Those of us with railroads are usually looking for volunteers who want to learn about track maintenance and don’t mind getting their hands dirty. Livesteamtracks.info is a good place to find the nearest one. It doesn’t have all tracks, but it does have a lot of them.

With the extra work I've been doing on the railroad, I've lost over ten pounds.

@@MillBrookRailroad Wow fantastic. I think I found it, do you want it back? LOL That is awesome. I need to lose a lot myself.

My ballast hopper is in pieces at the moment. There's currently a gondola restoration project in the shop, so the ballast hopper is going to wait until after that's done. Not that it matters much in the winter when the ballast pile is usually frozen.

It's one of my favorite pieces of equipment.

@@MillBrookRailroad is this lovely track sweeper a Mill Brook original?

won't save on Propane or Natural Gas. Natural Gas Jumped 60% in price....

We don't have natural gas available here.

The operator needs to hold the ballast regulator on the truck, so putting it on the end of a flat car is really not practical at this time. I do appreciate the suggestion, though.

Thanks for watching! The light rail tends to move with the frost heaves.

Funny, you should mention that. I've started reading a book about track geometry. There's a lot I don't know how to explain yet and a lot more that I don't know yet. My gut tells me that 1/4" superelevation is too much. If you use 1" in 1:1, then I'd use 1/8". That's the proportional equivalent. ...come to think of it: Using a weighted pendulum in a triangular frame with graduations on the bottom instead of the bubble level I currently use would increase the accuracy of my alignment attempts.

@@MillBrookRailroad I use 1" for class 1, which is 10 mph for freight. At your scale, you'd have to calculate mph, then could find the appropriate elevation. A pendulum would work, we just put a permanent shim on a track level.

@TopperMachineLLC It has been years since I've seen a track level. The last one I saw was when the superintendent and his track gang were leveling track on the modern Sandy River in Phillips Maine. 1 inch superelevation for class one track? I have been underdoing it, then. For this scale, my speed is 1/8 the full size. So, 5 MPH is equivalent to 40 on the real thing.

It will move again, but not as far.

The track does lift for frost heaves. If left alone, they will sometimes self correct. Sometimes not.

I've considered it, but I haven't had the time to do it yet.

The ski areas aren't doing well this year.

I haven't calculated the amount of maintenance vs running time I do. I'm still doing catchup from 2020, when my workload more than doubled at my day job and there was no time for track repairs. I got it of that winter with a badly beat up railroad. Catching up on maintenance when you're behind is a real challenge. I still have a bunch of ties to replace all along the mainline. We have only had two wood pellet trains so far this winter. That's both good and bad. I rely on the ground freezing every winter to protect the light rail. If I had the money, I'd replace all the rail with Culp Rail and be done with most of the problems I have.

@@MillBrookRailroad no time nor help to fix your PC, i know. By the way, green and yellow 71...could be an ex Reading, hence PC logo before painting you´re real name. You´ll be prototypical. No train = no track stress. I agree i think that repetitive frost / thaw is destructive. Only good point, last thaw will be faster. Nonetheless be proud and enjoy it and you´ll stay younger.

They are nylon, and that's why they're on the leveling truck. They're absolute garbage. Do yourself a favor and don't skimp on wheels and axles. You'll end up spending less money in the long run if you start with steel wheels and axles. Skimp anywhere else but there.

Thank you. I am just getting started in this hobby. Installed 160 feet of track last year and appreciate any advice. Your channel is fantastic!

Thank you for sticking around! My favorite trucks and couplers are Tom Bee's. They're not cheap, but they are reliable. A little light oil in the couplers every six months keeps the couplers working even when you keep them outdoors, and the trucks have just the right amount of flex that they track well on uneven track. They are well worth the price in the long run. You'll only buy then once (for each car).

Wouldn't adding sand trap moisture in around the ties?

@@MillBrookRailroad Yes the sand might cause a moisture problem . Can you get small crushed rock. Something pea gravel sized,but not pea gravel because that’s would act like ball bearings. Thanks for your hard work.

Before we change the ballast (the quarries are closed for the winter, anyway), allow me to explain the conditions a little better. This track has been in place without joint bars for about 6 years. We laid the track in a hurry in late August. My thought about the amount of movement we've seen in that time is that it has had a lot to do with the lack of joint bars. My gut tells me that any movement in the future will be far less than we've seen in the past. I could be wrong, however, and welcome your thoughts.

Mainly cost. I buy 3/4" ledge stone because it's cheap here and it does the job well. Prices are different from quarry to quarry. Some guys use 1/2" stone. Others use a mix. Ballast is the most expensive part of the railroad. Even if you're not building any new track, you always need to keep some ballast on hand to refresh what's there.

Because he can.

A very good question that deserves a good answer. First: That's not a quad. It's a lawnmower on its last leg. It is rare that I can actually move it in the winter. The snow is usually too deep and the trailer has too many sharp edges to haul bags of wood pellets. As spring approaches, the mower becomes useless around the yard, as everything turns to mud for six weeks. That's one of the reasons for using the railroad. Another reason is because I want to use the railroad. It makes the chores more fun while making heavy loads easy to move.

In Tampa I would be hauling jugs of chlorine for the pool....I think I heard the camera squawking twice when it thought it was raining down rocks while attached to the trailer and then again when you boldy let us see mongo sweeper do it's thing close up.