A new track in Maine

This forum is dedicated to Riding Scale Railroading with propulsion using other than steam (Hydraulics, diesel engines, gas engines, electric motors, hybrid etc.)

Moderator: Harold_V

OddDuck
Posts: 434
Joined: Fri Dec 16, 2011 1:00 am
Location: Somewhere south of Mt. Katahdin
Contact:

A new track in Maine

Post by OddDuck »

I have ballast down, so I feel I can now post about it! I've been slowly working on this for several years, but I have made some serious progress this spring. It's been slow going, I had to figure out how to build turnouts, and this short section has two in it. They ain't pretty, but I think they will work fine. This is the beginning of a roughly 60' diameter loop. I hope to have at least this part done by summer. It's not going to be a huge layout, probably 6 or 7 hundred feet of track, and a few turnouts. Hey Dick! Wanna race and see who gets a complete loop done first?
Attachments
IMG_20210506_192445840~2.jpg
IMG_20210506_191654673~2.jpg
IMG_20210506_191915849~2.jpg
"If you took the bones out they wouldn't be crunchy!" -Monty Python's Flying Circus
User avatar
NP317
Posts: 4557
Joined: Tue Jun 24, 2014 2:57 pm
Location: Northern Oregon, USA

Re: A new track in Maine

Post by NP317 »

"It's not going to be a huge layout"

...until you have to maintain it!
Looks like fun.
RussN
OddDuck
Posts: 434
Joined: Fri Dec 16, 2011 1:00 am
Location: Somewhere south of Mt. Katahdin
Contact:

Re: A new track in Maine

Post by OddDuck »

That's half the fun, ain't it?
"If you took the bones out they wouldn't be crunchy!" -Monty Python's Flying Circus
User avatar
Bill Shields
Posts: 10460
Joined: Fri Dec 21, 2007 4:57 am
Location: 39.367, -75.765
Contact:

Re: A new track in Maine

Post by Bill Shields »

LOOKS COOL...make my back ache just looking at what you have accomplished so far...kudos

Dumb ?

What gauge is the track?

Would hate to drive all the way to Maine and have my drivers in the ballast :shock:
Too many things going on to bother listing them.
OddDuck
Posts: 434
Joined: Fri Dec 16, 2011 1:00 am
Location: Somewhere south of Mt. Katahdin
Contact:

Re: A new track in Maine

Post by OddDuck »

7 3/8", all the way around. So, ostensibly, 7 1/4" gauge. 30' max radius on the curves, due to grade considerations and the size of my property. So, probably nothing larger than an 0 4 0, or a two axle switcher. At some point, I might have a meet, but it'll be small. It's going to be basically two loops connected by a single track. So, not too exciting.
"If you took the bones out they wouldn't be crunchy!" -Monty Python's Flying Circus
User avatar
Bill Shields
Posts: 10460
Joined: Fri Dec 21, 2007 4:57 am
Location: 39.367, -75.765
Contact:

Re: A new track in Maine

Post by Bill Shields »

So my 2-8-0 loco in 7.25 may be a bit of a squeeze and my 2-4-0 in 1" would be off the rails.

Keep up the good work.
Too many things going on to bother listing them.
OddDuck
Posts: 434
Joined: Fri Dec 16, 2011 1:00 am
Location: Somewhere south of Mt. Katahdin
Contact:

Re: A new track in Maine

Post by OddDuck »

Yeah, a 2-8-0 would straighten this rail out in short order.
"If you took the bones out they wouldn't be crunchy!" -Monty Python's Flying Circus
User avatar
Bill Shields
Posts: 10460
Joined: Fri Dec 21, 2007 4:57 am
Location: 39.367, -75.765
Contact:

Re: A new track in Maine

Post by Bill Shields »

esp since no blind drivers.

there are areas at PLS and PVLS where I cannot go....
Too many things going on to bother listing them.
OddDuck
Posts: 434
Joined: Fri Dec 16, 2011 1:00 am
Location: Somewhere south of Mt. Katahdin
Contact:

Re: A new track in Maine

Post by OddDuck »

Another negative is handling facilities are going to be minimal at best. Still wrapping my head around how to make a steaming bay of some sort, the budget probably won't allow for a powered lift, so it's probably going to be a hole in the ground sort. You know, an evict the spiders before using type.
"If you took the bones out they wouldn't be crunchy!" -Monty Python's Flying Circus
User avatar
Bill Shields
Posts: 10460
Joined: Fri Dec 21, 2007 4:57 am
Location: 39.367, -75.765
Contact:

Re: A new track in Maine

Post by Bill Shields »

is all a matter of scale....and of recent years have been rapidly heading toward stuff that I can carry....not that I don't really enjoy my my 7.25 loco -> it is just a lug to get around...
Too many things going on to bother listing them.
OddDuck
Posts: 434
Joined: Fri Dec 16, 2011 1:00 am
Location: Somewhere south of Mt. Katahdin
Contact:

Re: A new track in Maine

Post by OddDuck »

More progress today, the track is now past the ballast pile! I also repainted my embarrassingly pink hopper ( oops shelf at Lowe's, the paint thumbprint on the can looked a lot more brown...) and got it out on the track. It works okay, I need to make a few tweaks to it, and figure out some way to keep it from derailing when I dump it. I have a few ideas. Also, I have a video of it on YouTube, but I can't copy a link for it because I'm on my cell.
Attachments
IMG_20210507_181111067~2.jpg
IMG_20210507_182008757~2.jpg
"If you took the bones out they wouldn't be crunchy!" -Monty Python's Flying Circus
User avatar
Erskine Tramway
Posts: 390
Joined: Wed Sep 10, 2014 4:13 pm
Location: South Dakota
Contact:

Re: A new track in Maine

Post by Erskine Tramway »

Hi, OD...

On the big railroad, before the radio controlled ballast cars, we used to push a tie with the front wheels of the rear truck to knock down and spread the ballast.

(edit) Since it's unlikely that your car would have enough mty weight to not ride over the tie when the car was light on that end, here's an idea. You could take a piece of, say, 1" channel, legs up, and hang it with a pair of links from the frame or center sill. Then, lag screw a piece of 2x4 to the bottom of that so it rode on the rail. The hangers would pull the 2x4 along, and the flanges of the wheels rubbing on the back edge, would help to push it down. Make it so you could pull a couple pins to release the whole thing when you didn't need it. Just a thought.

Mike
Former Locomotive Engineer and Designer, Sandley Light Railway Equipment Works, Inc. and Riverside & Great Northern Railway 1962-77
BN RR Locomotive Engineer 1977-2014, Retired
Post Reply