Tehachapi, BC

[GaryHinshaw]

Thanks Geoff.  I really like the Vallejo paints.

And now: Continuing my obsession with ballast.

I'm at the end of my original 10-year old stash of Smith & Sons Penn/Ohio limestone ballast, but I received a new shipment about two years ago(...) and I'm finally dipping into it.  Unfortunately I'm not happy with it.  Here is a comparison of the original stock (upper track) and the new stock (lower track):



It looks fine from a distance (though a bit lighter in colour), but up close it really lacks the realism of the original batch.  It seems to have a bit more quartz in it, and a more angular profile.

By coincidence, @ednadolski just ordered a fresh batch from grandson Smith and posted a photo of a test section with some of @narrowminded's cool new tie strips, and his stock looks much more like my original stock, so I guess it's time to order more...  (But in an attempt to demonstrate that I'm not completely insane , I do not plan to re-ballast the above section as it is along the back wall behind the yardmaster's cubby, so barely visible.)

In the meantime, I continue to plug away at the Kern Junction trackage, with the 2nd of 3 crossovers needed to complete the complex:

[James Costello]

It looks fine from a distance (though a bit lighter in colour), but up close it really lacks the realism of the original batch.  It seems to have a bit more quartz in it, and a more angular profile.

Not that you want to add another step in the process, but I wonder if a India Ink wash would make some of the aggregate pop a bit more....

But hopefully the newer batches are better like you say.

[Cajonpassfan]

Gary, your ballast looks crazy good🙀
Almost too perfect, if there is such a thing...
Otto

[C855B]

Gary, your ballast looks crazy good🙀
Almost too perfect, if there is such a thing...
Otto

You see those tweezers in the picture two posts above yours? It isn't for the ties.


 

[Cajonpassfan]

Yea, I’ve long suspected Gary places his ballast one rock at a time...now we have proof!
Otto

[ednadolski]

Looks almost like the new ballast doesn't darken as much from the glue/alcohol as the new stuff.   That said, it is prototypical to see variations in the ballast color, esp. across parallell tracks which weather differently.

Ed

[GaryHinshaw]

The crossover I started last weekend is now completed and has been delivered to Kern Jct.  The track-laying crews have arrived and they are now in the process of inspecting and installing it:



At the same time they will be installing another yard turnout that will allow me to add one more track to Bakersfield staging (the far right track in the distance).  This will serve as an a/d track for the locals, and lead to a bit of stub-end storage for cars that are used in the local trains serving Edison and Monolith.

3 Tortoises, 2 detection blocks, and 1 X-block* still to go before this installation is finished, but Kern is finally getting closer to being complete.

* It has been more than 3-years since we sketched out the X-block configuration for these crossovers!   

[jagged ben]

...

* It has been more than 3-years since we sketched out the X-block configuration for these crossovers!   

I remember it well!   Er, that is, not the details off the top of my head, but I remember that we had a fruitful discussion.   

[GaryHinshaw]

Er, that is, not the details off the top of my head,...

Me too!  So I'm glad we wrote it down.  (That said, we've been operating the temporary cross-overs without X-blocks for 3 years and we've never had a reverser issue, so they're mainly a bit of added insurance during a busy session.)

[GaryHinshaw]

The months pass by like days...

Here is the extent of my progress over the last 3 months:



Most of you will be hard pressed to tell any difference between this shot and the one posted earlier from the same angle, but the 3 turnouts circled in green have now all been fabricated and permanently installed, thus completing the functional bits of the UP (straight) route, through Kern Jct.  So now 7 of the 9 turnouts in the junction are done with only the crossover on the BNSF lead (circled in orange) and its connecting track, still to finish.  Yea.

Of course all of the real work here is under the hood:



  This trio of new turnouts required a remote Tortoise install due to the tight quarters, but the more subtle task was managing the power feed to the red section of track which switches depending on the crossover state.  When the crossover is lined diverging, the track is held at fixed polarity to match the outer mainline, but when its lined straight, the track is fed from the reversing bus that supplies the inner half of the Bakersfield balloon tracks.  With this switched arrangement, I never have to worry about trains on the UP and BNSF side crossing the two ends of the reversing block at the same time. 

So we're almost back in business.  Next time we operate (whenever that is...), the yardmaster won't need to worry about all those loose turnouts, and the d/s won't have to fly blind through the whole Junction.  Then come the signals with 3 more controller cards and a dozen more cables.  Restart the clock...

[LIRR]

that's a lotta wires...….

[ednadolski]

Next item on Gary's wish list:  https://www.amazon.com/DYMO-LabelManager-Handheld-Label-1790415/dp/B005X9VZ70

BTW what's the reason for those wires that terminate at the screws in the wood block?

Ed

[CRL]

Electric wood?

[Scottl]

Aside from the tiny imperfection in the ballast there, that is an impressive amount of wire. 

[MK]

BTW what's the reason for those wires that terminate at the screws in the wood block?

Ed

My guess is spares or wires that are not needed (yet)?