If you don't have at least DSL you must start this down load ... take that trip to Europe ... when you get back it will be ready .... maybe (grin) ... there are lots of cool photos here.

I am dedicating this page to my neighbor and friend, Dave Moeller and my wife Becky who both helped me the most with this project ...... 8/14/03 Saturday .... the 2nd phase loop is FINISHED!!!!!! Dave Moeller and I both ran the engine and tender around the new and old loop ... I then hooked up the passenger car and caboose ... it all runs so well and smooth I can't believe it!!! Was a long hard summer ... Becky and I were up almost every day at dawn till 11 A.M. every Fri - Sun. to beat the heat and then a couple of hours before & after work on the other days! .. But ... Phase II track layout is finally finished!

8/18/04 .... Started the foundation excavation for our 60' long tunnel and train house .... 60'X8' .... the one wall will be 10' high and will be flat so we can add a sidewalk and a few false front bars, etc up against it .. the openings will be set up to look like a tunnel with a false front ... the other side will be 8' tall and have storage bins on the outside .... pictures to follow soon.
Tomorrow our play house that Murl Ming built will be delivered and placed next to the play area .... It is about 14' tall with 4 gables, porch, and 4 dormers and bow windows and a loft.

This 60' Tunnel just completed by Bryan Taylor and William is a copy of a Sierra Pacific Snow Shed Tunnel. It also doubles as our train barn. We added storage sheds to the outside and will double on the front side as one 10' to 15' high X 60' side of our false front western town main street.

Happy Parish, myself (kneeling) and Bob Harris, installing the stub style switches that Becky & I had Mel Harris (Bob's brother) build for us. Russ Robinson added to brain truss ... taking this photo also ... thanks Russ. Russ is building his own huge 15" layout ....

These full sized switch stands are very very easily adapted to the 15" rail switches,

These 4 " channel steel ties made by Harmer Steel are nice for looking like the 4" wood ties and are great if you don't have a welder and just want to place the rails and bolt them into place, I just ordered 10 of them to do our first curve (and have them for sale).
I have since invented a much faster and easier way to do the curves by just flexing the rail by hand and only using the 15 3/8 gauge bars and welding in the 2" X 1/8" X 1" X 2 foot channel steel ties.
David Lynn at Harmer Steel in California is great to work with and it has turned out to be the steel outlet for all of us Grand Scale train buffs, and they were the only steel company to show up at our Grand Scale Convention in Fresno! L. B. Foster dumped on us this last time ... don't even bother getting a quote from them. I could only talk to a lady out of N.Y., they were way out of line and had no 12lb rail in stock to boot!

Also much thanks to Art and Jeff at Shasta Welding and Supply on Hartinell Ave ... the factory repair station for Miller, etc. .... they were very helpful and I also bought my Miller Engine driven 250 NT welder and supplies there too.

8/7/04 .. Update ... I am 99% done with our 2nd phase expansion with our 2 new switches ... I can not say enough about this Bob Cat Miller engine driven welder! .... it has 4 110 outlets ... 30 amps each and a 50 amp 220 volt outlet with a (10K) generator built in that can all be used at the same time even while welding to run ones chop saws, drills, air compressors, or even your 5,000 sq/ft home, etc. ... It is very easy to move around with "Big Blue" by hanging a chain over the bucket's tines .. (teeth) ... I have just left the pallet on the bottom of my welder ... "Little Blue" ... our tractor is "Big Blue"! ... I have already paid for this welder 5 times over against hiring a welder to do what I have already done and it is more fun than ..... Well .... Maybe not more fun than that.... (grin) ... but welding is no mystery ... Shasta Welding will even give you free welding lessons if you buy your welder there. They are also very patient in answering dumb questions. On railroad track 6011 is the only stick to use! ... the dirty stick .. will weld through paint and slight rust on new rail like butter. And hardly ever sticks.

Dave Moeller

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6/27/04 .... I am having a ball putting in this 2nd phase .. My new Miller engine driven welder and big blue our tractor and early mornings are just great to be doing this ... is so much easier than the way I had to do the first phase.

I cut all our 2' long metal ties with this Makita chop saw


You can see how I mark 15, 20ft long 2" X 1/8th" channel steel ties at a time
Every 2 ft. Getting them ready to cut ... 6/28/04 ... just finished cutting all the rest of the 2" channel up early this morning! ....


"Lil" Blue ... Our 10K Welder Generator
That I moved anywhere I needed
With "Big Blue" our tractor!


"Big Blue"


New paint job on passenger car - Howard Zeller pen striped and graphics 8/28/04


A good shot of our 14' functional water tower


Caboose graphics also by Zeller


Murl Ming putting the finishing touches on this 18X9' play house.
Murl will build and deliver these painted any where on the West Coast
. ... Just contact me for the info. .... We built this one for our Granddaughter little Syndey Iris.


a shot out the back of our caboose taken by Laurie Lagrone
headed into our eventual western ghost town

This is the view we have of Mt. Shasta taken 12/10/04 from the shady spot to the right in the previous photo. This is the spot we stop at on our railroad for our passengers to enjoy .... We are spoiled with the beautiful surroundings we have here.

By next summer we hope to have our new electric engine and western town of Tombstone in place with false fronts, an OK Corral, a few old shacks, etc. and have a few cowboys have some shoot outs for entertainment. .... and some pony rides ... Our goal is to shortly start having something like the "Make a wish Foundation" happen locally for ill children approximately between 3 and 8 yrs old, as these are the ages that most enjoy the train. We must have our electric engine finished first to be able to run for most of these events because of liability issues and as a back up engine even if we do run the steam engine. Also .. the steam engine takes 3-4 hrs to steam up and is a lot of work for me after the event too to do all the steam engine stuff afterwards to put Little Bubba to sleep for the night.

Our new electric (speeder) engine is using a golf cart motor and batteries and controls ... all the rest of the engine is being built by hand with all new train chassis, drivers, frame, etc. ... a 55 gallon drum will hide the huge 36 volt golf cart batteries in this smaller steam engine look alike. It has already been tested ... we figure the weight to be about one ton plus ... it is geared down ... under full ahead it already spins all four wheels as it has 4 wheel drive to be able to pull our cold steam engine and tender up out of the train barn and up a 2% grade onto a siding, and must also have the power to pull our loaded passenger car and caboose. We expect it to go for at least 2 hours ... plus we can charge it up occasionally when stopped at the station.

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Our New Email! dochemp@shasta.com