preparing the roadbed

[scottychaos]

I too have been in large scale since 1998 but could never understand the idea of digging a little trench and filling it with rock? I've been in the mass dirt moving business all of my life and we call trenches dug down and filled with stone French drains. They drain off low spots in a pleasing to the eye way instead of using culverts or concrete lined water runways. But the idea of using that idea for roadbed is beyond me as that little trench is the ideal spot for water to congregate and stay trapped. Then when it freezes you have a big ice cube under your railway! 

 

Real railroads will have at least 3' of ballast under them from what I've seen but they have ditches on both sides draining all that rock. Modern highways are the same. The old highways were made over the old dirt roads and most are holding up fine.

 

As we said, the trench method is the only thing that works well in northern climates!

its not the same thing as a French drain, because it isnt buried underground..

water does not congregate and stay trapped, because water easily drains through into the ground underneath..

the lining of the trench is usually weedcloth, with allows water through..or no lining at all.

you never get a big ice cube under your railway, because the trench drains, and the trench is not *under* the railway, the trench is sitting on the surface..

The "trench roadbed" drains very well..water retention is a non-issue..

 

Scot

[enginear joe]

I need more track. I did get some great deals for the stuff I already have. I figured I would save some money by using brass inside the shed for storage tracks. I would have preferred train-li as I like the ties I got from them. This sale at RLD has me trying another brand as soon as they arrive. I like the AML cars so I figure I might like their track.
http://rldhobbies.com/amlbrass6ftflextrackcode3321box12pcs-1-1-1.aspx

it seems like a great price to me??

[enginear joe]

Well I knew there'd be trouble! I spent the week replacing a section of fence that was pulled in off the property line years ago to satisfy a bicchy neighbor. I moved the fence to where it belonged and he of course called the police. He said I stepped on his property! He had to bicch about something. Of course he gets a free fence again... but hey let's just complain!!!

 Anyways, I finally got back to the RR and got something to show as forward progress. I'm excited to think I'll be able to drive out engines at workbench height!

[Trainslayer]

   Joe,

      If you want to try some top dressing ballast this spring give this a try. Go to your local feed store and ask for Red Cross Pigeon Grit. It has a better consistency and color than oyster shell chicken grit. Buy a bag or two to test with. Sprinkle some between and along the sides of a section of track and rub it level with your fingers. If you like the look then go for it. If you do go this route I recommend you finish it off with a watered down glue mixture to keep it from splashing out with a heavy rain. I use a 50-50 mix of water and Flexbond II that you can buy in gallon jugs. To help with spreading ballast what I did was fashion a spreader cup from a 10" piece of 4" diameter PVC pipe. Stand the pipe centered across a section of track, mark where the rails sit against the edge of the pipe then cut slots so the pipe will set down to the top of rails. Fill the pipe with ballast and spread away, finishing up with your finger tips our an old paint brush, use a spray bottle with water to lightly water the ballast and get the dust off the ties, then apply the glue mixture.

                                                                                                                                                                                                             Ron

[enginear joe]

 Well, I'm back at it again. I can't see letting this stuff sit out there for five months un-used. After four days at it and still way more to do....I may rethink picking it up!

( I sure wish I lived south of the frost line!)

 

[Sean]

Great start!

Love what your doing...how come there are no trains in the pics  Hmmmmm   

[Jerry B44]

Looking good, should be at least two blocks higher though!

[enginear joe]

https://youtu.be/mTvLCRKaukY

[enginear joe]

Where's the trains?

Well, I'm testing the wiring first. It's looking good!

[Sean]

Yup!

Looks better with a train...

[Dash 8]

Hi Joe, fantastic train, a Wow factor ... and a very nice garden
Some of your tankers I have .... I like tankers.
Is that a lash up with three engines?
No speed problems with the rear engine?
I always take a dummy engine, more secure.
And I Want Your Harley Flat 70-76031 for my Harley Dash. 8

[enginear joe]

No problem with using engines in the middle or at the end. I usually pace the engines to make sure there's no problems before I build a large train.

My layout in the basement is fairly level and the engines work great. With all the hills outback, I'm anxious to watch and make sure they'll behave. So I ran a shorter train to start to see how they'd do. I'd like to try a long train soon as I get the nerve!

 I've actually had that Harley flat, as one of my older cars. I was looking for different ones when that one was all that Sidetrack hobby had in stock. So I actually bought it just to get one (tofc). I wish I had gotten many more of them.

[Dash 8]

Thank you,
That helps me.
Not all my engines have the same speed.
So far I have 2 engines formed together in a Lash up.
Three engines with smoke require about 7.5 A.
That's a lot.
 

[enginear joe]

I bought a couple of Bridgewerks DC power packs. Not only to they produce some good amp output, they can raise the voltages at the track. I set them to about 27 volts which ends up around 25.5 at the track and the engine sees about 24 volts. With the voltages turned up to that, the amp draw goes down. I only see an amp or two per engine. Three engines with smoke maybe like 4 or 5 amps?

[Dash 8]

So far, I believed 18 volts is peak TIU Input.

An error of mine

I have 16-17 volts track voltage.

The manual says 24 Volt DC is peak

That's a big difference to yours setup

I will raise the voltage slightly

 

I use a switching power supply with adjustable current limitation

That's a bit safer if the locomotive has a short-circuit in  turnouts.

The TIU has no automatic short circuit detection as my DCC epuipment

The circuit of the turnouts is similar to Simon's in the other thread.

small locomotives require turnouts with polarized switch frog

For measurements  a RRampmeter, type 4, which is for DC, AC and DCC

in large scale, works great.

 

Thank you again

[enginear joe]

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=so5nrAZqLPg

[Dash 8]

Beautiful Video Joe, but the triplex is much too fast, and at the wrong end of the train.

[enginear joe]

You know, that maybe what's wrong!

I should put the Challengers up front of a big train, and let the Triplex do the pushing!!

I have to charge up my camera batteries and I'll try it. I hope the train doesn't end up in the water!!

[enginear joe]

 I'm building the track that comes out of the shed at bench height. I finally bought a SplitJaw loader that makes it easier to put stuff on the rails. I still don't like having to get down to the ground to load because of my health conditions. I have to make a priority to get this shelf built.

 I have a nice even 1% grade that is limited to that at one end crossing over the RR. After that, the track needs to drop almost a 3% grade. There's a water feature at the beginning of the grade and 2 back to back bridges that make this drop tougher to get right. I've learned that any sudden humps in the grade causes grief later with cars uncoupling. Transitioning from one grade to another is where you need space to get it right. So I'm going to add a double track bridge over the water to help give more length to this transition. Hopefully I can get it smoothed out!

[enginear joe]

 I think I've got the track smooth enough so I added ballast to it. Now I'll have to see how a train does on it after I get it wired. Looks like I'll need another TIU. Urrggg. I should have stayed with AC so I could use all four channels.

[enginear joe]

seems the Triplex is so strong it shoves the train off the tracks when the head end slips. I either need to keep her up front, or add some stronger head end power.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktar5l72Zbk

 

[Chuck]

Looking good!

 

 

Looks like I'll need another TIU. Urrggg. I should have stayed with AC so I could use all four channels.

I don't understand this statement. I have 100' of code 250 stainless steel track down..all straightaway, all joints dry clamped with ss split-jaws and it has 1 set of DC power feeds. That section always gives me a signal strength reading of 10's and it's been outdoors for over a year now. Track has never been cleaned other than bird poop blasted off with water spray from garden hose.  

 

Raymond successfully DCS signaled over 1400' of brass track with only 1 set of power feeds.

[enginear joe]

Well, first I should correct the statement then. I initially hooked up this new yard lead to my older TIU. I had terrible signal. I would have to guess that there was about 500' of track roughly on it's 2 fixed channels. I was trying to divide it and tune it when I swapped TIU's out with a new version L. I now have good signal with that lead divided in half roughly, and added to the inner loops track. I put the older tiu onto the outside loop. Both those loops are divided into four blocks each. I would guess that each loop is maybe 300' long. It seems like it's not the track's length so much as it is the number of joints, number of active engines, and power loss over great distances. I believe I'm up to around 800' and still need to add the yards.

 I ran star type wiring and all is fine. I still have to build yards to hold trains so I expect I'll need more TIU channels to keep the strength. I believe I'll end up with three TIUs total. I will have to see.

 

 I can't get DC power thru the tiu's variable channels even when set to fixed. I tried using them in passive mode and that didn't work either. I prefer to use the channels actively.

[enginear joe]

Ran some more trains today. I had two different trains out. My USA MACs look good outside.

https://youtu.be/-E2h9yycrZA

I emptied out my coal cars. I had about 2 1/4 lbs. of rubber mulch in each of them. Made the train too heavy. That's a lot of weight when added up. (80 +lbs!). I'm still not used to running outside. Heavy trains don't like my hills. I have to wipe the track each time and I forget to do that. Picking up sticks and leaves and twigs and.....wiping off bird droppings....... and....picking weeds and saplings from the rails......and....

 If I were rich and had more land, they'd stay inside a big building!

[Sean]

Joe

Now you need MOW equipment!

For leaves and sticks

Then comes the snow!

Then when it gets to deep!

It's all about having fun!