SP's East Portland "Produce Row"

[pdx1955]

In the comfort department along with better light and cupholders, I spent some time crawling on the floor installing an expansion of rubber floor tiles throughout the main aisleway and under the layout in a couple spots where my major circuit and power supply boards are. This will be helpful in the future for signal installation, detector wiring, switch machines and the like.



The main track inspector gives the once over on the completed Blue Point assemblies (putting these babies in will be helped by the rubber tiles as well)...

[pdx1955]

And... the Blue  Points are in and adjusted mechanically...whew too many contortions  needed for that! Still need to connect  these to the knobs , but the hard part is done.

[pdx1955]

I've  done a number of miscellaneous  tasks over the past couple  of weeks .  The switch throws are completely  done and I've been working on installing  Azatrax  TS2/TS2D  signal detector boards in the Haig area as well as extending  the accessory  bus wires to support  additional  boards and signals at the East Portland junction area with the UP.

I finished  the carving the hull elevator for my waterline  freighter  so it will look at bit better at the river wharf.


I've  also got the first layer of dirt and rocks in for the wharf scene before  l start work on assembly  of the river side bulkhead  wall planks (cut and stained in the egg carton lid shown). I need get everything  in that may be touched by water before I pour the river .


Also been working  on a maintenance  task to upgrade the joints across my removable  staging yard. Following the spirit  of T-Trak ,  I'm  using back  to back adapters for a post I've joint that come apart  easily. The other track stubs will have traditional  joiners and will be held down by a push pin bumper  on the staging side that can be removed  easily  when it's time for the yearly furnace maintenance .

[pdx1955]

I made some more progress this weekend  by getting in the rip-rap  along the river bank and some more earth to blend it in. I still need to touch up the rocks a bit with some more washes and set everything  completely  with matte medium. I also got the deck base for the wharf cut to length and width. I will handlay  the rails here and plank everything with individual  boards.



Since I got the staging yard track joints completed , I started on a new roadway bridge, Holgate  Avenue ,  that crosses the yard. In the 50's this was a two-lane multi span  plate girder  bridge . In the 1960's it was replaced  by the  current  four-lane concrete  structure .




The cork road bed in the foreground  is an auxiliary  turntable lead track , the "Back Track" that was used  as a shortcut  to the engine facility  to/from the arrival/departure  yard. On the  layout, this is just a scenic  element, but can be used to stage a full set of Cadillac's (SD-7/9's) or F's.

[pdx1955]

The latest effort is re starting a dormant project to work on the East Portland 2nd Street  street track pavement. I'm working  on the pieces that go on the outside of the rails using 0.080" strip styrene  with 0.020" sheet  on top. This combination  ends up just shy of the rail top for Peco code 55. I ran out temporarily  of strip which is on order, but I got plenty  of pieces  to trace and transfer  especially  around switches  when I get to filling in between  the rails.

[pdx1955]

Tonight  I got the residential  neighborhood  streets cut out and positioned in preparation  for adding a street crown and curbs where necessary .  Next I'll lay out property lines and figure  the position  of sidewalks , curb cuts and driveways. I'm also about ready to work on filling in the pavement  between  the rails on the street trackage  from my last post.

[OldEastRR]

Love seeing buildings crowding on both sides of the ROW --- a bitch for track cleaning or if something derails in there but what a great realistic scene!!
Apparently you will be making built-up ground areas of lawns, houses, garages, driveways, alleys, etc on top of your base tabletop. Cool. Having streets, lawns, sidewalks, house foundations etc all the same level looks odd. A nice thing of building a section to be laid in is you can cut the base to fit, then take it to a workbench and be comfortable adding all the scenery instead of straining over a layout.  I'm debating what to use as "ground" base for my "city blocks". Any suggestions? Putty?
Great thing about building a "skin" of scenery covering a whole area is you can blend in all the elements so there's no floating foundations, oddly bunched trees, etc.

[pdx1955]

I think it will be somewhat laid in so that the houses are slightly  higher than the street for drainage and with the sidewalks at curb level. Some of the  scenicing  can be done on the bench but will do the final tie-in on the layout  to avoid any seamy  appearances.

I've always been partial to scuptamold  for ground base but it's probably  too bumpy for manicured  city lots. I'll still use it in fringe and vacant  areas. Some sort of joint compound or putty probably  will be used for landscaped  areas.

[OldEastRR]

I've used the WSW Foam Putty for the ground on the city block bases, but it's too mooshy and have to keep coming back to it as it dries out to get a decent contour. I've also used a little modeling clay, the stuff that starts out soft but air-dries hard. What brand of joint compound or putty do you recommend?

[pdx1955]

Currently  I got a bucket  of a US Gypsum  product, but I've  also used DAP.  It's  whatever  that I  can find in the local hardware  store. If I wanted to use a putty for a bit more flexibility  then there  are a numerous  brands that would work. I have a dried dirt colored Elmer's putty on the shelf  now too.

[pdx1955]

The street trackage project continues  with the between the rails pavement . ..

[pdx1955]

After what feels like umpteen  million years, I finally  finished  the styrene  street trackage  work. I'm now  working  on filling in the sheet gaps,  guard rail gaps and assorted  places where  pavement should be. The track in the first picture surrounded by pavement actually was ballasted in the prototype. I'll set this eventually off with curbing from the street to prevent from citizens from dropping  a tire between the street and the rails.





I also got the sidewalks  down in my residential  section and some cork sheet that will taper down to represent  the house and driveway subgrade  so things will slope toward the street and property  lines for drainage. I'll get driveway pans and curbs in once the street gap filling and sanding is done.

[pdx1955]

Started working on the wharf bulkhead wall layering staggered timbers one at a time. I need  to complete  this step before I pour the river.

[MDW]

Peter-
Just curious if the trestle pieces are already fixed to the river base?  If so, have you figured how to paint the river bottom around them?   I’m sure you have a plan and just curious to know more as I’m struggling with the timing of building bridges and the scenery around & under them now.....

Thanks
Michel

[pdx1955]

Peter-
Just curious if the trestle pieces are already fixed to the river base?  If so, have you figured how to paint the river bottom around them?   I’m sure you have a plan and just curious to know more as I’m struggling with the timing of building bridges and the scenery around & under them now.....

Thanks
Michel

Everything is fixed down (halfway down page 5 has more details). I went back and forth myself on how to proceed but ended up doing a bit of scenery, then wharf, then more scenery etc. I painted the bottom, then laid out the piles via pencil "surveying", drilled holes with a depth stop on the bit, and then glued the piles. I stained them in place, so the stain ended up coloring any of the while plaster areas around each pile, but it would have been easier to pre-stain them.

I then painted glue on full strength between each pile and bent and added the dirt river bottom and added all of the dirt and rocks on the banks. Once the bulkhead wall is done, I'll pour the resin river and then touch up with dirt etc on the banks a bit as it tends to creep up  and put the deck on the wharf. This way the river is over the rubble instead of the other way which can happen if the banks are detailed after the water.