# Progress on new layout



## SailorDon (Jan 6, 2008)

After a 4 month delay, I have once again started laying track.

This is the way it looked 4 months ago.


 

This is what it looked like yesterday morning.

 

A little bit of progress and a lot of manual labor resulted in this before a temporary halt to construction due to rain.



 
By the end of the day, I had the bridge in place.



 
Look carefully on the left hand side of the photo above and you will see the two resident railroad inspectors.
Here is a telephoto shot of them.



 
One of them appears to be asleep on the job.


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## tj-lee (Jan 2, 2008)

Don, 

Wow, nice house! Layout is looking good. 

Best, 
TJ


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## Randy Stone (Jan 2, 2008)

Nice looking railroad you got there. 

How mny aligators do you have in that lake? 

They might take a liking to your trains.


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## SailorDon (Jan 6, 2008)

Posted By rlvette on 12 Jul 2012 02:02 PM 

How mny aligators do you have in that lake? 

Not to worry about those alligators. Look again at the last photo in my original post. Those are "ATTACK DUCKS" to scare off the alligators. 
When I went out to work on the railroad this afternoon, I found "Tweety Bird" in the wet grass under the bridge. His feathers were soaked and he couldn't fly. Couldn't even stand up. I think he got blown in on this morning's stormy weather.



 
I moved him out of the wet grass, onto the bridge deck to dry out in the sun. I hope he makes a full recovery.

Then I will train him to defend the bridge against alligators. 

I roughed in some more embankment stones this afternoon after the storm and the railroad looks like this now:



 
A couple of days to rough in the remaining curve, and a day to fine tune the grade. Then it will be time for some live steam!


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## Stan Cedarleaf (Jan 2, 2008)

Beautiful setting for the railroad, Don.... Very nicely done. Love the bridge....


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## SailorDon (Jan 6, 2008)

Unfortunate to report that Tweety Bird did not survive the trauma of the storm. I gave him a decent birdie burial on the "back 40".










Stan,

I bought the bridge at the Plano (Texas) train show back in January this year. $60. I thought that was a bargain.

The location of the railroad on the property is very important. When I get the live steam running, I hope to have some sunset photos and videos.
Here are a couple of "practice" photos I took this evening.





 
I think this is a plan that might work.


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## jake3404 (Dec 3, 2010)

Very nice sunset pictures. Looks like you got your motivation and things are progressing nicely.


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## cape cod Todd (Jan 3, 2008)

When I first clicked on this thread and saw your setting I thought "wow that bridge will make for some really nice photos with the real water in the background" then when i got to the end it looks like you have already figured that out. Why not go a step further in your build and dig out under the bridge to make it look like a stream bed dry or not. I think the line is screaming for another bridge or a lead up trestle to your existing bridge. What is nice and easy about using those retaining wall blocks is you can just pull out a few and create a chasm to bridge when you are ready. 
Looking good. 
Happy RRing 
Todd


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## Totalwrecker (Feb 26, 2009)

Looks like 'Nessie' off to the left in the first sunset pic! 
Looks great. 
John


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## SailorDon (Jan 6, 2008)

Posted By Totalwrecker on 16 Jul 2012 11:36 AM 
Looks like 'Nessie' off to the left in the first sunset pic! 
Looks great. 
John 

Sorry to disappoint you, but it's just a quacker.








No Nessie. :-(

Progress has been painfully slow. The temperature was up near 100 degrees and I only lasted for about 20 minutes and completed another 2 feet of embankment.


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## aceinspp (Jan 2, 2008)

Well I guess if in Texas you can expect the heat. Looks like a great location for the RR. Later RJD


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## Torby (Jan 2, 2008)

Angry Birds? 









Beautiful place.


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## SailorDon (Jan 6, 2008)

This is the way it looked at the end of the day today.


 
I'm not sure if I'll have time to work on the train layout tomorrow. I let a lot of things go today just to put in that little bit of enbankment and track. The new tractor is very helpful for moving paver stones and embankment stones. It will also be handy for backfilling inside the loop of track. I figure it's going to take about 15 to 20 cu. yards of fill. And it's about 200 feet from where they can dump it from a dump truck.


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## SailorDon (Jan 6, 2008)

The high temperatures must have gotten to me. Somehow when I took my laser level sights, I got a grade of 1" going up around the curve. 
I found that out this morning as I was getting ready to put on a "big push" to complete the roughing in of the embankment stones.

Laser sight from datum before leveling. I really screwed that up. Maybe the sweat running into my eyes caused me to misalign the laser sight.

 

The next photo shows the repair work in process.










Just another unexpected delay. I'm only 4 months behind schedule so what's another few days? 

I'll try to keep it on the level from now on.


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## SailorDon (Jan 6, 2008)

August 26, 2012 was the day for my first ever live steam run on my Lake Livingston layout. The trackwork looks like a roller coaster, but there were no derailments. That's always important.

There is still much work to be done on leveling the track and fastening it down.









There is still a lot of work to be done, but the main thing is now I can run live steam.


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## Bob in Kalamazoo (Apr 2, 2009)

Congratulations Sailor Don, It's always great fun to finally be able to run the first train on your new layout or any expansion of an old one. It's been a long time since my railroad was first built, but I do remember running trains for the first time on the expansion that I put in last year. Everything looks good, I love the pictures.
Bob


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## John J (Dec 29, 2007)

Ok Sailor Don....I am so glad you sum great progress. The layout is looking good... How about a update on the wet bird? Is is ok? 

JJ


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## SailorDon (Jan 6, 2008)

Posted By John J on 27 Aug 2012 06:43 PM 
How about a update on the wet bird? Is is ok? 


The bird didn't survive.









See my post to this topic dated 12 Jul 2012 07:58 PM


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## aopagary (Jun 30, 2008)

Posted By SailorDon on 12 Jul 2012 07:58 PM 

Here are a couple of "practice" photos I took this evening.


http://s1257.photobucket.com/albums...l Trains/?action=view&current=IMG_0275_sm.jpg


 





i hope you don't mind, but sometimes i see a picture that's just begging to be Photoshopped.









cheers...gary


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## SailorDon (Jan 6, 2008)

Posted By aopagary on 28 Aug 2012 11:15 AM 
i hope you don't mind, but sometimes i see a picture that's just begging to be Photoshopped.


I don't mind at all. It's a nice concept.

The reality is, even if that bridge were built of welded steel beams, even a minor storm on Lake Livingston would wipe it out in a minute or two. 


 
Check the following video for wave action from a small storm a few weeks ago. 




And this is just a small storm.

Future plans are for a "water feature" under the bridge, but it will not connect to Lake Livingston.


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## John J (Dec 29, 2007)

Posted By SailorDon on 27 Aug 2012 06:59 PM 


Posted By John J on 27 Aug 2012 06:43 PM 
How about a update on the wet bird? Is is ok? 


The bird didn't survive.









See my post to this topic dated 12 Jul 2012 07:58 PM



Poor Bird


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