Rainier Great Western Const Update

A special thanks to all of you who follow along, like and comment on our posts about the progress of the RGW. This forum has been very good to us and we thank you all.

Michael

RAINIER GREAT WESTERN RAILROAD

 

Congrats Mike! You earned it. I've really enjoyed following along and watching all the great things being done on the RGW! Keep up the great work.

 

Lots of views. Wonderful!

 

Awesome possum

 

This will be a short post as we were down three guys tonight. As you can see in this next photo, Rey continued working on the fleet, adjusting couplers and wheelsets. Meanwhile I added to the greenbelt in Renton.



In Scott's absence, I took the opportunity to ballast the final turnout on this side of the layout and then bring the ballast back to the bridge that leads to the Boeing plant.



I think I like doing ballast the least of all things model railroading, then to add doing it from a step ladder, while bent over and levitating yourself over a shelf, only adds to my enjoyment. But it's done! Honey, where's the ibuprofen?

Well that's it for tonight, until next time, thanks for checking in.







RAINIER GREAT WESTERN RAILROAD

 

Thanks Ken. Your support is always appreciated. M

RAINIER GREAT WESTERN RAILROAD

 

Welcome back to another update on our progress on the RGW. Light crew again tonight, but we still managed to get a couple things done before the session devolved into a gab fest.

While Scott added the final amount of ballast to the Renton industrial scene, we had a visitor drop by. BNSF 9206 came through town with a set of new loads.



These two concrete tie loads are fresh out of the package from MacRail. I have been purchasing their products for a while now and have been really pleased.



These are new to MacRail and so I purchased a couple for the RGW. We have just enough concrete tie rail to make it realistic in operations. These are so nice I recommend them to anyone. I also picked up PTC antenna arrays, air conditioners and antenna stands. They all look great.

Meanwhile, Doug was adding more controller pockets. We have been waiting to install these based on the din plugs that get used most often.





Finally, I added a lot of mixed greens along the fascia tonight. A good mix of clump foliage and low level foliage.



The one thing for certain, there's never enough scenery in place and there's always more to do. Until next time, thanks for checking in.

RAINIER GREAT WESTERN RAILROAD

 

Hey gang, here's a quick recap of tonight's work session. Scott wrapped up the ballast in Renton, carrying it all the way to where the track disappears under the backdrop. He then turned his attention to the library, covering some exposed areas with fine gravel.



He also spent a couple minutes preparing a new shipment of track bumpers for installation.



The color is medium rust, the paint is ammo by MiG. These will be placed on the Stoneway Concrete spur next week.

Doug spent the evening running trains and I'm thinking he pretty much kept it within the confined of Renton Yard, because he never came around to our side of the layout.

As for me, I spent some time addressing the build-up of cars that need tweaks. The rip shed is overflowing. I started with an old Santa Fe boxcar, adding weight and adjusting couplers. Once I was satisfied it went on the layout. I then turned to this Bureau of Land Management grain car that was purchased as a fleet here in Washington State.



As you can see this swap meets find had one end in tatters, so I removed much of it and started to rebuild it. I used 40x40 styrene for the runner, then added an old scrap ladder to replace the long gone broken one. It won't perfectly match what is on the other side, but it's close enough.

Before the night was through, and it ended early due to a power outage, I was able to craft a small insert L bracket on the lower sill. This was difficult because in order match the opposite side it had to be shaven to a thinner profile, then angled downward.



I'm ok with the progress so far, but this baby has a lot of new parts and TLC to go before it makes its way back to service.

Well, that's it for tonight, as always, thanks for checking in!



RAINIER GREAT WESTERN RAILROAD

 

You would be correct. BLMR is their official reporting mark.

RAINIER GREAT WESTERN RAILROAD

 

I pulled this off the net:

To help alleviate this shortage of grain cars, the Washington State Energy Office and the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) used federal funds to purchase 29 used grain cars to carry wheat and barley from loading facilities in eastern Washington to export facilities in western Washington and Oregon. Additional cars were purchased when the program proved successful.

RAINIER GREAT WESTERN RAILROAD

 

Out in the train room this afternoon. Trying to finish the grain hopper repairs. I ended up replacing the ladder to better match the opposing side.



Then I added the two primary posts and the small step.



Had to tweak the left post after I saw the picture, then added the grab iron and the ladder rungs.



A small amount of putty was added to fill the seam at the upper right, then some masking and into the garage for it's first two coats of paint. I'll post the finished product later.

M

RAINIER GREAT WESTERN RAILROAD

 

Here's the recap from Tuesday's work session. Reynold was back after a brief absence and worked on lowering a couple of pesky grade crossings. Here is a side by side, before and after.



Doug continued his scenery work in Maple Valley and I started adding layers in Renton.



I also completed the ballast in the last turnout before we enter into the Boeing complex.



That sets up the next phase, burying the tracks in asphalt. It starts with the tried and true paper and pencil process.





I'll begin cutting out the templates this weekend. I also installed the track bumpers discussed last week.



Finally, a couple of notes from the paint shop. I painted the tie supports Vallejo steel. They aren't glued down or weathered at this point. It was my first use of my newly acquired Grex compressor. Sweet unit and quiet, wow.



And the BLMR hopper had the new parts painted and some preliminary weathering completed.





I still need to add more weathering to this one, but needed the first layers to dry before adding a matte finish for the next phase.

That's it for this update, as always, thanks for checking in!



RAINIER GREAT WESTERN RAILROAD

 

Sorry for the delay in this week's update, but here goes. Scott came back from 3 weeks of riding the rails, the Empire Builder to Chicago, the Zephyr to Omaha, and back again. Great trip, cool photos.

Doug's been busy in Maple Valley, adding scenery touches to various locations. Here are two views of his handiwork.





Rey has exploded a City of Prineville boxcar. There's literally parts everywhere. I can only guess what he's up to.



As for me, I spent the evening organizing a lot of loose components; fencing, wheelstops, windows, etc etc, into Tupperware containers and then labeling them. Trying to end my years-long habit of searching (in vain, usually) for things on work night. But before the evening was done, I tried the dab n' stab method of placing static grass on the layout.



Simply put, you dab on some glue, in my case full strength matte medium, then grab a pinch of the grass and dab it in the glue. Once in place, you tease it a bit to get the shape you want. I didn't do a ton of this, maybe 10 times in various spots. Want to see the outcome before doing it in earnest.

Well, that was it for the night, more next week. Until then, thanks for checking in.

RAINIER GREAT WESTERN RAILROAD

 

Here's tonight's update from the Rainier Great Western. Doug has been busy in Maple Valley. Mostly with adding touches here and there to spruce up the drab surroundings. But tonight we took a different turn, literally. We started with determining how we might lay out the grain elevator. Never quite came to a choice but you get the idea.



We tested out several potentials for the service road while keeping an eye on the ingress and egress of the entire surroundings. We determined that the transload facility (where the CNW caboose sits in the pic above) just had no realistic way trucks could come and go. So we decided to widen the roads. In this shot, you can see where he tore out ballast and other materials which will later become additional road.



We will also create a much more gradual turn at the exit to the town center.



This area is evolving but we made good progress tonight. I spent the evening cutting out the paper patterns for the concrete areas of the Boeing plant. I then traced those cutouts into 1/8 balsa. Here you can see the progress made so far. Two parts in balsa, two still in paper.






There is so much left to do here. Sanding the edges to make a better fit, then hogging out material under the edges to cover the ties. That just gets us to the quarter pole. Later we'll varathane all the pieces and glue them in place. I'll save the next steps for future posts.

Also in this same area Scott kept on his ballasting skein. He added ballast to two tracks then turned his eyes on the road heading into Dunn Lumber. We decided to widen this road to accommodate bigger trucks entering and leaving the Kenworth plant.



In this pic, Scott took out plaster so that an additional grade crossing can be added.



Pretty decent amount of progress tonight. I'm well pleased with how it's all turning out. More next week for sure. Thanks for checking in.

RAINIER GREAT WESTERN RAILROAD

 

Welcome back to another episode of life on the RGW. Tonight's work session starts with me concluding the first phase of the Boeing pavement project. I completed the last two segments and then went back and started tweaking the shapes of each section.



The next step is to carve out the underside to hide the ties. Then each panel will receive varathane on each side.

Scott put down the extended grade crossing and we both discussed reconfiguring the road. If you look close on the left, you'll see the pencil marks.



After that he went to join Doug in Maple Valley and they both continued expanding the primary road. They started with putting down a second section of grade crossing, weighing it down with 123 blocks, then started the plaster process on the widened road.



Reynold was back, working on the City of Prineville boxcar. He is extending the coupler base to accept full cushion trucks. I tried to understand why, but it eludes me.



Lastly, I checked the dab n stab grass tufts. I'd say 90% are great, a couple were seriously affected by operator error. Hopefully he'll do better in the future.



Well, that's it for tonight, as always, more next week. So thanks for checking in.

RAINIER GREAT WESTERN RAILROAD