Pickle car build I bought one of the new American model builders pickle car , so far here are the results. Flat car is fine N scale, I had to make the pickle casks fit but I wanted truss rods on ther car . Randy
Randy , I always liked the pickle cars but I am in a pickle, I have no pickle plant on the layout !!! Mike
Started work on a DPM building, Roadkill Cafe, for my T-Trak module. The Tobias Locomotive Works interiors are no longer available, but fortunately I bought two of each set. I'll add the interior, window treatments and some lighting and just have fun detailing it.
On my workbench is my project to turn a piece of crud Bachmann white-box 0-4-0 into a DCC'd docksider/switcher with lighting and a permanently attached brakeman's hack which, functionally, provides four more wheels of electrical pick-up and also hides the decoder and lighting circuits. Adam
Revisiting my Lucas sawmill kitbash that was supposed to be the upper Broughton Lumber sawmill that cut logs into cants to be flumed down to a lower mill on the Columbia River. Even had built part of the flume. Well the flume is gone because the redesign of the layout and the mill will now be one of two that were in Lyle WA. Weathered now with sheet metal roof, water tanks on roof for the fire sprinkler system, added a deck for lumber sorting to be sent to the kiln for drying, added lights, and added stack for the donkey engines that power the saws and the power plant. 2nd smaller stacks are steam exhaust. The green chain end of the mill is designed to be in the pond thus the stone foundation and originally the flume would have come around the mill and down the side. When this gets mounted in the layout the ground level will be up at the other end slightly. I used both India ink in alcohol plus Bragdon Powders for weathering. The tanks on the roof are from some old Bmann oldtime water cars that were made into log cars. Three stacks serve the donkey engines powering the saws and the bioler room that provides the electric power for the green chain and mill lighting and heating. The lights are Detail Associates parts. I am going to use Z scale track or the mine track to run carts into the drying kiln which is yet to be built. Next is to build a silo type sawdust burner which is already under construction using parts from a HO scale tank car. The Walton and Sons Lumber kit utilized as two sections will provide lumber storage and rail loading. May also biuld a edger/planer building to add to the small complex.
Typical Great Northern design for the SP&S wood caboose SP&S 851 is a standard offset cupola wood caboose. This rebuild was from a couple of different manufactrureres
I love the work and look of that whole project John. I would love to see the whole scene when complete. Mike
I love the work you did on the mill interior, John. I will be modeling the lower end of the Broughton mill and hope my version is half as nice. Yes the flume will be included. I hope to model it as far as Drano Lake. About 6 actual feet. Do you have photos of the actual Lyle mills? What did you use for the interior? Your lumber cants look just the right size. Charlie the cougar would be proud. Marty, the caboose looks awesome. I love thoses classic GN lines. Rick
Woohoo! Page 200! I've started an SD38-2 project. I'm modelling the ex-DM&IR 213. It should be fun... the chassis is Kato Mid-Prod, the long hoos is M4D, the bell is MbE and the short hood is from a Kato early SD40-2.
Man, LOOK at the fine scale handrails on that one! Nice weathering too! What are you using for ballast? And look at those trees. WOW!!!!
WP outside braced cupola caboose. Side, ends and roof. Cut and framed one side windows...BUT...a looong way to go....
WP Wood outside braced cupola caboose. One body side is done. Windows framed. braced and roof eaves added...and primed. Coming right along...
Still busy developing my sawmill complex. Beside the 2 combined Lucas sawmill wood kits into one, cut down the Walthers sawmill to build the edger/planer building, and redesigned the green chain to convey the logs from the pond to the much higher new sawmill. Also took the Walthers power house for the sawmill kit and made it into a drying kiln. The slash burner is getting a front entrance housing with a rollup door for clean out by a small Fordson tractor with bucket. And last is the large woodchip bin for rail loading that will be supplied from the planer/edger that is being constructed from styrene. Not shown in this view is the added door to the planer/edger building to admit railcars with wood from another mill sent down to be planed to dimensions or made into millwork. The last building that will go with this project will be the Walton and Sons Lumber used as two building to store lumber for shipping.
