Windy Point
Garden Railroads
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Structures
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The Cypress Canyon Trestle
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Photo by Jay Harvey |
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The Cypress Canyon Trestle
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| The J-shaped Cypress Canyon trestle is a scale 240-ft. long.
It was assembled using over 71-ft. of threaded-rods
cut into 1-1/4" lengths. |
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Cypress Canyon is actually a dry wash to allow for water run to out of the layout.
Crossing the canyon is a scale 240-ft. long, J-curved trestle (12 actual feet long),
that was built without using glue for the structure.
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When Steve tried to glue the first bent of the trestle together, it fell apart when
it was removed from the jig.
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So asking himself "What did the prototype guys do?",
he bolted the entire trestle together using more than 71-ft. of threaded rods cut into
1-1/4" lengths.
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Steve describes it as a real-life example of "Changing Scales: How My Nuts, Bolts, and Washers (NBWs)
Became Functional".
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Photo by Jay Harvey |
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Crossing the Cypress Canyon Trestle
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| An early morning frieght train on its way from
Stonewall to Johnson City, crosses the Cypress Canyon trestle. |
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Water Towers
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Photo by Jay Harvey |
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Stonewall Water Tower
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| Shay #2 pulling out from the Stonewall Water Tower. |
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The railroad infrastructure needs were built first with several water towers installed to service the
railroad's locomotives.
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There will be several more and different styles of water towers on the railroad.
Every town and whistle-stop station will have a tower and stacks of firewood for
keeping the trains tunning.
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Photo by Jay Harvey |
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Llano Water Tower
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| K-27 #463 refills at the Llano Water Tower. |
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The Main Control Tower at Chuck Ellis Island
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Photo by Jay Harvey |
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Chuck Ellis Island Control Tower
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The Control Tower at Chuck Ellis Island is located at the 90-degree crossing where the mainline
and the branch line cross, which Steve refers to as ‘the diamond’.
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The Control Tower sits on a concrete base, surrounded by another scale retaining wall made from
horizontal bathroom tiles. Here the tiles were laid flat (instead of vertical) with each course being recessed.
There are stone steps and a stone patio in the front.
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Photo by Jay Harvey |
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Freight train pushed into Fredericksburg
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The electrical pole to the side of the Control Tower is actually functional.
All the power for the tower is routed through the pole and then connected through the outside of the building.
This makes it very easy to remove the tower for cleaning or adding more details
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Madison's Garden Shoppe
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The only other building on the layout so far is "“Madison’s Garden Shoppe".
We figured a garden railroad needed a garden shop as a place to buy plants and flowers!
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Future Building Plans
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Steve is currently on a 3-year building schedule of new structures .
A scratch-built sawmill, and the Luckenbach Post Office and General Store,
are currently under construction on the workbench.
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Next in line will be passenger stations in Llano and Johnson City,
an engine house and service facility at Balcones, a brewery in Shiner,
and a barrel factory in Granite Shoals.
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As a long time model railroader, Steve details the interiors and lighting in all of his buildings.
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Photo by Steve Blackson |
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Madison's Garden Shoppe
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| A full-service floral shop where the scale Hill Country people buy their scale plants and flowers. |
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