The Very Last White River and Northern Railroad

[Hawghead]

OK,

The ceiling fans, that's freaking amazing.

Scott

[peteski]

I took my gearhead apart to see what I did to change the gear ratio.  I removed the gear on the bottom of the gearbox, then pulled the pinion on the motor shaft up until it fully engaged the now-bottom gear.  Fairly easy modification.

[DKS]

I took my gearhead apart to see what I did to change the gear ratio.  I removed the gear on the bottom of the gearbox, then pulled the pinion on the motor shaft up until it fully engaged the now-bottom gear.  Fairly easy modification.

Just did this. Runs faster, but now it's noisier. Oh, well.

Anyway, today I started on a kitbash for some shops, which are bashed from Branchline Laser Arts #843 Roscoe Store. This has two shops, down from three owing to the bashing. I've yet to decide what the shops will be, although the main one might be a restaurant, and the add-on might be a travel agency or perhaps a law office; we'll see.



In order to make the kit fit the space, the portions shaded red, above, were removed; consequently, two walls—the right side and back—had to be pieced together. The peak on the right side was removed, and the front half of the second floor was filled in with a piece of blank wall, with two new window openings; the vertical joint will be covered with a piece of trim. Meanwhile, the original false front over the shop was trimmed to match the roofline.



The back wall was pieced together to remove a slot for a lower roof; once again, the joint will be covered with a piece of trim. Also, two window openings were made on the peaked part, since this was originally an internal part.



The left side was unmodified. Since the shop windows are quite large, I'll be detailing the interiors; I've already installed "paneling" as seen below.



If it seems I'm erratically jumping from one structure to the next, there is a method to my madness: getting the buildings started allows me to pose them on the layout and judge how they'll fit.

Meanwhile... With the layout's expansion, Augustine Station grew to become a medium-sized combination passenger and freight station, making the original freight depot redundant. I struggled for several days to come up with an alternative, and finally on 2 April 2020 I decided to steal the ruins of an old stone factory from the Penn Central Stockton Branch layout. It was heavily kitbashed from my all-time favorite "retro" kit: the Pola stone enginehouse. (Doing the double-sided walls required three or four kits.) I trimmed it down in size a bit, rearranged a couple of the shorter walls, and repainted it. At first I thought it was a bit large and imposing (and @VonRyan  agreed), but when I placed it among the other structures, it seemed to fit better. It should also be improved by being overgrown with vegetation, since that will help blend it into the scene. But, even if it was a little overpowering, I'd poured my heart and soul into making my "ideal" model from my favorite kit, and the more I thought about including it on this layout, the more adamant I became.



Then I realized I needed to justify it, especially as the layout is set in the early 1950s. What would be abandoned and overgrown by then? I found a couple of examples of pre-1900s New Hampshire stone factories that were burned out. So I made this a glass blowing industry that was destroyed by fire very early in the Twentieth Century. The first reference image is a period-appropriate view of the aftermath of an industrial fire; the second and third suggest what it might have looked like by the 50s if left alone. All reference images are from New Hampshire, so I can get the coloration and vegetation correct.







Below, I've just started repainting it; here it is in "sweet light."

[wm3798]

I've got several copies of that kit as well, one fresh in the box.  One of my favorite historical scenes is the burnt out armory and gun works at Harpers Ferry.

And I have a nice Atlas B&O 4-4-0 that came from your collection...  Hmmmm.  I feel a diorama coming on.

Lee

[DKS]

You know the old saying: the only constant is change. And for the folks here who know me, this is never more true than with my layouts. (If you'd predicted this would happen, pat yourself on the back.) It all started early this morning, when I was posing structures on the layout to get a feel for how the excelsior (former glassblowing) plant ruins fit into the scene. When I dropped the enginehouse in place, I liked how the two balanced each other out. But then I began to lament not being able to see the fully-detailed enginehouse interior, and that the more interesting side of the structure faced away from the front of the layout. So I fired up AnyRail to see what I could do about this.



And what happened next was a bit disconcerting: I made some fairly significant changes to the track plan. After taking a deep breath and thinking long and hard about what I was contemplating, I decided to set some rules so things wouldn't get out of hand.

• No new switches. I had to stick with what I had.
• No major roadbed changes. Except for sidings, nothing could move.
• No added cost. I had to make do with the materials on hand.
• No significant time investment. I allowed myself a day to a day and a half, tops.

To ensure I was able to do what I had in mind, I made full-size templates of the two turnouts I intended to relocate, placed them in position on the track, and triple-checked the alignments. Satisfied I could meet the challenge given all of my rules, I broke out my trusty X-Acto knife and started chopping. First, I removed the turnout at the Bearcamp Springs siding (below).



I placed it in the yard and began tracing the chunk of roadbed.



Next, I extracted the enginehouse foundation and cut an opening for it.



Then I began reassembling the yard trackage.



The switchback turnout for the old enginehouse alignment was removed, and the sidings pulled up in preparation for realignment.



The Bearcamp Springs siding had to be removed so it would align with the switchback turnout.



By 3:30 PM, all of the track was reinstalled/relaid/rewired. The only thing left to do is reinstall the turnout controls.

[Chris333]

I could have whipped up more turnouts... but carry on 

I do like the burned out stone building being against the river.

EDIT: can still make new turnouts. Just keep in mind for the next brain storm 

[CRL]

This is a perfect example of the beauty of modeling on a foam baseboard. It’s much easier to make fairly dramatic changes midstream if a better arrangement becomes apparent.

Really enjoying watching your creative process at work.

[DKS]

Returning to building structures, I started on the other set of shops. These start with Branchline Laser-Art #840 Dubois Store, which I was going to use as Flemington Cut Glass on the Black River & Western; I've bashed it to make it shallower to fit between the street and the B&M mainline by removing the portions shaded red, below.



The easiest part was cutting and pasting the exterior walls to compress the building a little (below). I also made a new base to replace the terribly warped kit parts.





I then fabricated a lighting unit for the shops (above) which is installed in the ceiling (below).

[Chris333]

Here is an idea for your stone arch bridges
Monroe Models 9001
http://monroemodels.us/nscale.htm

[DKS]

Here is an idea for your stone arch bridges
Monroe Models 9001
http://monroemodels.us/nscale.htm

Yeah, but I'm not looking to spend $50 on two bridges that I can make out of old Chooch tunnel portals I have on hand for zip. Just sayin'.

[Chris333]

I have one plus some extras I can send:

[CRL]

Am I the only one that buys one item, then make a latex mold and cast plaster copies that I find are much easier to work with than resin?

PS - I would never sell them, or even give the copies to others.

[DKS]

I have one plus some extras I can send:

Thanks, I very much appreciate the offer, but I prefer the Chooch tunnel portals. I like the look a little better, and I infinitely prefer working with resin to plaster .

Am I the only one that buys one item, then make a latex mold and cast plaster copies that I find are much easier to work with than resin?

Probably not the only one who does that (I don't--if I need 12, I buy 12). And as I said, I'll always take resin over plaster, although I have a feeling I'm in a minority.

[peteski]

Am I the only one that buys one item, then make a latex mold and cast plaster copies that I find are much easier to work with than resin?

PS - I would never sell them, or even give the copies to others.

No, you're not.  When we were building friend's layout, he bought a resin tunnel portal by Chooch.  Those were packaged on a cardboard card, attach to it by a  tightly vacu-formed soft plastic wrap.  He carefully cut the plastic from the card, and used it as mold, making few more Hydrocal castings.  They came out looking great!

[DKS]

Captain's Log, supplemental. I've just completed the lighting unit for the bar-restaurant. With a stockpile of hundreds of prewired white SMD LEDs, I decided to have fun and make use of as many of them as I could justify. I installed twelve 0201s in HO Scale diesel bells that were painted white on the inside and black on the outside, and mounted them on the ceiling of the bar-restaurant. They create a really nice atmosphere.