the infield figure 8

On Sunday 2-13-11 Tom D used the club tractor and cleared a  lazy S shaped right of way 4 feet wide, the width of the tractor bucket, across the infield part of the compound. It goes from a Y type switch Tom had built on the parking siding, by the caboose, to just short of the kitchen site. It took some time to cut the path down to the base dirt as there was a lot of wood chips and some rocks and tree limbs to be trimmed.

A few months back Rory and Rob came up with the plan and then Steve rough cut a path. Everyone that saw the path thought it looked good, so Tom cut this out to see how it looked and to see what the other members thought of the idea of adding an infield figure eight to the track layout.

There has been a few plans with little backing, some good, and some very very bad made for the infield in the past 24 years, but nothing has happened to this point. We were thinking we will install the figure eight track, and if the city comes up with something for the infield we will just remove the track.

We have a lot of trees, bushes, and some dirt mounds in the infield which gives you limited lines of sight as you walk down the roughed in right of way. You get the feeling that you are in a different place. It is a neat walk and we are thinking that with some work, it will be a very neat ride on the train.

At this point in time, we are thinking that the track will go behind the kitchen (which may move at some point), through a deep cut in the dirt mound, then go across the dirt road. It will then run parallel to the inner loop track running the opposite way, then cut back into the infield at a point just before the ends of the parking sidings.

We will build a small tunnel though the dirt mound then cross over the track coming from the Y switch make a "lazy S" turn through the trees and bushes, meeting up with a switch just across from the station on the inner loop just before the caboose.

We are thinking that this project is something that we as a group can pick away at and finish within the next year or so. The turns will be a little tight so we will see if some of the bigger locos will make it. Phil our club rocket scientist says they will, hum we will see. This will add a lot of run time and give us a longer main line which should let us add one more train on run days and will help keep trains from getting all backed up in the station. It will also give riders something new to look at after 24 years of going around the same old loops.

With the construction of some new dirt berms in the infield, and some new bushes planted and stuff too look at, we should have a train ride with the feeling of traveling through a botanical garden of sorts at one point.

Well stay tuned and we see how this all works out,

Tom d 

Edited by PhilC - Mar 04 2011 at 12:49am

I think the big ones will still be able to run on it. The radius should be large enough. According to the specs the minimum radius is 40 feet with a recommended radius of 60 feet. So either way I think we will be OK. If not, gonna be a heck of a lot of grinding goin on!


Edited by administrator - Mar 06 2011 at 10:18pm

4-10-11 We had the tractor out moving some dirt out of the way for the new station and Tom moved the dirt back from the small hill-berm on the crossing side of the kitchen. Then Tom and Rory worked at getting the yucca tree sump pulled out. It took some time but we got it out and with Phil's help put it in the hole we had to cut though the berm to remove it so it all worked out.

Rory then worked at cutting a roadbed though the front side of the berm all the way to the kitchen which was about 25 feet but it was some hard digging. Tom trimmed the low branches on the trees and move some of the plants that were around the kitchen on the old dirt berm.

We are not ready to move the kitchen at this time as we need to work out where the  best place to put it is. At this time the kitchen is not much just a canopy with rolling BBQ, a few old cabinets, and a few benches/tables so it shouldn't be much to move at some point. We are still playing with the lay out of the new road bed as we are trying to get at least a 60 foot radius on the turns and we are adding some dirt to build up the roadbed as the ground drops a few feet from the back of the layout to the front.

We were thinking of having a drop type bridge for the crossing of the figure 8 but we will have to see how that works out as we get more of the road bed ruff cut in. It would be a neat thing to have but its a lot of work, we will see.

For now we have moved a lot of dirt and now it will have some time to get watered so it will set so it  hopefully doesn't move when we get the track set on it later. We need to get working back on Crenshaw before we do to much to the  figure 8 project but its hard to pull off moving the dirt around as its fun to look at the ruffed in roadbed and see where the track will go,

Well thats all for now Tom D 

Edited by administrator - Apr 15 2011 at 8:53am