The Tree Hut Branch line. Part 3 of ∞ " Paina Junction"

Now that I've built a bridge and got over it I find myself at Paina Junction, surrounded by tall pine trees. Today I borrowed a log sitting nearby and loaded it onto the log wagon and dragged it around the layout a bit, its currently on the wagon in the shed still. Managed the get the drone up despite the wind and got a few shots.

"Paina Junction"

A fairly heavy log

Leaving Paina Junction, heading across the river up the grade.

A birds eye view

Had to stop operations when the snow started, too slippery

Much later, usually clears by morning..

7.25" 2-6-0 E Steamer

Picked up another locomotive for the 7.25" railway, this time a 2-6-0 E Steamer from Dave Cole who converted it from a live steamer (simplex I think?) after the boiler failed its cert. Will cost roughly $10k to get a new boiler built. Everything runs well with no derailments so far.

A bit more done today, 1 side of the bridge decked out. Turnout at "Paina Junction" installed & operational. Sadly I've come to the end of the Aluminum track so its time to break out the 10 x 25mm bar and start welding

Safe walking platform almost complete on one side, on the remaining side I will deck out the bridge section only and back fill the other sections with dirt and top with Gap 65 Rock

The Tree Hut Branch line. Part 2 of ∞ "Boulder Creek Bridge"

The next hurdle is a bridge across "Boulder Creek". I had played with the idea of making a brick arch bridge but went with a simple timber affair to save time. Today I managed to plan out where the piers are to be, dig a few holes and cement them into place. I had a few bags of river stones laying around and excess concrete so figured I would layer the concrete like icing everywhere and then layer on the river stones. The main reason being when it rains the modest stream turns into a raging torrent and would no doubt wash everything away. This bit reminded me of building my nz120 layout although somewhat scaled up but quite satisfying.

How it looked before

Piers & river stones in place, waiting for things to cure

Looking North

Cleaned up, needs more rocks

Piers cut to the right height, the line is completely level from the flame tree 

Its largely a level run up to the bridge, I need to cut into the top ahead and redistribute the clay.

Given the distance to the build site growing further away from the shed the wagons have really been useful to cart materials and tools back and forth. A few pictures of various loads. Need to find a big log and cart it on the log wagon behind the climax. Once the railway gets past the big bridge I can see the railway being used to cart logs up to the mill.

Bridge progress after day two

More Piers firming up.

Day three bridge fixed in place, still to add pedestrian walkway alond the side and more boards & plastic, then to be backfilled with some clay.

From above, track ready to upgrade its sleepers

Day four sees track fixed in place with new sleepers

After some heavy rain overnight the waters flowing nicely with only a hand full of rocks swept downstream.

The next step, a bit of an embankment.

Work continues on the embankment, Da delivers another load of timber

Looking forward, the cutting starting to take shape.

In the process of removing problematic slanted pines before the railway gets built, should clear up the view a bit

The Tree Hut Branch line. Part 1 of ∞

This week I kicked off the new road heading further into the property. The first section is a straightforward timber deck that branches off to the left from the lower horseshoe loop. I had considered another rock wall embankment, but this approach is much quicker taking a few days of work dodging the patchy rain and also guarantees an adjustable but smooth level run to the bridge over the creek. I will be using steel for the track, and now need to weld steel track in place far away from any power source. Once I make it to the bridge over the creek it drops away into a downhill grade toward the old treehouse and beyond.

An artistic interpretation

Post's buried deep and cemented in place

 Turnout now functional, still needs a check rail

After disassembling & tinkering with post height's I've now reassembled the deck and is finally at the correct height

2 more spans to meet with the footbridge. Soon to be a "Shared Rail/Pedestrian Path, Nothing could go wrong!"

Da & work train navigates the bridge work, the Shared Rail/Pedestrian Path idea was shelved due to pedestrian safety concerns, another death will shut the place down they said last time. The train will now use its own bridge and enjoy a large radius curve.

Wagons purchased from Dave in Waihi make up the work train, the 4 wheeler cannon keeping in theme with current world events & PRR's defense budget.

Also purchased some more aluminum track from Dave, about 280ft plus a turnout, enough to procrastinate on the portable generator for the welder. The universe provided at exactly the right moment completely without notice, aluminum track being rare in these parts.

Starting a fresh cut, nothing better than exposing earth and carefully relocating it somewhere else ever hopeful of encountering deposits of high-density elemental gold.

Almost across the stream. Building up the area with fill for the lawnmower road.

All downhill now until the treehut. For every meter it drops 6cm roughly 3m after the turnout. Across the stream I've also cut in at the same grade but will adjust the grade from the current 6% to ensure I make it to the next stream at the right height just after the Flame Tree

Due to this land being swampy, i'm continuing using 100x75mm Posts for the trackbed which will help with drainage and ensuring a smooth gradual incline easy to adjust things like camber.

Redid the curve and screwed everything in place before installing a level crossing

Using a jigsaw and a bit of plywood to cut out the crossing, screwed into place for testing. Its going to be a scale road and crossing with painted lines and flashing lights.

Flame tree giving a final show, 1 tree removed and another trimmed clears the path. The grade is now no steeper than 2%

"Missy" the track inspector organizing her thoughts before delivering her final report, which was something about needing more food.

View from the bottom after some clearing up.

7.25" NZR Da

Finally the NZR Da arrives on the 7.25" railway after 1 year since I first got it. I built a shed for it and increased the radius of the top horseshoe loop. No issues with the track to report, and a quick video of it having a run.