The Little River Rail Road in Doc Tom's Back Yard

Draftsmen and engineers layout the first trestle for the LRRR

Hello,
I have had an interesting several days figuring out the first trestle for the LRRR. I had to compute the degree of grade of this gradually ascending trestle and bridge where it will be able to cross at 12" (best clearance for !:20.3 rolling stock) above the line below which is coming off the mountain as a descending line.

This trestle is on a gradual curve which puts additional stresses on the locomotive and wheel sets (The internet gurus say multiply percent grade X2 for the actual workout a curved grade puts on a locomotive's mechanism. A 2% curved grade is equivalent to a 4% straight line.) The Bachmann Shay can easily pull a 5% grade according to other Internet gurus.

I chose a 1.5% grade as an easy pull( equivalent to about a 3% grade on the straight) that will get me about 13-14 inches of clearance when it crosses the lower line about 300 inches from the cribbing take off.

So here it is in mock up fashion levelled, plumbed and with a 1.5% curved grade. I will take measurements from this mock up to determine the height of the bents on this sloped hill side.

Hope you do not have a headache with all the math.

Doc tom:eek:
 

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Tom, what I do in HO, may translate well to large scale. I make a bunch of blanks out of foamcore, that have the same shape as a trestle bent, but are cut longer than the longest trestle bent needed, I measure off the interval desired for bents, and cut the bottom off of a blank until it fits where desired. I the letter it and number it, and the proceed to the next. ( I do this after the track and stringers are in place). I can then use the foam core blanks as guides to build bents that are exactly the size needed.


Bill
 
Bill Nelson said:
Tom, what I do in HO, may translate well to large scale. I make a bunch of blanks out of foamcore, that have the same shape as a trestle bent, but are cut longer than the longest trestle bent needed, I measure off the interval desired for bents, and cut the bottom off of a blank until it fits where desired. I the letter it and number it, and the proceed to the next. ( I do this after the track and stringers are in place). I can then use the foam core blanks as guides to build bents that are exactly the size needed.


Bill
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Hi Bill,
A very good idea. I did draw up plans for the stringers and when cut the stringers will attach to the track with wire ties. I can then suspend the track per the mock up and use the the foam core for the trestle bent shape add two inches to the mud sill (to secure in ballast) and I will have constructed a bent and attached it to the trestle.

Thanks for the idea.

Doc Tom:wave:
 
How did your efforts stand up against the deluge ! out in my yard, I can hear what sounds like a waterfall where all off the runn off from about 1/3rd of my property and off of old city ferry rd pours about twelve feet down in to the biggest of my many sinkholes.

I will need to get shovels and rakes and implements of destruction, and try to clear out my stopped up culvert at the top of my driveway.

There is water standing in the river bottoms under the trestle , I an close to having waterfront property!
 
Bill Nelson said:
How did your efforts stand up against the deluge ! out in my yard, I can hear what sounds like a waterfall where all off the runn off from about 1/3rd of my property and off of old city ferry rd pours about twelve feet down in to the biggest of my many sinkholes.

I will need to get shovels and rakes and implements of destruction, and try to clear out my stopped up culvert at the top of my driveway.

There is water standing in the river bottoms under the trestle , I an close to having waterfront property!
Click to expand...

Hey Bill,

WOW what a mess!!! Some ballast has washed away but suprisingly not much.

THe Deck bridge has buckled in the center. Proves what I had thought that yellow wood glue is not entirely waterproof.......I had read that in the magazines but was not anticipating a 10" rain fall on the bridege. Iwill be buying some titbond III after every thing dries out and that glue is totaly waterproof. Also some brass pins to the decking will also help.
Stay Dry and safe, Doc Tom:cry:
 
try the gorilla glues

Tom buy some of the white and regular Gorilla glues.


experiment with them before you use them on important projects.


they are very strong. a plus they expand as they dry, so if the pieces are clamped the glue will force itself into all the nooks and cranny s, making a tight bond.

this can be a minus, as if you are not careful it can ooze out, and show.

I repaired an antique table at our beach house with gorilla glue. When the beach house was destroyed by hurricane Ivan a year later, my sister Judy found pieces of that table two blocks away in the debris field. She said the only pieces of that table that were still attached to each other were the ones I had repaired .

Here is a picture of the Cumberland river in my front yard.


Bill Nelson
 

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you can tell thos rain clouds that they are more than welcome to grab their passports and come down under
 
S class said:
you can tell thos rain clouds that they are more than welcome to grab their passports and come down under
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Even if you need water badly, I think Tom and I can now safely recommend against getting a three month supply in two days on top of already saturated ground.



Bill Nelson
 
In the neighborhood!

Tom after Church yesterday I was in your neighborhood taking a tour of Jan Hodgeskins (Sp?) new and very impressive backyard sinkhole (across the street, at the bottom of the hill, next to I think, the Smith's)

I'm planning to set up the sawmill soon. I have some gauges set up for the material size, and while I was at Home Depot buying a storm door for my front door, I picked up another 3 pieces of that fencing material. Setting up the saw for each cut is the hardest part of running the scale saw mill show, so I figured I'd want to make the most of it.

After the deluge,I'm behind on mowing, but as soon as I have a dry day, when I'm not way behind on the lawn, I'll fire up the saw. Try to figure out what your tallest trestle bent will be, so I can, once I have the lumber, build some assembly jigs.

I'm going out now to try to mow some before the next round of rain gets here.


Bill
 
Bill Nelson said:
Tom after Church yesterday I was in your neighborhood taking a tour of Jan Hodgeskins (Sp?) new and very impressive backyard sinkhole (across the street, at the bottom of the hill, next to I think, the Smith's)

I'm planning to set up the sawmill soon. I have some gauges set up for the material size, and while I was at Home Depot buying a storm door for my front door, I picked up another 3 pieces of that fencing material. Setting up the saw for each cut is the hardest part of running the scale saw mill show, so I figured I'd want to make the most of it.

After the deluge,I'm behind on mowing, but as soon as I have a dry day, when I'm not way behind on the lawn, I'll fire up the saw. Try to figure out what your tallest trestle bent will be, so I can, once I have the lumber, build some assembly jigs.

I'm going out now to try to mow some before the next round of rain gets here.


Bill
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WOW Bill this is great news!!! The trestle bridge at Nelson's gap has been stalled while the LRRR located a suitable sawmill to cut timber. Sounds like relief is in site.

Survey crews will be ready to make measurements. Probably the tallest bent on the entire RR will be 36". In Nelson's gap the bents will range from 2" to 24" in height. With the likelihood of fresh sawn timber the crews will start placing footings (buried bricks) for the bents. THis will allow for more precision in the measurements.

I am told the B.Mann Shay will be here this week. If you got time and want to swing by and operate said Shay on about 50 feet of mountain RR please feel free to do so.

Interesting news about the sink hole in the hood. I hope to get a chance to check it out.

Thanks as always for your help !!!!

Dr Tom:wave:
 
Steam spittin Shay in the back woods.

Hi Guys,

After a 6 month wait the Battery/RC/Phoenix sound conversion of my three truck 55 ton Bachmann Shay is complete. It took so long as there were considerable delays in getting the new Phoenix P8 sound system on to the market.

The conversion was done by Don Sweet and Bob Buck of Northeast Remote Control Systems. This new technology has been a great learning session for me. I have learned about NimH batteries , 27 mHZ transmitters, smart battery chargers, and sound cards and sound systems. The Phoenix P8 has a very good sound to it and you can hear a clip at the PHoenix website http://www.phoenixsound.com/library/am_steam.html

The Shay, after a detailed lubrication, runs very smooth and can crawl with individual steam pistons firing at about 1 MPH. I have run a few cars around in the Tennessee woods as the pictures show. I have about 54 feet of completed and ballasted track now with two small bridges and plans for a rather large curved trestle (It will begin at the cribbing in the last photo.).

This is an interesting gauge to model in and the locomotive is quite heavy and robust.

Y'all let me know what you think.

Doc Tom
 

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beautiful!

I love it.


when I come to visit next time, I'll have to bring a tripod, and take a video, so we can hear that sound!

I like the little cribbing,


Bill
 
One last picture and come on over Bill.

Bill Nelson said:
I love it.


when I come to visit next time, I'll have to bring a tripod, and take a video, so we can hear that sound!

I like the little cribbing,


Bill
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Hey Bill,

Glad you like the lokie. Here is one last shot of the Shay taken from the "God's eye view." I couldn't get it in the last bunch as Zealot has a 6 pic limit.

Glad to have you come over for a visit and get the backwoods Shay on TV with sound. Let me know when you are free. I am not doing too much this Memorial Day weekend.....except more work in a particular garden that has a train in it.

Doc Tom:wave:
 

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Stringers for the 20 pound locomotive

I started the first work on the curved trestle over Nelson's gap.

First project was to build stringers to match the curve of the track. The stringers are made from Lowe's .7"X.7" "garden stakes" cut to 12 inch (20 feet prototype) lengths with angled ends to make the arc of the curve. There are 1.25" spacers between each stinger.

The pieces are assembled with Titebond III wood glue and small nails placed in pre-drilled holes to avoid wood splitting.

The assembled stringer assembly is sprayed with Thompson's water seal and is attached with fine wire to the brass rails after holes are drilled in the rail web space.

I learned all these tricks from the Internet including the use of garden stake material.

This all made for a very strong structure that was placed on temporary bents and a temporary support post. There is a 1.5% incline to the grade here.

So far it easily supports the approx. 20 pound Shay and the designing engineer is breathing a sigh of relief.:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:

Let me know what you all think about this RR engineering feat.

Doc Tom:wave:
 

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S class said:
HOT DAMN *throws hat in air*

you're staring to turn into a regular James P Harriman there Doc
Click to expand...

Thanks S Class. Next step is to begin construction of the trestle bents on a jig and hoist them into place with a steam powered crane.

Hope to have the Shay thundering over Nelson's pass within a month or two.

Doc Tom:mrgreen:
 
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