Ken, Lineside models makes an N scale resin kit, but its been unavailable since I started looking for the trucks. http://www.rphobbies.com/1990s-ih-propane-delivery-truck.html So I took a metal truck chassis (a dump truck I think), left off the load and replaced it with an egg sized piece of clay for the tank in the rubber mold. I made several truck because the nooks and crannies often dont form well, plus they tore up the mold after about 8 castings. I just picked the 3-4 best copies, sanded them smooth, and applied some homemade decals after painting. They still need some work in the detail and painting department however, but seem good emough for now.
Recycling Center The project this weekend was getting the recycling plant on line. It ships recycled material, primarily cardboard I believe, by boxcar that the Hartwell transports to the interchange with the Norfolk Southern. The quonset hut like structure was scratch build with a small block office building attached. The office was styrene with a plastic brick laminate that took the wash nicely to highlight the grout between blocks.
Christmas 2012, Meet the neighbors Well, there wasn't any new engines or rolling stock under the tree, but a new variable speed Dremel and and oscillating saw will be greatly appreciated. It was a scratch building weekend for several non railroad structures. The substation is now installed and the power lines attached. Lanier Cloths is completed, but unfortunately ships by truck only, so no rail traffic generated here. M&J Country Cooking is now open for business. A couple of residences finish the street as we approach town. I tried to get that flickering blue, nighttime TV lighting in the building. I had one of those flickering campfire circuits so I replaced one of the red LED's with a Blue LED and partially masked the other two with a dab of blue paint. I'm not really satisfied with the effect since the blue flashes at too regular a pattern to simulate a TV. Finally an overview of the street as pair of NS SD70's climb out of town with a couple of covered hoppers. Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and got a lot done over their vacation time.
2012 - Year in Review Well my first year of construction is completed. The initial 3x6 corner is just about finished except for a few small details such as the crossing gates and some small scenery details. I can run trains and switch the branch industries. I learned quite a few lessons during the construction, so now is a good time to summarize. 1. Most Important - Stop thinking about it and go build something. 2. Rail joiners will tear your thumbs up. 3. Dremel cutting wheels will explode. Wear eye protection. 3. Don't skimp on the minimum radii, especially with modern (ie. long) equipment. 18" is ok but 21 would look and run better. 4. Learn how to calculate a grade. What doesn't look too steep to the eye is usually well over a prototypical grade. 5. Scenery looks better when you layer, and layer, and layer, with different techniques and mediums. 6. Static grass is a pretty cool effect. 7. You can paint a backdrop, even with little artistic talent. I would like to try making a photo backdrop sometime. 8. You can't couple or uncouple on a curve. Yards and stubs need to be straight. 9. Electromagnetic uncouplers can work. I'm using the HOn3 under the track devices covered with a thin sheet of styrene. So the next 3x10 foot section is remaining. It looks like I will need some MoW equipment to upgrade the wye to increase the radius to at least 14.5", as well as change the curved stub to the cement factory to a single ended stub so the uncouplers will work. I'm thinking about building a helix at the end of the layout and having the mainline tracks return in the front of the valance about 6-8 inches below the tabletop to create a loop for the mainline trains. It looks like another busy year ahead. Happy railroading from the Hartwell line.
I'm glad you learned lesson one and went ahead. Your layout is looking great and I look forward to more updates.
The Hartwell gets a helix The track gang was busy replacing the cement plant yard with a 2 track stub and enlarging the wye to increase the radius to 15 inches on the short line. The next section put up was a 40 inch diameter, two track helix. The benchwork frame was enlarged and a 4 turn helix provided a 2.5% grade. I tested it out with a four axle diesel that pulled 6 cars without any slipping. I constructed the helix with 8 threaded rods and cut 16 5 inch aluminum plates that support the plywood and have nuts and washers that allow independent leveling for the heights. Mainline traffic has finally resumed as I can start to get to work on the cement plant.
Westward expansion I really was planning to finish the corner unit before setting out on any expansion, but sometimes an opportunity comes along and things change without really planning for them. We had a rather strong windstorm and a gust tore off an 8 x 4 foot wooden sunblock from the porch and suddenly I had several salvageable 2x4's and 1x8's available for use. I confess the thought of extending the mainline was very enticing and it didn't take too long for me to add a new 3x6 foot section of benchwork to the layout. The additional space will allow the last 3 industries to be added to the Toccoa area for the Hartwell to service, as well as add Cornelia, the first town west on the Norfolk Southern mainline. After I get some track down I'll have to split my time working on the town of Toccoa as well as the new section. At least I can have some options to choose from when deciding what scenery to work on for the next few weeks. Lots of trees versus buildings and streets.
Interestingly enough, I didn't have to spend a dime to buy anything to build this small addition. I had the nuts, bolts, screws and nails already and the rest was all the surplus lumber. I even have the track and roadbed in my supply pile. However, it would seem the atlas switches are in short supply. I guess this is a good reason to buy a fast tracks jig and start making my own turnouts.
Slowly progressing The start of the new addition has caused some overall slowing as the layout grows in 2 directions. Between track work, wiring, and building construction, I do a little here, then a little there, and the overall pace seems to have slowed. The new section has given room to add 3 more industries served by the Hartwell. Global Partitions has a stub siding behind the facility to ship boxcar loads of product, Gem Plastics receives covered hoppers of plastic pellets, and American Woodmark likely receives lumber and boxcars in, and ships boxcars of completed furnishings out. Selective compression is in order here, as the full sized factories would be almost 36 inches in length, and the layout is just 26 inches wide at this point. On the top deck the dual mainline Norfolk and Southern passes through Cornelia and merges into a single line track for several miles on the way to Atlanta. The new section has most of the track installed. It seems the atlas switches I have been using are temporarily unavailable, so I used that as an excuse to pickup a fast tracks jig to start hand laying turnouts. I'm still waiting for the last package to arrive, so I started a little static grass and glued a few aluminum foil made plater rock castings to the scenery cliffs. The concrete factory structures are coming along. I kit bashed a pair of vertical columns and added a scratch built conveyor up to the mixer. In the foreground the closed Toccoa Casket Company buildings are starting to come along as well. The downtown area now has some roads and underpasses, but I haven't started any of the structures yet. In a way this may actually be a more efficient way of progressing as I do one thing on one section, then move to the next while the first one dries.
Continuing development I continued working back and forth from the new section trees and industries, to the concrete factory and abandoned casket company, to the downtown areas. The last 3 industries on the new section have been roughed out in styrene and the spur tracks installed. The cement spur is coming along. The basic buildings of the casket company are on place. The downtown is just starting to form with the start of a couple of gas stations. Now, here comes the new problem. Since taking down the previous loop ends that the new section replaced, I no longer have the ability to run mainline traffic except to go point to point over a fairly short distance which is wholly unsatisfactory to my interest. Because the trains aren't running regularly, the track needs almost constant cleaning to run anything when the mood strikes. I wanted to develop this project by progressively building almost module like additions, but now I have the urge to develop a larger plywood pacific type layout to get some traffic going. That was defiantly not the plan when I started this project. I have about 26x17 feet of space to grow into and plan a Z type layout with a return loop running about a foot below the top of the fascia. The helix on the one end would start the return loop and gradually rise to join the other end of the layout where the 2 terminating ends of the layout, Atlanta and Greenville will share a yard. The blackened areas give about 2 foot access around the outside of the layout. There are 3 steel supporting beams that the layout must accommodate in the middle of the space. I'm reluctant to start such a large product, but I am enticed by the prospect of running some large trains throughout the layout. I guess I will start the framework soon, but a lot of accumulated storage will have to be relocated first. Guess that's the plan for the summer project.
Building west Construction continues on the westward expansion as about eighteen feet of benchwork was added. Here you can see the expansion of benchwork with the addition of the U shaped area at the far end of the basement. I hung some temporary shop lights until I figure out what the eventual ceiling and lighting arrangement will be. I'm using a 2x4 open grid frame which I admit is overkill, but I also know I could easily stand on this layout if I needed to. Of concern is the recent lack of Atlas code 55 track anywhere. As a side note, I tried experimenting with trying to model Kudzu, a local plant which if allowed, will cover almost anything here in the south. I tried a little poly fiber coated with 3M adhesive spray and sprinkled with Noch leaf flock. Not too bad for a first attempt but still not quite right either. The real stuff My first attempt I still have plans to add another twenty feet to the benchwork to complete the circuit. Then It will be time for some trackwork. Hopefully Atlas will have there track problem solved by then, otherwise I may need to look into micro engineering code 55 flex.
Very cool to see what you've decided to do and what you're doing. It's really neat to see you take on the Kudzu challenge as it were. The way I see things, your biggest challenge is that on the real things, the leaves all fall in the exact same direction-something that could be very difficult to replicate in the modelling world, in my humble opinion. Still though, excited to see what you'll come up with :-D
Starting the Summer Construction June saw the railroad building out to the west. More track laying, turnout building, and wiring. Still no sign that Atlas flex-track is coming soon, so I bought a batch of Micro Engineering code 55.The track has a good appearance but is defiantly stiffer than the Atlas equivalent and it takes some getting used to when forming curves. The rail joiners are really snug as well. After tearing my thumbs up again, I built this handy tool out of wood dowel, drilled for a piece of ME flex track glued in place and filed down to a taper to hold the rail joiners. It works great. No more punctured thumbs, even with the tighter rail joiners. The Fieldale grain silos and yards were built off the Norfolk Southern mainline after it drops down to a single main in Cornelia. Strangely enough, both yards (on opposite sides of the main) have no provisions for a runaround. This will certainly make operations challenging as cars can only be backed in for drop off and pickup when headed westward. There doesnt seem to be a dedicated switcher at the facility either. The switch machines are in and the switch panel was wired up. The schematic shws the NS main at the top, comming down to a single main line with the 2 three track yards, while the single line for the Hartwell has its 3 industry spurs wired up as well. The Livonia feed mill is coming along and the Hartwell engine facility and Wye is still under construction Finally the downtown area has a few new structures under construction.
The Golden Nail Well it isn't exactly the golden spike, but the last nail in the benchwork has been placed amid much fanfare (at least in my mind). I admit I even painted the nail with gold paint to celebrate the occasion. At the least this this should save me the almost weekly trip to the Home Depot for screws, nails, lumber etc. The layout ended up in an S shape with a double line return track about a foot below where the fascia will be. It uses a I plan to run it as a point to point with the through traffic returning back to the main yard (or originating there for the westbound traffic) and the planned yard in the foreground represents a split between the east and west terminus. The return uses a 4 turn helix on the right side of the photo, then gradually climbs a 2% grade to return to the yard in the foreground. The total top level run should be just over 60 feet, and the helix and return make the total end to end distance about 160 foot. Thats plenty big enough for one person. The fast tracks parts arrived Friday so its time to start banging out those turnouts so the track gang can get busy completing the mainline so I can get some trains running again.
