Options to avoid sharp corner, & steep grade ( Hind sight is wonderful)

[Granitechops]

Re: Options for avoiding a sharp corner, Also on a severe gradient ( Hind sight is wonderful)

Just one comment on yesterdays ballasting

I tried a slightly different method on this stretch of track

The track is screwed down to battens in the sub base to hold the corners,

& 4-5 ft straights left not screwed,

The track was then part ballasted with dry cement - sand mix

This is strong enough to hold the track alignment between screw points.

IF there is a lot of expansion in the summer sun,

it should be weak enough for the whole lot to float sideways YET still hold its basic shape

It will then be ballasted with the proper 2mm grit seived out of some concrete ballast

fixed with pva

The reason for the two part ballasting?

I dont trust the pva alone to hold 100% grit ballast, as it is suppose to soften when it gets wet

AND

when its dry, it probably would have too strong a grip to allow bodily movement of shaped track formation



You may also notice that while the cement mix is setting off I have held it off the cliff face for clearance with bits of wood spacers

 

[Granitechops]

Re: Options for avoiding a sharp corner, Also on a severe gradient ( Hind sight is wonderful)

I always thought the blurb said pva glue dries clear?

Or is that only Evostick pva?

Anyhow this is how Cromar pva dries

A nice white line

 

[Granitechops]

Re: Options for avoiding a sharp corner, Also on a severe gradient ( Hind sight is wonderful)


So I wanted to lose that white
thought Pigment?
they all come out of the ground, dont they?
So got a bucket, 2 trowels of soil, 2 litres of water & mix & paint
Voila!! white gone!!

 

[Granitechops]

Re: Options for avoiding a sharp corner, Also on a severe gradient ( Hind sight is wonderful)

It also toned the ballast down a bit

 

[Granitechops]

Re: Options for avoiding a sharp corner, Also on a severe gradient ( Hind sight is wonderful)


The track through the tunnel was laid on a bit of ply,
very GOOD ply

 

[Granitechops]

Re: Options for avoiding a sharp corner, Also on a severe gradient ( Hind sight is wonderful)

And as I wanted this to look more photogenic

Plus as I wanted to give it the best chance of not rotting, I did not want to disguise it by using cement as that would hold the wet in

So I ballasted the track ( top surface of ply is melamine type plastic)

& then used some broken rocks to hide the gap down the side of the tunnel

& around the front edge

like so


First, front edge

 

[Granitechops]

Re: Options for avoiding a sharp corner, Also on a severe gradient ( Hind sight is wonderful)

second

down side of tunnel

( from other end )

 

[Granitechops]

Re: Options for avoiding a sharp corner, Also on a severe gradient ( Hind sight is wonderful)

QUOTE... May 6 2009,

Nicely done. An extremely neat job. I too find that a bucket of small rock chippings can come in useful for all kinds of camoflaging of things that don't quite join up when you intended that they would...

....
And of course in this case there had to be plenty of clearance to actually get the board into the tunnel at all



I was thinking that heavy rain my leach away your soil-pigment thingy, then again all sorts of action of sun, wind, rain and snow will probably eliminate the white PVA boundary anyway. Time will tell, it has a great way of softening all sorts of new raw things after a few seasons as you must well know.

....Dons Reply....-

Oh yes, I was expecting about 3/4 of the pigment to be washed away,
but a stain IS a stain, & it will help promote moss & algae growth etc also



QUOTE
Your photo of the track curving along the shelf below the cliff and held off the wall by spacers as the ballast dries... it struck me that something that would look very nice just there is a platform cantilevered off from the ledge on the canal basin side and supported by a wooden piling effect frame - just a simple thing made so it seems to be sleeper built, with a little wooden shelter, couple of benches and gas lamps - then a set of wooden steps down to the canal wharf sidings so that workmen can get down to the wharf, boat owners can get from their boats to the trains and tourists can lean on the rail at the back of the platform and snap piccies of the goings on down on the canal.

Dons reply...-
.....Brilliant idea

I had not thought of that option

was wondering what to do to that shelf edge, did not want to leave it as just a shear drop off

 

[Granitechops]

Re: Options for avoiding a sharp corner, Also on a severe gradient ( Hind sight is wonderful)

DATE CHECK
MAY 9th 2009

Bit more progress today

made a start on the blind Canal tunnel


2 slabs at right angles for one end

 

[Granitechops]

Re: Options for avoiding a sharp corner, Also on a severe gradient ( Hind sight is wonderful)

Dig out lower than bottom of tunnel level & place slabs for foundation for side walls

 

[Granitechops]

Re: Options for avoiding a sharp corner, Also on a severe gradient ( Hind sight is wonderful)


3 slabs for sides in place,
& back fill behind BACK slab to put pressure on side ones so they dont move while setting

 

[Granitechops]

Re: Options for avoiding a sharp corner, Also on a severe gradient ( Hind sight is wonderful)

Go up another half slab inside tunnel,

& top off with a horizontal slab to tie it together, & heap some more soil to give it a bit more weight

also add some more slabs to outside of planter

 

[Granitechops]

Re: Options for avoiding a sharp corner, Also on a severe gradient ( Hind sight is wonderful)

Done a bit more to the tunnel planter today,

built it up almost to right hight, & filled with soil, loosely

 

[Granitechops]

Re: Options for avoiding a sharp corner, Also on a severe gradient ( Hind sight is wonderful)


Built up sides just about up to top

 

[Granitechops]

Re: Options for avoiding a sharp corner, Also on a severe gradient ( Hind sight is wonderful)

Paving slabs on end are not the most stable of building blocks,

so belts & braces

Made a reinforcing footing in front of side wall

 

[Granitechops]

Re: Options for avoiding a sharp corner, Also on a severe gradient ( Hind sight is wonderful)


Added a reinforcing fillet along the first lift joint

 

[Granitechops]

Re: Options for avoiding a sharp corner, Also on a severe gradient ( Hind sight is wonderful)


And added some plants

 

[Granitechops]

Re: Options for avoiding a sharp corner, Also on a severe gradient ( Hind sight is wonderful)

Before I can build the removable bridge,

I have yet to build up the buttress across on the other side

( where the white is showing up

 

[Granitechops]

Re: Options for avoiding a sharp corner, Also on a severe gradient ( Hind sight is wonderful)

Now I have laid the track in its final position across the corner,

I was able to build up the bridge buttress ( that does not sound right?) (abutement??)

Well The ledge bit where the bridge rests

 

[Granitechops]

Re: Options for avoiding a sharp corner, Also on a severe gradient ( Hind sight is wonderful)


Across the other side,
I did not feel happy for the bridge to rest on that thermolite block,
So, I cut a ledge out