The In-ko-pah Railroad!

Garden Railroading
1

I finally have some pics posted of the work in progress, from the beginning up until almost the present:

http://albums.photo.epson.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=3009006&a=32116967

I also knocked out a crude 3D model so you can get a rough idea of what I have in mind. This is the first pic in the album. The second is a simple overhead view of the model, showing the basic trackplan. No spurs or sidings, and some of the route is a bit speculative at this point. Especially the upper levels of track, which may differ from the plan once I get that part of the hill cut and shaped.

I took eight days off from doing any heavy work, such as lifting or digging, to give my back a chance to heal. It’s still not up to par but is holding up. Yesterday I collected a load of rocks and today I did a little bit of light digging, rock placement, etc.

During the downtime, I laid and ballasted a few feet of track leading into the first tunnel. Today I finished a small trestle too. No pics of that yet but you can see the wooden abutment for it in the pic of the ballasted track.

Tomorrow I may try casting some concrete abutments.

2

That’s one heck of a hillside! Keep the photos of your progress coming. It’s certainly a very ambitious project, and the progress thus far looks great. Backbreaking, but great. Hope your chiropractor’s on speed dial.

Later,

K

3

Kind of reminds me of my garden railroad.

4

Dang thats going to one heck of a layout!

If any layout ever cried out for an LGB Uintah mallet, this on is it! It would look so at home on it.

5

I just posted some new pics, beginning with this shot of the “roadside quarry” where I’ve been getting my rocks:

http://albums.photo.epson.com/j/ViewPhoto?u=3009006&a=32116967&p=73966259

I’ve finished the first tunnel and four small trestles, and made some progress on the second tunnel. A couple of the trestles have nifty concrete abutments formed over and around the “bedrock”, just like the real thing.

Lately I’ve been removing a lot of dirt from the upper part of the hillside, mainly the soft top layer. Once that’s gone I’ll rent an electric jackhammer with a spade bit so I can cut the hard stuff into shape without further ruining my back.

Getting rid of the excess dirt is a real chore. I have to haul it, one wheelbarrow load at a time, to the edge of the canyon next to a neighborhood park. That’s about 4-5 blocks each way. I can only get four 5 gallon buckets full of dirt in each load. Any more than that and it gets too hard on my back.

6

Ray,

I appreciate your efforts and sharing your photos. You’ve really nicely arranged your jumble of rocks into something I can envision as believable and you’ve made excellent use of your sloping topography.

I look forward to more photos in the future.

Keep up the good work. It appears you’re having a lot of fun too!

7

Ray;

I think David said it all, you are building your terrain to meet the needs of your GRR theme. Fantastic!!! Also being from S.D. (Oceanside) I’m curious just where your “rock quarry” (pic #12) is located. My wife thinks that is along hwy 67, and I have no idea.

8

Thanks! Yes, my “quarry” is long highway 67, about a mile or two north of Slaugtherhouse Canyon Rd.

I’m having lots of fun on this, especially making the scenic elements. I’ve always loved the desert, and enjoy recreating it in miniature.

BTW, back around 1982 or '83 I did some of the Carriso Gorge scenary at the San Diego Model Railroad museum. Unfortunately I was only able to do a couple square yards or so before I lost my transportation and couldn’t get down there to finish it.

9

Had to stop taking excess dirt to the canyon area – some environazi threw a fit (literally screaming at me) about “ruining the environment”.

The so-called “environment” is a bare patch of dirt bordered by a sidewalk, some non-native iceplant, a couple non-native eucalyptus trees, and a few dead weeds. It’s basically a toilet for the neighborhood dogs. Anyway, the jerk reported me to the city and I had to remove the dirt I’d put there. Which wasn’t very much, probably wouldn’t have filled the bed of a small pickup. Got rid of the last of it this morning. BTW, the gas burned during the numerous trips required to haul it away in my SUV had a far greater environmental impact than the dirt itself ever could.

In the meantime, I’ve also had to remove more dirt from my hill than I thought I would. So far I’ve just been piling it up in the lower yard until I can figure out what to do with it. I may try putting an ad in the paper for free fill dirt. If that doesn’t work, I guess I’ll have to hire someone to haul it away.

Currently I’m in the process of cutting away the upper level of the hillside so I can create the roadbed and lay track coming up from the lower level. Some of it will go through a series of tunnels, and once the tunnels are built I can fill in the hill again. Most of it will be built up with rocks, both for appearance and to act as a retaining wall of sorts.

When I get a little farther I’ll post some new pics.

10

Man does that really suck (even tho he’s legally right). I’ve got a neighbor who is similar to the one you have (there always has to be a bad egg). Sorry to hear that!

I went back thru your photos and found some useful things I might be able to use on my layout such as your concrete abutment.

I think your 3-D map of the layout is pretty novel. Sure a lot of rabbit holes for the trains. [:D]

Looking forward to more photos

11

ROCKS!!! that’s what I need a place to get some rocks…Living on Maryland’s Eastern Shore there are no rocks. I can’t find any rocks at all?? I know of plenty of places in West Virginia…too far to drive. I’ll be making a trip to Leesburg Virginia next week, I’ll see if I can get some rocks there…

Your layout is looking great!!! a lot of work…but a great job!!

dan

12

HOW Did you make that small stone wall to hold the tracks up?

Looks great!

And i thought my hill was steep[:)]

13

Ray-rent/buy/Tivo “The Great Escape”-just go for a walk around the neighborhood with your legbags everynight.

14

Thanks! The “stone wall” was pretty easy. I roughed out the basic shape with vinyl patching cement and let it set. Then went back and added another layer of cement. While that was still wet, I pressed small, thin stones into it. In gathering the rocks for my mountains, I found a few rocks that had broken off in very thin sheets. I was able to cut those into roughly square shapes with a tile nipper.

15

New pics!

I just posted a few new pics, beginning with this shot of the wooden tunnel portal I built:

http://albums.photo.epson.com/j/ViewPhoto?u=3009006&a=32116967&p=74072222

The timbers are red cedar and the planks were made from popsicle sticks. It was patterned after the wood framed tunnels of the Carriso Gorge. I painted the whole thing with Behr Semi-Transparent oil-latex stain, which approximates the reddish brown paint on the prototype. I had orginally used it on a doghouse several years ago and had some leftover.

The next set of photos show the mountain at the east end, as construction moves into phase two. I’m putting in the upper level tunnel and have some temporary track in place. Eventually there will be a beam or plate girder bridge spanning the gap where the track comes over the lower level tunnel portal. There will also be a trestle holding up the track where it curves around the mountain, and then as it comes off the mountain there will eventually be a long plate girder bridge. Currently I just have some concrete blocks holding up that end of the track. I’ve also begun building the top half of the mountain, so now it doesn’t look like the top’s been cut off.

At the end of the photos are two special pics. One is a shot of the old water tower at Dos Cabesas. I plan to build a scale model of it for my railroad. The last pic is a granite mountain in the desert that has a wide, dark stripe running through it. The stripe is as straight as if it were drawn with a ruler. I’m hoping someone can tell me what the correct term is for this unusual geological feature.

(From the above link, you can click through to the rest of the photos. Or you can use the link below to see the whole album…)

http://albums.photo.epson.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=3009006&a=32116967

16

"Had to stop taking excess dirt to the canyon area – some environazi threw a fit (literally screaming at me) about “ruining the environment”. "

Dang, now I’ve heard it all, I could understand if you were moving contaminated soil, or some such rot, but clean local fill… I assume you should have no problem getting a buyer or at least a taker of the soil without having to pay to have it removed. You could do it after dark in black cammo…, with mission impossible theme song blaring on your head phones… I love your layout, it makes what I have been doing look easy, and gives me ideas for my friends back yard which has a “steep” slope, but no where as steep as yours, which with his we would just use the excess to level up part of his yard.

17

I like the great escape idea, you could leg-bag the dirt then engage in a high speed Triumph-made-to-look-like-BMW motorcycle chase across this dude’s yard. Yeah, I like that idea a lot.

BTW- great railroad! Certainly an evironmental improvement.

18

I’m building my first plate girder bridge for the In-ko-pah Railroad. At risk of blowing my own horn, I’m really excited about how well it’s turning out! I just painted it today. The simulated rivets look better than I’d expected.

I decided to use 1/8" thick G10 fiberglass for the main structural components. This is a material I’m familiar with from my other hobby, high power rocketry. It’s extremely rigid, durable, and dimensionally stable.

I used Plastruct styrene angles for the ribs and flanges. Not the best choice for outdoor use, I know. But I figure as long as it’s painted and protected from UV rays, it should be ok for these non-load-bearing elements.

The tricky part was simulating rivets. I’m not a “rivet counter”, so I don’t care if they’re perfectly accurate. But I love the look of rivets, and feel that the bridge would look naked with them.

At first I tried dimpling the styrene with a punch, but the styrene angles are pretty thick which made it hard to get consistent results. Worse yet, it distorted the shape of the piece.

So what I ended up doing was dipping the tip of a nail in some thick acrylic craft paint, and dabbing it onto the surface. When it dries, it leaves a small bump. It doesn’t really protrude as much as a rivet should but stands out just enough to look like there’s something there.

Currently I’m making a mold to produce the pedestals (aka “shoes”). I built one up from styrene and a piece of wood, and used it as a master to make a silicone mold. Then I can cast as many as I want.

Next I have to add the ties, rails and a catwalk. I also plan to weather it to look a bit rusted, maybe even add a bit of graffiti.

I don’t have pics yet but should have some in a few days.

19

Hav’nt read thru all of the responses to see if you got an answer to the dark section of photo 24 but looks like a geologic dike, an igneous intrusion into older layers.

Your hillside layout looks good.

Bill

20

Ray, I now wish I had called you back in February when we were in El Cajon. On top of it I would have loved to take some of your dirt (if you were closer). I had 30 yards of fill delivered to make one of the gardenrr plots that we are redisigning. It’s 60’ by an average of 35 ’ and 18" high. Maybe next winter when we head for Ventura County.

Bill