Garden Railway Forum

I think there's enough space here. There's another 1/2 acre over that ridge on the left. Id love to get my hands on the 4 acres across our driveway, but I have enough work to do here.

Such a beautiful place, if you're planning to model something like Santa Fe or Denver & Rio Grande you won't need to add much in the way of scenery! I love it in pictures and movies but as a lifelong midwesterner I couldn't take the heat.

Can't quite tell from the picture, is it level or is there a bit of a slope up to the house? With a wide open yard like that I would think the sky's the limit for track planning.

drewzero1 wrote: ↑Wed Mar 20, 2024 2:49 am Such a beautiful place, if you're planning to model something like Santa Fe or Denver & Rio Grande you won't need to add much in the way of scenery! I love it in pictures and movies but as a lifelong midwesterner I couldn't take the heat.

Can't quite tell from the picture, is it level or is there a bit of a slope up to the house? With a wide open yard like that I would think the sky's the limit for track planning.

Oh the heat ain't bad. Even when it's middle of the summer and hot during the day, it's dry, high elevation and drops into the 50's at night.
Yeah, there's a little elevation up to the house and for the line. Not much grade but my track plan, although constantly changing in my head, plan on a 1% grade over a 100', for the expansion route. It'll be in little pieces as time permits..

It is at times like this, an aerial shot from a drone, would put the whole kit and caboodle into perspective.

An area like that, in our (wet) 'green and pleasant land' would turn into a jungle, in a single season. - I am guessing it is dry enough that the vegetation does not get out of hand easily?

Phil.P

Phil.P wrote: ↑Wed Mar 20, 2024 5:19 pm It is at times like this, an aerial shot from a drone, would put the whole kit and caboodle into perspective.

An area like that, in our (wet) 'green and pleasant land' would turn into a jungle, in a single season. - I am guessing it is dry enough that the vegetation does not get out of hand easily?

Phil.P

I suspect that is the natural state, as it is in most of the US Southwest. Unless irrigated, only the toughest plants survive.

Certainly a nice, big blank canvas to work with. You have my envy.

drewzero1 wrote: ↑Wed Mar 20, 2024 9:38 pm

Phil.P wrote: ↑Wed Mar 20, 2024 5:19 pm It is at times like this, an aerial shot from a drone, would put the whole kit and caboodle into perspective.

An area like that, in our (wet) 'green and pleasant land' would turn into a jungle, in a single season. - I am guessing it is dry enough that the vegetation does not get out of hand easily?

Phil.P

I suspect that is the natural state, as it is in most of the US Southwest. Unless irrigated, only the toughest plants survive.

True. Lots of Mesquite and various cactus. There's even some tiny cacti that I want to incorporate around the line, I think it will scale nicely along the tracks.
I'm so far off from even thinking about starting, but getting the house looking much better on the inside at least. Started clearing outside, so many poor choices by the previous owner and so many weeds. I think in another month I'll be ready for recaulking/replacing and painting siding and what not.
We are on week 6 * correction, we were on week 5, week 6 starts tomorrow, April 14* I believe, but really starting to see improvements and moving along quicker than I expected.
Just have to keep pecking at it.
Oh and BTW, yesterday we got buzzed by a dark cloud of African Killer Honey Bees. Crazy, luckily they were moving their hive or something and didn't stop to ruin our day. I've never seen such a thing.

I'll follow this with interest. Somewhat of a contrast to the conditions I'm facing in the NW of England. So far this year, rain, followed by rain, followed by even more rain.

I did find a rather sleepy wasp in the shed last week......

Rik

Wow, that's something else! You guys sure seem to have scarier critters than we do up here, I think the freezing winter helps keep the bugs in check.

We had some hornets nesting in the downspout next to my railway construction site last summer. I had warned my 3YO son to stay away while I sprayed the nest, and now even months later he keeps asking nervously if there are any bees in the pipe. I don't think we'd do well dealing with killer bees or murder hornets or any of those other super-animals!

ge_rik wrote: ↑Wed Apr 10, 2024 9:10 am I'll follow this with interest. Somewhat of a contrast to the conditions I'm facing in the NW of England. So far this year, rain, followed by rain, followed by even more rain.

I did find a rather sleepy wasp in the shed last week......

Rik

I understand about the constant rain, I can't do that anymore. Before our years aboard the sailboat in the Keys, we lived in Oregon for almost 20 years. I don't mind rain once in a while but those months and months of it are pretty gloomy. No thanks!

drewzero1 wrote: ↑Wed Apr 10, 2024 2:35 pm Wow, that's something else! You guys sure seem to have scarier critters than we do up here, I think the freezing winter helps keep the bugs in check.

We had some hornets nesting in the downspout next to my railway construction site last summer. I had warned my 3YO son to stay away while I sprayed the nest, and now even months later he keeps asking nervously if there are any bees in the pipe. I don't think we'd do well dealing with killer bees or murder hornets or any of those other super-animals!

I had 2 more experiences with the bees. Another cloud of them went over my head a couple days ago, not as big as the first one. I'm not sure if they're moving hives or what. Pretty sure from the constant hum from neighboring property that there is a hive there, you can clearly hear it from the far corner were I took that picture. Not going to investigate any further.
Also, when I was hanging up some wasp traps in the trees out front, they showed up, buzzing all around me pollinating, there were no issues whatsoever. Now I have read that as long as you're not messing with or stumbling upon their hive, they act just like normal honey bees. But again, not going to investigate or push my luck on that theory.
Now for the ant hills... grumble grumble....

Just an update here. No more Skunks, ran them off last month. Such a relief. House is coming along and I'm slowly pecking away on the land. I've been pruning and hacking on the Mesquite Trees. They're all blooming like crazy which brings the Killer Bees. But I've noticed the AKB (Africanized Killer Honey Bees) really don't care about me as long as I move slow and don't flail around. They're just like any European Honey Bee, they're just very protective around the hive. Hope I don't find a hive but I've been all over the 2 acres and the other 4 across the drive, no problems so far.
They do get jumpy around the chainsaw and power tools so I stick to hand pruning until they move on.
Everything is blooming and beautiful right now. We even have a Agave Americana that's doing its death bloom (see pics). It's spike from 3 feet to 10 feet in 14 days, I'm not kidding.
Also, last night I discovered the "Iron Cross Blister Beatle. Very pretty but do NOT touch.
Hope ya'll enjoy the pics.

Here's a few more pics, I overloaded my last post.
I plan on lots of small cactus and clover along my railroad.

Wow! Thats all I can say really, Wow!

Wow, some great scenery you've got to work with there. I've read about those beetles, they can spray boiling chemicals out the back end

Your wildlife sure makes me appreciate mine... Even if we do have to shovel the lake flies off the sidewalk a few weeks a year, at least they don't sting or bite

drewzero1 wrote: ↑Fri May 17, 2024 7:24 am Your wildlife sure makes me appreciate mine... Even if we do have to shovel the lake flies off the sidewalk a few weeks a year, at least they don't sting or bite

Yep, everything here either pokes, pricks, poisons, stings, bites or sprays you. Sometimes all the above lol. But it's beautiful and I rarely see anyone outside of delivery guys. You can do anything you want out here, and for someone that grew up in the boondocks of the Wyoming Rockies, that's everything to me.
Can't wait to get started on the railroad, just so much to do around here first.
My one break, and it's still work, is I'm building a nice home theater off the bar/entertainment area. I used to do home automation, home theater and commercial audio video and I worked a lot with decorators and such. My wife leaves everything from window treatment, colors and textures to decor up to me so my excuse is I also get to say what we do for home theater. Went with a 75" tv and a Klipsch/Denon set up. All electronics hidden in closet behind gear. Just starting to install all of that in all my "spare" time but did get the light switches moved and closet power located.
I also have three benches to build in my hobby room. One bench will be for model making of course, another for my sewing stuff and a heavy duty one for my reloading equipment.
I may do a higher bench for testing locos and rolling stock, haven't really thought that far ahead yet. I'm all ears on any of this.