More on the roadbed

Thought I would post a little more on the road bed, I hope to have better pictures on this process this spring when I continue building on the layout.

Where I left off on the process in the last post was leveling the top of the roadbed. After that's done I lightly dust the roadbed with cement and then mist water on it and I let it set and dry for a day or two, (more then anything its to help hold things in place while I am fitting track.)

Once the track fitted and setting on the roadbed where I want it I am ready for the ballast, for the ballast I am using a material called roofing granules, (the same stuff that comes from roofing shingles and that you clean out of your gutter every year, the cost is about $50.00 for a 50 pound bucket) It comes in different colors, but found that most roofing supply companies only carry light brown or white, I bought the white but plan on spray painting some black and gray paint into the bucket and mixing it around to achieve more prototypical look.

For Ballast

 Before I put the ballast on the track I mix 1 part dry cement powder to 2 parts ballast I then pour ballast on the ties and the sides of the track, using a paint brush to clean the tops of the ties and both sides of the rail, After ballast looks the way you want it, you mist it with water and wait a few days, clean your track and it's ready to use. I almost forgot you can fairly easily super elevate your curves with this ballast. 

Soon my thoughts on track and what track is best suited for outdoor use.  

                                  Until Next Time.  

More about roadbed

Number one reason I chose to do my road bed the way I did, I am cheap and the more money I can save on other things the more money I can have to buy trains. You will notice in the photos that the main part of my road bed is 4 inch corrugated non perforated outdoor drainage hose, it costs around $25.00 for 50 feet and just about any home improvement center carries it. The nice thing about this hose is it already made for outdoor use and the corrugated part holds the wire in place that I use to pin the hose down to the ground.

You can dig a shallow trench to set the hose in, then pin it in place with the wire or you can let it just float on top of the ground then use the wire to hold it into place every 3 to 4 feet or however many it takes to get it to go in the direction you want. A nice thing about this hose is that it’s flexible, you can set any radius curve you want.

The wire is pushed into the ground on each side until it locks into the corrugated part of the hose, I try to push the wire into the ground on both sides at least 2 feet or 0.61 meters. After this I put in lawn edging to help hold the roadbed in place and to make lawn work easier next to the roadbed, of course you need a lawn to worry about, maybe someday.

   

I then pack a layer of lava rock on both sides of the hose it helps lock in the layer of crusher fines or dust that covers the pipe, I then use the flat side of my shovel to tamp down, smooth out and create the slope with the crusher fines and after that I slide a 2x4 across the top to further level it out and as I do this I take my long leveler to check how level the top is.

By the time this picture was taken bad weather was getting ready to set in so I quickly and sloppily I might add, threw down some ballast with cement to see how it was going to survive the Winter, I will clean it up this spring. So far it has done very well. 


Next time I will continue my blog on the roadbed and maybe some other stuff as well.  

3451 in Wichita Kansas 1940

Thought I would share a cool photo I found of 3451 back in 1940 setting at the Wichita Union Station and my O Scale Pecos River Brass version of it.  Only 1 locomotive of this class was spared, it now  resides at the Rail Giants Train Museum in Pomona California here is a link to the Museum and some cool history on this class of locomotive. http://www.railgiants.org/atchison-topeka.htm

This photo is from the Denver Public Library, Otto Perry RR Collection

Here is some pictures of the locomotives I have so far for my O scale Outdoor / Garden railroad.

This photo shows both my brass steam locomotives, the unpainted brass is a KTM 5011 class Santa Fe 2-10-4 WHAT A BEAST! The painted locomotive is a Pecos River Brass 4-6-4 3450 class Hudson. I think both of them will look awesome pulling freight and passenger cars outdoors.

Here is an over the tender shot of the 2-10-4 showing how massive this locomotive really is. I will be documenting installing the can motor, DCC, detailing and other cool stuff.

Another View of the 2-10-4

Here is a view of the 4-6-4, I absolutely love this locomotive

Here is the only diesel I have so far on the roster. It is a MTH 3-rail DL-109, I plan to convert it to 2 rail and do extensive modifications to the body to make it more prototypical for the lone Santa Fe DL -107.    

Until Next Time 

Fitting Track

Here is a few photos of when I was bending and fitting track on the roadbed.

Passenger car in use as a test vehicle.

In need of some TLC.

Just a few days before cold weather

Testing Phase

I have a small section of the layout that I started in the later part of October 2016 to test my ideas on roadbed and track, and see what its survivability would be throughout the winter. The section in the last 3 months has gone through rain, snow, extreme temperature shifts in a 24 hour period and now an ice storm, so far everything has come through with no visible problems.

End of the line

I will be posting soon on how I did my roadbed and a list of materials.

A Few Plans

I will be doing this project as cheap as I can, with a wife and 2 daughters my hobby budget is limited, so with that in mind I am buying a lot of stuff second hand or in need of restoration, my biggest expense are the locomotives, I love mainline steam and very early diesels, I am a big fan of the old Brass Max Gray / KTM 2 rail steam as well as some MTH stuff.

Plans include the converting of 3 rail equipment to 2 rail, which I of course plan to document on this site and would love any advice when we get to that point. I will be building, restoring, and kit bashing old O scale kits, like Passenger cars, freight cars and misc. plus a little scratch building along the way to use in the outdoor railroad.

My Perspective

Before I get started with the meat and potatoes of my new outdoor model railroad adventure I thought I would impart some of my philosophy and or thoughts on this wonderful hobby.

No matter the problem there is always a work around to solving it.

Think outside the box!

Don't be afraid to experiment and make mistakes.

Just because someone says something won't work doesn't mean it can't work.

Other people's impute can start the creative juices flowing and help you to come up with a new way to solve a problem or even go in a completely different,but better direction then you ever could have thought of by yourself.

If you find something that works well for you stick with it.

Above all else have fun! 

Welcome!

Welcome all to my new blog, O Scale 2 Rail In The Great Outdoors.  What I hope to accomplish with this new blog is to document my attempts at building a 2 Rail O scale layout outdoors, which is rare here in America but fairly common in the U.K. I plan to post tips and techniques and receive suggestions on the building of an outdoor layout that will hopefully be a guide in helping anyone in any scale or budget to build their own layout in the great outdoors.   

You have to start somewhere.