Monday, April 11, 2011

Euclid Yard - Benchwork Complete!

Hello, all!  I have just returned from a week exploring two California railroad landmarks:  Cajon Pass, and Tehachapi Pass.  It was an amazing trip!  Photos to follow!

As mentioned in the last post, there has been significant progress in short-line construction recently as well.  The Minoa & Euclid Railway will terminate at Euclid Yard, and the benchwork for that yard and for most of the shortline's main route is all now in place. 

First, Euclid Yard.  This is across the aisle from Onondaga Yard on the Cutoff, which is on the left in this photograph.  I made sure to leave plenty of space for operators to walk around each other here, about 40 inches, thanks to some recommendations from you all!

The main route for the M&E will climb the grade in this photo up to the tunnel through the staircase, while the level piece will be an industry - Central Car Repair Shops - which will actually be right at my workbench, and will be a big customer of the M&E. 

If you look below the surface of the yard in the photo above, you can see that this was a non-conventional set up.  The issue is that the sewer main for my home is directly below the studs, necessitating some creative supports for the railroad.  This began with setting a height for the yard, which dictated the length of studs I would need.  Once cut, I used heavy through-bolts for the thinner joists, and lag bolts for bigger joists, both with washers to hang 2X4 studs from the floor joists above.  Here is an installation of 1/4" lag bolts in one of my home's huge 10"x10" main beams.
A special thanks to my wife, Kristen, for help positioning these studs - they are not easy to support before clamping and bolt installation.  Those studs come down to about 3' off the floor, allowing me to use 2X3 longitudinal bracing to set the stud spacing, and more 2X3 diagonal bracing to support the horizontal cross-members.  Gusset plates, cut down from scrap plywood, are used to connect the diagonal bracing and the cross-members.
In all, it seems very solid to me, if unconventional!  If needed, I can always add a few legs to the horizontal members closer to the aisle, but I hope to avoid that with this heavy bracing.

Once the main route of the M&E begins to climb out of Euclid yard, it works through a gentle s-curve on a 2.5% grade over the workbench area and up to the stairs, where it passes through a tunnel to stay along the foundation. 
At the top of this grade will be the start of a tunnel through the stairs.  This will require a bit of creative carpentry, to allow trains to pass without getting stepped on.  As you can see, the entire stairway shifts at this point, so this should work out well, but I will need to cover the track here to ensure rail traffic and foot traffic do not mix. 
All that remains is to connect this subroadbed with the construction on the front wall, only about 6 more feet of benchwork!  However, it will be on a curve in front of the water supply line, which has a small leak from the meter.  The water company will be looking at this during the week, and then it's time to connect everything together.  Good times coming on the M&E and the Onondaga Cutoff!

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