# Progress on my WM short line.



## bicyclexc (Mar 31, 2010)

Some Pictures of the progress since the train shed was completed.

I needed some bridges, so I went on down to the nearest example on Georges Creek and took a few pictures and measurements.


















The bridge was 16' wide, 60' long and 8' high. Here is what I came up with on a $30 budget. Rails will be cut, painted and spiked sometime next weekend.


















Can't want to get those installed over my last spring break. Also, lots of track has been painted. Here are 6, 10'Radius aristocraft aluminum sections waiting to be re assembled with heavy modifications.









Here are 8, 8' aristocraft aluminum sections painted and assembled to make 4 double sections with extra ties around the joint to make a seamless transition. 









More photos next weekend.

Tom


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## SteveC (Jan 2, 2008)

Resized the display width of pictures from 1553 pixels in width down to 800 pixels in width.

Just a reminder, the maximum width of pictures included in posted replies is 800 pixels, so people don't have to scroll left & right to read the text of the postings.


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## dieseldude (Apr 21, 2009)

Cool bridges. So, tell us a bit about haw ya made 'em. What are they made of? Got any 'work in progress' pictures? 


-Kevin.


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## bicyclexc (Mar 31, 2010)

Sorry about the pictures. I know just enough HTML to get myself in trouble. I'll add width="800" to the image tags next time. 

I had some 11/32" plywood left over from the car shed I built in January so I thought I could use that up and make something relatively neat. I cut the girders to 2ft lengths (60ft) and 2.5" heights (6 ft). Each bridge has 5 horizontal connectors, 3 in the middle were cut from the plywood with a jig saw, the end parts were just balsa wood. Tacked and glued and painted in the first pic, then with balsa tie strips in the second. I don't know how balsa will fare outside but I gave everything at least 2 coats of paint so hopefully that will improve their chances. Since they were mostly made from leftovers and cost about $10 each, I wont be very sad if they rot away after a while. 

Now I'm looking for places rear Ringwood, NJ where I can buy a yard of crusher fines.  (I bought a bag of chicken grit but I don't like the color.)


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## bicyclexc (Mar 31, 2010)

Made lots of progress on the railroad before the snow hit yesterday. Being my last year of college, this is my last spring break so I want to complete as much as I can during this week before I have to go back to class! The house belongs to my dad and the idea of a garden railroad has been in the works for a while. He has his NYC west shore HO layout inside, and I was relegated to the outdoors, but I'm OK with that 

First, Spiked the rails to the 3 bridges, making them ready for installation. 144 spikes in each bridge, it took a while. I don't expect the bridges to last very long, they're made of painted indoor plywood and balsa/basswood. Hopefully I'll get a few years from them and I'll build some nicer replacements. I spent $30 on all three so the price was right!










Second, the garden needed some work, when I last posted it looked like this. That was last summer. The availability of track necessitated some changes though.









Thirdly, here is what it looks like yesterday before the snow after the rock wall changes, Car Barn positioning and roadbed construction!









Fourth, here is a close up shot of the 'yard' in front of the car barn. Took some good advice and put some blocks under where the turnouts will be. All curves in this shot are 10'









Fifth is a look at the reversing loop where my trains will be turned around. The diameter of that turn is 8' with 10' easements. In May I will probably build some kind of rock mountain inside the loop and work on the plants a bit. I ran out of stone dust in front of the gas meter.









Sixth is a look at how the painted track will look. I just set a few pieces out there to see and I look the look of it. Later this week I will begin to install painted track. I hope to finish everything on this side of the house. You can see where the tracks curve 'west' around the back of the house if you look between the car barn and the air conditioner lattice.









Lastly is a look at most of this side of the layout. After the tracks curve left past the car barn they will begin a 1-2% climb that will zig zag behind the house along the rock wall that separates it from the neighbors driveway. This area is where the bridges will be installed. Eventually on the other side of the house will be a passing siding, a few coal mine tracks and another 8' reversing loop.









Thanks for looking! Wish me luck the snow melts so I can resume work!

Tom


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## pete (Jan 2, 2008)

Looks like you have a good start going. Keep it up and going and donot forget the pictures.


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## Vinny D (Jan 25, 2013)

How well is the track bed going to hold up in the rain being raised up so much? 
It looks great, but my concern is it getting washed away after all your hard work.


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## bicyclexc (Mar 31, 2010)

We'll find out Vinny. The inside might get filled up with soil later, but the outer edge is rather exposed. I may go around and pile up some more small stones along the edge. We'll see how it goes.


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## vsmith (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By bicyclexc on 19 Mar 2013 06:24 PM 
We'll find out Vinny. The inside might get filled up with soil later, but the outer edge is rather exposed. I may go around and pile up some more small stones along the edge. We'll see how it goes. 
I was going to second Vinny, I think you may want to stockpile some extra stones, but I like it so far, look forward to seeing the expansion


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## bicyclexc (Mar 31, 2010)

More Pics for Ya'll

This completes my weeks worth of work. Tomorrow its off to ECLSTS to see if I can obtain some modern motive power for the line.

First is the yard, it is assembled and ballasted, although no ballast appears in this picture.









Second is the curvy bit, the return of the reversing loop, installed and ballasted. I managed to be able to move it in from the ledge by about 3-4" which will help with erosion problems later hopefully. I can't freaking wait to see a purdy ol' RS3 and coal train rolling through these curves. I ran out of time before I got to cutting, drilling painting installing and ballasting the straight sections :/









Last is yours truly, brushing some stone dust. Come spring I'll begin to landscape 









Tom


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## John J (Dec 29, 2007)

I like you idea of covering up the the gas meter and the Condenser with lattice work. The lattice work will look more presentable in Photos than the bare meter or condenser.

Keep posting progress pics 

JJ


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## bicyclexc (Mar 31, 2010)

Hi. Some pictures and a video.

Overview of one end of the RR









The narrows between the train shed and the AC









Curves









The "Creek" with the first of 3 bridges installed.









Low Angle









Another low angle. "MEN AT WORK"









This looks real, To me anyway.









First run up "the creek". Enjoy


Tis the season!


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