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Prior to construction the site was carefully laser-surveyed being especially mindful of the various retaining walls the track would have to traverse. The layout was then thoroughly drafted out using MiniCad software on a Macintosh computer. This allowed trying out many different track configurations without crawling around in the dirt. With few exceptions the track went down more or less as it had been planned. The layout is still a long way from being finished (are they ever really finished?) but at least the trains are running, and that's half the fun! |
| Macpherson Trestle (named for David J Macpherson, the engineer of the historic Mount Lowe scenic railroad which used to run in the mountains above my house) is about eight feet long and built out of clear heart redwood. It features the only (currently) hand laid track on the layout. The majority of the layout is located under the canopy of two mature citrus tress. | |
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The retaining wall in the foreground borders the patio, which is the prime place for train watching. A passenger station will someday go where the brick is. The scale wooden retaining wall cribbing is built out of clear heart redwood and features a mine entrance. |
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The track was first laid out on top of stakes driven into the ground to the correct elevation as planned out from the survey. The two small squares in the center are reference pads of a known elevation from which all other points are laid out. I used Aristo track sections for this first phase. As much as I love the look of hand laid track I wanted the trains running now. In the foreground is Rubio Wash, a very strange water drainage feature of my yard that the railroad had to traverse. |
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Here's a close up of the truss bridge traversing Rubio Wash. It's built from clear-heart redwood and is based How to Build a Cheap and Dirty Truss Bridge by George Schreyer. While it looks complicated it was really not all that difficult to build. |
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After the track placement was checked, the track was removed and bender board attached to redwood stakes used to define a 6 inch wide roadbed. The top of the bender board was set to the elevation of the bottom of the ties. Areas of roadbed near existing grade had to be excavated. Areas above existing grade were built up with dirt prior to the addition of the ballast. |
| The roadbed has been filled with ballast which was then tamped down and leveled to the top of the bender boards. For ballast I used #10 granite roofing grit from the local roofers supply. It's cheap, and I needed quite a bit more then first expected! The ballast was first screened through a sieve of 1/8" mesh hardware cloth. The coarse ballast was used as a sub-ballast to fill the roadbed up to level. The finer grade of ballast will be used as top dressing between and around the track once it has been laid. |  |
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The track's been laid. Note the addition of the yard and spur which will some day service a winery. The track sections have all been soldered together for reliability and electrical conductivity. Switches and bridge section are held in place with Split-Jaw rail clamps to allow for removal for servicing when necessary. For the most part the track is free floating on the roadbed. A few 10" spikes have been used to keep troublesome sections in alignment. The sectional track is attached to the bridges with cable ties, which allows for some degree of flexibility. This system seems to have worked well so far under the hot So Cal sun. A few ground cover plants have been added in the foreground. Note the two circular stepping stones set into the ground on the left. I'm trying to plan out access paths as I go. |
| To keep the yard level with the entrance switch it had to be elevated a good deal above existing grade. Basically its one big "sandbox" with coarse ballast used for the fill. Fine top ballast has not been added as of yet. I want to make sure I'm happy with the ladder arrangement before I lock it all down. Dirt will be added to raise the grade around the yard. |  |
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Kids love trains! |