My Little Railroad Buddy

We All Have To Start Somewhere

And for me it was here:



I wanted to use up my station building and my Bingen Warehouse and an older 24"x48" module that I had framed earlier in the year.

I didn't really like a single module idea (I want a plausibly long siding), so I knew I needed another module. I also didn't like the flat top approach.

I Needed Something Different

So, I toyed with a few track plans trying to make a smaller more compact module set


Canal Street

Nevada Street

And along the way lost the station and decided to just go with a pair of standard 24"x48" modules.

I Built a New Pair of Modules

And swore I'd document the whole process. Except I got in such a rush on Friday that I only took a few photos along the way.


O'Brien End Plate


O'Brien Spline Roadbed

The new module pair is framed with 3/4" plywood end plates, 3/4" pine sides, 3/4" plywood spline for sub-roadbed, and 1/2" plywood furring strips to mount 1" foam to. Each module will use detachable 1x2 pine legs.

After two days of work, I have the frames built but still need to attach roadbed and foam. I need to finish with the hardware for the legs. And then I will install the base electrical buses.

A lot of people don't know of place names along the Valley. Ever heard of Christopher? Once was just north of Auburn. A lot of history gone.

I see you've been to a big box warehouse. Those clamps look like Home Depot....

I've never heard of Christopher, thanks for bringing it up. My grandmother grew up roaming the Valley & riding the Interurban. I always loved when she talked about her adventures through King County in the early 20th century, it was an amazing world!

Those are Home Depot $.99 clamps. Semi-durable. I haven't had any springs break yet, but the green plastic sleeves keep slipping off.

I spent a couple of years working for the company which did the engineering field work on those steel pole power lines on the old PSE r-o-w. I only remembered Christopher due to that project, as it was noted in old maps, etc, we were using. Believe I recall it was more on the far west side of the valley and onto the hill above. A little farming settlement? Probably a mere hand full of homes and people.

Same here on the green sleeves slipping. Overall they seem to be decent. At that price, I'm happy. I also picked up about 18-20 of the little ones. Very handy!

I took a thirty minutes this morning to cut legs and glue in pockets. Then I took everything to work and used my lunch hour to install feet and secure the legs to the frames using cabinet catches.



It was nice spending lunch out in the sun working on train stuff. It's also a great converstion starter when people see you set up in the parking lot with a makeshift work bench, a bunch of lumber and a few tools.

I got all of the feet installed, and finished the cathes on one of two modules. I'm going to try to cut leg bracing tomorrow and bring that to work to install during lunch.

The frames are done for the most part. I took advantage of a few hours Monday to build the leg bracing, leg stowage area and install the spline roadbed. I wish I would have taken photos along the way, but I relly had to cram the work in to get this done.

A video of the frames

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtsmGbcX8HE

I'm particularly proud of the way I designed the leg stowage for this module. Basically it uses four removable legs that secure loosely to the frames with a pocket and catch. Each leg pair has diagonal and horizontal bracing that swivels out of the way for stowage within the frame itself. When employed, the bracing is held in place with wing nuts.



I made a video to demonstrate how the legs are stowed and employed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PEAfUZ5vNs

I used most of my free time today wiring buses for the module pair. I used 14 ga. wire in vaious colors and ended up using most of the remaining old wire from my previous Halland layout.

There wiring includes red and green oNeTrak buses, private accessories bus and loconet bus. Nothing special, just 14 ga. wire that meets in the middle at a barrier block. I secured the wire to the barrier block with spade connectors.

Bus Wiring video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UM18PBaNaTc

I'm sticking with the main and siding, but I want to angle some of the buildings. I'll keep the drainage dith to one module and possibly have a swamp on the other module.

I added brass handles that I found for $.50 each at the Habitat for Humanity store in Seattle. It makes it very easy to handle the modules when you have something safe to hold on to.

I pinked up the modules with 1" foam. Attached them with wood glue and used 2" screws and fender washers to hold the foam in place while the glue dried.

I started with laying roadbed last night. I used Model Power 1/8" cork roadbed. I sanded ramps down at both ends of the siding so the siding would be 1/8" lower than the main.



After laying the roadbed, I painted it with a mixture of brown, white, tan and black acrylic craft store paints.

I used a 48" drywall square as a straight edge for laying track. I layed all of the straight mainline track then cut the turnout in.



Center to center spacing is 1 1/8" inch.

The elevation difference between the main and siding looks great, but I forgot that I wanted to place a road crossing right about where these boxcars are sitting. And I don't think it will look to good if the cars have jump up 2 feet over a 10 foot distance. So out comes the track and the roadbed ramp and I'm putting roadbed throughout the siding. I'll taper it down after the crossing. And I don't think I'll go the full 1/8" this time, maybe just try to shave 1/16" off.

I got the main & siding tracked. There is a slight elevation difference. I wish it was a little more, but I spent hours sanding the siding to get to where it is now. Sanding cork to get a lower elevation is not a great idea. I'll need to try something different next time. Maybe HO cork on the main and N cork on the siding.

I painted the road bed with a mix of white, brown, black and tan craft store paints.

I'll be putting my Laser Cut Transfer Dock in this corner. Run two tracks down a small ramp to get to this industry. I envision the industry being a jack of all trades type of deal with a yard littered with objects of projects past and present. Maybe a construction company.

Well I didn't like the plaster cloth. And I didn't like the foamcore board I used around the Transfer Dock Ramp. So I tore it out and made a simple two step ramp out of craft foam. I may try to smooth it with scenic fiber later.



I'm also using craft foam as the pad for the warehouse.

I kind of don't like the squishyness of the craft foam, but I'm crossing my fingers that it works out well. Because I know this stuff is murder to remove. I probably should have used cork, but I couldn't find 1/8 sheets. Only 1/16" (too crumbly) and 3/16" (too thick).

This is a resin kit I picked up used at The Electric Train Shop in Burien. I thought the building looked fairly good, but I wanted it to look more commercial.

I replaced the front door with a Grandt Line 1814 and the loading dock door with a leftover garage door from a Walther's State Line kit. I added a starway and railing to the back side. I added a raised foundation and a sunken loading dock. I added a shadowbox to the inside the loading dock and glued in some crates.

I also painted the roof vents aluminum. I'd really like to remove the glazing and trim and repaint the window panes; maybe at a future date.

This is a resin kit I picked up used at The Electric Train Shop in Burien. I love to shop there for used stuff. I painted it with acrylics. Lots of washes and highlights with various colors.

It's a pretty fun little project. I hadn't really intended to have a junkyard. And honestly, it's a little small and a little too messy for my eye, but I couldn't pass this up for $6. I still need to plant a bunch of weeds around this place.