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)