The Alville & Captown Railroad
The Grade Crossing

One day while visiting a nearby source of free scrap wood from a local business I found several pieces of pressure treated wood intended for use as a deck railing cap. The width of the groove in it looked to be about the right width to hold a piece of the Aristocraft track. I brought them home and discovered that the groove was exactly the right width. The depth looked good too, just slightly deeper than the height of the track.

A few minutes spent at the table saw with a dado head cutter squared out the inside corners. (Note: Use a dust mask when cutting pressure treated wood.) The result was a perfect fit for the track.

Installation started by removing and replanting the sod from the crossing site. All of the top soil was removed down to the sand below for good drainage. This required digging a trench about 18 inches wide and 10-12 inches deep. Next, the trench was filled with small chunks of concrete left over from a driveway replacement project. Gravel would work well, too. The fill was tamped using a 4x4 and finished at a level that set the top of the crossing even with the original grade. The two crossing structures were laid in place, the space between them was filled with more small concrete chunks, and covered with a section of railing cap. The track was laid through the crossing and connected to the main line on both sides.

As of this writing the crossing structure has survived numerous traversals by trains, people, hoses, bocci balls, and wheels as well as sun, rain and five normal Wisconsin winters. No damage to wood or track is evident apart from a little weathering. In 2011 the crossing was expanded to 4 tracks. All the tracks were done the same way. Updated pictures will be added soon.