Track laying and ballasting with photos - advice and suggestions please!

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tom_tom_go
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Re: Track laying and ballasting with photos - advice and suggestions please!

Post by tom_tom_go » Tue Jul 31, 2018 10:19 am

I bet you could walk over the bridge!

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Re: Track laying and ballasting with photos - advice and suggestions please!

Post by Abiogenesis » Tue Jul 31, 2018 8:51 pm

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The third photo is from yesterday. I didn't get around to posting it. The first two photos chronicle some of the progress today. I was also preparing the posts that will be fixed to the timbers adjacent to the compost bins that surrounding the vegetable patch. The late Spring was not very encouraging, so we covered the ground with a tarpaulin to suppress weeds.

The pond is not my responsibility. It was carelessly built & the liner was pierced, whilst the waterfall feature was being constructed at the other end four years ago. The water is eighteen inches lower than planned. The talk is to invest in a new liner, but I've suggested hiding the liner with rocks & creating a long & low water feature along either side of the red bridge. The paving stones should also have been cantilevered out over the water as well, in order to hide the liner, but who listens to the old man? :lol:

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Re: Track laying and ballasting with photos - advice and suggestions please!

Post by ge_rik » Wed Aug 01, 2018 7:47 am

I've heard of a 'head of steel', but this must qualify as a 'head of wood'. Very impressive carpentry skills in evidence. Your lifting suspension bridge is very neat and clever.

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Re: Track laying and ballasting with photos - advice and suggestions please!

Post by IanC » Wed Aug 01, 2018 3:22 pm

It looked impressive before it was installed but it looks even more so now. I love the lifting bridge.

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Re: Track laying and ballasting with photos - advice and suggestions please!

Post by Abiogenesis » Wed Aug 01, 2018 9:40 pm

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Work nearly completed on third bridge.The side "lattice girder work" is formed with lolly sticks bonded with hot melt adhesive. They are just standing in place for the photos. I made an earlier attempt to create a complete bridge last Summer. It was nearly nine feet long & included a lattice deck. I used 1500 lolly sticks & 45 long sticks of hot melt. I built it in sections, then assembled it outside. It was lightweight, but stiff & strong. Sealing & painting it seemed to take an age, but I thoroughly enjoyed the whole project. I had a short end to end layout then & watching a train pass along the length of the bridge, which was only supported at the ends, was terrific entertainment (to me at least). :roll:

Alas, it did not survive the onset of Autumn & it shed components wholesale. Its mortal remains were consumed on 5th November, serving to warm us during the festivities. I am going to coat the lattice girders with a rapid repair spray seal used for roof coverings, gutters & drainpipes. It's supposed to be waterproof after a 3 day curing process. It's black, so I am contemplating finishing with silver car spray paint. Tomorrow, at least one compost bin must be moved to allow me to continue construction left towards the plant troughs!!!
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Re: Track laying and ballasting with photos - advice and suggestions please!

Post by Abiogenesis » Thu Aug 02, 2018 8:12 pm

Phew, what a scorcher! Almost too hot to work. The cool of the morning was spent replacing the punctured wheels in two wheelbarrow. I've replaced the pneumatic wheels with PU foam filled 14" puncture proof wheels, together with new axles. The barrows were always being overloaded with building materials, so the lugs for the wheels were bent backwards & the wheels wouldn't fit. It would have been so much easier, if my sons would put my tools back in the correct place after they used them :evil: :evil:

There's some earth moving required, so barrows & sons will be required very soon.. I been having second thoughts about the lattice girders for the third bridge. I had to shorten their length to fit, so I sprayed a small section of the waste, but the result didn't please me. I think a length of galvanised steel anglebead from Wickes, pinned along each side will look good as safety rails. I'll get some tomorrow.
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I've started assembling the bents to create the trestle section that will run between & above the two areas of decking, close to the bar. I would have got more done but a large green water tank filled with odds & ends & a pile of white masonry blocks have been recently (last Saturday) stacked on the line of my permanent way.
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The plant troughs through which the rails will pass were constructed in part with old stair treads replaced in the house about three months. They were bone dry & I used them for the bottoms of the two troughs.
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Well, they are now re-hydrated! Buggrit. :oops: :cry: :roll:
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Re: Track laying and ballasting with photos - advice and suggestions please!

Post by Abiogenesis » Fri Aug 03, 2018 8:01 pm

This is a small length of the anglebead that I shall bond to the third bridge. It will look like a pedestrian walkway & act as a barrier for wayward locos etc. The photo is out of focus, but it shows the general idea.
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The three bents are now assembled as a freestanding unit & I am running out of timber, so i must wait until Monday for another delivery. I am using 4.8 metre lengths of tile battens, imported from Sweden. They are 250 mm X 380 mm & very roughly sawn. I sand them to remove most of the splinters; gloves are still recommended when handling them however. There are 10 to a bundle & cost only £21-00 per bundle from Grant & Stone & I get free delivery, courtesy of my youngest son's business.
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Re: Track laying and ballasting with photos - advice and suggestions please!

Post by Abiogenesis » Sun Aug 05, 2018 9:05 pm

The rubble in the space between the two decks was dug out. The three bents that had been fastened together were placed in position on heaps of dry mixed ballast & cement & adjusted to be level with the bridge over the pond etc. Then water was misted over the foundation& left to set overnight. That was Saturday.
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A late start on Sunday was interrupted by lunch with family & friends at a local pub, followed by a BBQ for other friends this evening. After they left, I placed the final two bents in place & secured them in position with more dry mix, before misting with water as before.
Not long before I start track laying. :thumbright:

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Re: Track laying and ballasting with photos - advice and suggestions please!

Post by Abiogenesis » Thu Apr 25, 2019 8:42 pm

Loose laid horticultural grit. The track is secured with only three stainless steel pins per track on the white walled bridge & pins where the trestles connect with the planters. The tracks on the planters are free to move laterally, but the ballast holds them in place. I'm going to seed the ballast with moss & Angel’s Tears (Soleirolia Soleirolii).
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Re: Track laying and ballasting with photos - advice and suggestions please!

Post by Abiogenesis » Thu Apr 25, 2019 8:47 pm

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