Making Tracks - 09-26-2010

Over the weekend, Bob found time to go outside and seperate all the sod from dirt and raked the dirt and then lay some track down and stake it out.

LOVING the fact that this is starting to pull together.

I know it will still take some time, but it finally feels like we have accomplished something.

He showed me this evening where the mini pond will go, some mountains, drainage ditches, etc....

So here is the yard as of today.

Change of Location - 09-12-2010

John at Winona Garden Trains warned us about this. He said once you get started laying your track you'll keep changing everything. We sure did this time.

After weeks of working on the old layout at the back of the yard, we had a change of heart and where we wanted the train layout to be - a BIG change. (click here to see original layout location)

Over the past two days we have been going crazy digging out a new location in the yard. Our old layout might be changed into a large pond or garden next year. We probably have one more day of digging and then taking the sod pieces and banging the crap out of them to get the dirt loose and then burying the grass under weed fabric to make a couple of mountains. Last night we dug for about 2 hours in the dark and then did another 2 hours work this afternoon.

Here are the piccies of our progress.

A couple of weeks back, Bob decided to put in a mini patio with some stones we got from our brother-in-law's family. Over the summer we saved up and found some cheaper bricks so Bob created a wall in the one corner.










Last night we spent two hours in the dark digging up part of the yard.






This afternoon we continued digging for two more hours. We figure another evening of digging for another two hours we'll be able to have the layout dug. Next step is to take what we dug and seperate the dirt from the grass and then Bob will level is all off, decide where the track will go and the hard pond liner we bought used and the water fall feature we got from our sister-in-law to be. :o)











And while I'm typing in this blog entry for today, Bob is downstairs with his tools making up some new shelves to hopefully install back into the diningroom where our train wreck was found. Stay tuned.

Call the Mechanic - 09-02-2010

So after the other day's TRAIN WRECK - Bob took it upon himself to open up each train and make sure everything was connected correctly and pop back in the windows and engineeers that had fallen out.

Here's what it looked like:















And while he was in there tinkering away he decided to move the battery from the battery car (which was a box car) into the engine. What a smart cookie. So as of today, everything worked fine, just a few little scrapes and dings from the fall.

We are aiming this holiday weekend to repatch the walls which the brackets came out of, sand them down, repaint them, put different shelves up (lighter) and place the trains back up on the shelves. Scary eh?

Also, with this humidity gone, we're hoping to get out and dig up the new area where we plan on placing the train set now. The old location we decided against as it is too far away from the house.