Canadian Puget Sound II

[peach james]

So, progress over the last little bit:

 

Getting better tools by Peach James, on Flickr

I went to Princess Auto ("we're not satisified, till YOU'RE not satisifed !") and bought a new welder.  What a difference having 2x the power makes.

Then made up the track for crossing the driveway:



Which will likely be the only 20' section of track, and the only one with angle iron used for track.  It distorted when I was welding it- so I'm going to have to make up a pair of short 30' curves to bring the track back to straight at least on the house side.

 

Then, we planted it:



Form stripping this morning, and then let it sit for a few days to harden before re-grading the driveway above it.

Dirt has been re-stacked, and the bridge dug down to it's final level as well- 



It's low enough for my fat head on the lawn tractor, but I still have to duck to get under there walking through- 5'6" clear or so.  I guess I need to make a clearance plate? 

[peach james]

So, what have I done since May?  Well, we went on a cross Canada trip, starting July 20th.  That took until Sept 6th before I got home.  Since then, I have returned to working (now full time...) at the heating plant, and so far have made up 1 L, 1 R   section of 5' long, 30' radius curves, and just finished my 2nd 10' section.  I played with the levels on the right side and had the section of track somewhat level there, but got no further before I left.

 

I also made up about 36 fishplates of the 240 that I need.  Save that I need to shorten 4 of them for the RHS of the crossing, to fit the 5' R curve to it.  That has the sleepers attached- nothing mentioned of getting 150' of plastic wood and cutting it to length, but it happened.  (I need about 400' more, when I get there...I have a pile of sleepers to use as it is...)

So there is progress, just slowly it seems at times.

[peach james]

I brought the 3 finished 30' radius/ 10' long (outside rail) sections home today, and screwed on ties to one of the 10' sections that has been there for a while.  I still have to shorten up the fishplates to make the connections to the driveway, and I can't do any welding at work until they finish doing some asbestos abatement (they are washing walls & window cills...)

Current progress at home:
 

You can see the 3 curved panels on the grass.  That's going to require burning off, to see what actually is under the grass, then landscape cloth adding, and a figuring as to where the curve actually is going to start.  I left an opening because the trick-or-treating kids often come down the stairs in the center, then up to our front door.  I'd rather not be trip and treating them

There are 3 shortish panels of welded 7.5" track to the right, they are going to be taken to my local blacksmith and handed in for him to do something awesome with them- they're not much use to me.  By the time I'd done anything to them, I might as well have started fresh.  We're late enough I can burn off whenever I want to, so I will have to put the big propane torch back together & have at it.  
 

Looking at this, I have to make a 2nd 5' panel of curved track...there's no other way.  Ah well...

James

[peach james]

The next heap of code 1250 rail has arrived at work- about the same pile as before.  So about 10, 10' sections worth of material- or something like 100' of track to weld up.  I have another of the curves in the van, and nothing much washed away in spite of the full sized railways and highways on the mainland being washed away...

I've been working my way through my list of things to get done, and soon to appear is a full gravel truck of 3/4" crushed.  

Inside, I put Long Marton back into place, and have had one gas fitter come by to give me a quote.  I need at least one more before I can move ahead with that project...which then leads to removal of the outside oil tank and finishing the earthworks (dirt) on that side of the house.  Work is somewhat harder than I thought, in that I'm basically 5 days on/3 days off, at least until early January.  That does mean I have the dosh to pay for some of this to get done though!

We're going to run away at the end of March (Covid permitting...) and come back across Canada on the Canadian.  I want to do it in the Budd built cars, and as Chris L. and Jason S. have pointed out, those days are rapidly coming to an end, regardless of what the current government invests.

[peach james]

I'm still at it- the heap of rail has been cut to lengths for curves, so I have 3x tied 120" pieces, 7 not yet tied, & 10 each of 120 - 0.320", 119", 118 7/16", with neat 1/4" holes at one end of each one.  Next step will be welding one of the  -.320 pieces on, and seeing how they look for length.  Hopefully I've got it right this time,  if I have then it's back onto the drill press and out with the holes on the 120 and -.320 pieces, and the hot melt glue gun (MIG welder) gets used...

 

I've had to dig into the stash of tieplates at home for more of them- I'm on my second lot that I brought in.

 

James

[peach james]

Up to 21 lb of filler wire used so far.  I have to change over the roll on the MIG, and carry on with the next piece

[peach james]

7 more lengths of track done, I’ve got to unload them from the van.  Next step is a short break then probably I will take Caribou II to work and make the feed pump and injector work. 
 

 

Edited April 24, 2022 by peach james
Photo removed in giant migration.