FRANK'S GARDEN
E-mail Me
LIFE IN THE BACKYARD
PGRS
Rail Serve
Brentwood Station
Large Scale On Line
Yahoo!
Yahoo! Games
Yahoo! Finance
Phipps Conservatory
Cliff's Viet Nam Site
The last two years have been busy ones for us.  After moving into our new home, my son and I decided that we needed a pond in the backyard.  The pond was our first major undertaking here.  We started on it in late summer of  the first year.  It took us about two months to build, with the help of Mark, a friend from work.  We relocated many tons of dirt in the process.  Also, about 12 tons of mountain field stone were washed in the driveway and then carried to the backyard for the pond and streams.  By mid October 1998 water was added.  About 2500 gallons later, the pond was full.  It was great to sit there and listen to the water run down the waterfall and along the two streams.

About this time, my wife started talking about how nice it would be to have a garden railroad in the backyard.  That Christmas I received a LGB Forney and three cars from the family.  (I guess she meant business when she said it would be nice to have a garden railroad.)  She forgot to pick up the 400' of track and 8 switches that would be required.

Last spring my son and I relocated the steps leading down to the backyard.  The old ones were made of stepping stones.  I wanted to widen them and move them over about 20'.  I used Versa-Lok block to match the existing retaining wall in the backyard.  They make a very nice set of steps, but at 82 pounds a block, they can very quickly wear you down.  We finished just in time for my sons high school graduation party.

After a breather of a couple of months, it was time to begin excavating for the garden railroad.  It will run along a hillside about 15' wide and 100' long.  There was a lot of cutting and filling to accommodate the slope of the hill.  I began laying track last October with the help of Ed, a fellow Pittsburgh Garden Railway Society member.  We laid about 150' of track before winter set in.  To keep me out of trouble during the winter,  I began building a 10' diameter curved trestle that is about 11' long and two timber deck truss bridges.  Hopefully, the FMJ & G Railroad will be up and running by summer. 
Our Backyard
FMJ & G Railroad
PGRS Photos
Hosted by www.Geocities.ws

1