The St. Louis & Denver Railroad - The Build

[GPdemayo]

Hello again! Time for a progress update with lots of pictures.
 
Well, I'm still waiting for the 8'6" ties to arrive that I ordered back in March from the large catalog supply house. They have no idea when they will be in so I broke down and ordered 2 bags from Erik at Kappler. The order was shipped on Friday and will probably get here the first of next week. After I get them stained in the creosote and dried out, I should be able to get the yard and branchline ties completed for Phases 1 & 2 in about 3 to 4 weeks.
 
In the mean time, I'll be placing the remainder of the 8'-6" cross ties and the switch ties. I like to place the switch ties first, then install all the cross ties between them. Now that I've gotten over the "getgoingitis" I will try to get on with it in a more orderly manner.
 
I began placing the switch ties at the ends of the wye and started with the remaining 8'-6" cross ties that I have left.
 
Exhibit #1 - switch ties at brewery & wye (T048)
 
In this photo, you will see the switch ties at the bottom of the wye which begins the grade climb to Moosebutt. The cross ties from the brewery end of the wye have been started.
 
Exhibit #2 - switch ties at branchline end of wye (T081)
 
The switch ties at the yard end of the wye is at the top center of the photo. The 2 switch ties to the right are the top of the yard and the track leading to the mainline. The switch at the bottom, left side is where the service track connects to the wye and mainline.
 
Exhibit #3 - switch ties at yard end of wye (T086)

Exhibit #4 - cross ties at grade to yard (T084)
 
Continued..........

[ak-milw]

Progress, progress, progress!!

[GPdemayo]

Progress, progress, progress!!

Getting there Andy, but a bit more to post before I catch up to the present.

[GPdemayo]

I next finished the cross ties from the brewery to the branchline ends of the wye.
 
Exhibit #1 - ties to end of wye (T088)
 
The other side of the wye from the brewery to the yard were installed. The second photo is from the opposite diredtion.
 
Exhibit #2 - ties to yard (T089)
 
Exhibit #3 - opposite view (T093)
 
Another shot of the start of the 3 track yard is shown in the following photo.
 
Exhibit #4 - start of yard ties (T043)
 
Continued..........

[GPdemayo]

 
Well, I'm just about out of 8'-6" cross ties. I have just enough left to complete one yard track to the switch. The next two photos show it from both ends.
 
Exhibit #1 - yard ties (T090)
[attach 1]

Exhibit #2 - opposite view (T097)
[attach 2]
 
The next photo is another shot of the siding from the wye to the chemical plant and the brewery siding. I really like this twisting, climbing grade and couldn't wait for the rail to be installed to see an old boxcar and an engine on the ties.
 
Exhibit #3 - chemical plant/brewery siding ties (T015)
[attach 3]
 
I will finish up this episode with a photo of the switch ties leading to the engine house and tie/plank mill.

Exhibit #4 - engine house ties (T085)
[attach 4]
 
When the 8'-6" cross ties get in, I will get them in the creosote and dried, then finish the yard and branchline tracks. In the mean time I will get some of Butty Jim's 8'-0" cross ties installed on the sidings.
 
To Be Continued Soon.....

[ak-milw]

It's something to watch all this coming together.

[GPdemayo]

It's something to watch all this coming together.

It,s been great fun so far.....more to come!

[GPdemayo]

That post to Andy was great. I,m sitting in the model room waiting for some paint to dry on trim for JimmyD,s DepotStation and typed this on a tablet.

My isn,t modern technology interesting!!!

[GPdemayo]

After the switch ties were placed to the engine house and tie/plank mill, I decided to put in the sidings to those structures. As I said in the last episode, I am out of 8'-6" ties and I reordered them directly from Erik at Kappler (ordered on Thursday, they arrived on Monday). Since they aren't ready for installation all I have left for now is the 8'-0" ties from Butty Jim.
 
Since I made the decision to use 8'-0" ties on the sidings, this will work out just right. I can begin at the two sidings for the tie/plank mill next to the engine house. One track will be used for delivering the logs from Moosebutt by way of the branchline. The other track will be for shipping out cut and creosoted lumber for use by the StL&D.
 
The sequence of pictures below shows the progression to the ties down the sidings. I thought they are a neat grouping of shots and figured since y'all like photos I would include all eight. The first photo is of the bare homosote with the track centerline and tie edges drawn. The white paper in the top of the picture is a depiction of the area required for the mill.
 
Exhibit #1 - ready for ties (T196)
[attach-1]

Exhibit #2 - group #1 (T198)
[attach-2]
 
Exhibit #3 - group #2 (T200)
[attach-3]
 
Exhibit #4 - group #3 (T201)
[attach-4]
 
Continued..........

[GPdemayo]

Exhibit #1 - group # 4 (T202)
[attach-1]

Exhibit #2 - group #5 (T203)
[attach-2]
 
Exhibit #3 - group #6 (T204)
[attach-3]
 
Exhibit #4 - all groups w/ tape removed (T207)
[attach-4]


The whole process goes rather quickly and took less than an hour. The 8'-6" ties for the remainder of the yard and branchline track are out of the creosote, are drying and will probably be ready to install in a couple of weeks. In the meantime, I have a few more places for the 8'-0" ties.
 
So, stay tuned for the next episode when I will "dig" the pit for the old Robertson , Air Operated, Cinder Conveyor (it is a Scale Structures Limited kit (K124) that I started putting together in the mid 80's. After this is complete, I can get the ties for the engine house installed.

[GPdemayo]

This episode will continue in the same area I left off in the last post. The next ties to be installed are for the cinder conveyor and the engine house tracks. I can put in the ties for the cinder conveyor dump, but I need to locate and install the pit for the cinder conveyor before the ties for the one engine house track can be glued down.
 
The dump track will hold the gondola cars that will be filled with the ashes from the engines when they dump on the way into the engine house for light service. This siding is relatively short as it is necessary to hold only a couple of cars. See photos below.
 
Exhibit #1 - ready for ties (T212)
[attach=1]
 
Exhibit #2 - ties glued down (T214)
[attach=2]
 
I had assembled the pit walls and beams back in the mid 80's, so I can use this as a guild for "digging" the pit that goes under the rail. I also got the track centerline dimensions from the kit plans. I laid it out on the homasote and was ready to start excavation. The little cart that rides up the conveyor rails (code 40) from in the pit to over the gondola car where it dumps the ashes can be seen in the bottom of the following picture.
 
Exhibit #3 - pit layout (T215)
[attach=3]
 
The crew got the excavation going and dug down till I hit a layer of solid stuff...granite most likely... then had to pull out the big guns and start blasting.
 
Exhibit #4 - digging pit (T216)
[attach=4]
 
The soils guy did some tests around the yard area and said the hard stuff was further down, so we weren't expecting the delay in completing the pit. But not to worry, as you can tell by the next picture, all worked out well.
 
Continued.....

[GPdemayo]

Exhibit #1 - pit installed (T217)
[attach=1] 
 
I temporarily put the rail with ties over the pit and the middle & main supports with their concrete bases on either side of the dump siding to see what it will look like when completed. This yard and engine facility are on the smallish size and don't require a large ash pit, so it seems to be perfect for this type of operation. When I complete assembly of the kit, I will post a few pictures to this thread.
 
Exhibit #2 - (T219) 
[attach=2]
 
Exhibit #3 - (T220)
[attach=3]
 
Enough for today. I will work on completing the ties into the engine house, the yard and the branchline soon. I have practiced on a couple more Fast Track switches and am about ready to install a couple. They get better with each one and I am glad that I decided to build them myself. We'll have to wait till I add power to the track to see if the theory worked out or I end up with some blue smoke - I might become known as "Dr. Evil, Jr.".

See y'all next time.

[jbvb]

Things are moving along here.  If you have a voltmeter, you can do some less dramatic tests before the big one.

[GPdemayo]

Things are moving along here.  If you have a voltmeter, you can do some less dramatic tests before the big one.

Thanks for looking in James, I will definetly test with the meter before I run locos over the switch.


Don't want any of these steamers going wheels up going over a switch. 

[GPdemayo]

Even with real 1:1 work to do the last couple of weeks, the tie crew has been busy since the last episode.
 
The low profile cross ties have almost been completed in the yard and service areas. This leaves a couple of small sections in Phase 2 (a small piece of branchline, one side of the wye and the coaling tower dump track) to be installed and the ties for Phase 1 and 2 will be completed. After they are complete, the plan is to finish installing the roadbed for the mainline and begin putting down some full height cross and switch ties and adding track to both.
 
The photos below are two views of the installed cross ties for the tracks going past the cinder conveyor pit to the engine house that was dug in the last episode.
 
Exhibit #1 - ties to engine house (T237)
[attach=1]
 
This second photo shows the partially finished FSM 2 stall Engine House (Kit #35) that I purchased ($9.95) in the early 70's. This was one of the first "craftsman kits" I built and even though it is not completed and in need of a bit of renovation after all these years, I think it will look really good after I finish the building and get it into it's scene.
 
Exhibit #2 - engine house (T274) 
[attach=2]
 
As you can see below, the three track yard has a few cross ties down, but I need to get the switch ties installed in order to complete each track.
 
Exhibit #3 - switch ties (T243)
[attach=3]
 
Exhibit #4 - service track & yard ready for ties (T241)
[attach=4]
 
Continued.....