The Rubber & Rawhide Railroad

Progress Report for 13th April 2009

This Page Created on April 26th, 2009

Twelve Inch What?

We had some really heavy rains recently. While they did no damage to the Rubber & Rawhide's infrastructure, there was major flooding of the Marshy and Garden paths which unfortunately all flowed into the Leather Oaks Pond. Fortunately there were no livestock lost, but there was considerable scouring of paths and other drainage facilities in the yard.

We appealed to our heavy equipment contractor for help, to no avail. It seemed if there were to be a solution, it lay not near the Pond, but way up the yard between Neptune and the new Garden Gate. Unfortunately, this also put the work area UNDER the new Beyond the Briars Crossing!

An out of State specialist was called in, who recommended a twelve inch pipe as the final outflow handler. Fortunately, he also offered assistance in preparing the trench for the new pipe, which can be seen at the left of the photo.

Twelve Inch Pipe!

After quite a few attempts, we got the pipe to lay on the bottom of the trench its whole twenty foot length! The near end will be pushed back closer to the fence.

The Pipe Gets Homed!?

This will work! Now how do we connect other stuff to it?

The Twelve Inch Catch Basin

Two concrete pours, and about half a dozen pieces of roadbed timber later, a semblance of a catch basin has been formed. It will take another handfull of roadbed sections laid double thickness to form the frame for the twelve inch grating.

The work area restored, to Neptune's Delight!

It looks okay for now. Let's hope for a good rain to test everything out!

Rain Repairs Completed!

Most everything came through the rain alright, but all four of our small catch basins floated up. I think Mack warned us about packing earth under the "haunches" of the pipes but unfortunately, we weren't completely successful.

In this photo, sand and crushed granite had been worked into the soil around the catch basins. To prevent them floating out again until the earth has settled, each basin was filled with half a dozen bricks!

Catch Basins near Neptune Reseated!

Of course, there have been no more heavy rains since this work was completed. We're waiting for one or two more good rains before grading the Marshy Path smooth again.