# Work on my first outdoor RR begins



## Manco (Jan 5, 2009)

Hardest part is finding time to start!









The lay of the land that'll host the west end of the railroad.










Ariel view of the area from my deck.










Identified the center point of my radius.










A poor man has poor ways. A dog chain on a swivel stakeout will be the measuring device for my 12' radius.










Identifying the 12' mark on the chain from the center point.










Radius has been marked, the perpendicualr line denotes where 12' radius ends and 16' radius easement begins.










1-1/4" PVC legs of my PVC ladder roadbed system driven into the ground.










Keeping the legs relatively level. The right hand post is in the bottom of a little gully, so the grade will begin swallowing up my PVC after this point.

Well I only had about half an hour to work on it so this is as far as I got before I had to leave for work. I've been thinking about this and planning it for so long it felt so good to start doing something finally.


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## paintjockey (Jan 3, 2008)

Lookin good so far! Good luck.


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## Jerry Barnes (Jan 2, 2008)

Starting is the big thing, so you are set!


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## GG (Jan 1, 2009)

Good for you and it looks like a plan. 

I see that you may have an assistant, smelling out the turf in preparation for stakes? LOL

It is very important to have a sniffing assistant as one developes a railroad. They tell you where to step or.... not. 


Enjoy and I look forward to pics and comments as you develop your railroad. 

gg


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## leonpete (Jan 4, 2008)

Looks like a nice area for a railroad. Your off to a start so let the FUN BEGIN!!! It's a lot of the most fun work you will do. To be able to look at the progress you make gives yourself a lot of satisfaction. Keep us posted and pictures to. Good luck.


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## Engineercub (Oct 18, 2008)

So far so good Manco, I am doing the PVC method as well. Good luck ^^ 

-Will


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## Manco (Jan 5, 2009)

Thanks guys. Unfortunately it'll be a while before I can give this project the attention it deserves. There's a little something my wife keeps telling me about finishing the basement... and all the common sense stuff about how adding value to the house & giving her photography business a studio is more important than trains... so yeah. I'm sure you can all relate.


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## John J (Dec 29, 2007)

Looks like your off to a great start. I like the way your determing your curves.


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## Manco (Jan 5, 2009)

I think those of us who've dabbled in the smaller scales probably go about things differently than those who start out with large scale. I'm basically going about this the same way I would one of my old HO setups, except I'm outside in the grass rather than working on plywood benchwork. And all my tools are bigger . Instead of using a nail stuck in a board with a string tied to a pencil... I'm using a dog chain with a swivel stakeout and spray paint .


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## Manco (Jan 5, 2009)

I've began assembling the components of the ladder roadebed.









Here is a jig I built to hold the ladder roadbed spacers in place while attaching the sides of the "ladder". Raw spacers can be seen to ther right of the jig.









The side of the ladder (A 1/4" x 1-1/2" PVC "lattice" strip) is inserted into the jig ready to be screwed to the spacer.









Showing the flexibility of the assembled ladder... or at least 2/3rds of it. The remaining side will be attached once this component is attached to the PVC pipes outside.









The best part of this method is that the ladder sides are spaced almost EXACTLY the same width as the rail. I didn't plan this, as the spacing was determined to accomodate the outside diameter of my 1-1/4" PVC legs. This worked out well though as now I can see through the track where I'll have bridges etc. It also makes sense structurally since the bulk of the weight from the trains will be coming down right onto the strongest part of the roadbed.


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## nkelsey (Jan 4, 2008)

Looking good, like the jig


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## GG (Jan 1, 2009)

VERY nice design. 

thanks for sharing. 

gg


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## Andy Stobie (Apr 13, 2009)

Are the heights of those PVC legs the actual height that the roadbed will be, or do you plan to raise it by putting other smaller, longer pipes inside these? Would you then plan to add subroadbed and ballast up to track height? I'm new to this, and I'm fascinated by this construction technique - is there anywhere else I can go to read about it?


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## Manco (Jan 5, 2009)

Andy, I plan to keep my track as close to the ground as possible. So at some points it'll be resting directly against the ground, and then when the ground dips, or my track grade rises, It'll begin creeping higher up the PVC pipes as needed. I should warn you, the method I'm doing is, as far as I know, unproven. The ladder part itself is pretty much the same as everyone else, but there's a bunch of different ways to suspend it in the air. Do a search for "ladder roadbed" or "PVC ladder" and you should find ways different people have done it. 

I do plan to just add ballast right up to track level so that the PVC will be hidden from view when it's all finished. Simply omit the ballast where you want a bridge and use the PVC as the skeletal structure for your bridge.


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## armorsmith (Jun 1, 2008)

I strongly suggest that you stagger the joints on the stringers so that the through sections of one stringer helps to maintain the other joint smooth. We have a couple of places on our club layout where the stringer joints are side by side and we have had some issues with vertical 'kinks'. Also, use stainless steel fasteners to attach this stuff together, it will last a lot longer. 

Otherwise, a great start! Looking forward to watch the progression. 

Bob Cope


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## Manco (Jan 5, 2009)

Posted By armorsmith on 04/28/2009 1:20 PM
I strongly suggest that you stagger the joints on the stringers so that the through sections of one stringer helps to maintain the other joint smooth. We have a couple of places on our club layout where the stringer joints are side by side and we have had some issues with vertical 'kinks'. Also, use stainless steel fasteners to attach this stuff together, it will last a lot longer. 

Otherwise, a great start! Looking forward to watch the progression. 

Bob Cope


Good advice. If you look in one picture you can see a block of pressure treated lumber in middle of the stringer. I had to use a block of wood in order to get a spacer wide enough to accomodate a joint between two stringers on the opposite side. The PVC spacers are only wide enough to accomodate 1 screw. I didn't use stainless screws but I did get the exterior galvanized ones. I didn't see any stainless ones available in the short size that I needed.


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## Manco (Jan 5, 2009)

Finally got the better part of an afternoon set aside to work on the RR.









Surveyors have staked the right of way and roadbed is in place through the bottoms.









Overview of the whole railroad from my deck. I guess it's good that the RR is bigger than my viewfinder







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Overall view from the opposite end as the first photo. The way the grades will flow for the over-under figure 8 design really shows well in this picture.









Roadbed in place. This shot gives an ideaof how the construction technique all comes together for the final product.

Feels good to make more progress. A little more roadbed and I'll have to sneak some track down and see if a train will run. So far the trickiest part is getting the track level side to side. Made me glad most of my track is curved, makes it easierto just superelevate it. The straight track was tricky to get perfectly level (read: Didn't happen in most places.) I attempted to work the grades out before I screwed the roadbed to the PVC pipes, but I quickly gave up. I'm going to get them 90% close, then either sink the PVC into the ground further or pull them up slightly to adjust the final grade.


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## jimtyp (Jan 2, 2008)

Your ladder looks spectacular! Will you cover the grass with weed mat where the ladder is on the ground?


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## Manco (Jan 5, 2009)

That's a good question. I guess I hadn't thought that far ahead. I was hoping a combination of the ballast and roundup would keep the grass at bay.


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## rpc7271 (Jan 2, 2008)

I'd get out the shovel and take it all out inder the track. Use Roundup and you will have grass for 10 years.


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## Engineercub (Oct 18, 2008)

Looks great Manco! 20' diameter curves? If so USA BigBoy will love you for it hehe.


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## Manco (Jan 5, 2009)

Ouch, yeah maybe I should remove the grass. The roadbed is already in place so it would require removing it... hmm. The rest of the roadbed will be high enough off the ground for it not to matter, but maybe for this one area the hassle would be worth not dealing with grass growing through my ties later. 

I wish they were 20', they're only 12' with 16' easements. [Edit: radius that is, not diamter] Space just wouldn't allow any wider. I'm suprised at how gentle the 12' look though once in place, I thought they'd be worse.


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## jimtyp (Jan 2, 2008)

I think most of your ladder is raised so you should be able to mow or weed whap underneath. You could just put some weed mat under the ladder that meets the ground, I don't think I'd remove anything at this point, looks too good. The weed mat will also help keep your ballast from going into the ground and "disappearing"


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