Live Steam Elevated Railway

After building a small garden railway at the new house I moved into back in 2010 when I downsized, it was time to start thinking about something to run the larger locomotives upon.  I do get out to about one major steamup a month that allows for me to run the larger locomotives, but that also means moving them around.  In between I can always run on the small railway, but I wanted to be able to host my own steamups from time to time and have a place to let the bigger locomotives stretch their proverbial legs once in a while in between the steamups that require travel.

In the fall of 2014 I conducted a survey of the lower backyard to start the design process.  The lower yard slopes downhill away from the back of the house, so I had to figure out how to fit in a decent size railway to allow for a minimum 10 foot radius curve.  I pretty much knew where it was going to go as I paced off the area when I was shown the house by my relator.  That’s’ always fun. She didn’t know what to make of it except that I had some specifics in mind and had already killed the idea of purchasing any of the other six homes she had shown me that week.

Initial survey of lower backyard from patio

  With the initial survey completed. It was time to get down to designing.  The railway was going to be aluminum frames with aluminum composite decking.  Toilet bowl flanges would be mounted centered at the ends for 4” schedule #40 pvc pipes into deck pilings that would sit on the ground.  That way the entire railway would heave and settle evenly after frosts each year.  I knew this was a well-tested method as every August I attend a steamup on a railway 6 hours north of me in upstate NY that used this method.

The plot of my ¼ acre is not square, so the overall shape is a modified isosceles trapezoid with one side canted and not parallel to the opposite.  The railway is situated behind the detached garage.  Plans are to paint the back cinderblock wall al light blue to give a sky effect. At that point the railway is eight inches off the ground. The land slopes away from the garage which brings the tallest part to fifty one inches above grade.  Taller than I would like, but it is manageable to service and run a locomotive for my height.  Fill dirt can always be brought in later to help with raising the grade.

At the opposite side of the back yard is an outbuilding.  The building is perfectly situated to be the rolling stock storage and steamup bay. A door will be cut in the side for train egress out onto the mainline. Now to bring it all to fruition. 

Slope of the back yard looking across the yard from the east side

The elements of the railway were contracted through TRS Services of Mt. Holly, NJ.  Good friends who I have been running trains with over the past 10+ years.  I placed the order for the components in February 2015 and true to their word on estimating delivery, the units were dropped off at the house on the hottest day in July and neatly stacked for me to begin installation.

Manufactures photo of the fit check - upside down due to flanges.

The first unit attaches to the side of the outbuilding.  During the initial survey I set a pier block at the highest location behind the garage.  I made a mockup of the platform with a toilet bowl flange and set it at 8” above grade.  I then ran a string with bubble level and walked down to the back edge of the outbuilding to find the corresponding level height and marked that with blue painters tape.  I the proceeded to run string levels from that point across the back of the yard and to the sides to ensure I had a height that I could live with for running and maintenance.

In attaching the first component to the building I took my time.  I had to verify that the 15” wide platform would fit between the outbuilding studs evenly and that the height inside the building for the shelf that the track would feed onto was appropriate.  It was perfect.  So far so good and its all beginning to fall into place.  I used a lumber stand support that I had to hold up the end of the platform while I installed bolts through the siding into the building.  Yes, I am doing this all by myself without other helping hands. It’s a bit awkward at times.  There is some fumbling as I work out the methodology, but most of that was due to the July heat and humidity I was dealing with.  In three hours I had already soaked through two t-shirts and had consumed 4 bottles of water.  A lot of the three hours was to take a breather to review, measure, take a brief respite with water in the shade, and then continue.  At the end of the day I had the first two sections in place.  It’s actually happening. I’m making progress! What a welcome relief.



Fruits of labor on first weekend of installation

April 2016:  Had a massive work weekend to get more of the platforms installed.  Only three to go, some fine tuning and then I start laying track.

May 2016:  Installation complete!  First steam happens over Memorial Day Weekend .

Phase Two

After a first successful year and weathering the winter, Phase two is now underway.  Phase Two will add more siding to allow for rolling stock storage, an off the mainline steaming bay.  Below is the initial plan showing the new addition that will extend off the end of the transfer section between the yards and the mainline.