A new track in Maine
Moderator: Harold_V
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A new track in Maine
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?
"If you took the bones out they wouldn't be crunchy!" -Monty Python's Flying Circus
Re: A new track in Maine
"It's not going to be a huge layout"
...until you have to maintain it!
Looks like fun.
RussN
...until you have to maintain it!
Looks like fun.
RussN
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Re: A new track in Maine
That's half the fun, ain't it?
"If you took the bones out they wouldn't be crunchy!" -Monty Python's Flying Circus
- Bill Shields
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Re: A new track in Maine
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
Dumb ?
What gauge is the track?
Would hate to drive all the way to Maine and have my drivers in the ballast
Too many things going on to bother listing them.
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Re: A new track in Maine
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
- Bill Shields
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Re: A new track in Maine
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.
Keep up the good work.
Too many things going on to bother listing them.
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Re: A new track in Maine
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
- Bill Shields
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Re: A new track in Maine
esp since no blind drivers.
there are areas at PLS and PVLS where I cannot go....
there are areas at PLS and PVLS where I cannot go....
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Re: A new track in Maine
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
- Bill Shields
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Re: A new track in Maine
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.
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Re: A new track in Maine
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.
"If you took the bones out they wouldn't be crunchy!" -Monty Python's Flying Circus
- Erskine Tramway
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Re: A new track in Maine
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
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
BN RR Locomotive Engineer 1977-2014, Retired