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The Early Years of the R. N. & C. R. R.!
August 2002:
The basic layout design is kidney shaped with a small spur to the Republic Lumber Mill, a centerpiece of the railway. The original track was laid over a "plastic" lumber roadbed that was anchored every 18" in concrete piers that were buried in the ground. I chose this type of roadbed because the winters where I live are very mild, and I assumed that the plastic lumber would expand and contract at basically the same rate as the brass track. Boy was I wrong!
After the first winter, the track was in horrible shape. The frost heave had caused the concrete footers to heave about 2-4" which warped the plastic lumber and in turn, pulled and twisted the track.
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Summer 2003 - Current:
After doing some more research, I determined that the only true way to keep frost heave from happening again was to pour concrete sub-bed with rebar reinforcing. Budget constraints kept the trains in the shed for a whole summer season while the 'finance department' (a.k.a. the wife) scrimped enough of the family budget to pay for the overhaul.
The concrete was laid 4" thick with 1/4" rebar laid in lengthwise for stablility. In addition, I scratch built a 20' trestle for the south end of the layout to help keep the track grade level. The supports of this trestle were also set on concrete. The trestle was scratch built by taking a load of weathered 5/4" oak that had come from an old factory floor and ripping it down to 1/4" sticks. These sticks were then cut as needed and the structure was nailed together using pin-head nails with a pneumatic nailer.
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We are a proud member of the Associated Model Railroads of Columbia
For more history of the R. N. & C. R. R., follow the links listed at the top of the page.
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Having little or no knowledge of garden scale (G Scale) railroading, I began searching the internet for information. I subscribed to several of the garden railroading magazines and did lots of research. I soon chose the LGB track system as my foundation for my line because of the solid brass construction and the reputation of the company.
