The Little Rock Line

[Bendtracker1]

Well I finally got the last of the basement remodeling done!

Here is a teaser of the basement wall:



The rest can be seen on the blog.

Now I can go back to the layout and get started on re-laying the yard at El Dorado and maybe a little bit of scenery in Malvern before the next Ops session.

[Bendtracker1]

This weekend saw the first trains running in the newly rebuilt yard at El Dorado. 
The blog has been updated with three posts and shots of the yard.



I also received my rechargeable 9v batteries on Saturday for my new UT4r's!  Now I can run wireless!  Goodbye tethered controllers. 

[Bendtracker1]

A couple of weeks ago we held another ops session to test the newly rebuilt yard at El Dorado.
Happy to say that all went smoothly.

Riceland Industries finally received their own switcher, a second hand VO-1000.




More on the Blog

[Bendtracker1]

It's been a little over a year ago since I've added to this thread, but recently I started on a project that was inspired by Rich [LIRR] when he started his thread "L&N somewhere in Eastern Kentucky".

I wanted a larger building in Malvern for Crushmoore, Industries.  I looked at using the Superior Paper plant as a base and also the MAC [Milton A. Corp] kit from Pikestuff.  When I first read LIRR's post on his Asphalt plant the cogs started turning.

In the last year I've started on the scenery in Malvern.  I got the tracks down, painted and ballasted.  Got the backdrop painted and then got started on the first building: Heavy Metal Co.  While working on it, I kept thinking about what I wanted to do with Crushmoore.  That's about the time Rich posted his thread.

After my last ops session in early August I got back to the scenery in Malvern and decided it was time to try something with the Crushmoore building.

Chatting with Rich a few times, I got a game plan together and started in.  I took a few measurements and headed for the shop to scrounge up some material from the scrap barrel.  I found some 1/2" and 1/4" plywood that fit the bill.





Got it set in place and made some minor adjustments with the table saw.



Got me some .040" corrugated siding and glue.



Ordered some windows and doors from Tichy Train Group and picked up some paint.



I also got a bunch of Lego's for the roof and building details.  I have a Pikestuff single stall engine shed to build for the car loading building in front of the head house.  Then I need to design something for a conveyor that will carry the logs into the building.

You can read more on the blog starting here


By the way, Thanks for the inspiration Rich!

[soo]

Nice progress!!!!! I like the size, I am noodling on a project like yours.

I like the VO and the comet rice car. Nice treatment on the trucks on the car.

Great work on everything!!!!

Wyatt

[LIRR]

It looks great. What a brilliant idea!

[nscalemike]

Great to see another update!  Building looks great and heading off to the blog for more details.  Looking forward to the rest of the complex.

Mike

[Bendtracker1]

It looks great.

Thanks!

What a brilliant idea!

Yes it is, thanks for the idea! 

[Bendtracker1]

Great to see another update!  Building looks great and heading off to the blog for more details.  Looking forward to the rest of the complex.

Mike

Feels good to get some progress made.  Got a few more updates posted.

[conrailthomas519]

Allen, keep up the hard work... they claim effort equals result

[GaryHinshaw]

Simple and effective - a good combination!  Now you need to tone down that BN chip gon...

Great to see the progress,
-gfh

[Bendtracker1]

Allen, keep up the hard work... they claim effort equals result

Thanks Thomas.
Yes it does, though sometimes it doesn't come fast enough... 

[Bendtracker1]

Simple and effective - a good combination!

Great to see the progress,
-gfh

Yep, simple and effective has worked so far.

Now you need to tone down that BN chip gon...

Yes it does, along with the remainder of the fleet.  Didn't I hear you say you wanted to get back to weathering?  I'd be happy to let you help. 


I never found any of that Titebond green adhesive locally.  I did find some on line, but only in the larger tubes.  I'm hoping I can find it in a smaller resealable tube.  I fear it might dry up before I could use the whole tube.  So far the Loctite brand is working pretty good.

[Bendtracker1]

Made a little bit more progress with the Crushmoore building last night.
I wanted to make some dust/chip collectors to set along side the building.  Once again I referred back to Rich's thread to follow his ideas on the ones he made.


I started with some scrap blocks of Hard Maple, beveled the bottoms and added some styrene.





Then taking some Legos, I found pieces that looked like motors and Cyclones, glued them together and put atop the collectors.



After they dried, I shot a coat of Red Oxide and a second coat of Silver.  The Silver wasn't laid on solid so as to let the Oxide show though a bit, giving the Silver a worn appearance.



More can be seen on the blog

Thanks again Rich!

[conrailthomas519]

Hhhmmm very very interesting...