A bit early for this with snow flurries going on right now but… I’m thinking about putting in a expansion yard/ junction area on my RR this Spring. My back yard is on a slope and where I want to build this benchwork will have it about 40 inches off the ground. In another area I have a small yard 30 inch by 15 feet built on a benchwork about 6 inches of the ground. I used 2x4’s and the top is plywood I had painted to ward off the elements. My new yard will be maybe 30-36 inches wide and up to 20 feet long and I’m thinking what if instead of using plywood for the top I build a sturdy benchwork to handle the weight then use a hardware clothe for drainage and shovel a inch or 2 of the 3/8th grey gravel that I use for ballast on top? I would need to build the sides up so the ballast doesn’t wash or fall off. I’m thinking if I used plywood then put the stones on top that it would trap alot of moisture and rot out the ply faster. After 6 years the other yard is still OK but that one doesn’t have stones on top.

What do you experts think about this plan?

If anyone has done such a thing what are the pitfalls?

Thanks, Todd

i think this question should be best answered by Richard Schmidt.

he built his whole layout that way.

Here is Richard Smith’s Build Log for the Port Orford Railway, broken down into 3 PDF’s.

Port Orford RWY Part 1

Port Orford RWY Part 2

Port Orford RWY Part 3

I’m building a lot of my RWY this way, too.

Edit: Link to Part 2 is fixed.

What Richard has done is great. I’ve had his RR build log saved to my computer for a few years now and really like the look he has achieved.

I followed Richards concept when I added a freight/load yard to the back of my railroad. This year I’ll complete the process by adding the wire mess, lattice roadbed, track, and gravel. With my railroad already being raised with garden blocks it made it easy to add.

Chuck

That build log and RR work and buildings by Richard is stunning! I’m not planning anything as elaborate as what he did but will borrow from his concept if I do end up building the extension.

Thanks for posting the links and all that inspiration. WOW!

We need to give SteveC of MLS a huge shout out for doing all the work of putting Richard’s many posts into a readable and downloadable PDF.

I wish I knew just who SteveC is so that I could credit him by name rather than by handle.

Tod,

What your talking about I have used pretty extensively on my railroad.

There are threads on here somewhere about it but here are a couple pictures of one of the yard areas done with the hardware cloth, weed block and gravel over 2 by framing.

The tables were built in 8 foot sections of PT 2x4 on edge with cross members on 2 foot centers additional 2x2 cross members were added so all support was on 12 inch centers. Legs of 4x4 pt were concreted in on 8 foot centers then 2x4 legs were added in between sitting on surface blocks so that vertical support was on 4 ft centers.

(http://freightsheds.largescalecentral.com/users/rick_marty/Humboldt Yards/view3.jpg)

The framing was then covered with 1/2 inch hardware cloth and that in turn covered with the “heavy duty” woven plastic weed block, stapled down.

(http://freightsheds.largescalecentral.com/users/rick_marty/Humboldt Yards/view4.jpg)

Composit trim board of 1x4 nominal dim.was then used as an edge trim and extended 3/4 inch above the table top to act as a gravel stop. All assembly was done using trumpet head deck screws for PT wood.

(http://freightsheds.largescalecentral.com/users/rick_marty/Humboldt Yards/view12.jpg)

All track and switches were then installed using 1 and 3/4 lath screws and fender washers between the ties so that the track can expand & contract. The entire deck was then covered with 1/4 inch limestone ballast gravel. The gravel is only about 3/8 to 1/2 inch deep just enough to cover the black weed block.

(http://freightsheds.largescalecentral.com/users/rick_marty/Humboldt Yards/view13.jpg)

The yards in these pictures have only been in place for a little over a year but other sections done in the same/similar manner have been in use several years with no problems. Heavy rains will wash the gravel around a bit but a quick swipe with a 3-4 inch paint brush cleans things right up.

Have fun building your new yards.

Rick

Rick, while I have used Richard’s method on my two tables, I am seriously considering giving your idea a try on my next table.

I likes it.

I see that you have added a building or two, Are those the only ones?

Hi Steve,

Yes, Dick Smith is a friend as well as my mentor in outdoor bench work. I have stolen and used every good idea he has come up with. We go to visit Dick & Helen and I have my wife distract him while I photograph and document all his newest ideas then come home and duplicate them :).

The first few tables I built I copied Dick’s method completely but as time passed I saw that slightly different methods worked better in our climate etc. There is about a 50 degree temp difference between where he lives and where we do, when it is 60 there it is 110 here.

Just the two you see plus the dairy that I posted about a few months back. Hopefully more to come this summer; slaughter house, gas and oil dealer, farm supply dealer.

Later

Rick

Steve Featherkile said:

We need to give SteveC of MLS a huge shout out for doing all the work of putting Richard’s many posts into a readable and downloadable PDF.

I wish I knew just who SteveC is so that I could credit him by name rather than by handle.

Here’s a link to Richard’s POC RR Vol II

Port Orford Coast RR - Vol II (PDF 22.11MB)

Steve,

Your link doesn’t work because you forgot to put in the colon after the http, and the space(%20) between the first POC and RR. This new forum software doesn’t tolerate spaces well!

If you copy what I posted here and open it in a new window or tab, it will work.

1stclass.mylargescale.com/stevec/POC%20RR/Evolution_of_POC_RR-02.pdf

Steve Conkle said:

Steve Featherkile said:

We need to give SteveC of MLS a huge shout out for doing all the work of putting Richard’s many posts into a readable and downloadable PDF.

I wish I knew just who SteveC is so that I could credit him by name rather than by handle.

Here’s a link to Richard’s POC RR Vol II

Port Orford Coast RR - Vol II (PDF 22.11MB)

Well, I think we now know who SteveC is. Thanks for all you hard work, Steve!

And thanks to Steve and Joe for helping me fix the link to part 2

Rick Marty said:

Composit trim board of 1x4 nominal dim.was then used as an edge trim and extended 3/4 inch above the table top to act as a gravel stop.

I have a question about this. If you have basically created a tray for the track and ballast to sit in, doesn’t the “tray” fill up with water from rain or melting snow? Am I missing a drainage component or something else here?

Great information/expertise in this post, thanks.

John,

Though my pictures don’t really show it the bench work is 2X4 framing on 12 inch centers covered with 1/2 inch hardware cloth, covered by weed block cloth. The water and snow melt run right through, there is no puddling at all.

Rick

Oh fer goodness sake, I understand now.

I pictured hardware cloth as the sheets of black moisture barrier material used in construction. So I searched for “hardware cloth” to see where I could buy some and found all kinds of sources for it…and I also discovered (Ha!) that what you’re talking about when you say hardware cloth is what out here we call Chicken Wire!

Thanks.

p.s. not to be confused with the octagonally-shaped chicken wire which Home Depot calls Poultry Netting! Oh well.

Clarity please for local or regional use of words. Around the St. Louis area, “chicken wire” would be twisted strands of wire creating a hexagon of about one inch patterns. “Hardware cloth” would be wire of almost the same dimension welded together in about 1/4 to 3/8 inch squares. Is it a case that in some places these terms are used interchangeably?

I’ve called the hex-pattern wire “chicken wire” my whole life. A couple of years ago I went into Home Depot or Lowes looking for a roll of it for the veg garden. I got all sorts of strange looks, until I finally described what I was looking for. “Oh, that’s called poultry fencing!”

Really? Not around here…

Ric, it’s all chicken wire to some of us out here in the mountains, or maybe that’s just what my dad called it.

The hexagon-shaped stuff you’re talking about my Home Depot calls “Poultry Netting” wherever that phrase comes from.

Oh well!