Making a railroad tie wall questions

The only RR tie retaining walls I have seen are from individual RR ties. Basically in my club whenever we have scrap Gargraves track, we salvage the ties for trackside bundles a or a retaining wall.

hope this helps

I made a tie wall using a single piece of wood which I then scribed lines in.  I don't have my flash drive with me at the moment to post an image but will.  You can't tell that it's not individual ties.

I've made a wall out of ties too and didn't care much for it because it was too hard to see the separations between the ties. 

But then again, I'm not very artistic so I look for less skilled ways to do artistic type things.

- walt

These are the only 2 pictures that I can find.  Again, this is a solid piece of wood that I merely scribed to leave the impression of a RR tie wall.

- walt

Nice work Walt!

LIONEL6457 posted:

I have seen various retaining walls made to look like stacked up railroad ties.

Are these walls made from individual ties or one large piece of wood that has been scribed somehow to give the appearance of individual ties?

Also, how would the staining be done to show variance in the coloring? Thank you.

I hope this is helpful to you, Rich. I use individual RR-ties to make these coal bins to model local coal distributors. Pictured here is one of a series of such vignettes I did.

The scale RR-ties are sold in a zip-lock pouch in a group of approx. a dozen or more, if I recall correctly and are a pleasure to work with, sturdy, and when staggered, afford a realistic appearance and structure. I used Gorilla Glue gel to affix them to each other and stagger them so joints between and among them are never in a straight vertical line/seam.

They are weathered with weathering powders which adhere very effectively. If I were to craft a whole retaining wall, I'd sure usethese, esp. since they are so pleasant to work with, as I said.

FrankM.

walt rapp posted:

... this is a solid piece of wood that I merely scribed to leave the impression of a RR tie wall.

- walt

Hi Walt, I think this is a really sharp, effective looking wall you have done. Real nice.

FrankM.

Also, Rich, are you aware these retaining walls are sold by Jim Elster's Scenic Express?

Frank,

Thank you for your pictures and the Scenic Express suggestion.

The coal bins and little building in the group of three pictures is awesome. Did you scratch build the building?

Where did you get the RR ties you mentioned? Pre stained?

Kappler Lumber sells several sizes of scale ties.

I made 3 fences for my band saw and made my own ties when I had piles of scrap wood in the shop and was too cheap to buy commercial ties.  I like mine better anyway since the commercial ones are way too uniform and polished smooth.

LIONEL6457 posted:

Frank, Thank you for your pictures and the Scenic Express suggestion.

The coal bins and little building in the group of three pictures is awesome. Did you scratch build the building?

Where did you get the RR ties you mentioned? Pre stained?

As a rule, I do not usually disclose my resources. I am operating a business, after all, my Layout Refinements. However, your laudatory comments are much appreciated, so I will share with you that you can get kits for buildings like that @ <valleymodeltrains.com> which is a favorite site of mine for myriad resources. The proprietor, Pat Hennebery, is particularly pleasant and accommodating.

Favorites sources of mine there are ( at the very least ):

"O Buildings and Structures Co."

"Banta Model Works"

"Bar Mills"

"BTS"

You'll find a whole lot to select from at those sources, let alone the many others available  @ VMT.

Regarding those RR-ties I used to craft those local coal merchant bins, I made them up - the idea and their physical elements - a little from memories of West Virginia and Pennsylvania, and from pre-stained (blach-ish) ties from Scenic Express, as I mentioned.

FrankM.

Have fun.

Hi Frank,

I did not know you had a business making layouts. I went to your website, WOW, you do very nice work.

I went to all the sources you list and some that were linked off them, there is more cool stuff out there than I realized. I had a lot of fun clicking away and seeing all sorts of inspirational products. Also I found many "how to" hints on some of those sites.

Thanks again.

boy this string brings back memories.... when i was in my teens my dad found a source of RR ties and we terraced our backyard (no power tools involved!) with a ~4' retaining wall.  and yes, we used individual ties!

LIONEL6457 posted:

Hi Frank,...

I went to all the sources you list and some that were linked off them, there is more cool stuff out there than I realized. I had a lot of fun clicking away and seeing all sorts of inspirational products. Also I found many "how to" hints on some of those sites.

Thanks again.

Rich, You're very welcome. I'm so glad you took my suggestion and found sources of interest to you. And those how-to hints are nice, aren't they. It was my intention to give you a respectful and helpful reply, so Thank you  for letting me know you're having an adventure of it. Be well and have fun.

FrankM.

Scribed balsa sheets, with applied balsa strips:

The riprap was made with square balsa stock and small gravel.

Avanti posted:

Scribed balsa sheets, with applied balsa strips:

The riprap was made with square balsa stock and small gravel.

That really looks sharp, Pete/AVANTI. I like very much how it all works together as a unit, how realistic it all looks, and I esp. like the riprap feature, giving the appearance of a small effluence area from the tracks above.

Many of the retaining walls done with ties are actually "Cribbing".    The builder builds boxes with the ties and fills them with whatever heavy fill (rip-rap) and the end that you see is the "wall".     If a wall is just built up with ties or anything, the pressure of the soil and water behind it will force it out until it collapses.      Hence the cribbing, the back part of the "box" holds the front part from bowing out.

So to model a retaining wall that is cribbing, you need to put tie ends visible every so often to imply that there is a perpendicular section going back into the ground behind the wall.  

Well, now I learned something. Thanks. Nice to know. For real. (And for future modeling efforts!)

FrankM.

Moonson posted:

That really looks sharp, Pete/AVANTI. I like very much how it all works together as a unit, how realistic it all looks, and I esp. like the riprap feature, giving the appearance of a small effluence area from the tracks above.

 

Frank,

Thanks for the kind words. I appreciate it.

Editorial comment:  I would like to point out that the only materials used in that scene were balsa wood, kitty litter, lichen, aquarium stone, and broken ceiling tile (for the rocks). All of these materials have been labelled as "cheaping out". I do not mean to attack anyone, but I think it does a disservice to beginners to suggest that only expensive commercial materials can produce good results. The availability of commercial supplies is great for the hobby, but many of us find real satisfaction in substituting skill and cleverness for dollars. Saving money is not my primary motivation (not that it isn't nice). I run postwar trains, and I enjoy building my layout the way they were built when the trains were new. I am NOT saying that this is the only way, or even the best way. It is just a plea for acknowledging that there are a lot of ways to enjoy this hobby--some of them even involve kitty litter.