# Trackage rights at Doc's...



## SRW (Jan 13, 2010)

I visited Doc Watson last month. He graciously invited me to bring some of my trains down to run on his excellent garden layout since he knew I have yet to build a track at my new home 15 minutes up the road from his house. I don't know if folks can cut and paste this photobucket link to see the the photos from Doc's house. i hope so. Doc has an excellent garden railroad. 30' x 50'. It's a smooth as silk. Like running on a glass top table the way he's designed the rock fill and drainage. His pneumatic switches, etc. work flawlessly. He's built a rock solid, stable layout down at his lovely home in Hendersonville NC. I took my Connie down to test out the new delron gear drive I installed and brought my USA F3 A/B units. 

Thanks again Doc for the chance to run my trains on such a beautifully engineered garden layout.


Click image to view album.

http://s1065.photobucket.com/albums...DDocsC.jpg


----------



## Ralph Berg (Jun 2, 2009)

Nice. 
Doc's layout looks great. Quite a change since I was there a few years ago. 
Ralph


----------



## Dr Rivet (Jan 5, 2008)

Great photos. 
Looks like Don needs a loco storage track.


----------



## docwatsonva (Jan 2, 2008)

Scott,

It was a pleasure to have you come by and run trains. I keep working to improve the layout (mostly landscaping now) but don't run very often. Thanks for the compliments.

I think this is a prime example of 'Arvie's' question about running on other people's layouts. I think all you have to do is ask. Most owners of working layouts are always willing to share.

Ralph,

You're more than welcome to come back over again and run. It's always good to visit with the "locals".

Jim,

I think I can handle more than a normal day's locomotive load if I wanted to carry them all out. I do have 18 engines but only drag out about 3 at a time. I have 2 passing sidings on the main, outer loop and 4 sidings on the inner loop. I think the biggest problem I have right now is running track power. If I want to store more than one engine on the same siding I would have to find the off switch if the engine even had one.

However, I do allow live steam engines and of course, battery power. Those would allow me to park even more engines.

Doc


----------



## SRW (Jan 13, 2010)

I hope to be able to return the favor someday when I lay some track through the backyard and have Doc or anyone else in the area come visit. That may be way down the road as I'm still deciding if I'll stay in this new house long range or sell it in a few years now that I've remodelled it. The R/E market will have to rebound a bit more before I do that so I may be here for a few years. Building a layout, especially as involved as Doc's requires planning on being in your home for a long time. My yard is completely wooded and naturally landscaped without a single blade of grass but I'm trying to envision where along the sloping backyard I can lay a meandering loop right on the ground in the woods so I can run trains here. Something that can be easily removed when I go to sell the home. 
I think it's neat for folks to visit each other with their trains. You get to see other models running on your layout and lash up their rolling stock behind your locomotives. I took my Blatz Beer reefer along and we coupled it in with Doc's beer reefers. It made a train of 8 cars entirely beer reefers [chuckle]. Doc just finished a new "Icing facility" that's up on the hill inside the center loop. That gives him a trainload of beer and an endless supply of ice!! What could be better? 

I uploaded 3 other photos this morning including a close up of the new Icing plant.


----------



## Dr Rivet (Jan 5, 2008)

Doc 

My comment was inspired by the locomotives parked on the block wall. LOL! I thought you had a spur or two with power that could be turned off at the panel. We both know from Colvin Run what a pain it is to use the switches on the locos, especially a pair of F units.


----------



## docwatsonva (Jan 2, 2008)

Jim,

That engine on the wall was my Climax. Scott and I were running tests to see which engines could pull the 8 reefers plus caboose up my 4 1/2 % grade. As it turns out, the only engine that succeeded was Scott's Connie. Even the Climax failed. I couldn't try the K-27 since the curves on the 'over-and-under', inner loop are too tight for it. My LGB Mogul also failed the test.

Yes, all my sidings are powered by micro switches (thanks to you) that are mounted opposite the pistons that operate the turnouts. That means I can park 5 engines, 7 if you also use the crossover tracks between the inner and outer loops.

Thanks again Scott fo posting the pictures.

Doc


----------



## SRW (Jan 13, 2010)

Yup, that flat retaining wall is handy and just the right height to rest trains on when we got to switching things and trying different combinations. Otherwise the other engines were resting nicely on the sidings that Doc can switch off from his control panels. 

I don't think I'd say that the Climax "failed" to pull that inner grade but I do recall a lot of spinning as it reached the summit and forward progress dropped to a crawl. The fat little Connie does seem to walk right up that grade though. All went well with that until we turned our backs on the train for a minute carrying things back inside to put everything away. Some of the reefers must've come uncoupled near the bottom of the other grade and the Connie lapped around and met them on the next descent with catastrophic results. Other than that the trains rolled flawlessly all afternoon. 

Hey Doc, I heard last evening that that other Doc Watson fellow, the one who flatpicks guitar so well is in critical condition in the hospital after a fall at his NC home. Didn't know if you heard that on the news. Sure hope he recovers alright, he's 89 they said on the news.


----------



## chuck n (Jan 2, 2008)

Scott:

Is your Connie a stock engine, or have you upgraded it with one of Barry's new power train? 


Doc:

Your railroad is looking very nice, congratulations. Are you coming up to one or both of Jim's events next month?


Chuck


----------



## docwatsonva (Jan 2, 2008)

Scott,

Yes, I heard about the other Doc Watson. I'm always confused with him - Ha Ha. I sure hope he recovers. He's almost as old as I am. You're right about the Climax. It even ran better up the hill when we got a good running start.

Chuck,

I haven't officially notified Jim yet, but as of now, I plan to be up for the Narrow Guage event. I plan to be there Friday morning and leave around noon on Saturday.

Doc


----------



## SRW (Jan 13, 2010)

Hey Chuck, my Connie is stock but I replaced the original drive gear with one of NWSL's Delrin gears. So far it pulls like a champ. It might have been fun to keep adding cars behind it to see what would finally make it slip. We had 8 cars plus caboose and cabooses [cabeese?], seem to drag a bit from their power pickups but it zoomed right up the grade. 
I may be wrong but I think Doc told me Bachmann has a brass replacement for that gear now and I believe he said he was thinking of upgrading his Connie with one of those. I think my engine pulls great now and may be fixed for life but if you want to pull stumps out of the ground with it I understand Barry's bullet proof drive is the way to go


----------



## SD90WLMT (Feb 16, 2010)

Ya - except Barry closed the store up, except for older service work!! 
Nice of him to still do that!!!!


----------



## bnsfconductor (Jan 3, 2008)

Posted By SD90WLMT on 25 May 2012 01:55 PM 
Ya - except Barry closed the store up, except for older service work!! 
Nice of him to still do that!!!! 


Umm not exactly.... If you read between the lines on his messages you will understand that he is still alive...


----------



## SRW (Jan 13, 2010)

I'd like to add that you learn so much by visiting other folk's garden layouts. When i first visited Doc about a year ago he showed me several 'test boards' that had different blends of ballast and binding material. His heavy rock fill with thick layer of gravel on top and the drainage swales and the fact that the retaining wall blocks all properly channel and weep away rainfall is key to a stable layout but he also experimented with mixing concrete adhesives with his ballast dust. He can share his exact mixture with folks if you ask him but from what I saw his ballast 'stays put' and when I get around to laying track in my backyard i will follow his mixture of stone dust and concrete adhesive because...it works!


----------

