The railroad, profile.
I have been in this hobby since about
the year 2000 and have accumulated some equipment.
We have a Morris SW1200 switcher (GTW 1508), a Plum Cove Phlat car, an electric (battery) Niagara Junction Box Cab built by Dick Robinson (TCME), parts for a TCME club/member build 2-6-0 Fitchburg Northern steam engine, a TCME club/member build Lehigh Valley Gondola, two Alan France built flat cars (one is a NYC flat car and the other is being built into a tank car) and a Bud Hartwig (TCME) built bobber caboose and (battery) EMD FT loco. Also, an old dyno car, that is going to be built into a Russell snow plow.
In the summer of 2009, on one of our return trips from an Open House from one of the clubs layout that we belong to, Mary Ellen and I talked about how long the trips have been and how far away these layouts are, she proposed the question why can't we not put some track around our yard?
So in the next couple of months I sat down with some copies of drawings of our property and drew up some plans. I came up with about 4 layouts for our yard. These were basic loops around the yard with some crossovers here or there. The biggest problem was with the end by the drive. I did not want to go into or through Mary Ellen's flower garden, so that left only 20' between the fence and the road. This would means a 10' radius on the railroad. As we went over the different designs of the different layouts, one of the main things Mary Ellen did not want is for the track to go out by the road. She felt that with it being by the road, it could distract some drivers. So we came up with the basic single track at the back of the front yard with loop a rounds at the ends, or a basic dog-bone or wishbone. The 10' radius was the problem and I think would not let us run all of our trains, like the SW1200 diesel or the Fitchburg Northern (2-6-0) steam engines.
Then in the winter of 2009-2010 there came on the Yahoo group “Live Diesel”, info about Dave Schoeffler's “The Temcula Shortline Railroad” (http://temeculashortline.wordpress.com/). Dave had only 10' radius's on his railroad and has a lot of electronics for lights and sound. Very impressive.
Plus, two new websites for a couple of backyard railroads showed up. The first was Bill Gardei's Island Pond Railroad (http://islandpondrailroad.com/) and the other was the Calvert Central Railroad (http://www.calvertcentral.com/index.html). I liked the comment at The Island Pond Railroad, “that if you live closer that 2 hour away from a train club, join the club and use their track and help them with maintenance. But if you are 2 hour or more away from a club or just want your own track then build it. Just be aware that it is a lot of work for just one person, but it can be done”. All three of these railroads have shown me that it can be done and I showed them to Mary Ellen so she could see what they were doing with their railroads.
So, Mary Ellen and I sat down with the drawings again and she came up with the idea of coming between the fence and the house (part of her flower bed) along by the side walk and then back out by the drive, to the road. This would give us a 20' radius and I think our trains will handle it. So a new plan was drawn up and that is the one, we are working off from now. Plus I want to build it at 7.5” gauge but be able to run 7.25” equipment on it.
That is how the “Chemung and Ridgeberry Railroad” was born.
In the spring of 2010, I got involved with building a 1.5” scale railroad at Eldridge Park, in Elmira. Myself and another guy built 30+ straight track panels and I built another 20+ curved track panels. I did not get involved with the installation of the track because we were called to Michigan because of my dad's poor health. He passed that May.
In Aug of 2010, I found out from Bob Fruitt, from the FLLS club, had 200' of rail and I asked if he would like to sell it, he did and purchased it. This was the start of the railroad. Next came making the straight and curved track panel jig's and cutting of ties. I was using 13 5/8” for my tie length so could get 14 ties out a 8' 2x4, after cutting them to 13 5/8” long and then cutting them in half. This gave me a 13 5/8” x 1 5/8” x 1 1/2” tie.
Then in 2011, Mary Ellen ask me to remodel the kitchen, bath and den in our house. She had planed on doing it for the last 19 years and wanted to get it done before I got involved in the railroad. So for the next year and a half I worked mainly on the house but did get some time to get some ties cut, do some other little things and modify the rollers on a rail bender that I had helped Jack Wylie, from FLLS, build, so I could bend rail.
In Aug of 2012 we went back to Michigan to celebrate my mom's 90th birthday. Visited White Creek Railroad but did not bring our train. Then one month later we were back in Michigan, but this time not so good, it was for mom's funeral.
Also in the fall of 2012, I approached Marty McCarthy, a friend with track in his yard, about buying some extra used track panels he had. He came up with a price, I bought them and brought them home. This worked out good but now had to take the track panels apart, decide which ties to keep, cut them to the length I was using and paint them with a coat of opaque stain. I had found that our local paint store, had some stains that had been colored, not just right. They were selling them at a great price and I bought them all, about 5 gal. The only problem is there are three colors in the 5 gal's. A moss green, a black and a medium gray.
That winter (2012)and spring (2013) worked on staining ties, putting together track panel (straight and curved) and building a new loco for a friend. This is a Mini GP9 for Robert Barlow.
In the summer of 2013 got to go back to Michigan, but this time, brought our train and I got to spend 2 ½ days at White Creek railroad. When we returned I started in on roto-tilling out the road bed for the railroad in front of the house, down to the south porch, around the end of the house and around again to behind the garden. In the following weeks and months shoveled and wheel borrowed out the dirt and filled in with 3/4” crushed stone. Laid the track panels on the stone, bolted them together with the rail joiners I had cleaned up and wheel borrowed and shoveled on the ballast. Then built and installed a switch for the loop starting behind the garden and looping around the south yard, a switch stand and a trow for the switch, oh, and a bridge over a low spot in the south yard (Little Swale). Finished up right before the ground froze for the winter, about the first week in December, but not before running Robert's Mini GP9 (unpainted) on the tracks. Could only go out to behind the garden and then doing a reverse move to return.
The winter of 2013 & 2014 continued on with cutting and staining more ties, building more curved track panels, two more switches w/switch stands and trows, making 120 rail joiners, machining new rollers for the rail bender so can bend the rail from Bob Fruitt and painting and lettering Robert's Mini GP9.
When spring finally broke thru, the first of May this year, I leveled the bridge over Little Swale, laid out where the south loop will go, roto-tilling out the road bed, where needed, shoveling out and wheel borrowing out the dirt, filling in with the sub-base stone, laying out the track panels, bolting them together with the new rial joiners and building another bridge, out in the ditch (Ditch Bridge #2), by the road.
Also, I must confess that I got a lot done the first half of the summer because Mary Ellen fell down and broke her ankle, about the first of June. This made for having to be home for the first eight weeks of the summer, so got a lot of track work done.
With the south loop now done, about the first of Sept, started on the north loop. I was hoping to have both the south and north loop done before the snow started to fly. Laid out where the north loop will go. Removed two straight track panels and installed the two new switches for the north loop. Bent the rail and made up more curved track panels. Again with the process of roto-tilling out the road bed, shoveling out and wheel borrowing out the dirt, filling in with the sub-base, laying in the track panels, bolting the track panels together with rail joiners, wheel borrowing and shoveling in the ballast and building another bridge for out by the ditch by the road (Ditch Bridge #1) The weather has cooperated and I have just finished up with the north loop the second week in November, 2014. This brings the Chemung & Ridgeberry railroad (mainline) to 465' of track down on the ground and three switches.
Next year, hope to add the river sub-division out by the river. This will add two more switches, about 100' more of track, a station and a covered bridge.
I hope you enjoy the pictures of our work in the photo albums and continue to follow along. Ron K.
We have a Morris SW1200 switcher (GTW 1508), a Plum Cove Phlat car, an electric (battery) Niagara Junction Box Cab built by Dick Robinson (TCME), parts for a TCME club/member build 2-6-0 Fitchburg Northern steam engine, a TCME club/member build Lehigh Valley Gondola, two Alan France built flat cars (one is a NYC flat car and the other is being built into a tank car) and a Bud Hartwig (TCME) built bobber caboose and (battery) EMD FT loco. Also, an old dyno car, that is going to be built into a Russell snow plow.
In the summer of 2009, on one of our return trips from an Open House from one of the clubs layout that we belong to, Mary Ellen and I talked about how long the trips have been and how far away these layouts are, she proposed the question why can't we not put some track around our yard?
So in the next couple of months I sat down with some copies of drawings of our property and drew up some plans. I came up with about 4 layouts for our yard. These were basic loops around the yard with some crossovers here or there. The biggest problem was with the end by the drive. I did not want to go into or through Mary Ellen's flower garden, so that left only 20' between the fence and the road. This would means a 10' radius on the railroad. As we went over the different designs of the different layouts, one of the main things Mary Ellen did not want is for the track to go out by the road. She felt that with it being by the road, it could distract some drivers. So we came up with the basic single track at the back of the front yard with loop a rounds at the ends, or a basic dog-bone or wishbone. The 10' radius was the problem and I think would not let us run all of our trains, like the SW1200 diesel or the Fitchburg Northern (2-6-0) steam engines.
Then in the winter of 2009-2010 there came on the Yahoo group “Live Diesel”, info about Dave Schoeffler's “The Temcula Shortline Railroad” (http://temeculashortline.wordpress.com/). Dave had only 10' radius's on his railroad and has a lot of electronics for lights and sound. Very impressive.
Plus, two new websites for a couple of backyard railroads showed up. The first was Bill Gardei's Island Pond Railroad (http://islandpondrailroad.com/) and the other was the Calvert Central Railroad (http://www.calvertcentral.com/index.html). I liked the comment at The Island Pond Railroad, “that if you live closer that 2 hour away from a train club, join the club and use their track and help them with maintenance. But if you are 2 hour or more away from a club or just want your own track then build it. Just be aware that it is a lot of work for just one person, but it can be done”. All three of these railroads have shown me that it can be done and I showed them to Mary Ellen so she could see what they were doing with their railroads.
So, Mary Ellen and I sat down with the drawings again and she came up with the idea of coming between the fence and the house (part of her flower bed) along by the side walk and then back out by the drive, to the road. This would give us a 20' radius and I think our trains will handle it. So a new plan was drawn up and that is the one, we are working off from now. Plus I want to build it at 7.5” gauge but be able to run 7.25” equipment on it.
That is how the “Chemung and Ridgeberry Railroad” was born.
In the spring of 2010, I got involved with building a 1.5” scale railroad at Eldridge Park, in Elmira. Myself and another guy built 30+ straight track panels and I built another 20+ curved track panels. I did not get involved with the installation of the track because we were called to Michigan because of my dad's poor health. He passed that May.
In Aug of 2010, I found out from Bob Fruitt, from the FLLS club, had 200' of rail and I asked if he would like to sell it, he did and purchased it. This was the start of the railroad. Next came making the straight and curved track panel jig's and cutting of ties. I was using 13 5/8” for my tie length so could get 14 ties out a 8' 2x4, after cutting them to 13 5/8” long and then cutting them in half. This gave me a 13 5/8” x 1 5/8” x 1 1/2” tie.
Then in 2011, Mary Ellen ask me to remodel the kitchen, bath and den in our house. She had planed on doing it for the last 19 years and wanted to get it done before I got involved in the railroad. So for the next year and a half I worked mainly on the house but did get some time to get some ties cut, do some other little things and modify the rollers on a rail bender that I had helped Jack Wylie, from FLLS, build, so I could bend rail.
In Aug of 2012 we went back to Michigan to celebrate my mom's 90th birthday. Visited White Creek Railroad but did not bring our train. Then one month later we were back in Michigan, but this time not so good, it was for mom's funeral.
Also in the fall of 2012, I approached Marty McCarthy, a friend with track in his yard, about buying some extra used track panels he had. He came up with a price, I bought them and brought them home. This worked out good but now had to take the track panels apart, decide which ties to keep, cut them to the length I was using and paint them with a coat of opaque stain. I had found that our local paint store, had some stains that had been colored, not just right. They were selling them at a great price and I bought them all, about 5 gal. The only problem is there are three colors in the 5 gal's. A moss green, a black and a medium gray.
That winter (2012)and spring (2013) worked on staining ties, putting together track panel (straight and curved) and building a new loco for a friend. This is a Mini GP9 for Robert Barlow.
In the summer of 2013 got to go back to Michigan, but this time, brought our train and I got to spend 2 ½ days at White Creek railroad. When we returned I started in on roto-tilling out the road bed for the railroad in front of the house, down to the south porch, around the end of the house and around again to behind the garden. In the following weeks and months shoveled and wheel borrowed out the dirt and filled in with 3/4” crushed stone. Laid the track panels on the stone, bolted them together with the rail joiners I had cleaned up and wheel borrowed and shoveled on the ballast. Then built and installed a switch for the loop starting behind the garden and looping around the south yard, a switch stand and a trow for the switch, oh, and a bridge over a low spot in the south yard (Little Swale). Finished up right before the ground froze for the winter, about the first week in December, but not before running Robert's Mini GP9 (unpainted) on the tracks. Could only go out to behind the garden and then doing a reverse move to return.
The winter of 2013 & 2014 continued on with cutting and staining more ties, building more curved track panels, two more switches w/switch stands and trows, making 120 rail joiners, machining new rollers for the rail bender so can bend the rail from Bob Fruitt and painting and lettering Robert's Mini GP9.
When spring finally broke thru, the first of May this year, I leveled the bridge over Little Swale, laid out where the south loop will go, roto-tilling out the road bed, where needed, shoveling out and wheel borrowing out the dirt, filling in with the sub-base stone, laying out the track panels, bolting them together with the new rial joiners and building another bridge, out in the ditch (Ditch Bridge #2), by the road.
Also, I must confess that I got a lot done the first half of the summer because Mary Ellen fell down and broke her ankle, about the first of June. This made for having to be home for the first eight weeks of the summer, so got a lot of track work done.
With the south loop now done, about the first of Sept, started on the north loop. I was hoping to have both the south and north loop done before the snow started to fly. Laid out where the north loop will go. Removed two straight track panels and installed the two new switches for the north loop. Bent the rail and made up more curved track panels. Again with the process of roto-tilling out the road bed, shoveling out and wheel borrowing out the dirt, filling in with the sub-base, laying in the track panels, bolting the track panels together with rail joiners, wheel borrowing and shoveling in the ballast and building another bridge for out by the ditch by the road (Ditch Bridge #1) The weather has cooperated and I have just finished up with the north loop the second week in November, 2014. This brings the Chemung & Ridgeberry railroad (mainline) to 465' of track down on the ground and three switches.
Next year, hope to add the river sub-division out by the river. This will add two more switches, about 100' more of track, a station and a covered bridge.
I hope you enjoy the pictures of our work in the photo albums and continue to follow along. Ron K.