The Little Rock Line

Thanks BC,
In this case the pictures are doing the clouds justice. I had to enhance the shots a bit to get them to show up.
They are fairly thin, which kind of keeps the distant look consistent.

They work for now or if I ever get the nerve up to paint them or use an airbrush.

 

I had to change some links where I store my photos which caused them to not show in a previous post, so I copied that post here with the proper links, sorry about that.



Let there be clouds...









These were created using pastel chalks; White and a light Gray. I started with the white chalk applying it with a bunch of little "C" shaped motions, then I added some of the light gray to the bottoms of the clouds. Once I got the basic shapes I used my finger to spread and smudge the chalk onto the backdrop using the same "C" shaped motion that I used with the chalk. I started with a small area but by the time I worked the chalk with my fingers, I was able to spread the cloud a little larger and at the same it dissipated the chalk so the cloud wasn't as stark as the freshly applied chalk.

I got this idea from Michael on another forum, who also told me that if you don't like your clouds, you take an old Tee shirt and you can wipe it off and start over. Something was said about fixing them with a dullcoat after you get them done, He said it wouldn't be necessary because how many time do you touch the back drop? This would also allow you to change your mind in the future.

The only problem I have with this is that I used a latex paint for the blue and it's a satin finish, so the chalk doesn't adhere very well and it can be simply wiped off with a big soft brush!. I thought about spraying a clear matte finish on the sky before applying the chalk, hoping that it will give the paint more tooth so the chalk will cling better, but then wondered if it may yellow over time.

As always, there a few more pics on the blog.
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With the backdrop painted and clouds in place, I started in on the ballast finally.
I've forgotten how tedious this job can be, but with the radio on my favorite station, it goes pretty quick. I'm working on a stretch that is about 8' in length and 16" wide. I'm not doing the whole stretch at one time but rather just little sections at a time as I get a chance. I started with a couple of 12" sections at the end of Malvern and have worked my way to Haskell and the junction.

This time I'm trying to be a little more careful when I spread the ballast, trying to keep it below the ties. Years ago I just spread the ballast on and brushed it off the rails and called it good. The turnouts are proving to be a bit more of a challenge but so far so good. This time I’m putting a small drop of oil on the points and hinges of the turnouts to help disperse the glue and water. I‘ve only had a couple where I’ve had to scrape the points to regain good contact.

I caught W&OV #6999 returning with the second load of ballast this afternoon.





One thing that came back to mind was a tamping tool. I used this where the track is laid on the cork instead of just the ceiling tile. It's made from two pieces of balsa wood is 1.5" long and 3/4" wide with another small piece glued on handle. One edge gets laid on the rail and the other lays on the ceiling tile and I just pad the ballast very lightly. It gives the ballast a nice even slope and shapes the ballast edges more evenly than your finger can.






The tracks in Malvern will portray a lightly used branch line, so I will be covering them with ground foam and static grass to make them look like they've had minimal maintenance. This section of the road was “Leased to own” from The Rock by a little short line called the W&OV [Warren & Ouchita Valley, it’s a real road that connected with The Rock at Banks, AR]. On my layout, The Rock has shed some of their older lines so the W&OV leased this section and moved their HQ’s to Malvern.

On the actual layout, since the W&OV has moved in, they have revitalized traffic and are kept quite busy serving the four original industries; Olin Corp [producers of hydrochloric acid] , a metal fabrication company; Heavy Metal Ind, Gritty Gravel Co. [off layout] and a recycling company in the next town [off-layout]. Two new companies that have moved in after the W&OV took control are Frump Gas & Supplies and Crushmoore Ind. [a pulpwood plant]. Frump Gas setup on the abandoned leg of the Wye at Haskell just outside of Malvern and Crushmoore built their complex in Malvern utilizing an old siding from a previous industry that was recently torn down. W&OV also serves McClehaney Equip. Co. on the south end of Haskell who had short spur installed when the tracks were relaid for the new siding at the junction. The W&OV also built a new diesel shop in Malvern, so this should allow me to have a mixture of older, existing ballast and freshly laid ballast which hopefully will give me a nice visual difference when I get done.

 

Nice work! The tool is a good idea.

 

Thanks!

Although I can't take credit for it. My old room mate and good friend came up with this back when we had our modules. He was the one who always tinkered with things to make something else better.

When I started in with the ballast recently, I remembered how he did it, but damned if I could find that tool, so I just made another one.
I like how it gets rid of any dips and sways in the ballast from your fingers.

 

Seeing how the weather didn't go as the forecasters planned, they called for a Trace to 2" and we wound up with 7"-9" But it did give me a whole day for some quality time on the layout.

The ballast work is just about complete in Malvern. But before I can finish it though, I need to get some foundations installed for some of the buildings. The first one installed was for the tank car loading platform at the Olin Corp plant.

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The second one is the pad for the W&OV's engine facility.

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I contemplated pouring the foundations at both locations, but decided against this method because I remembered from years ago that when it came time to clean the rails, one slip and the off comes the paint or you dig into the plaster.

So this time I used styrene for the concrete. I glued some strips of .080" styrene to the bottom side which will keep the pad surface about .020" below the railhead. So with a little care I should be able to clean the railhead without removing the painted surface. Although accidents will happen.....

The last pad I have to install will be one for the unloading area at Heavy Metal, Inc. then I can finish with the ballasting work in Malvern.

At the same time I'm also trying to decide on a color of ballast for the W&OV engine house and the tracks that lead into Malvern from Haskell.

Since these tracks are relatively new [according to my re-written history] my hopes are to make the ballast look fresher at the W&OV facility as well as the tracks leading into Malvern since they were recently re-worked at the junction and newly laid at the engine facility.

 

I think they had 3 ten wheelers.


After RI bought the line they assigned a Whitcomb 75DE12c, then a SW1.

 

Rock Island bought the original W&OV in 1948.
My layout is set in 1983, both the RI and my W&OV is still running.

Prototypically speaking......I think another shortline took the road over, but right now I can't remember who it is. I checked on Google maps once and seen traffic is still on the line.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fordyce_and_Princeton_Railroad

Here's the video, but I think this is in Fordyce, AR. not sure.

Banks, AR is where the W&OV connected to and then ran east to Warren. I think the F&P shut down or filed for bankruptcy or abandonment.

[video=youtube_share;XJy6sSPFMY4]http://youtu.be/XJy6sSPFMY4[/video]

 

Yeah, there's not much on the W&OV.
The F&P was owned by Georgia Pacific from 1963 until March 2004, when it was sold to Genesee and Wyoming.

 

The ballast is all glued down in Malvern!

I've used two different colors of ballast to simulate the newer tracks at the W&OV's engine facility and where the junction was modified at Haskell. I'm planning to use an acrylic brown wash to see if I can tone the gray ballast down a bit.

This is the junction at Haskell, the rear track is the old third leg of the Wye where Frump Gas will be located. The right turnout was added to this leg of the Wye, the front track leads to the two sidings at Haskell, the other joins the main line. The left turnout leads to Malvern.




I've got all the concrete work laid in place, but still need to scribe and paint the pads at Heavy Metal before gluing them down.





Once this pad is in place, I can start turning things green and get some 3D added.

More here

 

Yep, and I'm going to get even busier here shortly. I'm in the throws of remodeling the front room before the wedding and then once those two events are done, I want to get started on the kitchen.

Somewhere in between the wedding and the kitchen, the guys are dropping hints for another ops session.

 

27th of April