Weekend Update 2/7/16

[craigolio1]

I can't rememebr ever seeing more realistic looking wood decking in N scale.

Craig

[ai5629]

Got the MTL gondola representing a Bethlehem Steel 50' mill gondola lowered to a ride-height close to the prototype.  Had to mill the underframe and construct new bolsters, as well as swap in BLMA trucks and stirrups and 1015/1016 couplers in 2001/1019 boxes screwed directly to the underfloor of the body.  I notice in the photo that the triple valve is hanging low so the model needs some more work.

(Attachment Link)

That is really nice looking Bryan.  I would like to get one of these LV gons, but I cannot find them anywhere.  I must have dismissed them when they came out.   

Jeff

[bbussey]

The only reason I had one is because it was a knee-jerk purchase at the 2011 convention. I liked the deco and the load, but then kicked myself later because of the usual deficiencies of the model. It sat for years in a box. Discovering last month that it was close to prototypical accuracy was the inspiration for revisiting it.

[chicken45]

I can't rememebr ever seeing more realistic looking wood decking in N scale.

Craig

Thanks! It looks pretty good for the amount of effort I put in to it. Since only 9 boards won't be covered with a load, I figured to try something new (in my experience) on it.
But to your comment about plastic wood, I refer you to @tom mann's reefer madness.
https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=35121.0

[Puddington]

Nice work gents..... really nice work; Mark; cudo's on the Castlegar station; you've nailed it... well done!

If you've ever been to a paper mill you might have experienced the "guest house" treatment..... you'd remember because of the hangover and sore body from eating too much great food and having too much fun....  Mills are often in somewhat remote areas and as such they usually have guest accommodations on site for business partners, company executives and guests.

While the form of the building varies greatly between mills and is often a reflection of the geographical area (for example, the former Domtar mill in Red Rock, Ontario had a fishing lodge; being as it was on Lake Superior and several smaller lakes. The Temple Inland mill in Beaumont, Tx. had a southwestern style ranch house and the Westvaco mill in Georgia had a hunting camp on a game reserve.... all themed to the area.) the activities and treatment are similar. You can golf, boat, swim, hunt, fish, shoot, ATV, etc.... all activities meant to relax the visitor so that business discussions are had on a relaxed and friendly basis. The food and drink is almost always outstanding and over the top and you end up leaving the mill after a few days of "intense" relaxation, usually wondering why you just agreed to a $40.00 US short ton increase on a two year, 2,000 tonne a month contract......

As Sam and I are ready to build the second module which features a large paper mill in a hilly setting I wanted to have a bit of fun and include the guest house; as you may have noticed, I've been to a few in my day.... but; the question is "what kind of guest house for a mill like ours".....?

Castle.....................

Yep; The former estate of Sir Roderick Beaverbrooke, Esq. Beaverbrooke was a English noble who came to Canada in the mid 1800's and financed the building of the Puddington Valley Division. Beaverbrooke, who was somewhat mad, built the castle as a present for "the woman he loved"; a local daughter of a constable of the Northwest Mounted Police (first name of the RCMP) who wanted nothing to do with the short, pudgy, obnoxious Englishman. Never one to give up, Beaverbrooke sunk everything he had into the castle and when it was completed in 1890 he felt sure that the woman would fall madly in love with the new home and marry him, regardless of her true feelings........ "Epic Fail!"............ She wanted noting to do with him and, some say, out of spite, married one of the stone masons who had built the castle....

Beaverbrooke was heartbroken, broke and now, quite mad. He disappeared, leaving the castle empty; never being seen again (although rumours of his heading for New Jersey to open a bacon packaging plant continued for years....) The castle sat empty for almost 30 years; only being kept intact by a local Scottish handyman named McBryan who wouldn't see the beautiful structure fall into disrepair. Then; in 1934 the Hinde and Dauch Company of Sandusky, Ohio successfully received a warrant to log the Puddington Valley and built a Containerboard mill to produce paper for the corrugated industry (a product they had invented, by the way)

In 1964 the Dominion Tar and Chemical Company and West Virginia Fibre (Westvaco) bought the H&D assets in Canada and a few years later Dominion tar and Chemical bought out Westvaco and changed their name to Domtar. The mill was expanded and the castle, which had technically fallen into the hands of H&D with the warrant, was formally purchased from the Province for $ 1.00 and was renovated into the mill guest house you see today....







The castle will sit of the Eastern hill beside the mill; looking down on it through the forest that surrounds the mill. There will be a road leading to it from the edge of the layout; crossing a wooden bridge over the mains and up the hill..... conversation piece to say the least!

The castle was made from a second hand, re-purposed kit from and unknown English mfg that I bought at a swap meet ten or more years ago for the princely sum of $2.00. It will be a "background" building so detail isn't critical, still I wanted it to have a "aire" about it that makes one wonder just why a castle would be sitting in British Columbia staring at a mill........ which gives me a chance to re-tell that silly story you just read.... ain't model trains fun!?

[thomasjmdavis]

Looks rather like an Anglican church.  Probably modeled after something in England, but there are some in Canada with similar general lines
http://mynewbrunswick.ca/st-johns-anglican-church-oromocto/  for instance.

Like the way you have "re-purposed"  it.  Have one not far from my new house downstate that was a small church converted to a residence.

[dougnelson]

You did well grasshoppa.

[chicken45]

You did well grasshoppa.

Thanks! I still bow to the masta! ::bows::

[BCR 570]

Mark:

Well done on the station.  I see from your prototype photograph that it was actually quite close to the tracks; I note the roof overhanging the platforms.


A strong windstorm went through here last night and the power went out twice while I was trying to upload this.  Better luck this morning . . .
My next project is to build the penultimate car required for my N Scale consist of the Prince George Auxiliary.  Crane idler BCOL 6502 was converted from a former CPR Minibox car.  That is one of the joys of modeling BCR work equipment - getting to chop up CPR equipment (oops, sorry Pud!).

Today the crane and idler reside at the West Coast Railway Heritage Park in Squamish, which is not too far away to go and get measurements and photographs:






As you can see from the photographs above, there is not much left of the Minibox.  Approximately one third of the original carbody has been retained at the 'A' end for a tool house, and the remainder was cut away to provide a flat deck underneath the boom of the crane during travel.   The challenge in modelling this car is how to achieve a prototypical thickness (perhaps I should say 'thinness") for the flat deck without sacrificing too much structural integrity.

I began by cutting down a spare Minibox shell to see what would result, to practise the vertical cuts, and to help aid with visualizing what the model will look like:




As I suspected, the floor of the Minibox casting is far too thick to consider using, and once cut the floor quickly warped.  I also noticed that the sides of the part to be retained had warped, which was a valuable lesson as I would have to find a way to prevent this on the shell actually to be used.  Nevertheless, the result was useful in working out how to build the car.  I realized that I would have to cut entirely through the car and use only the 'A' end, and I would have to scratchbuild the rest.  This raised the question of how to join the two halves (resin and styrene) in a way which would provide sufficient structural integrity.  I elected to remove the centre sill from the underside of the 'A' end and I will build a new centre sill extending under both halves of the car.

The next step was to cut into the donor shell for this project.  Prior to cutting, I assembled a styrene block which would fit snugly inside the portion to be cut off and thus prevent any warping.  I made the cut a little long and then sanded back carefully to square up the end.  I also sectioned the roof casting to match, and removed the centre sill and cross-members from the underside in preparation for the new centre sill.  Here is the result:




The next step is fabricate the 'A' end, which as you can see from the prototype photograph above was altered with an end personnel door and a large patch panel on the left.


Tim

[craigolio1]

Tim I always enjoy your scratch builds. I'm looking forward to seeing this one progress.

But come on and build the crane already.

Craig

[SecretWeapon]

[jmlaboda]

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Dereco lives!

[Santa Fe Guy]

Really nice work everybody. I have done nothing on my SFRSD for ages. Must get moving I guess.
Rod.

[Jeff AKA St0rm]

Great Work so far again this week.

After 2 years of waiting i have finally gotten my Code 55 #10's. I can complete my main line now!!!!!



Also spent some time railfanning the Panther Subdivision today. Had to stand in the river to get these 2 shoots but it was worth it!