Building the new Kittatinny Mt RR

Shawn

Shawn

Hiking, cross country skiing, snowshoeing
For those that have not heard. I recently sold my house and moved into a new one. I moved only 5 miles from my old house. The buyers wanted my layut and in return he replaced all my track for a new layout.

I was able to escape from house chores today and broke ground on the new Kittatinny Mt RR. The area I am using is an existing flower garden to build the railroad in. The first thing was to rip out all the bushes and trees that were in the area. Then I had to tear all the Vinka vines that had overtaken the area. This took a good part of the day.

Measurements were taken of the area. I came up with an area of approximately 37ftX20ft. The one end has to be brought up about 1ft.


My next step was to start getting rock along the new property and build up the areas that will have to get back filled in. A friend of mine has a dirt bank at home that I can get fill from to raise the one end up.

A few reasons why I chose the area:
- Easy access to garage (door comes out to layout)

- I can replace garage side door light with a spot light for night running
- I can relaxe on the deck while watching the trains.

-Leaves in the fall wont be as much as an issue



View looking up at deck
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View from deck
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The walkway in the photos will be torn up and replaced with a more natural looking walkway, stepping stones. There will be a walkway along the garage side for easy access to the high end of the layout.


I made a rough sketch of the track plan with measurements. If anyone is bored and wants to convert my plan into a computer program I wont oppose it. The red dashed lines is my proposed track plan. If anyone has better ideas please let me know. It is open for discussion.

Requirements:

-Minimum of 8ft dia curves

-set up for Roundy round

-I want to limit the main line with no more then 4 switches (2 for a long passing siding, 1 or 2 for a yard/steam up area.

-I have about 150ft of track to play with. I can go over that if needed but rather not.

-the area where the well head is will be kept at that level and built up around it. A trestle will be used in front of well and the area will be all stone. This allows access to the well if need be in the future.

-Keep live steam in mind



Here is the track plan. I want to make it interesting with curves. Lets hear everyone's ideas. Vic I would love to see if you have some track plans to fit the area. The area to the left on track plan has a curve to it. This area is flexible and can be brought out more if needed (I would rather keep it at the 20-25ft wide)

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I know I moved up to real paper and not napkins lol......

Lets hear the i
 
Fantastic.... Activity already Shawn...now that is enthusiasm.

The siting seems to be spot on...
I envy your 'practically' flat yard. My 1:10 gradient still gives me the challenges that I so wish that I didn't have.

Will your 'steam up area' be at a higher level that the lowest (I'm thinking of your back...we aren't getting any younger!

Not sure if I have told you but I have my first live steamer...an Accucraft 'Mich Cal' No2 2-cylinder shay. It just laps up my gradient, even with a goodly train behind it...love it
 
beavercreek said:
Fantastic.... Activity already Shawn...now that is enthusiasm.

The siting seems to be spot on...
I envy your 'practically' flat yard. My 1:10 gradient still gives me the challenges that I so wish that I didn't have.

Will your 'steam up area' be at a higher level that the lowest (I'm thinking of your back...we aren't getting any younger!

Not sure if I have told you but I have my first live steamer...an Accucraft 'Mich Cal' No2 2-cylinder shay. It just laps up my gradient, even with a goodly train behind it...love it
Click to expand...

Glad to hear you got the Shay. I love mine. Cant wait to see some pictures. I have the Regner Class A Climax on order. Cant wait to get it.
I should have an area that will be about 1ft high for working on steamers etc...... Once the area is level I will have a btter idea on what I can fit into the area.
 
Nice to hear that the railroad is to be reincarnated - looking forward to seeing more!
 
You're in danger of creating a virtual community railroad here Shawn with KMRR2. I have a feeling this one is going to eclipse the previous. can't wait to see the developments. And the movie. Do you still get visiting rights to the original and were the buyers garden railroaders before they bought the house ?
Max.
P.S. Yes Mike, we need to see the evidence. Welcome to the dark side. It would appear the force is strong with.......your Shay.
 
Go, Shawn, go! Ra! Ra! Ra! ;D ;D ;D

Watching this space avidly. :P (pant) :P (pant) :P
 
Looking good - a nice start. I like the fact that the front straight on your plan most definately is NOT straight.
 
It's always good to see a new railway being built, and your plot seems to have plenty of potential. As you know I was a big fan of your old railway so I shall be watching your progress with your new line avidly! 8)
 
Thanks guys
To answer a few of the above questions. The new owner had a garden railroad about five years ago. I have become friends with him and will have access to my old RR although he is into standard modern trains. His plan is to enlarge the layout.
Ross the Vinca vine was sprayed yesterday with ground clear. Hopefully that will do the trick.
Someone on another forum took my dimensions and plan and was able to get a nice computer generated track plan. It uses 10ft dia curves. As of now this is the plan with some tweaking once I start laying track.

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I received my load of dirt today. I finished most of the wall and got most of the area leveled. I had to tamp the new soil down with each load. Im trying to get a laser level so I can find tune the grades. I want to get it as level as possible. The bubble level only goes so far. Once I start laying track I can build up or down as I can along. Once I do my final leveling the rock wall will get capped on top with nice flat rock to even it out all around.


I did about a dozen more loads of dirt after the picture was taken.

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My helper
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;) Nice to see the classic Radio Flyer wagon. Local toy store here was selling Chinese knock offs of these a while back... less decals.
 
I changes the track plan some (Actually someone did a CAD drawing of my layout with two reverse loops. I like the options it gives. I can run as a point to point, I can run as a loop and also reverse the trains. I started bending and cutting the track. Most of the outer loop is done. Im hopping to finish it by Monday or Tuesday. Unfortunately mother nature won, the ground is too frozen to dig so ballasting will have to wait until spring. At least i can get the track down and see how it will fit.

New track plan. The dotted line is if I went with 5ft rad curves. Im going with R4 for the start of the reverse loops since it gives me more space between reverse loops.

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Like it Shawn. Very versatile. Thought you mighta got snowed in! :-\
 
Interesting. Have you gone all live steam now or will you be putting in some reverse polarity switches to cope with the conflicts ? Option to go 5 ft radius - planning on hosting some "heavy metal" sometime in the future ? Will the KMRR soon have a link to a "main" NG line for onward transport of lumber products ? Max.
 
Bob we only got anout an inch of snow last week. Other then that just very cold.

Max the layout is being built with the main focus being live steam but I still have some sparkies and batterie powered trains. Plus when hosting club meets it will be nice for club members to be able to run. Then I can sit back and enjoy the day more. My old layout I was running my stuff mostley.
The layout will have track power to the outside loop. The reverse loops will be isolated from the mianline. Not sure I want to deal with the wiring. At least anyone with electric can still run the outer loop. Haha their will no links to the NG main line. Its will still have that backwoods feel like the old layout. Im just going to have to be more creative with hiding things and creating blocks. It gives me all winter to think about it.
 
I was able to get the track completely laid out before the snows hit. I just need to buy a few more switches for the yard area and steam up area. I also tweaked the above plans. I brought the two reverse loops closer together in the middle and took out the curves. Im thinking a double tunnel in this spot. I also felt having the reverse curves were too close to the mainline. When longer trains were running the engne would be too close with the caboose when going around the reverse loop. Making the layout look smaller. Come Spring I will be ready to ballast everything.

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Unfortunately mother nature won the battle. Construction has been suspended.

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Good idea, the twin track tunnel! 8) 8)
 
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