Gandy dancer

The beautiful weather returned so today's primary task was ballasting the track. This is an extremely tedious and mind numbing task, the tedium of which was relieved by listening to multiples episodes of the Myths and Legends podcast, a really awesome podcast that you should check out if you haven't heard of it before. Click here to visit the website.

This is what it looks like. Yep, that's about it. Pouring ballast over the track, then working it down in between each tie using a stick. I found the flat end of a shim was the perfect size to fit between the ties and the rails. More ballast was needed in some spots, which required going over some sections a couple times. Then sweeping off the excess so that the tops of the ties are exposed. Not unlike a real railroad would have done, but 1/29th the scale, and presumably 1/29th the amount of effort.



Next, I sprayed down the track to wash off the finer material and help it settle into the roadbed. And the tracks then needed to be scrubbed down to remove any remaining residue. Looks pretty good at this point, and I can see some color variation in the quarter minus now.


Finally it was ready for a test run. After hours of tamping, it was very satisfying to see a train rolling down the rails.

Next up was some landscaping. I had picked up a few plants while I was out yesterday, including three dwarf trees and a few types of groundcover.


I'll need a lot more in time to landscape the entire area, but I didn't want to do too much at first as some of these plants will need to move as I continue on with construction.



One more video of the train in action...