There will be more. I have to dismantle a train shed at a railroad I haven't visited in a long time.

I used to build track panels ahead of time. I build on the ground now. The curves come out better that way.

You can ask him to make you one, but they're not cheap. Www.Bantamodelworks.com

@@MillBrookRailroad Appreciate that, thanks

I agree. Cool, calm, collected, not yelling or overly excited. Well done commentary.

Thanks for the kind words.

It can, but it's not always practical. The gauge widening here was because it was narrower than 7-1/4".

www.discoverlivesteam.com www.ibls.org And the Backyard Railroading group on Facebook.

Thanks for the suggestion. I was thinking it might be a good thing to do and that's exactly what this is.

It is 7-1/4" gauge with mixed scales. There are a number of places to get cars and locomotives or you can build your own. The Backyard Railroading Group on Facebook is a good resource. m.facebook.com/groups/backyardrailroading/ You can also visit the Mill Brook Railroad. Information at www.Millbrookrailroad.com ...another good resource is www.discoverlivesteam.com

You probably could. It's not rocket science.

Only if there's a problem.

YA where are the Supervisors if have a Question? OH! They away having Breakfast and planning the next Project.

You'll have to ask Bill at Banta Modelworks about that. This is on his track. Bantamodelworks.com

My first question would be: what do you expect out of the railroad? Why 15" gauge specifically and why that particular locomotive but no specifics on what you want it to pull? Because I like it is a perfectly valid answer, but you need to know 15" gauge is more than twice the investment of 7.5" gauge. I want you to fully know what you're getting yourself into. What you're asking is a significant investment. Everything is a custom build and you're looking at mining rail instead of cheap hobbyist rail. If you're comfortable with that and your budget can stand it then 15" gauge makes sense. If your budget is much smaller (and let's face it, for most of us it is) then I would encourage you to consider 7.25 or 7.5" gauge. The parts are way less expensive and you can build a track with a garden tractor, a trailer, shovels, rakes and a lot of sweat.

@@MillBrookRailroad plan on not only hauling bassenger cars but also some flatbed for hauling firewood, looking at a wider track for a larger locomotive and to handle the weight

@@glennschlorf1285it is surprising how much you can handle on this track. I handle 1000-lb car loads on my railroad. I carried two tons a month over the rails between October and May for five years, then two years ago, I started hauling twice that during the colder months. That's on 5/8" aluminum rail, which is the smallest rail you can get, and using only three flat cars. I'm not counting all the logs and firewood I've hauled in the warmer months. The Stoddard Hill Farm Railway is built with 1" aluminum rail, which can handle much more weight per axle. There will be log trains in the SHFR before long. Have a look at some of my other videos. You'll see a fair amount of 500-lb carloads on 7-1/4" gauge cars on a 7-1/2" gauge track.

@@MillBrookRailroad im just looking at wider rail width means wider cars and more stability... plus ID like to sit in my locomotives

It is for all 7-1/4 inch gauge equipment. The wheel treads are usually 3/4 to an inch wide.

It's surprising how heavy we can load cars. This track can handle well over 400 pounds per axle.

@@MillBrookRailroad Thanks for replying. Was going to build 1ft gauge, pland for a year, wife decided we're moving to Arizona. Don't have the wife or railroad LOL in Glendale Az.4:35am Wed. Going to get 4hrs sleep. Thanks again .

The ties are pressure treated. They last about 20-25 years if you have enough ballast under them to keep them high and dry.

@@MillBrookRailroad and that is what you see on railroads that messes the tracks up so bad is there low ground level in the mud and the rail just moves all over the place kudos to you sir for keeping them high and dry!

Thanks for the insight. I knew tie plates were important on heavy haul railroads. Good to see a better explanation for the cant than was explained to me in the past. Most of my track experience has been on 24" and narrower. There, the obvious benefits of tie plates are a little different. My personal observation is that it is much harder to hold gauge without them. They are not available for the 5/8" deep rail (approximately equivalent to 70-lb rail) that I use on my railroad and I really wish they were. I haul loads up to 200-lbs per axle all winter long and by springtime, the lighter rail is a mess. The 400 feet of my railroad with heavier rail on tie plates and rotten ties is always in much better shape than the rest of the road. Thus are the rade-offs when you build a railroad on a shoestring budget. It's still better than getting the truck stuck in the mud with a ton of wood pellets.

@@MillBrookRailroad Some additional info. on tie plates. A tie plate does a better job of distrbuting the load force from the base of the rail to the tie, and minimizes the crushing of the tie. I saw that your ties are unequal depth and width and you use the smaller dimension for the tie plate and rail support. Wise, because this design allows more depth for the ballast, improves drainage and offers some increased lateral stability. Just asking, but why all the wood chips/mulch? If anything it tends to limit drainage, and that may be some of the source of track surface trouble in winter. Track needs drainage, then more drainage, and, finally, even more drainage. Your approach to having a backyard rr is the cats meow!

@@glennfoster2423 I appreciate the kind words and I agree on the drainage. What you see in this video is one of the railroads I regularly help out on, not my own, so I don't have answers for you at this time. My own railroad, the Mill Brook Railroad, is built on a very minimal shoestring budget, mainly for lack of funds to do it any other way. I have super light rail and I haul heavier loads than most backyard railroads haul on heavier rail. Last year, I hauled about 17 tons of freight on my 1000 feet of track. The Mill Brook Railroad is used all winter long. I'll have to do a video explaining it.

The capability of your tailroad is a testament to the flanged wheel on rail technology. I sincerely applaud your endeavor. Size and gauge are not the only measures to success. Witness all the 2-foot gauge and larger constructions that hauled tremendous tonnages in Vermont and all over the West to build this country (and others). You take a back seat to none. I will never criticize you sweat and hard work--I grappled with 1:1 in all 4 seasons, daylight and night, good times and really bad--and I loved every minute. Ptess on my friend and make your railroad work for YOU. Solve them problems as they arise.

The rail is 6061-T6 aluminum and equivalent to 70-lb rail on a full size railroad. Most people run much larger rail than I do. Why aluminum? You want your rail to be softer than your wheels. Rail is much cheaper to replace.

Just for the enjoyment of building it. The railroad gets used for testing customer equipment, hauling stuff around, and just for the fun of it.

7-1/4"

7-1/4" gauge.

I sometimes make mistakes.

Definitely not. Former landscaper. Former FFA.