Wisconsin Central - Heritage Division

[w neal]

Abutment work. Bridge work next.

[w neal]

Converting to LED lighting continues. Vive la difference.





Also increased color temps and more lumens. It's brighter and I guess that's good for me.

Old:





New:

[w neal]

Looking forward to developing this scene of the Wisconsin River crossing in Stevens Point. Along with the other signature scenes in "Point", I hope I can do it justice. Although the scene won't be very deep, I'm kinda glad it falls this way on the layout. A large power dam spans the river near here and will make a good backdrop. Also, a separate "pipeline bridge" crosses here right next to the railroad's. Fortunately, it'll fall on the far side in this scenario and will be less unphotogenic that way. (Wink wink, nudge nudge) The bad news is I don't own a drone and will have to borrow one to get the background photo I need.

The bridges are a bit of a cop out. In the past few years since roughing in this scene,  Walthers released their version. I tried out one but found that they were longer and would necessitate rebuilding the roadbed. Plus, it's girders were less of a match to the prototype than the ones pictured here. And since I do not own a 3-D printer, I figure these will do. In any case, after viewing this scene without any sort of background for years, its good just to have it lighted and with the beginnings of a backdrop.

[w neal]

Apparently, the real bridge is nicknamed the black bridge, as it used to be painted black. The silver bridge next to it carries a city water pipe. I'm told this pipe used to be carried on the railroad bridge, but trains kept facilitating cracks to form in it. Here is an overview of the area I borrowed:




You can see the elements I'm going to try to represent. My setting for this scene is only a foot deep, so I'll have to represent the Consolidated paper mill nearby (versus upstream) from the bridge, as can be seen pictured above it. The real bridge spans are longer in real life than my models. Remember, I'm not scale modeling per se. I'm only simulating the real thing. I figure the bridges will at least decently represent the prototype, sorta.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I wonder how many "Black Bridges" there are. I know of at least three now off the top of my head.

[Cajonpassfan]

Abutment work. Bridge work next.

Great to see progress; nice work.
One suggestion: I'd beef up the abutment walls a bit, they look way too thin. Perhaps just along the top?
Looking forward to seeing more. Good lighting makes a huge difference.
Otto K.

[w neal]

Hear ya. Wall thickness is thin indeed. However, that was a "drone" shot. Most times, it'll be viewed from this sort of angle.

[w neal]

The views are more like this; closer to eye level.





Or this:





Oh, and if you're wondering why the pole lines go up in the air and flatten out? They're making their ascent to the tall towers seen above.

[w neal]

More lighting work. Glad I can motivate myself to work in the basement this time of year. It gets rather cold down there as it's uninsulated. Compare this photo with the previous one, although taken at a different angle. And kindly ignore the clutter on the lower level, it is unfinished after all. The blackness is the upper valence.











Leaning at a 25 degree or more angle backwards to get at wiring hidden behind a tall valence is something only more dedicated modelers like us can handle. My upper valence is over 2 feet deep to the ceiling. They'll never make an olympic event out of it. But I'd love to see them try eh? Yeesh! It's a new kind of yoga.










Of course, I managed to bust the tops off a few super trees. But they do get replanted as youthful members of the forrest. When they say don't throw out the smaller pieces of the supertrees, they do mean it.

[w neal]

And, the last of the original lights gets replaced by LEDs. Everything is of course brighter at 5000k, rather than 4100k. Do I like it better? Meh. There is a step up in terms of lumens, not just the color. But as someone else stated "If I'm going to ask my operators to attempt to read N Scale road numbers..."  I was forced to deal with mounting the under cabinet LED lights into order to fill in the gaps between the "tube lights". It created a couple bright spots on the backdrop etc, but it's not too bad. Besides, maybe it's a partly sunny day eh?













I was going to mention that this narrow shelf is actually my favorite part of the layout. It's part of the transition between the 2 levels. I decided to scenic it. The fun part is that a major passing siding and even one customer are located here. I like how trains appear from somewhere, possibly interact, and disappear to somewhere. All in a separate room from the rest of the layout too. Gotta love N scale. So much that can be included on a narrow shelf. If it were HO, I'd be lucky to get in a single track and a bit of drainage ditches on each side. Perhaps the passing siding would fit on the wider portion seen above, but it wouldn't hold a 50 car train I bet. Does that make me a scale-ist? Naw, just happy to be modeling in N.

[MK]

Watch that drain pipe!    

[w neal]

You noticed. A purposeful subtle hint to keep visitors from snooping! 

Not really. Seeing how my builder and heating/air installer were kind enough to keep the major appliances off to one side of the basement (furnace, water heater, etc) thus allowing more layout area, I decided I could live with a small obstruction like that. It falls pretty much at the end of the scenery anyways and there is no industry to switch there. Just a place to watch trains roll. Saul Goode. Besides, if that won't stop 'em, it'll be fun watching them fall into the Sarlacc sump pit!

It's a funny thing. A hidden helix drove one visitor insane during an open house. It's viewable from a special window in the layout room, but physically hidden in an adjacent storage room. He kept asking my wife to see it during an open house for my local NMRA group. Likely due to the mess, she kept refusing him. Somehow he just couldn't deal with not being in the same room with it, although he could see nearly all of it from the layout room. Mind you, he was not operating any train, just observing. People are entertaining. Wife and I still chuckle about it.

[w neal]

Hanging some pictures and maps around the crew lounge. This also helps get clutter out of the layout room itself! I decided to hang my official Wisconsin Central system maps on both sides of the door to the layout room so that it can be a "discussion starter" with the door closed and when it's open during operations or layout tours.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I like that! It's a good orientation too.

[w neal]

Spent some time improving these locos for ore train service  (seen here via "drone" shot). Just adding the factory sunshades, silvering those glad hands, shortening the front couplers, etc. Weathering to follow. More wonderful run through power for ore trains bound for Ohio etc. They are passing my version of the Wiouwash Trail near Neenah. The trail is former CNW, I think. Gotta love the Denver, Lake Erie & Western. No. Wait. Lake Erie, Western & Rio Grande, No. Wheeling & Rio Grande Western. No. That's not right. It's...

Monty Python's Flying

Oh bugger