Day 22: And the rain came down..
No, not a shameless plug for my PTLRfest video (which can be found on YouTube BTW
), but a description of the weather!
It let up mid morning, so I made my way to the FR for as much work as I could get done while the rain held off! As it was looking iffy, I didnt want to risk trying to lay blocks. It would be a shame to lay blocks, or mix cement then all the work go to pot because of the weather. So instead, my focus was to remove all the clay and poor soil from this area...
I was getting along fine with that area til mid afternoon. The rain was still holding off. The boss popped out to see me, and the topic of conversation came to signal boxes and stations! It was decided that in the area I was gardening, a signal box would be placed in the V of the point...
And a station be build next to it, with a long platform on the mainline, and a short one on the back loop. This will all be set on blocks like the trackbed, so The rest of my day was spent digging trenches to pour concrete for the blocks. Here you can see my progress by the end of the day...
Day 23: Next verse, same as the first, a little bit faster and a little bit worse!
The weather today was a little bit worse than yesterday, and the rain didnt stop til lunch, so there was only half a days work done today. Basicallly, I laid the concrete in the trench I had dug yesterday.
The narrow bit of concrete to the right goes on about another 2-3 feet. This bit will just have the platform as it allows access to garden the crescent of soil behind it and to get at any trains that encounter difficulties in the back loop!
If the weather had held off beyond half 4 I would have laid a few blocks on the mainline, but Mother Nature had other ideas! Instead, the boss and I discussed plans for the crossing, which may now become a bridge as we are worried about the width of the trackbed at that point and damage to the track! Details will be revealed nearer the time.
I also have some homework. I need to find a way to bend 5 ft radius curves into 9ft 4.25in (ish) radius curves! The issue will be making a smooth curve for the entire length of the rail! I have 4 lengths to play with!
Next time, on Building the FR:
Cut and Lay the blocks for the station and signal box area.
Lay blocks on the mainline. (Weather permitting)
OR
Go to the nearbly Slate Quarry and buy some bags of Small Slate Chipppings to be used as ballast,
Goto BnQ to get more concrete,
Work on easing the radius of the the 5ft curves.
Great stuff Bungle.
.
