Rope barriers are really useful items, especially at train shows where everbody wants to touch your $100 engines and your $300 scenes and you’re not allowed to use a taser or flamethrower on them… Sorry, got carried away there. Anyway, here’s how I built a simple rope barrier.

Design view of the rope barrier

We designed ours to have 7 feet between stands, you can adjust that as needed. Below is the supply list *per stand*.

Supplies (per stand):

• 1 x 1-gallon metal coffee can or paint can (empty)
• 1 x 3′ stick of 1/2″ PVC pipe
• 1 x 1/2″ PVC Tee
• 1 x 7″ stick of 1″ PVC pipe
• 1 x can of PVC glue
• enough concrete mix to fill a 1 gallon can
• enough cheap cotton clothesline to cover the area you want
• Duct tape or a plastic bag and some other type of tape
• 1 x torpedo level

For our barrier, we used 6 paint cans and 1-2.5 gallon gas can (for the corner). I used about 60 lbs of concrete for this. I recommend using paint cans as they have these handy handles attached to them. Remember that 1 gallon of concrete is pretty dang heavy!

1. Start out by cutting your 1/2″ PVC into 3′ sections with a hacksaw. Clean the burrs from the end of the pipe.
2. Apply glue to the end of the pipe and into the bottom opening of the tee, then push the pipe into the tee, giving it a half twist at the end to help distribute the glue evenly. Follow the directions on the glue for drying time. (Note that if the glue recommends using a primer that this is not needed since the pipe will not be used for plumbing)
3. Cut your 1″ PVC into 7″ sections. You want the pipe to come to the top of the can.
4. If you are using duct tape, cover one end of the 1″ PVC so that it is water-tight.
5. If you don’t have duct tape, cut a plastic bag into 2″ squares, wrap that around one end of the 1″ PVC and tape it into place. Again, make it water-tight.
6. We mixed our concrete in the cans, but if you would rather mix a batch in a wheelbarrow, then go for it. Add a little water to the bottom of the can, then add some concrete until you get a thick paste (the quality of your concrete is not too important here). Stir well, adding either water or concrete until there is no more dry cement visible and the concrete has the consistency of thick mud. Repeat until the can is filled to about 1″ from the top.
7. Push the closed end of the 1″ PVC into the concrete, visually centering it in the can. Use the torpedo level to get the can reasonably level. Insert a piece of 1/2″ PVC into the open end of the 1″ PVC and use the torpedo level to get the 1″ PVC reasonably close to straight vertically (remember to level the can before this). You don’t have to be very accurate here, you’re just trying to avoid a post sticking out at 45*…
8. Allow the concrete to cure for at least 24 hours. After 24 hours you can spray primer on the cans and concrete if you wish. If you are paining the PVC you will definitely want to use primer. That’s it, you’re done!

Here’s some photos of the final product:

The over-engineered corner post.

Matthew testing the ropes

This weekend is the Great Train Expo in Ft Worth at the Ft Worth Convention Center. General admission is $7 for adults, brats are free. Kenneth, Billy, Matthew, and I will be there playing trains with Tex-N-Rail. I just finished a rope barrier for the event, I’ll post a how-to on that next week. You can find us by looking for the orange & black striped rope barrier. Be sure to stop and say “hi” to The GreenEgg while you’re there!

Put together a small history of the Armadillo Shortline. Because of the way I designed it, I figured it would be best as a PDF (get Adobe Reader here or Foxit Reader here). I’ll eventually have an HTML version available.

History of the Armadillo Shortline Railroad

One of my recent projects has been to kitbash a Fairbanks-Morse H-20-44 in n-scale. I used the cab, sill, and chassis from an Atlas VO-1000 and the hood was taken from an Atlas H-15/16-44. I had to raise the hood about 0.40″ to make it level with the top of the cab, as well as fill in as section that was hidden by the steps on the H-16 model. Here’s the final results: