Erskine Tramway

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tomc
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Re: Erskine Tramway

Post by tomc »

Hi Mike, u will like the roof over ur head! Keep building!

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Erskine Tramway
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Re: Erskine Tramway

Post by Erskine Tramway »

Today, I put the roof frame on Sparky, to see how it looked. I liked it, so I got out the tools and drilled for the carriage bolts, and temporarily bolted it together. Everything came out OK, so I'll get the roof ready to screw on. I'm going to sand off the plating on the bolt heads, so I can paint them.
5-28-18 test fit.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
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Re: Erskine Tramway

Post by NP317 »

Cute!
In all the good ways.
~RN
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Re: Erskine Tramway

Post by Erskine Tramway »

My friend, Bud, and his wife are coming to visit next week. Bud likes to build track, so I started today getting ready. I set up the 'tie plant' near the Car Shed, where I had the tie material stored.
5-30-18 tie plant.jpg
By the time I'd finished, there were enough ties for eight, twelve-foot, track panels. I put them in the Car Shed, to get drilled.
5-30-18 ties cut.jpg
While I had the extension cord out, I drilled four pairs of rails and loosely bolted the angle bars on one end of the rails. I ordered 6 tons of base course and 10 tons of 3/4" washed rock for ballast, so that should take me all through this season.

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
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Erskine Tramway
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Re: Erskine Tramway

Post by Erskine Tramway »

The new 16 tons of ballast were delivered today, and after that, I drilled and stacked the ties to dry for a few days.
5-31-18 ties stacked.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
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Re: Erskine Tramway

Post by Glenn Brooks »

Mike, maybe you already mentioned this. But what depth of ballast do you lay for the road bed? Iam just getting ready to spread some 3/4” minus for my roadbed, and have been thinking between 2” and 4” base, then maybe 2” more to hold the ties in place. (4x4” ties mostly).

Thanks
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Re: Erskine Tramway

Post by Erskine Tramway »

Glenn Brooks wrote: Fri Jun 01, 2018 9:04 pm Mike, maybe you already mentioned this. But what depth of ballast do you lay for the road bed? Iam just getting ready to spread some 3/4” minus for my roadbed, and have been thinking between 2” and 4” base, then maybe 2” more to hold the ties in place. (4x4” ties mostly).

Thanks
Glenn
Hi Glenn...

Ideally, I'll have about 1" of 'base course' covering the width of the weed fabric, then 1-1/2" of 3/4" clean rock below the ties. I fill the 'cribs' between the ties with another 1-1/2", and extend the shoulders out about 3" on each side. My ties are 18" long 2x4's lying on their wide faces. That's my basic contour, if I have low spots, I raise them as necessary with more ballast. My weed fabric is four feet wide, and the base of the ballast is about three feet.

I have a 2x4 'frame', six feet long and 20" wide, that I fill with the 3/4" rock, then I pick it up (actually, I just 'roll' it end for end) and, with the back of a garden rake, scrape it down to about 1-1/2" and set the track panels on top of that. Scraping it down spreads the base out to about three feet. Sir Arthur used frames like that, filled with cinders and tamped level, when he was building the Eaton Railway.
6-27-17 ballast frame down.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
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Erskine Tramway
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Re: Erskine Tramway

Post by Erskine Tramway »

Well, today, Bud and I put down and ballasted 48 feet of new track, and built two more panels. Tomorrow, I'll roll out another 50 feet of weed fabric, and get the base course and first layer of ballast down.

Here's Bud building track panels, and Granddaughter Amelia helping supply parts.
6-6-18 buildng panels.jpg
Then, we hauled 4 panels out and here's Bud bolting them up.
6-6-18 laying panels.jpg
At the end of the day, here's the four new panels down and ballasted, with two more lying loose on the ballast. The car that Bud is sitting on is at the old end-of-track.
6-6-18 end of day.jpg
Tomorrow morning Bud will finish the last two I have ties cut for, and I'll get some more tie material. By the time they leave this weekend, we should have a total of 192 feet of new mainline down. Weather permitting 8) I've been using Deere John to haul rock, but his bucket really doesn't lift far enough to clear a track panel on top of the first layer of ballast, for dumping the finish layer. So, this afternoon, I started using a couple of 'ramps' of 2x4's supported under one end by another 2x4. Tomorrow, I'm going to find a couple chunks of 2x6, and short 4x4's to make a pair of permanent ramps.

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
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Erskine Tramway
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Re: Erskine Tramway

Post by Erskine Tramway »

We had a good day doing track work, even in the hot sun.

I'm using Deere John to haul rock, both ballast and sub-ballast. When the time comes to 'top dress' the track for tamping, the bucket doesn't always lift far enough to clear the rail. John doesn't have a regular, dumping, bucket. It's a blade with a pivoting section for the bucket. To dump it, you pull on the latch and lower the blade which opens the bucket. Because of that, I needed more vertical clearance to dump rock on the track center. So, I built a couple ramps out of 2x6 and 4x4's, and here they are....
6-9-18 ballasting ramps.jpg
We built track until we ran out of track screws, for 12 panels, or 144 feet of new track. I'll have more screws on Monday, so I'll finish the last two panels for a total of 192 feet. That will give me 742 feet of mainline in service. Here's a couple pictures of the work done, this evening. The wheelbarrow is sitting at the old end-of-track.
6-9-18 new track 1.jpg
6-9-18 new track 2.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
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Re: Erskine Tramway

Post by rkcarguy »

Great progress, you got a lot of track laid in just a couple days!
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Re: Erskine Tramway

Post by Erskine Tramway »

rkcarguy wrote: Sun Jun 10, 2018 1:42 pm Great progress, you got a lot of track laid in just a couple days!
Yes, we did. There is 144 feet down, and room for another 24 feet on the balasted weed fabric. When the shipment of track screws gets here tomorrow, I'll knock out the last two panels and take them out.

After the track was leveled, tamped and broomed, we made up the Passenger Train and took Bud and his Wife for a ride. While we were out there, I went up to the top of 'target bluff' and took a couple pictures.....

The new track extends from the wheelbarrow, across from the little tree in the center of the second picture, to where the train is sitting.
6-10-18 View South.jpg
6-10-18 new track.jpg
6-10-18 passenger train at new eot.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
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Re: Erskine Tramway

Post by Erskine Tramway »

Well, folks...…

This morning, I finished ballasting, levelling, and brooming the last two panels. I moved the 'bumper' down to the end of track, and made a video of a trip over the whole line.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZnFAOV ... e=youtu.be

6-16-18 End of track.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
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