up against one. Then it would obviously be light gray.
Jack
Pontiacguy1
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Re: Alcalde & Coalfield High Line

Post by Pontiacguy1 »

room mate of mine in college had a dove grey mustang notchback, 1990 model. It looked white, and everyone thought it was white until you parked it next to one that was bright white or arctic white or something like that. Then you could see that it was grey. One thing about that color grey, it didn't show dirt or road grime hardly at all. It still looked clean, until you rubbed a spot with your fingers, then you could see the contrast and know it was grimy. Great color for long-life and low maintenance. He kept the car for more than 10 years, and it still looked good.
Great railroad! Too bad for me it's 3,000 miles away.
Jerry_H
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Re: Alcalde & Coalfield High Line

Post by Jerry_H »

Same thing with a black locomotive. Put a little white in the black paint and it lightens it up little bit. It's still black but detail in the shadows can be seen better.

Jerry
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Greg_Lewis
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Re: Alcalde & Coalfield High Line

Post by Greg_Lewis »

Jerry_H wrote: Fri Nov 01, 2019 2:25 pm Same thing with a black locomotive. Put a little white in the black paint and it lightens it up little bit. It's still black but detail in the shadows can be seen better.

Jerry
The HO guys learned this a long time ago. Also, I seem to remember reading that the builders' photographers had the engines sprayed with whitewash or something before they shot the builders' photos.
Greg Lewis, Prop.
Eyeball Engineering — Home of the dull toolbit.
Our motto: "That looks about right."
Celebrating 35 years of turning perfectly good metal into bits of useless scrap.
Andy R
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Re: Alcalde & Coalfield High Line

Post by Andy R »

Jack hosted a meet at the A&C for 3.5-inch gauge steamers last weekend.
There were 8 of us on Friday, and a veritable mob by Saturday afternoon.
Seven locos eventually steamed up. Lots of good folks were able to troubleshoot cranky locos that have been on the shelf for a longtime.

The first photo is of Jack steaming up his tiny Invicta. We were all surprised at how well it steamed.

And the second photo is of Jack steaming his Invicta on his highline (leaving the steaming bays).
It pulled him up the 1.5% grade from the west, and pushed him up the grade from the east...after addition of a custom block of lead for ballast.
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Greg_Lewis
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Re: Alcalde & Coalfield High Line

Post by Greg_Lewis »

That little Invicta is what you might call a hip pocket engine. Just pop it in your pocket when it's time to go home. A wonderful weekend at a wonderful railroad in the making. Thanks, Jack.
Greg Lewis, Prop.
Eyeball Engineering — Home of the dull toolbit.
Our motto: "That looks about right."
Celebrating 35 years of turning perfectly good metal into bits of useless scrap.
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