Current Project Diary

09-10-2020

Today the brush clearing in the backyard was finished. Now we can actually see the available space. What a difference to the overgrown yard we encountered on our first visit!

Panorama image of the backyard after clearing.

09-13-2020

Track order is out this morning. Looking forward to assemble 800 ft of flex track!

There's been a slight change of plans:

The shed had to move over to the left to make room for parking space. This also meant a relocation of the turntable and roundhouse. Keep in mind that this is phase 1 of the construction; hence the turnouts that (for now) seem to have no purpose. Here's the new plan:

09-21-2020

Talk about a backyard "conversion" - only not in the way it is intended to...

A huge pile of dirt sits smack in the middle of the backyard and waits to be distributed as the layout "foundation" and to be compacted. This pile came out of the pool pit. The rebar for the pool is also done and concrete will be sprayed tomorrow.

In the meantime, the track except the turnouts is under way from Pennsylvania and your's truly will start assembling flex track next week.

The customer's dog, a Mini-Poodle, just loves her new "playground". She's now aptly nicknamed "Queen of dirt" :-)).

09-30-2020

We're getting closer to have our "canvas" ready.

The shed to keep the trains in when not operated came in and was set up. The pool nears completion, and the landscaper did some grading - albeit not like we wanted him to do it. So he got fired and we will do the job ourselves.

Next Monday or Tuesday we should have all the dirt where it is supposed to be, compacted and ready to mark out the right of way for trenching.

10-14-2020

Well, the pool builders are almost done so I could stake out at least part of the main lines coming down from the bog/waterfall area to the house.

And there's been a plan change: The water feature grew a bit in size and scope. In the upper left corner of the plan, there's a bog area with a small fountain. This area is about 8 feet in diameter. From there, a waterfall will come down just under mainline level (2 to 3 inches) and run into a pond of about 13 ft by 5 ft. The upper mainline will cross that pond at its narrowest section on a 5 ft long wooden trestle while the lower mainline will cross the pond using 5 sections of 3 ft through truss steel bridges.

The engine facility and the turntable moved to the inside of the layout to facilitate operations and access. Only on track will go into the shed and serve as load-in track.

10-15-2020

Slight setback today: the guy I hired to help me trenching the right-of-way did not show up. Maybe 7:00 in the morning was too early for him, who knows? So I started the trenching on my own. Could only work until 1:00 PM when it got too hot and humid to work in the sun but got at least 50 feet done. There are lots of tree roots in the ground which have to be dug out and/or cut.

The trenches will be lined with weed fabric to get at least some weed control and then filled 2/3 with coarse crushed limestone (about 5/8 inch in size). This will provide drainage for the track. Once that's done, the remaining 1/3 will be filled with fine crushed limestone (about 3/8 inch in size) as subroadbed. After that it is time to finally lay down some track, get it leveled and ballasted, again with 3/8 inch crushed limestone.

The owner wants to give the layout some sort of industrial look so he installed a corrugated retaining wall for his bog area/butterfly garden. The waterfall will be located where that small stake in the last photo can be seen. From there a small creek will flow down parallel to the main line into a catch basin near the pool.

10-20-2020

Some more progress:

The ramp to the logging area is almost done. Next up will be digging the trench for the mainline going under the logging line and adding some abutments for the ramp ends. Those abutments will be made out of rock.

The waterfall feature (almost) had its pond done. The pond liner my customer bought was a bit too small. He decided to fill the pond with water anyway to get a feeling for the look.

The upper mainline has weed fabric in the trench and waits for the first layer of crushed limestone while the lower main is about halfway trenched between the patio (where the main yard and station will be) and the waterfall feature.

All in all, progress is slow as I can only work half days. After 2 PM it gets too humid and hot for digging and carting dirt around...

This pond is about 10 feet by 8 feet and 6 inches deep. Digging that thing out was some "slave work"...

11-05-2020

Time for another update :-)

Just in time to dig the trenches for the upper industrial area, we had another plan change: To add some visual interest and -more important - operation potential, a saw mill will be added just in front of the ramp going up to the logging camp. This change also eliminates a somewhat steep ramp from the main line to the sawmill junction.

Since we have a hurricane coming (probably) straight for our area, I had to fill the existing trenches with coarse crushed limestone. and since I was at it anyway, I also filled the main train yard in front of the pool - an area of about 40 ft by 20 ft. Only the space for the turntable and roundhouse has to remain free of limestone as the turntable will have to be set absolutely level.

In the meantime my customer worked on his water feature and set up a pedal car which bumped into a fire hydrant. Some sort of fountain will spray onto the back of the fire truck and from there the water will fall over the edge of this "accident area" into the waterfall basin and flow further down the stream into the catch basin.

11-06-2020

We have a waterfall - and an accident...

Today, the owner finished his water feature contributing to his layout. However, somehow the fire truck hit the hydrant and as a result got rained on all over :-))

The supervisor looked a bit puzzled as the water came down the spillway and started flowing down the creek.

Good job Stebo!

11-21-2020

Finally, I found some time for another update which is a bit overdue...

Best news is that the major digging and shoveling is done! All roadbeds are in place and filled with crushed limestone. All in all, we had to move about 4 yards of dirt (including some really pesty roots), 3 yards of coarse limestone, and the same amount of fine limestone.

Lining the ponds with rock is also almost done, as are the initial abutments for the bridges. So basically, we are ready to lay track. Right now, we are waiting for the switches I ordered from LLagas Creek. They are badly needed to start laying track in the main yard area where we have the most complex track work to do. Flex track assembly is also going well with about 200 feet left to assemble.

01-03-2021

New year, new look...

The layout starts looking like a railroad. With the recent re-designs we have some switches left over and will use them in the yard in front of the lanai to add some more operation possibilities.

Track is now laid about 3/4 around the backyard and the small industrial are in the rear of the yard is also completed. All that's left is closing the the two loops over the the upper pond. That will hopefully be done coming Tuesday after installing the remaining bridges.

01-06-2021

The steel bridges from Arizona finally arrived!

All remaining gaps and connections in the rght-of-way have also been closed; except for the runs around the lower pond to the upper pond. The owner thinks that there is a slow leak somewhere in the stream... So we have to wait with closing the final gap until that leak is found and repaired.

There is enough work to do in the meantime: the bridges have to be set and leveled, the master switch panel has to be wired, and the track needs to be leveled in some places, too.

03-13-2021

Finished! After some aggaravation mainly caused by wiring the switch panel and inconsitently working turnouts, this project is now finalized and the customer can finally enjoy running trains. Here's a video clip showing a ride around the layout:

Yes, the customer enjoys all the "bells and whistles" :-))!