First off, I found a broken turnout point on the east end ladder. I repaired that and commenced in moving all the freight cars down to South Ottawa. It looked pretty impressive with a 35-car train snaking its way south out of the yard. When working on that, I noticed a broken turnout point on the west end ladder. Sweet Lord! I hate broken turnout points! I repaired that as well. At least that didn't occur during the operating session.
I noticed the Micro Engineering turnout for access to Track 2 in the yard was acting up again. My temporary fix was just that....temporary. I need to replace that turnout.
I then took a look at track four that was reported without power during the op session. I found a loose wire connected to the bus. That was a quick fix.
Once all the track repair issues were resolved (minus the turnout replacement), I began work on ballasting the yard. I came across this photo posted to Facebook from Railpictures.net. I would like my yard to look like this.
Ottawa Yard Empty - Looking West
Ottawa Yard Empty - Looking East
Materials on hand for this project
My first attempt. I'm not really pleased with this. I think I need to try again.
I'm not particularly pleased with this. It doesn't look like the photo.
I see from this angle (only accessible from the phone) that I have too much ballast and grass piled up along the track.
Well, attempt #1. I will try again.
My photo inspiration of what I want Ottawa yard to look like.
Steven. Try some tile grout instead of ballast. It works a treat and is very much finer and comes in a good range of colours. I used stone dust also and it is very file. it is a product that our concrete guys trowel on top of freshly laid cement then trowel with a steel float to get a very smooth shinny surface. It is very fine a looks great in yards like yours. Might be worth a shot.
ReplyDeleteHave fun.
Rod.
I'll check that out. Thanks for the suggestion Rod!
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