Erskine Tramway

This forum is dedicated to Riding Scale Railroading with propulsion using other than steam (Hydraulics, diesel engines, gas engines, electric motors, hybrid etc.)

Moderator: Harold_V

User avatar
Erskine Tramway
Posts: 390
Joined: Wed Sep 10, 2014 4:13 pm
Location: South Dakota
Contact:

Re: Erskine Tramway

Post by Erskine Tramway »

Hi Folks......

It only took the dozer guy a couple hours to knock out the last 500 feet of mainline. He's still out there leveling off the Erskine Terminal area, but, mostly he's done.

Here's what it looks like from the current end-of-track.......
11-10-17 Mainline grade North.jpg
Here is what it looks like from the top of 'Target Bluff'.........
11-10-17 Mainline Grade South.jpg
And looking towards 'Erskine', the terminal area. I might run a line of 'Decauville' style track with a push car to carry targets and such, over from the Depot, through the gap between the bushes. It's level enough for a push car track.
11-10-17 Erskine Terminal.jpg
Enjoy.....

Mike
Former Locomotive Engineer and Designer, Sandley Light Railway Equipment Works, Inc. and Riverside & Great Northern Railway 1962-77
BN RR Locomotive Engineer 1977-2014, Retired
rkcarguy
Posts: 1730
Joined: Tue Aug 22, 2017 10:33 am
Location: Wa State

Re: Erskine Tramway

Post by rkcarguy »

Such a wide open expanse of land to fill with track! I'm envious...except for your track bill lol:)
User avatar
Erskine Tramway
Posts: 390
Joined: Wed Sep 10, 2014 4:13 pm
Location: South Dakota
Contact:

Re: Erskine Tramway

Post by Erskine Tramway »

rkcarguy wrote:Such a wide open expanse of land to fill with track! I'm envious...except for your track bill lol:)
It's going to be more like the 'big railroad'....lots of land, just a little bit of railroad :D I did count my rails, and I need to get another 20 rails for sure.

Mike
Former Locomotive Engineer and Designer, Sandley Light Railway Equipment Works, Inc. and Riverside & Great Northern Railway 1962-77
BN RR Locomotive Engineer 1977-2014, Retired
DBauer2250
Posts: 10
Joined: Thu Mar 31, 2016 1:27 pm

Re: Erskine Tramway

Post by DBauer2250 »

Hey there Mike,
I've been lurking on your pages for some time without commenting. How much space do you have up there? Obviously enough for a true point to point railroad. I wish I could say I have been accomplishing things on my 2.5 acres, but the older I get the slower I get. Seems like I want to get out tomorrow and build some track, and something else comes up (good excuse anyway). So I get a thrill out of watching your railroad expand.

Anyway, just thought i would drop a congratulation along, and say Happy Thanksgiving!

BTW, what was the statement about hauling targets about?
Don Bauer
User avatar
Erskine Tramway
Posts: 390
Joined: Wed Sep 10, 2014 4:13 pm
Location: South Dakota
Contact:

Re: Erskine Tramway

Post by Erskine Tramway »

DBauer2250 wrote:Hey there Mike,
I've been lurking on your pages for some time without commenting. How much space do you have up there? Obviously enough for a true point to point railroad. I wish I could say I have been accomplishing things on my 2.5 acres, but the older I get the slower I get. Seems like I want to get out tomorrow and build some track, and something else comes up (good excuse anyway). So I get a thrill out of watching your railroad expand.

Anyway, just thought i would drop a congratulation along, and say Happy Thanksgiving!

BTW, what was the statement about hauling targets about?
Don Bauer
Hi Don......

Long time, how've you been? Happy Thanksgiving to you too. It's raining today, but that's a good thing in our drought conditions.

You should be able to build a railroad on 2-1/2 acres.....short cars and locos, sharp curves, will get the job done.

The railroad expands one step at a time. I've got a jig to build track panels, and I took an old TV base cabinet up the other day, and screwed it to the back wall in the Car Shed to hold my track tools and supplies.
11-10-17 cabinet hauling.jpg
We've got 20 acres North of the house. I think I've shared this view before. The light colored curve at the top right, down in the canyon, is the abandoned 'Q' Hot Springs Branch. My Shop/Garage/Loco Shed is the white roofed building. The red line is my original plan, but the blue one is how it ended up, mostly for grade considerations, and to avoid building fills or bridges :D It would be nice if Google Maps would come over and take a new picture, so I could locate it for sure :lol:
Overall 2_LI.jpg
The pile of dirt out at the North end came from levelling the ground where the garage is now. I've been using it as a backstop for trying out guns. When I get the track out here, I'll be able to carry 'real' targets out, instead of just shooting at the dirt pile. I'm thinking about putting in a couple little spurs at 'known distances'.

This week, I decided to put a roof on 'Sparky', aka 'Motor #1', so I mocked up the size with some lath. The corners are square, but the roof will be arched, like the old Sandley coaches, the main thing was to check clearances. It fits both the Car and Loco Shed doors, and it's the same cross-section as the coach roof would be. It was 71F's yesterday, so after I got done putting the 'Summer' machinery away, I took 'Hermann' my topless VW, into town and got the wood for the roof framing.
11-14-17 fits Car Shed.jpg
All for now, it is good to hear from you.

Mike
Former Locomotive Engineer and Designer, Sandley Light Railway Equipment Works, Inc. and Riverside & Great Northern Railway 1962-77
BN RR Locomotive Engineer 1977-2014, Retired
rkcarguy
Posts: 1730
Joined: Tue Aug 22, 2017 10:33 am
Location: Wa State

Re: Erskine Tramway

Post by rkcarguy »

The pictures a few posts up are amazing, it looks like your RR is heading off into the horizon like you are adding 1/2 mile + of track, not 500'.
User avatar
Erskine Tramway
Posts: 390
Joined: Wed Sep 10, 2014 4:13 pm
Location: South Dakota
Contact:

Re: Erskine Tramway

Post by Erskine Tramway »

The Erskine had some visitors on Saturday. One of our BN Conductors has a 1" scale railroad, and he does repair work for other folks. His latest project is a re-piping job on a Little Engines 1-1/2" scale Pacific. It belongs to Whitney Johnson from Iowa. At any rate, he doesn't have any 7-1/2" gauge track, so they 'borrowed' mine for test runs.

Amazingly enough, my track, which is built for four-wheeled vehicles was plenty good enough for the Pacific. We spent several hours in the afternoon running back and forth. Here's Whit running his baby.
5-19-18 Owner with his Pacific.jpg
After all the guests had a chance, they let me run her a few times.
5-19-18 My turn.jpg
A good time was had by all.

In preparation for the event, I'll admit to doing some 'touch up' on the track surfacing. I started by building one of those mirrors on a handle that folks sometimes use for track surfacing.
5-4-18 Surfacing mirror 3.jpg
An architect on another forum suggested that I box it in and make a 'periscope' out of it, like they do with architectural models. So, I did that, using the thin Chinese plywood that covered my Grizzly lathe in shipment. Here's the result. It's a lot more serviceable now, account I don't have to bend over to see the mirror.
5-14-18 track periscope.jpg
Enjoy....

Mike
Former Locomotive Engineer and Designer, Sandley Light Railway Equipment Works, Inc. and Riverside & Great Northern Railway 1962-77
BN RR Locomotive Engineer 1977-2014, Retired
User avatar
NP317
Posts: 4557
Joined: Tue Jun 24, 2014 2:57 pm
Location: Northern Oregon, USA

Re: Erskine Tramway

Post by NP317 »

What fun for all !
~RN
DBauer2250
Posts: 10
Joined: Thu Mar 31, 2016 1:27 pm

Re: Erskine Tramway

Post by DBauer2250 »

Mike,

Looks like a good day. Now that you know the track is good for it, is a steamer in the works? Maybe an Atlantic like R&GNs. Just saying.

Anyway, good to see you back on the forum

Don Bauer
User avatar
Erskine Tramway
Posts: 390
Joined: Wed Sep 10, 2014 4:13 pm
Location: South Dakota
Contact:

Re: Erskine Tramway

Post by Erskine Tramway »

DBauer2250 wrote: Thu May 24, 2018 10:35 am Mike,

Looks like a good day. Now that you know the track is good for it, is a steamer in the works? Maybe an Atlantic like R&GNs. Just saying.

Anyway, good to see you back on the forum

Don Bauer
Hi Don......

It was a good day. I'll be lucky if I get my gas-mechanical 'Lister' finished :D Was I to build a steamer it would most likely be an extended 'Tinkerbell', sort of a Heywood style engine. Here's a video of the original I took in 1968: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yplRanAm-U

Good to hear from you.

Mike
Former Locomotive Engineer and Designer, Sandley Light Railway Equipment Works, Inc. and Riverside & Great Northern Railway 1962-77
BN RR Locomotive Engineer 1977-2014, Retired
User avatar
Erskine Tramway
Posts: 390
Joined: Wed Sep 10, 2014 4:13 pm
Location: South Dakota
Contact:

Re: Erskine Tramway

Post by Erskine Tramway »

I was babysitting the granddaughter yesterday morning, and she wanted to build track. So, we loaded up some tools and a piece of weed fabric and went out to the end-of-track. A couple hours later, the sun had gotten hot, and we were tired of shoveling basecourse, so we quit. We got down another 25 feet or so of sub-ballast, so this season's track construction has commenced, only 525 feet left to go :D
5-25-18 new base.jpg
I've started to paint the roof frame for 'Sparky', the Passenger Motor. It will have green posts and a brown letterboard. Here's the first coat of brown, yesterday.
5-25-18 roof frame paint.jpg
Also, yesterday, I received the last two sets of Heywood castings from a friend who'd commissioned them. I'm inclined to think I'll build Sir Arthur's 8-wheeled, 'Drop side' wagon, which ended up at Ravenglass.
5-25-18 new castings.jpg
Mike
Former Locomotive Engineer and Designer, Sandley Light Railway Equipment Works, Inc. and Riverside & Great Northern Railway 1962-77
BN RR Locomotive Engineer 1977-2014, Retired
User avatar
Erskine Tramway
Posts: 390
Joined: Wed Sep 10, 2014 4:13 pm
Location: South Dakota
Contact:

Re: Erskine Tramway

Post by Erskine Tramway »

Here's the roof framing for 'Sparky' all painted, and drying. After it's bolted on, I'll attach the hardboard roof. Just in case things don't stay 'square' when it's bolted up, I don't want to put extra stress on the frame.
5-26-18 roof framing painted..jpg
Mike
Former Locomotive Engineer and Designer, Sandley Light Railway Equipment Works, Inc. and Riverside & Great Northern Railway 1962-77
BN RR Locomotive Engineer 1977-2014, Retired
Post Reply