Retaining wall and more tunnel work

Progress has been a bit slower than expected recently due to back issues, hence the lack of a post in the past week. But thanks to ibuprofen, progress has not stopped altogether.

The biggest accomplishment this week has been alignment of the sub-roadbed and building a retaining wall along the tangent north of the Western Redceder. Once again I've found another use for my pile of bricks, this time planting them vertically at a slight angle back from the road.


Here's another angle looking at the backside of the retaining wall prior to backfilling.


And here's another picture showing the finished product, after the wall has been backfilled with topsoil and landscaped. The roadbed is not complete -- I'll need to add about two inches of crushed gravel to bring the roadbed up to the grade line. I foresee lots and lots of tamping in the next few days!


I also continued work on the tunnel this week. I added more bricks to the sides of each portal to provide more support for the facade and secured them with coarse gravel. Once everything was in place I secured the facade onto the bricks using foam board adhesive.


Here's a photo of the completed south portal. In this photo you can also see that I covered the tunnel with black plastic to reduce the amount of water than goes into the tunnel, as the concrete blocks on top have thin gaps between them. I do like the sound of a dripping train tunnel as much as the next person, but I'd still prefer to have most of the water channel around it. Another thing you might notice is that the plants are starting to move around to new homes.


I need to make a decision on the exact placement of the bridge so I can start working on foundations. I'm using some bricks as a temporary support as I try to determine where the bridge should go and how long the approach on each side should be.


And finally a picture of a BN consist out for a test run. The locomotive was in the shop this week for some wheel cleaning and a bit of electrical work. I can't wait to convert this one to battery power so I don't have to worry about picking up power from the track any more!