The Western Maryland in Free-moN Modules

[PiperguyUMD]

Someone else just asked this a few days ago, crazy thing is they live in the town that I used to live in! I'm in SC, so I'm a bit out of the way for you Mid-Atlantic/Northeast types. BUT my in-laws live in Lebanon PA, and we spend quite a bit of time there in the summer and holidays, maybe something could be organized in the future.

[Point353]

Given all the new found time, I've already moved on to Jack's Mountain. Photos of the portals are limited - if anyone has any please share! What I have found shows a lot of rock faces, which I've never modeled before, so I will be stretching my skill set.

https://wmwestsub.us/hanoversub/jacksmountaintunnel.htm
http://www.virtualantietam.com/blog/20141111/wmrr-tunnel-jacks-mountain

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Someone else just asked this a few days ago, crazy thing is they live in the town that I used to live in! I'm in SC, so I'm a bit out of the way for you Mid-Atlantic/Northeast types. BUT my in-laws live in Lebanon PA, and we spend quite a bit of time there in the summer and holidays, maybe something could be organized in the future.

Ah, damn, I thought you were local. But yeah, Lebanon is not that far away. If we get something going we'll definitely loop you in!

[PiperguyUMD]

http://www.virtualantietam.com/blog/20141111/wmrr-tunnel-jacks-mountain

Oh nice! I haven't seen that one!

[PiperguyUMD]

Work is at a standstill on Jack's mountain. The basic land forms are carved, but I'm out of sculptamold and can't find my rock face molds. In the mean time, I came across a photo of a great spot to model with one of my two remaining corner modules! I don't know who took this photo, it is not mine, and I only post here for reference. This is a shot of the Thomas sub crossing Long Run between the top of the Blackwater Canyon grade and Thomas. My module would start roughly at the second telephone pole past the speeder shed.



Looking at and measuring the area on google maps makes this an idea candidate for my requirements of minimum compression. My radius will be a bit tighter that the prototype, but the bridge length (50') and the line's relation to both Long Run and Blackwater River are can be exact on my module.



Took some measurements this morning and laid rasp to foam so that track can be laid shortly!

[seusscaboose]

[PiperguyUMD]

Made a little progress on the modules today. I'd really like to wrap up these four corner modules in the not so distant future.

First up, Long's Run

The prototype a 50' thru deck girder which is between most of the commercial kits available. Initially I thought about 3d print it, but after rummaging through the scrap yard, I found a partially finished Walthers urban underpass kit. The span ended up being 45', which I figured was close enough. I super elevated the deck by adding a .020" strip of styrene under the outside rail. I did 3d print the abundments using measurements of the rough dimensions from google earth, then eyeballed the rest of the details. The span got a shot of primer this morning before some storms rolled through this afternoon.



While that was drying, I glued down cork. This time I added the .020" shim for the super elevation under the out side strip of cork rather than on the bottom of the track. After the glue dried, I sanded all transitions and rounded off the shoulders. Looking at the prototype photos, I took way too much material out for that creek  . At the end of the day, this is how Long's Run sits:



On to Jack's Mountain

I've been putting this one off because rocks are not my thing. While digging through the previously mentioned scrap yard, I also found a Woodland Scenics outcroppings rock mold. So I started casting a batch every time I'm piddling around the garage so that I'd have a stash to play tetris with when I finally got around to doing the scenery on this module. I found a couple of YouTubes of some trains at Jack's Mountain and took some screen shots for reference. My first attempt was the west portal.

Prototype:



Today's attempt:



Not too bad. I need to work on the right side of the portal, its still not quite right, but its getting there.

On to the east portal. This side of the tunnel has some interesting and unique formations in the rocks. Again, not my skill set but here goes!

Prototype - again lifted from a youtube



I did the ice in this picture! Does anyone know if that's a WM milepost in the foreground?


And today's efforts:



I'm not as happy with this side. Once everything sets a little more, I may try to do some carving with an exactoknife to capture more of the interesting grain above the portal.

[mu26aeh]

Good go at Jacks.  On the east portal, the left side has brickwork on the face.  Here is an O scale version, on a layout I work on.

[jpec]

The milepost looks a bit too modern and too clean to be from the WM era...your work is looking great.

Jeff

[wm3798]

Been There!  You're nailing it again.


Right down to the bridge deck being superelevated.

Lee

[PiperguyUMD]

Great pic! I didn’t realize the deck was curved 

I gotta hike that trail someday. I wonder if the trout fishing is any good on the Blackwater.

[wm3798]

Seems like it should be, but there's an awful lot of mine vents spewing god-knows-what all over that region...

Lee

[PiperguyUMD]

Some major steps forward on the Jack's Mountain module this week. First off I made a jig to make sure that my PC board ties are in the same place on all my curved modules. Obviously, to make sure the rails line up I'll have to attach the other modules to lay the track, but now I can get in the ball park with out setting up modules.

First clamp to the inside of the module


Second glue down tie strip


Place spacer


Clamp in place, remove jig


On to Jack's Mountain!

The rock outcroppings have been giving me fits. I kept layering washes trying to get a look I was happy with, but I got to a point where nothing I tried made it better. As I added more scenery, they started looking better. I dunno if they'll stand up to hi res digital close ups, but the further along I get, the less concerned I am with them.

I started with a layer of sculptamold and a base coat of paint, followed by a layer of grout. Once that was dry, I added the facia. As with the Sabillasville module, I'm sticking with fall 1952. I found a track chart at www.alphabetroute.com that indicated that Jack's Mountain also had slag ballast, so I'll be using the same stuff as before.



Once the grout starts going down, the rocks are much less offensive.



Ground cover under the trees is ground up leaves from the yard, and various static grasses around the rock outcroppings. Planted the last few trees from my stash of previously made trees. I seriously underestimated how many trees this module will need!



Again, with more layers of scenery and especially once the matte medium dries, the rocks are looking a little better still!



Once all of the scenery is dry, I'll add the tale tells that protected each end side of the tunnel. They are simple i beams, one on each side of the tracks, with a chain draped between the two. Should be a simple scratch build, but it may be a challenge to find chain that is fine enough for N scale.

[mu26aeh]

If I can get Jacks onto version 3.0 of the CSX Hanover Sub, I know who to hire   Excellent work

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I am in awe. Beautiful man. Beautiful.

Do you need bush material?