BNSF Front Range Subdivision - CO-WY State Line

[chuck geiger]

Thanks Chris coming from you, that is quite a compliment, I put you up there as a master blaster. Yeah, and getting into tight areas
with the charged strainer is tough. I watched a video where a guy applied Elmer's glue on a brush to the area to be grassed. The
fibers literally shot out of it to the glue base. I used the glue treatment over glue/water sprayed or paint. It does work better.
What method do you use Chris? (Looked like he had a Noch applicator, mine cost 6 bucks to make, 4 for the swatter and 2 for alligator
clips).

Not a valid vimeo URL

[chuck geiger]

Weekend wrap-up:

[SSW7771]

The grass looks great. Also great progress on your layout too, much faster than me.

[Chris333]

I made mine from a fly swatter as well. Someone now sells a grass applicator that looks like it was made from a swatter for like $40 

http://www.micromark.com/economy-static-grass-applicator-by-grass-tech-usa,10399.html

[wcfn100]

I made mine from a fly swatter as well. Someone now sells a grass applicator that looks like it was made from a swatter for like $40 

http://www.micromark.com/economy-static-grass-applicator-by-grass-tech-usa,10399.html

There's a guy who's always at the Rocky Mountain Toy Show selling those.  It's hard not to tell people they cost $7 to build.

The version that had the ion generator is more powerful.  If you use it on a foam base, the little pieces make an audible thud when they hit. 

Jason

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Damn Chuck, you're really nailing it. This looks great.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

There's a guy who's always at the Rocky Mountain Toy Show selling those.  It's hard not to tell people they cost $7 to build.

Jason

That also feels somewhat dangerous/illegal...

[chuck geiger]

You boys are too kind...Can bacon be used as roadbed?

[chuck geiger]

This is for Ed:

[chuck geiger]

1604, Class GP-9, was built in February 1957, #22713, as NP 310. It became BN 1748, Class GP-9, in 1970 and became BNSF 1604, Class GP9, in June 1998. It was retired in June 2000. On our sub, it will be used to haul short grain loads from Wellington, CO to Cheyenne to the UP interchange.

[chuck geiger]

The Front Range Subdivision is a total of 237 miles from Denver, Colorado to Wendover, Wyoming, and is part of the C&S Railway, now owned by BNSF. The line has one crew change point, and is located at Cheyenne, Wyoming. The line is Track Warrant Controlled from Clear Creek (Denver) all the way to Wendover. The line sees roughly 2 - 8 trains per day, featuring two locals, three manifests, a intermodal train, and a sulfur train. The line also sees two coal trains that operate on each end of the line. The line also sees an occasional autorack train traveling to Portland, Oregon from Denver. The line also features classic street running in the town of Fort Collins, Colorado. The BNSF interchanges with the Great Western Railway in Longmont, Loveland, and Fort Collins. The Front Range Sub features three yards north of Denver in the towns of Longmont, Fort Collins and Cheyenne. BNSF operates two branch lines off of the Front Range Subdivision. The Lafayette Branch running from Broomfield, Colorado to Lafayette, Colorado. The other branch is the Barnett Branch that runs from Longmont to Lyons, where a cement plant is served by the BNSF a couple of times a week with cement and coal hoppers. There are three power plants located on the line between Denver and Wendover. The Valmont Power Plant owned by Xcel Energy in Boulder, Colorado sees a coal train a couple of times of week. It is interchanged with the UP in Denver and UP Power stays on the train with a BNSF unit and BNSF crew placed on the train. The train runs with XCLX Trinity 5 Bay Hoppers. The next power plant is located out in the high plains north of Fort Collins. Its the Rawhide Power Plant, which recieves a load of Powder River Coal every other day. The train has 75 - 85 RAWX Gondolas and is loaded at the Antelope Mine. The last power plant located on the Front Range Subdivison is located near Wendover, at a place called Moba. The Power Plant is owned by Wheatland, Wyoming and sees several coal trains a week from various mines from Powder River. There is a passing siding roughly ever 15 - 20 miles ranging from 6,000ft to 8,000ft. Max speed for the line is 49MPH. So I hope that gives you a rough overview on what the Front Range Subdivision is like. So again, if you want to help me on this project, feel free to reply on here or send me a PM. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

P.S. Here are pics of what the Front Range Subdivision is like.
http://www.coloradorailfan.com/galle...ery.asp?sub=FR

[Brian M]

At times, traffic on the line can be quite diverse.  Not sure of the frequency, but they send unit trains of wind turbine blades heading south on a regular basis, with the empty flats going back north.  It will also get an occasional military transport train pass through.  And a couple of summers ago, when there was serious flooding on their lines through Nebraska, the BNSF was sending 737 fuselages north on the Front Range.  Lately, they've been performing track work east of Denver, and diverting empty unit coal trains along the Front Range division to ease traffic around Denver.  The tracks pass about 300 feet from my house in Louisville, so I can keep tabs on things without getting up from the dinner table.   

-Brian.

[chuck geiger]

Thanks Brian, going to run it as a Track Warrant Control - had to do a John Allen and make some longer switches (cutdown #5 ATL C-55's) in to shorter turnouts.

2 hours ago
Tricks with N scale track
Read this N scale column from the January 2013 Model Railroader
By Jim Kelly  |  Published: Wednesday, November 21, 2012
RELATED TOPICS: N SCALE | TRACK
Tricks with N scale track

At top is an Atlas code 55 no. 5 turnout that Jim has prepared for installation in a tight space, and below is a turnout straight out of the box.You bought 'em, you can modify 'em. Some four decades ago I was looking at a John Allen photo taken on his fabulous HO scale Gorre & Daphetid. The subject was rail activity at his city of Port, and I was especially struck by how compact his trackwork was. In some places the points for one switch almost touched those of the next. John had laid his track by hand, but I realized you can come close to doing the same thing with ready-made turnouts. It’s just a matter of screwing up the courage to nip off some rail. At that time, it was quite the insight. I guess I believed that there were laws governing model railroading products, and chief among them was that they should never be modified. To do so would invite an unpleasant, late-night visit from the model railroading police.

Since that time I’ve been merrily modifying turnouts, and doing so has let me get tracks into some pretty tight spaces. After all, if you can save an inch in N scale, that’s a little over 13 scale feet! Here are some precautions to keep in mind, though. Right now I’m working with Atlas code 55 turnouts, which can be modified from the point end with no problems. Just cut the rail so you still have two or three ties remaining ­after you’ve removed several ties to make room for the rail joiners. But I’ve learned the hard way not to mess with the rails at the frog end. Those rails are short to begin with, so you can’t gain much, plus it’s easy for those short pieces of diverging rail to roll and come loose from their moorings.

I’ve found two ways to fix that problem if it occurs. The first is to secure the short length of rail with cyanoacrylate adhesive. The better way is to extend the rail end of the adjoining track piece all the way to the frog, replacing that little piece ­altogether. This will give a neater, more permanent fix, and track that is much more likely to stay in gauge.
And as long as we’re cutting rail, my recommendation is you invest in a good set of rail nippers. Mine are by Xuron, and for many years they’d cut so cleanly the joiner would slip right on. But they’ve cut a heck of a lot of rail over the years, and now, about half the time I need to clean up the cut a bit with a flat needle file. (I could buy new nippers, but I’m almost finished with track laying – knock on plywood.)

If the rail joiner won’t slip on, don’t fight it. File and fix the rail ends. And once the joiner is on, look closely to make sure it really is. It’s easy for one end of the joiner to go under the rail instead of enclosing it. I’ve done this many times, and sometimes didn’t find the problem until considerably later. That’s why I always make sure to trim back the ties so that the rail joiner can be slid ­entirely onto one rail end or the other.

I don’t solder the joints on straight sections, as that makes removing a turnout for repair or replacement much more difficult. (I almost never have to remove a turnout, but if I soldered the joint, I’m convinced that would jinx me.)I’m sure that nearly all of you already remove those awful-looking D-shaped combo ties at the ends of turnouts and sectional track pieces. A good way to remove them is to lay the track rail-side down on a hard surface and shear them off with a chisel-bladed hobby knife. To fill the gaps between rail sections, I pull short lengths of tie strip from track scraps, trim off the spike heads with a hobby knife, and slide them under the rail ends. Usually a strip of three or four ties will do the job, and a dab of white glue will hold them in position until the track is ballasted. If you have trouble sliding them under the rails, thin them a tad by rubbing the bottom across a piece of medium­-grit sandpaper.

Before laying any complex roadbed or track, get the track pieces you’ll be using and trial-fit the whole assembly. Lately I’ve discovered Ribbonrail track gauges. I really like them. My minimum curve radius is 18", and the gauge for that size catches me if I try to cheat. The company’s straight gauges likewise help me make sure the straight track ­really is straight.
Laying track well is essential. The payoff is smooth-running trains that never derail – and that’s the difference between a diorama and a model railroad.

[chuck geiger]

Roughing in Wellington, CO.

[chuck geiger]

Wellington progresses: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Wellington,+CO+80549/@40.7039472,-105.0084847,3a,75y,188.38h,75.89t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sWP96g4Fl4n2_DfUxBlcYhA!2e0!4m2!3m1!1s0x876932a881875f69:0xc97c0426f566ed2c!6m1!1e1