Harry Herder

Big Dave posted regarding the Rock Valley Lines:


 * The entire multilevel track was laid with heavy rail (1-1/8 inch) and his own concrete ties. He had a machine shop so he fabbed his own tie trays. Each tray was four I believe, with a piece of bar stock welded in to gauge the track. A hole drilled through the pan provided for each of the 4 screws that held lead anchors to provide the bite for the screws going thru square washers he used to hold the rail down. The washers were for nails that hold cardboard boxes and Gaylords together and have a crimped corner tip to provide a good bite. Reinforcement against cracking was by a single large strip of 3/4 hardware cloth placed in the form before pouring. He had enough forms to get a load out of his cement mixer, and fill all the trays at one shot. I think he did 50 ties at a time, each day he poured. So it mounted up quickly. He used stub switches, too. During maintenance and track changes, he boasted he could remove the track screws without rust, or breakage and reuse the ties wherever he pleased. They never stuck.


 * The ballasting of this railroad was rather sparse, being mostly sand and mixed clay, treated chemically so as to not grow green things. Pretty areas were more lavish with the stone.

Clint_E3 posted on Chaski.org


 * His track was the "Train Mountain" 4 decades ago.