Black River & Western

[jpec]

@jpec, I just noticed this...

Does that mean what I think it means?

I may ask if I can borrow your concept's identity in the future. I have an O scale RS11 and an NW2 that would  look wonderful running out their golden years in an RC paint scheme. I'm mulling over ideas now. I'm thinking of just modeling an interchange with a lone customer close at hand. We had a short line railroad just outside of D. C. (the last vestige of an Otto Mears venture to turn a small town on the Chesapeake in to the Monte Carlo of the U. S. but it flopped) that finished its life taking their wheezing Whitcomb 3 miles to pick up a boxcar of wine off the B & O  and deliver it 150' to their customer.  I would just change the players and the setting.

[DKS]

I may ask if I can borrow your concept's identity in the future. I have an O scale RS11 and an NW2 that would  look wonderful running out their golden years in an RC paint scheme. I'm mulling over ideas now. I'm thinking of just modeling an interchange with a lone customer close at hand. We had a short line railroad just outside of D. C. (the last vestige of an Otto Mears venture to turn a small town on the Chesapeake in to the Monte Carlo of the U. S. but it flopped) that finished its life taking their wheezing Whitcomb 3 miles to pick up a boxcar of wine off the B & O  and deliver it 150' to their customer.  I would just change the players and the setting.

Well, since that layout will never get built, by all means, use the concept! (Heck, even if it was getting built, you could still use it.)

[Dave V]

This popped up in my YouTube subscriptions...thought it might help get those DKS creative juices (which I assume can be purchased in bottles?) flowing:

[DKS]

This popped up in my YouTube subscriptions...thought it might help get those DKS creative juices (which I assume can be purchased in bottles?) flowing:

Well, thank you, Dr. Hotballs! As it happens, I'm doing a lot of sheetrock work--I'm closing in on the completion of the living level, and the next one up is the middle level--office and layout room. So this does the job!

[CRL]

Be sure to do a cat head count before you start taping the drywall.

[EmdFan]

Just found this thread, this will be interesting to follow. I have learned a lot about the history of the area I wasn't aware of (I live just north of Flemington, in Annandale). Once I get out of our condo and into a place with more room I may "borrow" some of the ideas if you don't mind David.

[DKS]

Once I get out of our condo and into a place with more room I may "borrow" some of the ideas if you don't mind David.

Not in the slightest! You can use the entire plan as-is, if you like. Also, if you haven't seen it yet, there's a lot of information about the railroad and the towns through which it passes starting here: http://davidksmith.com/modeling/reading-central/rcr-6-1.htm

[EmdFan]

Not in the slightest! You can use the entire plan as-is, if you like. Also, if you haven't seen it yet, there's a lot of information about the railroad and the towns through which it passes starting here: http://davidksmith.com/modeling/reading-central/rcr-6-1.htm

Thanks, that was an excellent read. I perused your web site some more, lots of great info. I look forward to seeing your build thread once your home is done and ready for a layout.

[DKS]

Yes, it's been a while. And to be honest, I didn't anticipate resurrecting this thread so soon, what with the layout room still studs and insulation. But I've recently been going though some emotional rough patches, and to distract myself from the crap, I did a little modeling. And it was BR&W modeling. I realized that I didn't need a layout, or even a layout room, to start on the structures. Which brings us to the first structure for the layout.

Given that the Rix Products enginehouse kit was quite close to the real one in Ringoes, it seemed like "low-hanging fruit" that I could tackle first. Originally I was just going to do a straight build, but partway into the project, I began to feel as though I'd do the BR&W a disservice if I didn't at least try to bring it closer to the 1:1 shop. I also thought about modeling it with the doors open to show a fully-detailed interior; however, the showstopper became the translucent panels along the tops of the long walls—I simply couldn't envision a practical way to simulate these, so the doors remained closed.

That said, since this is virtually guaranteed to be my last layout, I wanted it to reflect my very best modeling abilities, so I invested a great deal of time and effort making sure it was as good as I could possibly make it. Not to mention that this was a foreground structure, located just an inch or two from the edge of the layout. Consequently I spent the better part of three days working on the main subassemblies alone.


(Note: This photo is not mine; it will be replaced when I make my next trip to the BR&W.)

The starting point was Rix Products Pikestuff stock number 541-8007, with a few parts swiped from 541-8002 (a smaller enginehouse), along with Evergreen sheet and strip styrene, plus L- and H-girders. I realized the roof pitch was all wrong, but I decided I could live with that as long as I nailed as many other details as I could without going nuts. The model would also be shorter than the real building, but this suited my need for selective compression, and since #60 would never be stored inside, it would not be evident that it's too short.



Work began on 8 September 2019 with the sidewalls. The original kit had a lot of door and window openings, while the real shop has one man-door and no windows (just translucent wall panels), which is where the smaller enginehouse kit came into play: I used a few of its plain wall sections to replace the ones from the original kit that had openings. Then, because I didn't plan to use any of the gutter/trim parts on the roof—the real building had none—the walls had to be trimmed down in both length and height to compensate. And finally, I added plenty of Evergreen 0.080" x 0.125" strips to keep the walls straight and true.





End wall modifications included removing the center wall sections (the real building just has H-columns there), and reducing the width to fit the modified roof. Splicing plates and stiffening ribs help strengthen the parts and keep them true.





As mentioned before, I omitted the trim parts from the roof, which forced all of the wall dimensions to change; I also had to modify the end ridge cap parts to fit. I added an Evergreen 0.080" x 0.125" strip down the center to keep it true, and I also added a new ridge cap made from two 0.010" x 0.080" strips, as the kit's original was so shallow that it sat below the roof parts.





That brings us to the present. I'll post more as it happens. Thanks for following along.

[Dave V]

Great to see the BR&W under way!

I got my feet wet on the RGS with structures first.  Once I had a few of 'em, that got me ready to start benchwork.

I'm wondering if this would be a candidate for Model Railroad Planning.  Given the research and planning that have gone into it and the unusual subject matter, I bet it'd make a great read.

[davefoxx]

I'm wondering if this would be a candidate for Model Railroad Planning.  Given the research and planning that have gone into it and the unusual subject matter, I bet it'd make a great read.

Hear, hear!

DFF

[Ed Kapuscinski]

And the fact that the editor could come see it with a short drive.

[DKS]

Well, he'll probably have to wait a few years before he'd see anything substantial...

[davefoxx]

Well, he'll probably have to wait a few years before he'd see anything substantial...

Uh-uh.  It's Model Railroad Planning.  The bulk of the work is already done.    That, and some prototype pics.  And maybe you could set up a few dioramas for pics, if necessary to complete an article for interest.

DFF

[DKS]

Work has continued on the steel shop. Painting was something of a chicken-and-egg case where some things were painted before assembly, and some after. I started with the white trim pieces (Rust-Oleum Flat White Primer), followed by the brown walls (GAF Shingle Match Shakewood), two of them having translucent panels (Rust-Oleum Satin Almond). I had to fight the compulsion to start assembling things while the paint was still fresh, and managed to let everything sit overnight.



Once the parts were thoroughly dry, I could assemble them and then construct the concrete foundation/floor, which I made from two pieces of 0.060" thick sheet styrene laminated together, with 0.040" x 0.080" index strips to hold the walls in place, as well as slots cut for the rails emerging from the shop bays at both ends (sized for Code 40 rail). I had to resist the urge to add cracks and such to the concrete surface, since the real foundation is still in very good shape. I painted it with Testors Light Aircraft Gray.



Since the door openings were radically altered, I couldn't use the kit door frames, so I made my own with Evergreen .080" angles, with .080" H-beams in between the pairs; I also framed the sliding door panels with the same stock. Apparently the building originally had sliding doors on both ends, but at some point the ones on the end facing away from the station were replaced with roll-ups (painted with GAF Shingle Match Pewter Gray). One of the sliding doors is deliberately cocked on an angle, since it would appear the roller on one end of the real door had broken many years ago.



Here it is as it currently stands.



Still to come are details (soffits, lights, etc.) and structural additions, and then finally, weathering.