Weekend Update 8/13/17

[ryan_wilkerson]

That scene looks great Adam. So what's the story with my local CORP locomotives serving so far away?!
Were those custom painted?

I put together a warehouse building this weekend using 2 kits from Micro Engineering Doyle Distribution.  To this day, this is still known by employees at the mill and YorkRail as " The Black Shed ".  It used to be black and the name has stuck thru the years even though it's been repainted.  They keep bales of pulp in here until needed in the plant.  I caught CORP 2064/2065 taking a break to sort their paperwork trying to figure out which boxcars need to go where.

[coosvalley]

Nice!  Is that stone wall made from snapped PVC flooring tiles?

Indeed it is. 12 feet of 2-inch high wall.... Brick by brick, except for the very bottom 3 layers, which are just strips,, as they probably won't be noticeable once scenery and water are done...

[peteski]

Indeed it is. 12 feet of 2-inch high wall.... Brick by brick, except for the very bottom 3 layers, which are just strips,, as they probably won't be noticeable once scenery and water are done...

Simple technique, but whenever I see it I'm amazed with how good that looks!  Time-consuming, but well worth the effort.

[mu26aeh]

That scene looks great Adam. So what's the story with my local CORP locomotives serving so far away?!
Were those custom painted?

If you check the lineage of CORP 2062-2066 you'll find that before they came out west, they were Maryland Midland 302-306.  After the G&W buyout, they painted the 6 GP38-3 locomotives owned by MMID.  300 became 2060, the MMID heritage unit, 301 became 2061 and was painted in G&W orange Maryland Midland, while 302-306 were painted in G&W orange for CORP.  Before they were sent west after repainting though, they spent some time running on MMID.  YorkRail was using CF7's and GP16's but I haven't had time to build the CF7's and the GP16's aren't available for N scale, so as much as G&W moves power around, I added an extra stop to 2064/2065 in their journey from MMID to the west coast.

And yes, they were custom jobs by @MRLX1020

[VonRyan]

Saturday (and till almost 1am Sunday) I went to a convention for something other than trains for once.

[ Guests cannot view attachments ]

Then Sunday I spent most of the day looking for my phone, and unpacking my new soldering iron.

[randgust]

This week I increased the greenery on my layout, and Neolubed some turnouts. More in my layout engineering thread. Have a great week!

Boy does that remind me of Lowell, even if you aren't specifically modeling it.   I've always been fascinated by the 'beat the tracks in with a hammer' track engineering on the old canal milltowns of MA.    I have a set of early 1900's track charts and have been astounded at the jamming of tracks up narrow blind alleys and around the canals, and my all-time favorite, a turntable to change directions 90-degrees on an industrial spur inside a mill complex.

[coosvalley]

Simple technique, but whenever I see it I'm amazed with how good that looks!  Time-consuming, but well worth the effort.

Thanks!..It took me and my better half about two weeks to build them. But before that, you have to make the bricks, which took a while too.  They look good, are 100% random, customizable, and cheap. I bought the tiles and a bunch of snap off knife blades for like 15$ total. I still have leftovers too.

Boy does that remind me of Lowell, even if you aren't specifically modeling it.   I've always been fascinated by the 'beat the tracks in with a hammer' track engineering on the old canal milltowns of MA.    I have a set of early 1900's track charts and have been astounded at the jamming of tracks up narrow blind alleys and around the canals, and my all-time favorite, a turntable to change directions 90-degrees on an industrial spur inside a mill complex.

Thanks, Lowell and Lawrence are my other inspirations for this layout. I'm amazed at how much is still in place in Lowell, and I've spent hours looking with google earth. I hope to make a field trip later this year.

[ryan_wilkerson]

I had to look up "BronyCon"

"BronyCon is an annual fan convention held on the east coast of the United States for fans of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, among them adult and teenage fans of the show, who call themselves bronies."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BronyCon

Saturday (and till almost 1am Sunday) I went to a convention for something other than trains for once.

[up1950s]

Can you get those tiles at Walmart ?

Did you refrigerate or freeze the tiles prior to snapping them ? Exactly what brand and color did you use ? Best wall ever , it rocks .

[coosvalley]

Can you get those tiles at Walmart ?

Did you refrigerate or freeze the tiles prior to snapping them ? Exactly what brand and color did you use ? Best wall ever , it rocks .

I bought the "grey" ones at lowes. They were something like 67 cents each. I had not considered freezing them first, good idea!  I just scribe both sides and snap. I made a really basic jig which can be seen in my layout engineering thread, I have no idea where I hosted that pic, otherwise I'd link it.. ....

Oh, and thanks!

[ryan_wilkerson]

Thanks for the history Adam! Nice looking paint job by MRLX1020.

If you check the lineage of CORP 2062-2066 you'll find that before they came out west, they were Maryland Midland 302-306.  After the G&W buyout, they painted the 6 GP38-3 locomotives owned by MMID.  300 became 2060, the MMID heritage unit, 301 became 2061 and was painted in G&W orange Maryland Midland, while 302-306 were painted in G&W orange for CORP.  Before they were sent west after repainting though, they spent some time running on MMID.  YorkRail was using CF7's and GP16's but I haven't had time to build the CF7's and the GP16's aren't available for N scale, so as much as G&W moves power around, I added an extra stop to 2064/2065 in their journey from MMID to the west coast.

And yes, they were custom jobs by @MRLX1020

[rickb773]

What do you do with a 90’ tree?

I have come to the conclusion that what trees look good to you depends on the area of the country you live in. I have seen folks rave about trees made from weeds and to me they still look like weeds with something stuck on them. But then I am from the Middle Atlantic region and when I look at a forested hillside I don’t see any branches I just see foliage. Therefore, anywhere other than up front, puff balls seems to do a better representation in my eyes (again we are just talking opinion here). When I look up my street I see no branches, just the foliage. To other areas of the county I am sure the opposite choices are more appropriate

Wanting to experience it for myself, I figured I would try the other side of the fence. I got a Scenic Express starter set and went to work. Never again! Way too much work and mess! When I was done I had 30 larger trees and 30 low pieces I may be able to “plant” in other places. (Although I followed all the included instruction, I think spray painting the tree trunks brown/gray would be better.)

I had a couple of 90’ trees. Where do you put a 90’ tree on an N scale layout without it looking out of place? (I trimmed it down to ~70’.)

The second issue I have with these trees is that in spite of extra long soakings and follow-up spritzing with the diluted matte medium, they are still fragile. I have a 12’x17’ layout that was designed for operations and it is relatively high (54”) so there is no way they will survive being in areas where the operators have to  manually throw Peco sprung switches (and there are 50+ of them on the layout). That in turn means they will have to be positioned farther back on the layout (which sort of defeats the reason you go to all that trouble in the first place).

Don’t be upset with me, it is just one man’s opinion.

P.S. I still want to try one of M.C.’s wire oak trees. I am sure they will outlast an operator’s arm! 







Ignore the Micro Machines tank, it is a place holder until I find a small WWI artillery piece to mark where Woodbury's VFW was.

[peteski]

Thanks, Lowell and Lawrence are my other inspirations for this layout. I'm amazed at how much is still in place in Lowell, and I've spent hours looking with google earth. I hope to make a field trip later this year.

I live in a town bordering Lowell, so I'm familiar with the mill neighborhoods here, Lawrence, and in many nearby New England mill towns. I also agree that you have captured the look of that area very well.

[mu26aeh]

As far as the SuperTrees go, what I do is break down the entire box into trees and what I call brush/bushes.  If any of the trees are bent or have a curve, I'll take a soldering iron and place the hot tip where the curve is and put slight pressure on it to straighten it out.  I then get my rattle can of flat black and spray the entire tree, wave it around to a quick air dry and drop into a large box.  I give them at least a day or two to dry.  Then I get a can of spray adhesive (3M or Loctite) that sprays in a mist pattern and spray the tree, sprinkle leaf material on it and repeat if necessary.  I have a couple of small sheets of styrofoam board with holes punched in it and then I "plant" the tree in that board to allow for drying and storage until I put them on the layout.  I've never done the dunk/soak before. 

[peteski]

No modeling this weekend. I went to the Londonderry, NH flea market on Sunday and we found this:





No, it was not for sale. 
I was amazed just how short the kingpin for the truck is (assuming that something was not removed from that spot).