The Average Eastern

[VonRyan]

Concrete is going to be almost impossible to sand when it comes time to smooth out the roadbed.
I give you a ton of credit for not being afraid to try something. Then again, your own limited budget is a lot less limited than mine. Unless my work undoes the hours cut, I'm looking at about only $45 a week. And I'm still in debt to my mom for a good $150.


-Cody F.

[CodyO]

How bout re-naming Clark summit,
"Clark's Summit"?
Clark's summit is a town in PA just north of Scranton, feel like it rolls off the tongue better!

[kelticsylk]

Concrete is going to be almost impossible to sand when it comes time to smooth out the roadbed.
I give you a ton of credit for not being afraid to try something. Then again, your own limited budget is a lot less limited than mine. Unless my work undoes the hours cut, I'm looking at about only $45 a week. And I'm still in debt to my mom for a good $150.


-Cody F.

Maybe I could use a cold chisel 

The concrete shell is definitely hard and almost self supporting. Next we're gonna try mason mix. It's used as mortar for bricks. Right now I'm working on the cardboard support for the rest of the scenery.

How bout re-naming Clark summit,
"Clark's Summit"?
Clark's summit is a town in PA just north of Scranton, feel like it rolls off the tongue better!

I went to training there. The teamsters had a driving school in the area and we lived in a hotel on Route 6 / 11. It was two lanes back then. I guess it was around 1977. Clark's Summit it shall be.

[kelticsylk]

Hollow Mountain And The Split River Gorge

Been at it for a few day and it's time to take a break. Sit back with a cold brew and type...

Roughing in the scenery on the eastern end of the AE took an abrupt turn this week. Construction turned to demolition when I realized the whole Q Company scenario wasn't gonna cut it. It cramped that end of the layout. It also made it well nigh impossible to deal with the triple crossing at Hollow Mountain. Lucky for me that the layout is styrofoam and cardboard. It's easy to make changes and the oversight can be removed in one piece...

Demolished East End

Demolished Carbon Point

Q Co Trashed

The Q Co spline has already been recycled into other parts of the layout.

Removing the coal company's right of way sure simplified things. It opened up the area and allowed me to handle a number of issues with the tunnels under the mountain...

New Eastern End

You can see by the revised plan that there is much more space between the AE right of way and the two track Class 1 (currently DL&W). I turned the Split River "west" and used it to separate the two railroads. It runs through a deep ravine somewhat like the Lehigh Gorge. Just like the Lehigh, the river banks are shared by two competing railroads. When the river makes a sharp turn around Hollow Mountain the railroads have to meet it head on and tunnel through.

The town in this area has also changed. The quarry now sits against the mountain. The foundry is now located farther east. The church, gas station, diner and depot are now between the two industries. With the coal company gone the town needs a new name. I'm thinking of calling it Blair Furnace. Kind of a tribute to the failed Pennsy layout.

East End is still East End with a simplified track arrangement. There is no town or industry here, just the interchange and engine facilities.

I'm still building the cardboard support structure on this side of the layout but the general features are roughed in...

Split River

In the image above the view is west towards Hollow Mountain. Blair Furnace (formerly Carbon Point) is to the right of the AE mainline.

Looking East

Looking back from the mountain you can see the ravine and Othir Mountain running along the right side. Can't actually build a mountain, it's an aisle, but I can suggest it exists. From the aisle you have to look over the base of Othir Mountain to see the trains.

I'm in the process of making Hollow Mountain taller. In some places it was just barely higher than the AE roadbed. I actually want it to tower over the trains. I'm raising the entire ridge along the Average side of the layout from Gateway to Clark's Summit...

New Ridgeline

The new summit is just being added to the original by attaching longer vertical supports to the existing matrix. These new supports have "V" shaped cross section that stiffens them and allows them to stand on their own. It's a  mere skeleton at present. I'll just keep adding supports and cross braces on 4" - 6" centers.

The Clark's Summit end has also been widened. During operations it was discovered that some curves were too tight. The Pennsy I1s (2-10-0) stalls or derails on the inner track at Hollow Mountain and Clark's Summit. I widened the right of way another inch, essentially creating a five track roadbed. All the tracks are moved an inch further out. This should increase the minimum radius and allow the long coupled locomotives to negotiate all the curves...

Clark's Summit Before

Clark's Summit Now

That's it for this entry. More to come.

Regards,
Frank Musick

Building a dream layout on a nightmare budget

The Average Eastern Railroad

[kelticsylk]

More Scenery

Latest progress on scenery. It took forever to build the cardboard support for tHollow Mountain. I'm seeing cardboard in my sleep. It was worth it as this view from a canoe on the Split may attest...

Clark's Summit

The canoe didn't get far, there's no water in the river yet.

The other summit of Hollow Mountain, Gateway, won't receive its full shell until Blair Furnace and East End are roughed in. There is another "mountain" between the two yet to be named...

Gateway From The Gorge

The Quotidian side of Hollow Mountain has its first layer of shell applied...

Hollow Mountain From Hospital Hill

It looks better than I thought it would. The PRR tracks are dwarfed, just as they should be. You should be able to make out the ledge where the AE clings to the slope just above the four track mainline...

Hollow Mountain

The concrete coating on Othir Mountain and the Gorge was our first batch and not thinned enough to work right. It crumbled and had to be recovered in gypsum. It did look pretty authentic though with all the rock & debris in the riverbed. Some of the concrete is still in place and can be seen in the center of the photo...

Othir Mountain and The Gorge

The Average side of Hollow Mountain is ready for shell as soon as I remove all the screws that clamp the cardboard together.

I've been going through all my old Model Railroader magazines for structures and other scenery items. I found quite a few bridges that can be used. The AE may end up with wooden trusses and trestles. The stone and steel bridges will be used on the Class 1's.

Speaking of the Class 1's, I think I have mentioned in the past that the layout is generic. The two railroads the AE connects with can represent any road. The PRR and the Lackawanna are the current choices but other roads will also be represented. I picked up an Erie E unit at N Scale Supply for $25...

Erie E-8

I've been buying up decal sets for other roads. I have an E-6 that will wear the B&O set. CNJ, Reading, Lackawanna, Lehigh Valley and New Haven sets are already on my workbench as are the locomotives they are meant for.

Regards,
Frank Musick

Building a dream layout on a nightmare budget

The Average Eastern Railroad

[kelticsylk]

Carbon Point Resurrected

As I've mentioned before, sometimes the obvious escapes me. While it was necessary to eliminate the Q Co trackage from the layout it never ocurred to me to keep the colliery. The idea must have bubbled around in my subconscious because it came to me while I was roughing in the last mountain. Daugherty's foundry probably wouldn't generate as much traffic as a coal mine. So I sat down at the computer and worked out how to add Colliery #10 back into the scheme of things.

The first idea was to invert the town. I ran the road down the center. Then I flipped the gas station and diner so they faced said road. I added homes across the main road. The colliery ended up on the Hollow Mountain end of town while I left the quarry pretty much where it was... 

Carbon Point "Reimagined"

Of course being who I am I had to change the design. I flipped the colliery and the quarry to opposite ends. I liked everything else so I left it alone...

Carbon Point Flipped

Even though I laid out design number two the first idea won out. The scenery dictated the actual locations of the industries. The shape of Hollow Mountain dictated the quarry be located at the east end of town...

Carbon Point

Of course with the coal mine added back and the foundry gone I had to restore the former name. I named the new mountain to reflect this...

Carbon Ridge

Just as Hollow Mountain separates Average from the rest of the layout, so too does Carbon Ridge isolate East End. The interchange is crowded into the space between the two track main and the ridge...

East End

A simple revision at East End will affect operations on the AE. I simplified the engine facilities. While locomotives can still top off their fuel and water, they are no longer turned for the trip west. This saved a bit of space and made it easier to make the area work. There are quite a few small railroads like the AE that run their engines backwards (Strasburg, Buffalo Creek & Gauley, etc)...

Simplified East End

The turntable at Average may or may not be eliminated. A number of switches would be required instead. A three way switch might work in the same space. Have to think on it awhile.

With most of the scenery in I started laying new ballast strip. The old strips are now under the shell, creating a new roadbed. The new ballast strip is narrow, about the same dimension as the tie length. It makes for better looking track. I laid the new track, gluing it in place. The track nails hold it in palce until the glue sets. I used tacky glue to fasten the track to the roadbed. The glue will hold the track firmly while it's tacky property gives me plenty of time to make sure the track is exactly where I want it...

First Permament Track At Average

The power leads were left in place from the preliminary layout so the new track could be powered as soon as it was layed. This way I'm able to run test trains and check things out as I go. Gives me a chance to break in the new Erie unit...

Test Train At Clark's Summit

Super-elevation on curves is created by placing 0.020 thick plastic strips under the outer rail...

Superelevation

Regards,
Frank Musick

Building a dream layout on a nightmare budget

The Average Eastern Railroad

[Chris333]

Nightmare budget?  I think I see $20,000 worth of drywall screws 

[kelticsylk]

Nightmare budget?  I think I see $20,000 worth of drywall screws 

I just the same box over and over and over....

[Chris333]

I just the same box over and over and over....

Funny I do the same thing. Every time I tear something down the box gets filled back up.

[kelticsylk]

One Thing Leads To Another

This has nothing to do with model railroads per se, but I couldn't help myself. Saw this in the parking lot when attending my granddaughter's dance recital...

Ford COE

High "cool quotient" in that ride. Not sure of the exact year but '39 to '41 seems close enough.

As for the layout, the more I deal with these construction methods the more I like them. I don't have to be afraid of tearing up and redoing a section. After the first loop of track was permanently fastened down I encountered serious derailment issues. There were two sections of roadbed that were definite trouble. One was at Clark's Summit where a defect in the roadbed caused the superelevation to become excessive. The Erie test unit kept flopping over. The other problem occured inside Hollow Mountain. I used 1" thick styrofoam when I revised the roadbed and it doesn't flex as well as I like. The result was not a smooth sweeping curve. I redid the roadbed using laminated 1/2" strips...

Revised Roadbed In Hollow Mountain

Of course to get at the curve I had to peel away the mountain. A few quick slices took care of that. I also cut away the roadbed in the tracks above. They're as easy to replace as the mountain itself.

This modification also allowed me to realign the approaches to the tunnel through the mountain. Based on a few influences, like the Pennsy's penchant for twin tunnels, I used two bores at each end. I was able to provide smooth curves at both places...

Four Track West Portal

Four Track East Portal

As for the problem at Clark's summit the only way to resolve it properly was to make sure the roadbed was level. While I was at it I went over all the roadbed for the four track spreading a viscous mixture of gypsum with a brush...

Resurfaced Roadbed, Clark's Summit

Resurfaced Roadbed, Average

Once the gypsum dries I'll check the roadbed and make adjustments. The cork will then be glued in place and track relaid. A test train will be run as the track goes down to make sure things are what they should be.

Regards,
Frank Musick

Building a dream layout on a nightmare budget

The Average Eastern Railroad





 

[S Class]

This is really starting to come along. I reckon this will look fantastic once 'done'

[kelticsylk]

GENERICITY

There has been a long hiatus. Work on the Average Eastern stopped about two months ago. Other things grabbed my attention and I haven't made any efforts to get back to it. Reading through the seventy years or so of modeling magazines has been the bulk of railroading related activity. I started out looking for plans of items that might fit on the layout and scanning those I liked. Lately I done little but page through. Presently I'm working through Model Railroader issues from 1990.

I haven't, however, stopped thinking about the layout. One recurring theme has been the opportunities afforded by the "genericity" of the Average Eastern. Originally the idea was summed up by the name. It was to be a presentation of a "typical" short line in the eastern United States. The class one railroads that interchanged with the AE could be any major railroad that served that area of the country. It allows me to model many of my favorites. The previous (and incomplete) layout attempted to capture the essence of the Pennsy and I felt it fell far short of that goal. While the new incarnation still has sections of four track right of way, they are meant to represent any of the similar mainlines seen in northeast America...

Average Eastern: July 15th, 2014

This is also true of the section of double track. This was pretty common on other railroads in the same area. Most of the lines the in the northeast started in the early 19th century. Multiple tracks were the only way to handle the traffic density in the area. Modern CTC did not exist. Even telegraphy was still in the future. There was no other way to avoid congestion and/or collisions.

It has occurred to me that these multi-track sections can also represent other railroads. The double track sections could be used as a single mainline with sidings while the quadruple track sections can be used as two track the same way.

The other thing I've thought about is using the actual Allegheny Eastern track to serve as a branch of one of class 1 lines. If I use the yard at Quotidian as an interchange I could even model two branches of two different railroads. Rather than run Average Eastern motive power, the equipment would reflect the parent road.

Using the scenario described above, the layout could represent almost any railroad. The locale could be anywhere from California to Maine. The only feature that limits this idea is the Hollow Mountain area at Average, a section that I have doubts about anyway. There is something just not right about it. To fit a mountain high enough to serve as a view block I had to make some compromises. The side of the mountain that towers over the "west" end of the AE is much too steep. It is also concave, with the top overhanging and threatening the small town of Average...

Average

Reducing the height of the mountain is possible. I built it high thinking I needed to clear the upper "level", the two track section and the east end of the AE. I thought I would need a high mountain to legitimize the tunnels under Gateway Point. Not all railroad tunnels, however, bore through high obstacles. There are quite a few that appear in places where a cut would seem a more likely solution. Apparently tunnels are cheaper than very deep cuts and are used whenever possible. Looking at East End you can see that a lower height also works...

East End

The height of the mountain in this section can be reduced quite a bit. If I cut it down to that third horizontal cardboard strip it would become a hill and still serve as a view block...

Hollow Hill, East End

The barrier that looms above Average can also be cut down in the same fashion...

Clark's Summit

I'm thinking this not only expands the layouts adaptability, it also makes it more realistic.

This does not, however, imply that UP Challengers or Missabe Yellowstones will grace the AE rails. I'm still focused on the railroads of the northeast for now, but don't be surprised if L&N or Rutland equipment appears at some point. The idea of D&H Challengers or C&O Alleghenies pounding along the Split River is not too far fetched. Anything might show up...

Seaboard "Centipede" Citrus Scheme

Regards,
Frank Musick

Building a dream layout on a nightmare budget

The Average Eastern Railroad

[poppy2201]

I really enjoy this thread.  There are some techniques going on that are very interesting, some of which I may eventually have to incorporate.

Regards,
Charles

[kelticsylk]

SPIDERS

Progress is at a minimum, meaning work on the layout is at a dead stop. I wish I could blame it on summer and all the time I'm spending out of doors, but I can't. I just haven't had the ambition. After getting the four track roadbed realigned and leveled out things came to a screeching halt. The only changes made since were constructed by spiders.

I haven't been completely dormant, however. This week I got it in my head to remove all the flotsam and jetsam that was hiding the workbench. Tools, materials, and everything else had been piled on this conveniently horizontal surface. I did my spring cleaning about three months too late and reorganized the whole shebang. After clearing the work top (a lot of stuff is now layed out on the layout) I started going through the three boxes that hold all my paints. I have always hated rummaging for the color I was looking for. I had the most commonly used colors towards the front in one box but it was still a matter of hunting when I needed the metalizer for a smoke box. To add to the aggravation the boxes rested on a shelf about 12" deep that got in the way of quite a few other things. To remedy this issue I removed said shelf and built VERY narrow shelves just deep enough to hold a paint bottle. At 42" in length each of the new shelves can hold a whole lot of those small bottles used for model paint...

99 Bottles of paint on the shelves, 99 bottles of paint...

With all the paints out of the way I started sorting the hundred or so tools I've collected over the years. I cast aside any tools that were not specifically for modeling. Things like a foot long bastard file and the three sets of duplicate pliers. I decided I only really needed one jewelers/coping saw and retired the other two. There was also a plethora of electrical parts, pens, plastic paperclips and a dozen Sharpees. Shouldn't forget to mention the overabundance of magnifers and other paraphenalia. I relocated some shelving that was at the side of the workbench and found I had a place for those drawer cabinets full of parts and projects. Hell, I even had room for my seldom used airbrush (more on the later). I went to Home Depot and picked up two magnetic bars to hold the tools I had decided to keep. The bars run along each side of the worktop. The tools stick like they were glued there...

Almost Organized

With everything in it's place I decided to start working on side projects that have been on hold for months, if not years. The new scheme of the Average Eastern involves a lot more that "just" the Pennsylvania Railroad so I decided I would repaint and re-letter some equipment for the other roads represented on the layout. The first step was removing paint from some of the locomotive shells I want to "re-purpose".

The first shells to be stripped were four ALCO cab units and a Fairbanks Morse road switcher. Two DL109's are destined to become New Haven Class DER-1a...

A Plethora of Paint Schemes

The biggest problem is choosing which of the plethora of New Haven paint schemes to use on these two locomotives. The two red liveries are easy. I won't use them. The red, black and white "McGuiness" paint did not appear until about 1956. The Average Eastern is set in an earlier time. The other red, the "Cranberry" was a one off that only appeared on a specific train that ran between Boston and Hyannis, Massachusetts...

The "Cranberry"

Lucky me...now I only have seven paint schemes to choose from.

Then two FA units are to be repainted for the Lehigh & New England and the Lehigh Valley. I was originally going to paint both units for the L&NE. I may still do that...

Lehigh & New England #701

Still, I think I'd like to have an LV engine to go with my new Lehigh Valley caboose...

LV # 95067

#95067 is just one of the several cabeese I've been gathering. The genericity of the Average Eastern allows me a bit of artistic license in choosing what to model...

Cabeeses

There is a Lehigh & New England "crummie" to the left of the Lehigh & Hudson River hack. The unlettered N5 will be repainted for the New York, New Haven & Hartford. There is also a Reading caboose laying around here somewhere.

Anyway, the FM H-15-44 will become a Jersey Central FPSD-37 Class that was painted in a kind of "transition" paint scheme. The only locomotive to wear this livery, #1502 was dressed in "Seamist" blue with tangerine stripes...

"Seamist" Blue

I started with the DL109's first. Because Testors has decided to cancel most of their model railroad colors I had purchased some Badger "AccuFlex" paints. Badger still sells paints like "New Haven Pullman Green" and "Lackawanna Gray". That's the good news. The bad news is that the paint is not friendly to brush painters like me. For years now I have painted ALL my models using a brush and achieved flawless finishes. In my humble opinion, the Badger paint sets up too fast to work with a brush. This makes plenty of sense considering Badger specializes in air brush sales. So I switched to a dark green color from Floquil (I think) and it went on the way I thought it should. The paint is thin enough to flow evenly, but requires several coats. Thinking about it, I realized that if I gonna paint several coats I may as well dust off the air brush. That way I'll get nice even coverage. I'll also be able to paint multiple color and stripes, something that is a lot more work with a traditional brush.

I'm constructing a paint booth so I don't airbrush the entire garage. Then there will have to be a bit of practice so I can relearn how to use the damnable thing.

Regards,
Frank Musick

Building a dream layout on a nightmare budget

The Average Eastern Railroad

[pjm20]

The unlettered N5c will be repainted for the New York, New Haven & Hartford.

Bowser produces a N5 lettered for NYNH&H and New Haven, unless you really want a N5c.