Ok. Hemi, the following are just for you! :mtongue: And every one else too. My version of the Yampa Valley Mail. ALCo PA #6003 and 2 heavy weight cars. Yeah, some trackwork required yet! GP40 #'s 3085 and 3082 GP40's with 15 cars in tow. May not be able to get any work done this coming weekend. Supposed to rain every afternoon, for the next 4-5 days, so I've heard! Should give things a better chance to settle in though.
Keith, Do you have a wife or girlfriend that is enthusiastic about this? I need to start chipping away at my wife's reluctance to do a garden railway. If I start chipping now I might get approval in 5 or 10 years. This is looking good. Nice DRGW locos! Adam
Adam, No wife, No girlfriend. Someday maybe. Besides, who wants an old, broken down guy, like me?? :teeth: However, my folks are taking more of an interest now. Dad is liking the idea and the looks of things so far. Mom is liking it, more so, since I've actually set track down and started working on it. Has also enjoyed the trip or two out, looking at rocks, for scenery purposes. Which surprises her, now that I'm starting to landscape, and/or garden! She's more than willing to help with picking rocks and, when ready, plants for garden. Betting the nieces are gonna really enjoy it too, once I get it running! With vacation time in July, I'm hoping to complete to the point of being able to operate trains. Appreciate the comments too!
Nothing done over the last week. Been raining and/or too wet to work! Hope to get out and get me another load of rock, so I can do some more landscaping. Just recieved my newest motive power yesterday. Need to do some minor detailing work first. Then will post a couple of indoor photos. For now! Until I can get outside for photos.
Nice and big! Measures in at 30 1/2 Inches long, and weighs in at appout 15 pounds! Not an Ace, but definitely a big MAC. Yeah, just got a USA Trains DRGW Heritage unit. But, they did it on a MAC, not the correct Ace unit. Completely incorrect, but still a good looking locomotive! Photos tomorrow AM. Gotta get ready for work.
You will like the USA SD-70MAC, I own a regular Rio Grande unit and a Heritage unit. I know what you are gonna say, Rio Grande never had SD-70MAC locomotives and you are right. But if you look at what USA did with the Rio Grande SD-70MAC locomotives, they actually used Rio Grande SD-50 cab numbers on them which I though was pretty neat. Anyway, the train layout is looking good. I'm selling off a bunch of Aristocraft Rio Grande equipment you may be interested in, see my seperate thread Aristocraft Ebay Freight Car blow out.
Very cool! It's logical that D&RGW would have sunk money into SD70MACs, after seeing BN's success with them in the PRB. If the SP purchase and the UP hostile takeover didn't happen, that is...
Four photos this morning, of the newest power. A USA Trains Rio Grande Heritage SD70MAC. While not correct, I still think it's a good looking beast!
More work completed today. Bought about 400 pounds of moss rock, to finish landscaping. Should have enough to complete project. Plus add a few other rocks in a rock garden that Mom's gonna be working on. Then, went and bought 25 decorative bricks to act as a retaining wall, on one side of track. Spent about 3 hours, after dinner, working on it. Figure I'm at least one good days work from being able to run trains! Then, I can modify grades as necessary, to even things out better. Plan on running, NO ballast for now, so I can check track. Then, I can ballast and do a final grading/leveling of track. Plan is to get loop up and running first, then start working on small yard/yard lead. Too dark for photos tonight. Rain planned for tomorrow, but will see IF I can get a few updated photos. Folks are invited to attend a "Grand opening" of layout, once I've got trains running, and track work finished! Might be able to do that during vacation time, the week of July 7-11.
Yeah, getting stoked, knowing I'm that much closer to operations! A couple of quick photos from today, showing last nights work! Supposed to rain all day today, and into tomorrow, so no work until things dry out! Spent 3 hours building retaining wall seen. It's 2 blocks high, and about 13 feet long. Starts at bridge, barely seen at right. And runs up to fence Mom has in place along veggie garden. There will be a step stone path between retaining wall, and sun room steps. Photos taken from inside sun room. More landscape rock can also be seen.
No it isn't. Track will actually go next to the retaining wall. I just set track on top so the dirt pile behind it wouldn't bury track under loose dirt and/or mud! Been raining on and off for the last 24 hours. I hope to have the missing section of track placed, maybe this coming weekend, IF the weather holds up, with no rain. Gotta place and set a moss rock wall on the other side of retaining wall also. Looking to hold an official "Open House" the weekend of July 11/12. For BMRC members. Offer also extended to Trainboard members in the local area that might be interested!
Took a bit of time today, and did a bit more landscaping. Laid out the rest of my track, and got it sort of level! Then, I grabbed a GP40, and yes, I RAN a locomotive for a bit! And it actually ran. Then it slowly got worse! Gotta clean track, and now, locomotive wheels! As well as replace the power wires to the track, since I melted part of the tie. Gotta upgrade wiring, and more than likely, track joints as well. Track clamps maybe. Costly, but may be a necessity. Updated photos tomorrow, I hope. Ready for bed now. Besides, it's attempting to rain at this time.
Keith, I have contemplated beginning a G scale layout for some time and I belong to a local club where I live. When I first looked at your initial pictures I thought that maybe you were just laying track for a photo shoot to show off some locos and rolling stock, but it appears you are planning to make this the real McCoy. I am quite surprised and hope my initial apprasial is mistaken, but please tell me you aren't seriously thinking of leaving your track like that on a dirt base and then adding ballast at a later date. If so, I can see nothing but heartache for you as your track will shift as the soil settles. You need to start with a compacted road bed and something solid that won't deteriorate in the moisture. If you haven't planned to do some major road bed work, I'd surely suggest it as that is vital for a good running layout in any scale. Since you are spending big bucks on locos and rolling stock you would be wise to spend some serious time is actual layout preparation and think it through carefully. Forgive me if I am nosing where I don't belong, but this sure looks like disaster in the making. Wishing you success, Loren
No, track is not going to be left directly on the dirt. I do plan on ballasting track, but hopefully, after I get a bit more landscape work done. That way, I can make any needed changes etc....to roadbed as I go. So far, dirt has NOT sunk or washed out anywhere. And this after I've watered it down, and after several rain storms over the last week, a couple somewhat heavy! If I need to, I'll screw my track sections back together as I go along. Then add a couple of extra heavy duty feeders, to keep power evenly supplied to the track. So far, things are working out quite nicely. So, if is ain't broke, don't fix it!
More work today, despite a couple of momentary rain sprinkles. If it looks wet, it is. Finished watering in plants shortly before taking photos. 440 pounds of rock, 3 1/2 hours and determination to get things done, by both Mom and I! This is what we've managed to complete this afternoon: Now, I can start working on getting the rest of my track leveled out. Once I get that done, I can start getting the ballast material I need, and get track ballasted, leveled etc...... So far, it's coming together quite nicely, I think! Mom really likes how it's coming together so far. Neighbor who has seen it, also likes the way things are coming together! The excitement grows, the farther along I get. Should be in good shape for railroad club open house in July.
