Wordless Wednesday #31

 

Wordless Wednesday #29

No much posting,,,,

Sorry for the lack of posting here. It is not due to inactivity on the layout or model railroading in general. I just find it much easier to throw out an update on my Facebook layout page, than to take the time to post here. I will admit that this blog is a little easier to search and write longer form, but it definitely requires setting aside a segment of time to prepare and upload pictures, and then do the writing. So probably will not be as much here regularly, but I will try to post now and again.

Recent work has been on getting North Stratford started. Until recently it has been a shelf only, good for storage and initiating/terminating the MEC TY/YT trains to St. Johnsbury and back. I have now gotten all the track in place and run to Beecher Falls and the Ethan Allen plant to be serviced by the North Stratford Railway (using a little license here on the timeframe of when MEC operated to N. Stratford and when NSRC was in operation).

ABOVE: The start of North Stratford comes through the wall of the closet on the elevated shelf above Groveton. I added some scenery to disguise this opening. I have also been working on a Sheepscot kit, acquired in early 1990s, for a Maine Central freight house. Here I am checking the placement. I have since moved the spur in front to make more space for the loading dock (not built yet).Behind the depot is the MEC main line, and behind that are the Grand Trunk tracks.

ABOVE: The corner of the shelf section, I have the station I built earlier this year in place to represent the Grand Trunk's North Stratford station. The 2 tracks here represent the GT. The one closest to the wall will be non operational. I plan to stage freight cars there to help hide the transition to the photo backdrop. The very corner itself will get disguised with some trees. The closer track is operational and will be used as the interchange between MEC and GT.

The 2 tracks in front of the depot represent the MEC Line up to Beecher Falls and a passing siding.

ABOVE: The end of the shelf will terminate with 2 tracks serving the Ethan Allen Furniture plant. The rear track will be inside the factory (a shallow building flat) while the front track will be for overflow car storage. The NSRC will need to switch cars for the plant, pulling loads out of the building and spotting empty 40' boxcars inside. The loaded cars will then need to be delivered to the GT/MEC interchange.  A true short line operation! Below is part of the paper mill building mock up for Gilman VT, served by the MEC.

As of right now, all track is in place, wired and painted and weathered. I did test runs and applied CRC 2-26. The turnouts (6 total) have ground throws installed, pulled out to the front edge. I also installed magnetic uncoupling ramps to make things easier on the operators. The height makes them hard to see from a scenic perspective, and should reduce needing to reach in to manually uncouple. I tried to strategically place the magnets so they can serve multiple purposes using delayed uncoupling.

I need to update my paperwork for the NSRC train (which has never run yet) and the MEC TY-2 train, which will need to assemble its cars into a train instead of just pulling out from what was essentially a staging track.

ABOVE: Overview of the corner of the layout, with the paper mill in Groveton NH seen below, and North Stratford NH above. To the right is Beecher Falls. I had to pull out all the buildings in Groveton to do the wiring above. Really, it makes sense to do the upper levels first before the lower levels, but alls well in the end!

I'll probably hold off on any scenery until I get another Op session in and run up top to see how things go. But it won't take much really to get scenery in most areas. It will just be dirt and static grass mainly. There will be a need for trees near the station and out to the Ethan Allen plant. And then the plant structure itself. We'll see how that goes as I do need a number of trees in other parts of the layout to get them looking more finished.

Front End Friday #2

Maine Central GP38 #261 sits in St. Johnsbury yard. This stock Atlas model released in 2001sports the original as-delivered paint scheme.  I applied some additional details, including a horn that is close, but not an exact match, a firecracker antenna, side mounted bell, and an MU hose on the receptacles. It is also lightly weathered and has KD #158 couplers. It sports an older Soundtraxx sound decoder, and it prime for an upgrade to Loksound and iPhone speaker. Like most every Atlas unit, it continues to run and look great.

MEC 261 in original scheme. In late 1970s the Maine Central started a rebuild and repaint program. The nose herald was changed to a simple round pine tree logo, an quick and easy spotting difference. The number boards were usually switched to black numbers on a white background at this time. It also got a new air filter, changing the look of the roof right behind the cab. Atlas released versions with this difference, in the appropriate paint scheme, in 2004. 

Great Photos on Flickr

If you have not seen this (growing) collection of photos on Flickr, its worth checking out. Great images from MA, VT, NH, ME, NY, 1970s and 1980s.

The Michael C. Bump collection on Flickr:
https://flic.kr/ps/3pz4NQ

Images have been slowly added over the past few weeks, so worth a follow if you are on Flickr (you'll get a weekly email if any new photos are uploaded).

Wordless Wednesday #26

Wordless Wednesday #25

Photo by Glenn Salvatore, October 1978

Working on Whitefield

I've spent a few sessions continuing to work on the scenery in Whitefield, starting from the area where I added trees up to the diamond crossing. I ballasted the B&M and MEC tracks and added dirt and grass between. The MEC track is straight Arizona Rock ballast, NS/CSX blend. The B&M is a mixture that includes Northern Pacific gray along with sone various other ballasts I have on hand to create a dirty blend to represent older ballast. The MEC in my time period was regularly ballasting the Mountain Division and I wanted the clean look that is evident in many pictures.

The other areas include various Scenic Express blends of dirt and turf. I added static grass with a Noch Grassmaster, and also some sections of Heki wild grass fibers. I still plan to add more, and then fill in more trees as well.

It is nice to see the structures in a sceniced area. It is a lot of fun to bring the scene to life with some added details I've had for quite a while. Included is a casting for the B&M call box. Plenty of more details will be added, especially around the MEC section house. But for now it is a good start.

An overall view of area. In the back is a dark brown patch where I will add a structure for Whitefield Plastics.

A lower level view of the ball signal with a B&M and MEC train staged. 

Looking back towards the ball signal, this grade crossing links to the section house parking lot. Additional weeds and treatment to the gravel will be done here.

The siding for Whitefield Plastics is in place, but I need to build a structure and some tanks for the covered hoppers to unload. I like the way the the gravel road came out, which has a number of different materials added and final dusting of granite dust.

A close-up of the section house. Pretty cool Dodge pickup model that will look good in this prominent location. Just need to add the NH license plate decals.

Wordless Wednesday #20

Maine Central 564 - Good and Bad

I wrapped up the majority of the work on my 1970s version of Maine Central EMD GP7 #564. This unit was painted in a simplified green scheme used on a few locomotives starting in the late 1960s. It contrasts nicely with the harvest gold units that comprised the bulk of the MEC locomotive fleet of the day.

MEC 564 leads a short ballast extra through the White Mountains of New Hampshire in 1973. NERAIL photo by Jim Wright. 

Ted Houghton's image from rrpicturearchives.net provides a well lit side view of 564.

My model uses an Atlas GP7. I actually painted and decaled it (Microscale) a few years ago, but it has sat waiting for completion as other projects took priority. I found a need to get another MEC loco on the layout, so I pulled this unit out for finishing.

Added details include the front hood mount bell, the side mounted air horn and a winterization hatch. There are a few other details I can add, including a speed recorder and the correct MU stands, bt not having these on hand, they will have to wait.

The Microscale set is not the best representation of this paint scheme however, as it is a little too yellowish, and it also lacks the ring around the Pine Tree herald.

MEC 564 idles in St. Johnsbury

One thing that stands out nice on this unit is the Harvest Gold painted pilots.

I used mainly powders for weathering providing a good covering of rust, dust and soot.

However, not all was good unfortunately. I previously posted a picture of this unit showing the iPhone 4 speaker situated above the Tsunami decoder. The sound is great and after a little programming and adjusting the EQ, it sounds really nice.

That is until it stops making sound, or starts playing random horn sounds. Seems something is not right with the decoder. I tried a factory reset, and get the same results. It runs fine for a while, but sooner or later the sound cuts out, or the whole decoder cuts out and the loco stops. It is possible I damaged something doing the install, although this would be the first bad install after a couple dozen.

So it seems the remedy will be to carefully pop the shell back off and replace the decoder. It is ashame as I had it nicely speed matched with the Atlas factory-painted Harvest Gold GP7 565 shown above. As this was the last of the sound decoders I had on hand, the question now will be whether to go to Tsunami 2, to LokSound, as I would like to give them a try. Guess I'll have something to pick up next weekend at the Springfield show!

Wordless Wednesday #18

Small tasks

I have been doing a number of smaller tasks over the past few weeks. Just as important (sometimes more important) than the larger scenery or structure work, these are things that may not jump out for those visiting, but they help make the layout run better and look better.

After the last Op session, it was noted that 2 turnouts in St. Johnsbury were causing issues. One had a dead spot through the points and frog, and the other did not throw completely. I addressed these with a new feeder and a new throw bar. Small tasks, although it took a while to clear space under the yard to work, and then put everything back. I usually do not have to go under there.

The original throw bar rod was on the outside of the turnout, which worked, but over time was not as effective. A new hole was drilled one tie above the throwbar and a new wire bent and installed.

A simple bell crank method was employed to have the side to side throw of the Tortoise transferred to a twisting motion of the new throw rod. Thanks to Lionel Strang and the July 1997 issue of Model Railroader and a little foresight on my part, I had a photo copy of the article detailing this method right with my Tortoise supply should the need ever arise - now it did!

 I originally addressed the dead section of the other turnout using the Tortoise contacts. But I found that I was getting a short circuit as the machine threw. Seems the contacts would switch power before the point left one of the stock rails. I am sure there is a way around this, but I went the simple route and installed a Tam Valley Frog Juicer I had on hand.

I had purchased a number of Frog Juicers a few years back on a Black Friday special pricing sale. However this is the first I have needed to actually install to address a problem. I only have a few of these older "less than DCC friendly" turnouts where the points, closure rails and frog rely solely on contact at the points. 

I took the time while I was under there to solder feeder wires to each turnout in the yard should I need to address getting power to a dead point, closure rail and frog in the future on these older style turnouts. But I'm not going to invest in the time and cost of adding Frog Juicers unless (or until!) a problem arises.

I also addressed an issue with the Touch Toggle panel for St. Johnsbury yard. The frame I originally used had a cardboard back to press the toggles and paper schematic up agains the glass. Due to humidity this tended to not press tightly in the center area of the panel and operators had to press it from behind to put it up against the glass in order to get it to respond to a finger on the glass.

I solved this by going to a new frame with a wooden back piece that keeps everything firmly in place and tight to the glass. I also decided to screw it in place instead of velcro for a more stable panel.

The back of the new frame is a sturdy piece of hardboard to keep everything tight to the glass. All the wires from the individual toggles exit out the bottom where I cut notches to allow them to escape without pushing the back away from the frame.

The new panel installed with stainless steel screws. Works great! It is interesting to simply build a panel like this up in the kitchen and then just bring it down, plug it into the board and be done. A really nice solution.

I had previously nearly completed the ball signal and shack using the BEST trains kit, however I never did put a roof on the shack, so I completed that. I used sand paper and painted and weathered it as it better represents the look of the prototype in pictures around 1980.

Need some dirt, weeds and gravel so it doesn't look like a recent snowfall has occurred!

The rest of that BEST kit includes the car shed and office for the Maine Central in Whitefield. My wife started this kit a while back, and finished it up by adding the roof shingles and gluing the 3 completed separate sections she completed together into 1 structure. We did not notice at the time, but the 2 side walls of the main building were reversed, so I will end up with the shed being reversed from the prototype, but I doubt anyone will notice. If you think about the side door being used to store a track speeder, you can see the issue and why the office door should be on the opposite end!

The door on this end should really be on the other end facing to the East, with that attached shed on this end. No big deal, I think my wife did a pretty good job otherwise! Need to add a little scenery around here so it looks better.

When I was laying out the MEC track into Whitefield I included a turnout for a siding to a local industry. Sometime later I glued down some wood ties figuring I would hand lay the rails for the siding. I have not really hand laid any track on this layout, and have not done so since an earlier layout that was going to be all hand laid. I can tell you at this point I much prefer flex track and think it looks better when properly weathered. But it was fun going a little old school for this siding. Much harder to see those spikes these days however!

The new siding with hand laid code 70 track. Just need to fill in a couple missing ties by the turnout. Took about 30 minutes to get this in versus probably less than 5 minutes to lay down a piece of flex track.

The new siding is ready for operations. This will be Whitefield Plastics, which did exist but did not actually have rail service. I waybilled this Allegheny Midland covered hopper to haul in plastic pellets. I chose the AM car because it was Tony Koester who first exposed me to hand laying track with accounts of his AM layout in RMC back in the late 1970s when I was getting my start in the hobby. Seemed appropriate.

The prototype Whitefield office had a large pine tree logo on a metal panel affixed above the doorway. I thought this was a cool detail so using some MEC decals I prepared some MEC signage to use on the layout. I painted thin styrene and applied the decals. These are ready to cut out and install now.

Not sure where I will use them all, but I'll find someplace for them. The decals were from a Microscale caboose set that I probably will not need to use, although there are plenty left to do at least one caboose.

I started the process of building an Eastern White Pine tree as described by Mike Confalone. The trunk is a dowel with lots of holes drilled in it and then pieces of leafless cassia inserted and glued. Then the whole thing is painted with brown camo paint. Next steps involve spraying hair spray to the caspia and sprinkling green static grass to represent the needles. This is the first attempt, not sure if I have enough branches or not. But it is time consuming! For a good look at these completed, check out Ryan Mendall's post on Eastern White Pines on his excellent Algonquin Railway blog.

Looks like the Christmas Tree on top of the car in that commercial where they 2 cars race and blow off all the needles! Hopefully my next post on these trees will look more like a pine tree.

A while back I posted a picture of the roof of the FOS Scale Liqour store kit I was building. I finished up work on that by completing and installing the sign. I'm not sure I have a specific space for this on the layout, and it is a bit more modern due to the included signage (i.e. beer prices and logos not right for 1980), so I think this will go to the Free-mo module.

This was a fun kit to build and the interior pictures and other details making it come alive nicely.

I also quickly put together a Bar Mills Basics kit I had on the shelf. I was looking for something to do while watching some hockey on TV, and this simple kit easily fit the bill. The whole thing is easily assembled in one evening, producing 2 cool little buildings for the layout. I painted the structure gray first, then did a dry brushing of the red over top to give the effect of paint that has peeled and fallen off.

These will be useful to drop in on the layout. I figure one will serve well as the gate building for Hardwick Gravel, located next to a truck scale.

Finally, while shopping in IKEA I saw these neat little carts on wheels for $30. They are very sturdy and have pretty nice casters on them. I decided to buy a pair and use them for scenery material. It will be easier to roll these out then hand grabbing stuff off the shelves under the layout where it normally resides.

These come in white and black, but I really liked this orange color. Seems to match the room and fall layout colors better. I think I will be buying  a few more of these.

These small tasks activities, along with restaging the layout for the next Op Session (as well as changing some things in the Ops plan), plus general clean up for the open house, have kept me busy.

Next up is the open house (hopefully I'll remember to take some pics) and then I plan to finally start building the ET & HK Ice building and replace the stand-in photo mockup.

Wordless Wednesday #16

Wordless Wednesday #15

Wordless Wednesday #12

Op Session Stools, Crawford station platform

When I was getting ready for my first Op session last June, I wanted to make sure there were a few spots in the layout area where guys could get off their feet a bit. Sure, I have plenty of seating just outside the train room, but some guys working the yards would not get much of a chance to take a break, or even walk around too much. I know from my experience operating that it is nice to have a place to sit now and  then but still be at your "post".

I have 2 stools that are pushing 25 years old. They work great, but I really needed another 1 or 2 to augment these. Finding low cost, suitable stools was harder than I thought, so I made do with just these original 2, meaning no seats for a couple of the guys.

We were in Ikea this past weekend and I was happy to find a well made, inexpensive stool that fits the bill nicely. It is solid wood construction and comes home in a flat box that is easy to get in any car. It goes together in about 5 minutes using standard Ikea methods. And at $19 each, the price is hard to beat.

New Ikea stool on the left, and my much older one on the right. No cushioning on the new one, but still pretty comfortable. Adding a cushion wouldn't be tough. Both are just right for working the layout seated, which is about 48" off the floor here.

Part Number info should you be looking to grab one of these,

On the layout it self, I have been focusing on getting the area in Crawford prepared for the station which is nearly complete. I need to have a suitable base to raise the station to the proper level trackside, and also build out the asphalt platform area which extends to the left and right of the station.

This area has a foam base installed slightly below track level. I used some gator foam and styrene to build up a base for the station and provide support for the platform extensions. I let this dry thoroughly, then cut the first platform extension from styrene and used strips to get the height to match that of the plaster base of the station. Next up will be repeating this for the other side, then painting these to look like the asphalt seen in pictures circa 1980.

This side of the platform is installed, butted up against the plaster station base. As you can see, I needed to bring the height up quite a bit to match the prototype which is about even with the top of the railhead. A scenic base will be built up to the platform and the ballast will level out on the track side.  

Once in place, I will be able to build up the scenery around this, add the parking lot and large boulders, and bring this scene closer to complete.

Getting a look at things to come...The platform on this side will be shorter. I'll build that in the next work session. I placed a U18B here to get a feel for the overall look of things and the setback of the station compared to prototype photos. 

Wordless Wednesday #4

Wordless Wednesday #1

Power for Maine Central YQ-1

As I continue to prepare for the first Op Session, I am getting down to a short list of things to do and finalize that are critical to the session. Would I like more scenery, some more completed buildings, details, etc.? Absolutely, but none of that will ensure a successful operating session. They would make it nicer, but if certain things are not done, like locomotive assignments and staging set up, it will only be an open house, not an op session.

Next on the list was locomotive power for the Maine Central local YQ-1, an out and back (returning as QY-2) from St. Johnsbury to Whitefield. Looking at the available units, I saw a few GP7s and GP38s. This job usually ran with one or two GP7s, but on occasion other power was used. I decided to MU GP38 258 and GP7 562. These are both Atlas units and have similar operating characteristics, They also both have Soundtraxx sound decoders making speed matching a little easier.

Speed matching 258 and 562 in St. Johnsbury

I installed the sound decoders in these units over 10 years ago, and they are pre-Tsunami DSD decoders. As such, they no longer really sound as great, especially with Tsunami and Lok Sound decoders on the layout elsewhere. However for now, they will give the train crew sound, which to me really is necessary in order to enjoy running your train.

After speed matching was the important step of sound levels. First, these have different speakers, but more importantly I am finding the need to reduce volumes significantly overall now that most locomotives have sound. And in an op session environment, it would be ideal if only the general area occupied by the operator had that loco's sound, and could not be heard across the room.

Power for YQ-1 is ready and idling on a siding in St. Johnsbury yard

I also addressed sound levels on a few other locos to get them ready for assignments. After working on the new B&M 200 Bicentennial unit, I used it to move some TOFC cars back to the staging yard. It got me to thinking about the Central Vermont's Rocket train, and perhaps using 200 on this indicating a special service being inaugurated. For now, the TOFC is on the back burner for an Op session, but I do have staging yard capacity, and it might be a cool train to end the session with, running from East Deerfield up to Newport.

Boston & Maine #200, an EMD GP38-2 delivered in 1973 as #212 and still looking good in it's Bicentennial paint scheme 5 years after it was applied, leads a special Trailer-on-Flatcar train consisting of leased Impak 5-unit spine cars. Looking to emulate the success of the Central Vermont's Rocket TOFC service, this new expedited train is being tried as a joint venture between the Canadian Pacific and the Boston & Maine to take trucks off the highway between Montreal and Springfield, MA.