Sometimes, It’s hard to find those great hickory striped Railroad pants. But, I found a place where they are made in the USA and have been made since at the Round House Jeans since 1903 in Shawnee, OK.
Turntable upgrade
When my dad and I built the new turntable on the railroad, I decided to put a rail on ties for the wheels of the table to roll. However, through the years that hasn’t worked out well. The weeds often jump off the rail and it is a major job trying to get it back on. I asked a friend of mine to weld a large plate for the wheels to ride on on but he suggested adding a cement ring. Last week I began pulling up the ties and rail. And yesterday I put in the forms, purchased 31 – 60 Lb bags of Sakrete concrete mix. I was able to mix and lay the whole slab and cover it with a tarp before a major rain storm began.
Weeds and Bugs
Every railroad has to deal with weeds and bugs along the track. It doesn’t take long for theM to over run your track. Ties, bridges and other railroad structures provide a good meal for all the bugs. I learned that well with my original trestle that we made from local, rough-cut pine. This was one of the biggest mistakes I made in building my railroad. I should have used pressure treated lumber, stained it more frequently and sprayed it with bug repellant. But as they say, you live and you learn.
Years ago, I purchased one of those Roundup 2 gallon hand pump sprayers. It may have been me, but the spray nozzle seemed to clog up every few feet. I could never spray the whole track without the nozzle either partly or fully clogging. That has all changed this week.
After a thorough search online, I settled with the Greenwood 12 volt, 15 gallon Spot sprayer sold at Harbor Freight. The unit comes with a heavy duty spraying wand and hose. With a little bit of work, you’ll have a great battery powered sprayer that can sit on any flat car. With a few pieces of PVC, valves, plugs and clamps, I built my own sprayer wand. After placing the finished unit on one of my flat cars the action began and I very happy with the results.
Materials list:
• Greenwood 12 volt 15 gallon Spot Sprayer
• 1/2″ PVC pipe (5′ length)
• 1/2″ PVC end caps (2)
• 1/2″ PVC valve (2)
• 1/2″ PVC Tee (2)
• 1/2″ PVC Misting System Mounting Clamp (5-Pack)
• PVC glue
• 1/2″ to 5/8″ brass hose barb (2)
• Mister Landscaper 12-Pack 15 GPH Half-circle-Spray Drip Irrigation Micro Spray (1 package)
• 1/2″ adjustable hose clamps (2)
Trestle Rebuild #17 (final)
I decided to use wire rope instead of wooden hand rails. This was completed on May 26th. And last week, I stained the whole trestle in 4 hours. To do this, a friend suggested an airless sprayer. This was one of the best purchases of my life. Through it all, I never had one clog. Spraying uses a bit more stain due to over spray, but it is well worth it. The whole trestle took 9 gallons of Arborcoat Benjamin Moore latex semi-solid black stain.
First new private passenger line in over 100 years
Brightline is a new private passenger line being built in Florida. Construction began in 2014 building stations along the current Florida East Coast Railway line. The railroad currently operates from Miami to Palm Beach with aggressive plans to go into Orlando International Airport, continuing on to Walt Disney World and finally ending in Tampa. Several stations have been completed and an additional new mainline is currently under construction to Orlando International. However, the official website reads that service is currently suspended.
The railroad currently has 10 Siemens Charger SCB-40’s and 5 Siemens Venture train sets of 4 cars.
The official website can be found here.
Trestle Rebuild 16
It’s nice to finally get out and work on the railroad. Today, I began work on railings for the new trestle. I put in 10 of the uprights on one side. I hope to do the other side next week and then string the cable. Here are a few pics.
Merry Christmas
From my altar to your home. You were remembered in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass during my Christmas celebrations.
Video overview
Here is a new video with a tour of the track. Ride over the new trestle and see where a few expansion will go.
Ballast work continues
160′ down 1590′ to go. I won’t post every day. You all get the idea from a couple of pics. I will give updates for other things I’m going to work on as we go along.
Future extension on the right. 
Track Maintenance
During the past few months, I demolished the old trestle and build a new one. The original trestle was build of local brought cut lumber (pine) in 2005. So I got a good 15 years out of it. However, the new trestle is build with pressure treated and should last a lot longer.
Now that the trestle is complete, I decided to do some much needed maintenance on the main line. The section I began working on was completed in July 2006. And my father’s illness and passing the maintenance has been a few years lacking.
I purchased 22 tons of ballast and went to work this afternoon. In the short time I was able to work, I removed and re-screwed several ties, re-ballasted, and leveled a 50′ span. I still have a few days of vacation remaining, so I hope to get a lot finished.
I used a smaller ballast. After all these years, I’ve discovered that the areas with a smaller ballast have remained in place a lot longer and had a much less need of realignment. The smaller ballast packed in nice and tight, especially after a few good rain storms.
The track that has no ballast is my future expansion. I began a few years ago but put it on hold due to my father’s illness. I think we might go to town on that next spring.
