June progress update

In the week since my last update I've continued moving rocks, building up the raised bed and backfilling it with dirt. I've also started putting some track on the ground to help guide landscaping.

I left a gap in the back of the upper level retaining wall so I could still maneuver a full wheelbarrow in. This gap will also be used for a railroad grade between the lower and upper level.

The dirt pile in the driveway is gradually receding one wheelbarrow full at a time. The white bags you see popping out from the dirt are crushed granite which I'll use for rail ballast. The landscape supplier tossed the bags on top of the fill dirt, so they got mixed in and I'm gradually uncovering them like prizes in a box of cereal.

The finished upper level. I put an island of rocks in the middle but I'm not sure if they'll stay there. In addition to all the recent rain I'll be watering this regularly to help with settling and compaction of the fill dirt. I expect it to continue to settle for a year or two, but that won't stop me from moving forward with the railroad, as I can always add more dirt later on and raise the track if needed.

I added more rock around the lower level creating a talus below the larger rocks on the left and the island in the center. I leveled out the earth to create continuous gentle slopes, which I'm hoping will facilitate the movement of quail chicks from the grass to the raised beds, which they could not get to before due to the retaining wall.

My next step was to define the curve of the main line, which will be one of the most visible aspects of the railroad to the viewer. As I've done before, I'm using arches made from PVC pipe as a temporary support structure which will be replaced with a wooden trestle. I'm thinking about possibly adding a bridge here as well.

The track is resting directly on the rock. I'm not sure exactly how I will design the transition to the trestle here.

And this will be the other design challenge. I may continue the trestle across the rocks, or have a segment of track resting on solid rock, or ballast on top of flat rocks, or maybe I'll just run a bridge span over the rocks.

A view showing the entire front curve. Notice that I've put up the fire lookout tower as we're heading into wildfire season. We've had a lot of rain in Spokane this past week but that doesn't mean we can be complacent about fire safety!

Another annoying but necessary project was moving the crossbucks as I kept running into them and I knew it was only a matter of time before someone (likely me) got hurt. So I dug out the post and moved it a few feet over and up into the raised bed. This was not an easy task as I had it very well anchored with concrete going down 20 inches below the surface..

One of the trees in the train area is now in full bloom. I'm not sure what this tree is but it is truly an amazing explosion of color right now.