October 19: Placed my order for a Regner Konrad live steam engine with the Train Department.
October 26: UPS delivered the engine today and I’ve been pouring over the documentation. Finding butane cans with the right adapter looks to be the biggest hurdle.
October 29: Went to Papa Ben’s and got a bunch of supplies including some Aristocraft track (5 ft diameter circle plus 12 feet of straight track). This should be enough to get something started in the back yard.
October 30: The first run for my Konrad engine. Ran it around the circle of track on the patio for 10 minutes.
November 12: I attended a steamup at John Frank’s house with the Houston live steamers. Had a great time and ran LHR Engine no. 1 for several loops around John’s beautifully landscaped garden railway. Here are some photographs: Katy Fall Steamup. It’s clear to me now that I need to get some rolling stock.
November 19: Steamed up at Zube Park, home of the Houston Area Live Steamers. It was their last public run day of the year and we had a lot of interested kids and parents stop by to watch the fun on the #1 gauge track. Engine no. 1 got about six runs in around the big loop. Photos here: Thanksgiving Steamup at Zube Park.
November 20: Robin and I surveyed the east part of the garden in our backyard for the new layout. We plan on putting a small layout within the footprint of the existing bed. It will require us move or remove several existing plants but nothing too important. I plan on using Aristo-Craft sectional track for simplicity and because I know there is a good supply near by at Papa Ben’s. Roadbed will be based on a “harditrim” system used by others in the Houston area.
November 24: On a lovely Thanksgiving Day, Robin and I started working in the back garden to clear a space for the garden railway. I’ve put together a Flickr set “Clearing the Old Garden” to document our progress.
November 25: We continued to clean up the garden, this time at the west end. We lifted up the flagstone patio we put in a couple of years ago; it really didn’t turn out as well as we expected.
November 26: A heavy rain is falling in Lost Hollow today, holding up construction. I did join a large number of track sections together in preparation of laying track soon.
November 27: I ordered the remaining track I needed today off the Internet. Robin and I also visited John Frank to talk about building his techniques of building harditrim roadbed.
November 30: I spray-painted all of the track I had on hand using various flat camouflage colours from Krylon. Still waiting for the remainder of the track to arrive.
December 3: Picked up 5 pieces each of 1″x4″x12′ and 1″x6″x12′ harditrim from the local Home Depot. Proceeded to cut out the roadbed for all of the curved sections of the layout. I’ve put together a Flickr set Track and Roadbed to document this part of the project.
December 10: The remaining track has shipped so it looks like I’ll be doing some work on the garden railway over the holidays.
December 11: We cleaned up the remaining section of the garden today, so we’re all ready for track. New photos here: “Clearing the Old Garden”
December 17: The track finally arrived so I spray-painted it all first thing today. Then I started laying roadbed and track in the garden. Thank goodness for the 3rd Plan-it diagram of the layout as everything fit where it was supposed to. New photos in the “Track and Roadbed” photo set.
December 18: Up early today and back out working in the garden. I completed the west loop and the steamup area. Even took the opportunity to run my engine around the partially completed loop. New photos in the “Track and Roadbed” photo set.
December 23: Finished laying track today. A big job completed and now we can run trains whenever we want. New photos in the “Track and Roadbed” photo set.
December 27: Attended a steamup at Steve Speck’s place today. Steve was the perfect host and we had a great day of weather and steaming. Engine No. 1 pulled a 22-car train around Steve’s layout; I was pretty impressed.
December 29: Back in the garden today, rebuilding the retaining wall around the front edge of the layout. I’ve put together a Flickr set “Rebuilding the Garden” to document this part of the project.