The Little Rock Line

Well that is my plan Boxcab.
I have two major hurdles to overcome with this project.
1) I need to get the LED's installed in the light housings and then wired. Damn these things are small!
2) I have a friend who is getting me all the electrical components needed to automate these, which includes a bell module.
I'll need to install the IR sensors, which I have not figured out how or where this will happen as the track is already ballasted and finished. Oh joy!

This will definitely test my sanity threshold as I am not an electronics guy.
I was overjoyed with myself when I figured out how to install the 804 LED's in my locos for a brighter headlight.

 

Yes sir! S Main & E Tracy St in Webb City, MO which is just north of Joplin. It's a small oval track for a trolley in a park. I drove past it for years when I was a delivery driver.

 

I've been working in Ruston a bit more trying to finish up the highway crossing. I have the Showcase Miniatures Model 10 grade crossing signals pretty much built. I wanted them raised up so that they are level with the road, I did this by gluing down some cork pieces.

I also picked up some of their Breakaway Bases. I still need to create the holes to insert the lower sections of the bases into.

After doing that I decided that the depot would also benefit by being level with the track. Thinking more about it, I thought it might also be a good idea to glue down a much larger piece of cork so that the road coming off the highway and the parking lot would all match up better with the highway and depot.

So I dug out a section of cork and got it trimmed to fit the area and got it glued. I think this will also allow me to easier define the road and parking lot around the depot and make the area level in front of the spur where the hoppers will be spotted to unload. I plan to use my Milwaukee multi tool with the sander attachment to sand the edges down and give them a nice beveled edge.

 

I think those are very good ideas. The depot would very likely be level with the track in real life. And correspondingly, the parking lot and road would likely be as well, or certainly close to it. This will also correspond with how you did the grade crossing, which is at track level. Too many layouts have grade crossings that are a giant hump up and over the track. A real vehicle would probably bottom out going over some of those!

 

Thanks.
Those were pretty much my exact thoughts.
Even before starting on this road or any of the roads I've done, the images of those "Giant Humps" was one thing I wanted to steer clear of.
Even though you can get these signs in N scale, I didn't want to see any.

 

Is that a REAL thing?

 

Yup!

Here's one that's not far from me.
https://www.google.com/maps/@40.987...try=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI0MDkzMC4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw==

 

Makes sense now, I misread it at first and thought it was the train How stupid of me, my bad Now I'll have to look for one of these when I am out an about. Now I want one of those on my layout one day

 

I gotta say them boys over at the Louisiana DOTD did a fine job and was quick.

After getting the cork fit and glued in place around the depot and parking lot I went back upstairs to work on some other items. About four hours later I went back down to see how it turned out. Gotta say I was surprised at what I found. I think I actually found another reason why layouts are considered never finished.

After getting it glued in place I found several things with some weight to help keep it flat while the glue dried. I used a bag of birdshot and a couple of new bottles of 91% alcohol. Everything had more than enough weight to keep the cork flat and that worked great. But for some reason, both new bottles of alcohol decided to leak a little bit while laying on their sides, one on the cork, the other was right over my new highway!

First, here's the new cork glued in place.



I didn't get a pic of the actual puddle, but I did get one of the aftermath and the repairs.

The first pic was after wiping most of the gunk off the surface. It took everything off except the auto primer that I used for a base coat: acrylic paint, pan pastels, Dullcote and the Tru-Color paint I used on the lines. First thought was to try and weather it and blend it back in, but quickly decided to repaint it and try to make it look like a newer concrete repair.

Cleaned and feathered the edges



Masked off and painted it with a lighter color.








I followed the same method that I did originally: painted it, painted the stripes, added tar lines around the edges, then weathered it slightly for a look of just a little use.



Overall I think it turned out ok and now the road kind of has a backstory to go with it.
Now I can proceed with the work of getting the crossing signals installed.

 

Nice repair, Allen, and you’ve got a good story to tell your visitors.

 

That repair looks super nice Allen. Really adds even more character to an already great looking road.

It's lucky that leaking alcohol didn't cause the cork that wasn't under the weight to buckle up. I've had that happen and it's no fun.

 

Thanks Rich.
Yeah, luckily that leak on the cork wasn't as bad as the one on the road. Of course...

 

I think you did a great job on the "repair", it turned out really nice!

 

Thanks Hemi!
I think honestly, I got dang lucky.

 

Thank you sir!
Appreciate the kind words.

 

Makes sense, but considering power travels through the rails and that is a metal trailer it might still be appropriate...