Grand Trunk Southern

[shark_jj]

In these final four pictures I have just some random examples of cars that were lightly weathered.  As a general rule of thumb I plan to weather cars lightly unless I have something very specific in mind.  I use prototype photos from one of a number of online freight car sites and try to replicate them.  So far I am impressed with the ease of using Panpastels and the ability to clean the car off and do it over if I’m unhappy.  Like everything else in this hobby, it’s a learning process.

A blue GT gondola



The 3 CN cars are in pulp service, the CP car at the rear is in general service.  The are good examples of what I mean by light weathering.



Another lightly weathered CP car.



This photo shows a N&W car with slightly heavier weathering and it can be compared to the unweathered car next to it. 



Only 400 more cars to go. 

[Bendtracker1]

Very nice subtle weathering you achieved shark!
Keep it up. 

[shark_jj]

Today's post is not about the Grand Trunk Southern.  It is in a brief hiatus as my wife has encountered some health issues and they are my #1 priority for the immediate future.  She got great care and the problems hopefully are not long term.  Today's post is about the Atlantic Superior Transportation Co.  or as it is know in these parts, the ASTX.  The ASTX was a profitable and efficient railroad company back in 2006 when its principal owner encountered some major life changes and it went into what became slightly more than a 15 year hiatus.  Like the phoenix however the ASTX is once again rising from the ashes.  In this short series of posts I will share with you what is currently happening and share some photos of its current state.  Justin's modeling time is limited as he is a Landscape Architect and the middle of winter, roughly 2 months is the only time he really has time for the layout.  So this winter we went like mad to get a lot down and the entire layout is up and operational.  Trains are running again on the ASTX.

The owner of the ASTX is the person I have referred to in some of my previous posts as my "track guru", Justin Parry.  Justin is modeling the area north of superior and in particular the area around Thunder Bay.  The ASTX is a competitor here in Canada to the Canadian Pacific and the CN.  It has partnerships with Burlington Northern and Union Pacific through a number of gateways.  The layout is 3 levels with the lower level having an out and back running feature which effectively makes it 4 levels.  The pre 2006 layout staged 120 unique trains, Justin has downsized this layout and it will stage around 70 unique trains.  Later, in the posts I will share a photo of the string diagram I created for that 2006 layout.   The layout uses Atlas Code 55 track on the visible layout and Peco Code 80 track in the staging yards.  Turnouts are controlled by tortoise machines and stationary decoders on the mainline which will be computer controlled by the dispatcher.  Locomotive control is Digitrax DCC.

Photo 1:  The layout is located in the basement of Justin's home and to enter it you go down a flight of stairs.  He wanted to created an eye catching signature scene at the bottom of the stairs and in this photo you can see imagine what it will look like as you see the early construction stages.  The track across the bridge goes through a tunnel and into the mid level staging yard in an adjacent room.  The track which you cannot see at the top goes into the top level staging yard.  We have had numerous discussions how to hide a small fascia on that level so it blends into the signature scene.  The bottom level can be seen coming around a curve and transiting under the signature scene into the lower level tunnel.  Once the scenery is finished and the river poured this scene should be quite stunning.



Photo 2:  To our immediate left as we were facing the signature scene, we see the only helix which is in the main layout room.  It connects levels 2 and 3.  The opening at the left of the backdrop is deliberate so that a train going up or down the helix can be viewed.  In the 2006 iteration of the layout there were 3 helices in the main room, but Justin redesigned and rebuilt the layout to eliminate 2 of them. 



Photo 3:  In the adjacent room to the right of the signature scene are the staging yards and a dock area and the major helix on the layout.  This photo shows all 3 staging yards.  The staging yards comprise large return loops.  If you look a the right side of the photo the yard tracks are looping around a large helix and returning to the same yard.  This means that 2 trains are staged on each track.  The yard is controlled by stationary decoders and routes have been setup for each yard track which will eventually be controlled by the dispatcher on a computer.  For now you dial in the route on your digitrax throttle.  We will be able to stage 70 unique trains from these yards. 



Photo 4:  There is a lot to see in this photo.  I will try to unpackage it.  I helped Justin with the routing of these yards and I still get confused at times.  The helix joins Level 1 to Level 2, Level 2 to Level 3, and there is an option to go from Level 1 to Level 3.  There is also the potential for 3 tracks worth of staging within this monster of a helix.  The foreground tracks are the entry staging tracks for the middle level.  The tracks at the rear are the same tracks as the foreground as they have circled around behind the helix and they represent the outbound tracks for the middle level.  The tracks in the centre are going into the helix down to Level 1.  The tracks on which you see the potash train and the bulkhead flats are the tracks which go up to Level 3. 



Photo Miscellaneous:  I call this miscellaneous photo since I added it late and don't want to mess up my numbering system.   This photo shows the string diagram I created in 2006 for the last iteration of the ASTX which ran 120 unique trains from these staging yards.  The string diagram is taped up on the fascia of my Grand Trunk Southern.  It just underscores the complexity of a layout of this size.



Photo 5:  This is the final photo of this post and the last taken in the adjacent room before we return to the main room.  This area will represent Thunder Bay docks and there will be a large grain elevator complex and unit grain, ore and coal trains will terminate here.

[shark_jj]

We continue our tour of the under construction ASTX of Justin Parry. 

Photo 6:  This was one of the major projects this winter.  We are back in the main room and we are just to the left of the entry stairs.  On my immediate left just out of view is the helix between levels 2 and 3 we saw in the last post.  Justin called me in early December and he had started running trains out of the helix and he was experiencing string lining as the trains left the helix and entered on to level 3.  The design was such that we had inadvertently created an "S" curve even though it had a good 15 to 20 inches of tangent and an 18 inch radius curve, trains on the grade under load didn't like it.  Between us we redesigned this helix exit creating a 4 ft straight away before entering this gently curve.  In a matter of several days Justin had torn out 10 to 12 feet of layout, rebuilt it, relaid and rewired the track, moved the backdrop on the bottom forward some 6 to 8 inches and the layout was back in business.  Not only do the trains not stringline but scenically this is going to be quite the nice area. 



Photo 7:  In this photo we can see the west wall of the main room.  The photo shows the Thunder Bay intermodal yard on level 2, you can see the upper level and you get a brief  view of the lower level.



Photo 8:  This photo shows the north wall of the layout room.  On the left of level 2 is the Thunder Bay local yard, you can see the mainline on the upper level and the mainline on the lower level.



Photo 9:  This photo shows the east wall of the layout room on which a large paper mill is located on Level 2 as well as the mainlines on the upper and lower levels.

[shark_jj]

Photo 10:  Here we see Justin watching an intemodal running on Level 3 after having successfully transited the new trackage coming from the helix.



Photo 11:  In this photo we see a Potash unit train on the bottom level.  you can see the two levels on the bottom which are joined by a return loop to the left of the photo under the helix joining Levels 2 and 3.



Photo 12:  Here we see a number of units delivered from the manufacturer in primer gray wating for the ASTX to shop them and paint them in ASTX colours, leading an intermodal through the newly relaid trackage and into the helix.

 

The layout also has an island area with a number of large industries which I did not photograph.  Not sure why.  In any event, Wednesday night next week is at Justins so I will see what I can capture. 

[Specter3]

That is quite the solo undertaking. Is there a track plan you can share?

[shark_jj]

Unfortunately there is not.

[shark_jj]

I have been putting off building roads on my layout as I couldn't decide what approach to take.  I considered plaster, but I've never been a fan of how even when painted it still looks like plaster.  The Smooth It by Woodland Scenics seems to be much smoother than other plasters and a friend who models in HO has used it to good effect.  It was on the list of possibilities.  One downside is that it can be pricey.  I looked at the Roadway material from Busch and when you weather it it looks quite good.  The problem is the lack of curve material.  You get a 6" curve and here in Canada the price of this product is ridiculous for the amount of material you get.  There is also the issue of seams and blending it into large areas like parking lots.  I considered styrene and that seemed to be the most viable option.  I can buy a 4X8 ft sheet from a local plastic wholesaler, .040 thickness for a very reasonable price, around $30 to $40.  Single sheet would do all of the roads.  The one minor annoyance I had with styrene was the "glass" like look that you get.  Ron of Ron's Trains on You Tube has done some styrene roads and they look excellent so it was at the top of my list, then the other night I happened to see a video on making roads on a You Tube Channel entitled Late Night Model Railroad.  This gentleman used Tile Grout and I was quite fascinated by the effect.  I decided to give it a try.  I headed to my local Home Depot and picked up some 3/16 X 3/8 Weather Stripping for Windows which would act as the tape to hold the Grout in place and a can of pre-mixed Tile Grout in DeLorean Gray.  My apologies for the fact that there is no picture of the setup.  I had gotten to the striping portion before the "brain" clicked in and I remembered I should photograph this project.  I'll take some in progress photos of the next one.  Here are some photos of the striping process, the weathering and the finished product.

In this first photograph you can see the grout after it has dried and I have given it a light sanding.  The reason I am showing this photo is to show my first attempt at striping.  I masked the stripe off and then using a sponge dabbed on paint.  I had dabbed the sponge on a paper towel and so it was pretty well dry before I dabbed the paint.  I also made sure the masking tape was firmly adhered.  Nonetheless, the "bleed" is clearly visible and the lines are not sharp.  Another method or solution was required.



In this photo you can see that I have taped off the outside lines on the roadway.  After my failure with the "dry dabbing" technique, I decided to try my PanPastels.  You can see the white PanPastel and in the small sponge applicator I used to dab the PanPastel into the area to be coloured.



In this photo you can see the end result of using the PanPastels to do the striping.  The lines are nice and crisp and clean.  I'm satisfied with the result. 



Here is how it looks in a curve.



Here I have added some weathering to the roadway again using my PanPastels. 



Here is a shot with some vehicles added.  You have to love the clutter including the coffee cup.  As a sidebar that cup came from the local HO Club of which I was a member for 30 years.  The cup itself is 50 years old. 



Here are the materials, the 3/16" X 3/8" weather stripping and the premixed Grout.  I may need another package of weather stripping however the Grout will do every road on the layout.  $40 Can., which means just over $30 US for our friends south of the border.  Great deal, I'm happy. 

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Grout: is there ANYTHING it can't do? lol.

I'm a big fan, but I hadn't thought about using the pre-mixed stuff.

My own technique has lately been using craft foam covered in thinned Smooth-It and then dusted with grout. Maybe I should just skip all the middle men!

I'm assuming you haven't had any issues with cracking.

[shark_jj]

Thats a good question Ed.  This is my test bed section so all I can tell you is that it has been down for about 36 hours at this point.  It is completely dry.  There are no cracks.  I really don't know enough about Grout to know if that might occur over time.  Were it to happen, I might just fill the cracks with white glue and paint them black, kinda like the real thing.

[Bendtracker1]

  Were it to happen, I might just fill the cracks with white glue and paint them black, kinda like the real thing.

Can't get anymore realistic than that!  Just like the road dept does.
That could make a nice little mini scene as well.  A road with cones apply the tar.

The grout itself shouldn't crack, unless the substrate moves.

[shark_jj]

I thought I would share some additional insights into my experiences using tile grout to create asphalt roads.  I will put these insights above the appropriate photographs. 

Masking out the areas to be filled.  I mentioned in the previous post I would show the masking process using window weathering tape.  Here is the town of Nathansville laid out for the roads to be put in.  The first picture shows the buildings that will be in the town.  The road will 2 lanes, with a lane of parking on either side and then sidewalks.  I had originally planned for 11 foot lanes, 11 foot wide parking spots, and 5 foot sidewalks.  I now believe having seen the 4 cars in place, I will go with 11 foot wide travel lanes, 10 foot wide parking spots, and 6 foot wide sidewalks.  The second photo shows the buildings removed showing the area to be filled with grout for roadways and parking lots.





The second area I was planning to do was the access road and parking lot at the Power Plant.  This is adjacent to the original test road I put in and joins up at a T intersection.  It also crosses a spur line.  I decided that rather than put in steel plates or timbers that I would put asphalt across these tracks since it would be a good test, it is an easily replaceable spur track.  More on that later.  The photo below shows the first step.  The weather stripping has been put on the layout and the area between filled with grout and I am in the process of smoothing it out.  As I was about to discover, smoothing an area larger than the size of my 3 inch trowel was a little tricker than the 2 lane road had been.  Thank goodness I decided to use this small area as a test before tackling Nathansville.  With my smoothing challenges here I may do the main street in Nathansville as two 2 lane roads to make for easier smoothing.



Here it is from the back side and it has been smoothed as much as I was able.  Towards the top you can see where I have filled the entire area across the tracks.  My original plan was to put spacers in before filling the area between the rails.  I tried this using a piece of carboard with masking tape glued to it upside down, leaving the sticky portion of the tape exposed.  The plan was to push this up against the rail, fill the gap, then the cardboard strip could easily be dug out when the grout dried.  This plan failed when the masking tape wouldn't adhere to the side of the rail.  I suspect the rail contour didn't allow the masking tape to make enough contact.   At this point, my plan was to use a hobby knife and scrape out along the inside of the rail once the grout dried.  I was about to get a rude awakening.  While waiting for the grout to dry I decided to clean up along the sides of the existing roadway.  I figured using my hobby knife I could just scrape the little bits of excess away.  Not being overly familiar with tile grout, I never realized it basically dries like cement.  Literally, cement.  I immediately realized my plan to dig out the rails after the grout dried would be a real challenge.  Total drying time is 24 hours, in my nice cool, dry, northern basement it seems more like around 16 or so.  I knew that I had to wait until the grout at least started to dry out and was a little bit set up.  I gave it somewhere in the range of 5 hours.  I suspect anything in the 4 to 6 range would be ok depending on dryness, humidity etc.  I then moved in while the grout was still workable and cleaned out the sides of the rails very gently so as not to totally mess up the roadway material between the rails.  As you can see in the second photo this worked out pretty well.





I will continue with the lessons I learned in the next post.

[shark_jj]

Post #2 in lessons learned while using Tile Grout for roadways.  As previously noted, this Grout dries like cement.  For sanding I was using a fine sanding block.  It works great for a very light sanding, but if I actually had to remove some material, not so good.  Here's a quick photo of the type of sanding block I was using just for reference.



Having struggled to sand out some of the imperfections I was seeing, I decided to try applying a paper thin layer of grout material on top of what was already there.  I wasn't sure how well a second coat would adhere.  I shouldn't have been worried, it adhered nicely, gave me a smoother finish and was much easier to sand.  i actually sanded it after about 4 hours since it was so thin, it set up very quickly.   The first photo below shows this thin layer in the process of application, the second photo shows it after I have finished the application and smoothed it out.





The second area where this thin layer made a huge difference was at the joint with the existing road.  The first photo shows the joint originally.  It is a little hard to see but there was a definite bump there and in real life it was easily seen.  In the second photo I have overlaid a thin layer of grout and feathered it out so the joint between the existing and the new is much cleaner.





Anyway, I hope these insights are helpful to anyone who wants to try PreMixed Tile Grout as a roadway material.  I am definitely happy with the results so far and I am still learning with each application.

[James Costello]

Wow, that looks great!

I could see what you meant about the joint, and your remedy looks good too. Don't forget though that road crossings are high maintenance locations for both railroads and road authorities and different colors of asphalt (representing their different ages) is very common.

I did a quick look on google for examples and ended up back at this MR article:
https://www.trains.com/mrr/how-to/prototype-railroads/six-grade-crossings-you-can-model/

Whilst this image is showing the wooden planks, you can see the difference in the asphalt joint colors past the crossing:


But yeah, this looks like a promising technique and I'm looking forward to trying it myself. Thanks!

[CNR5529]

John, the road samples are looking great! Can't wait to see them in person. Here's a thought, to simulate road patches, you can probably mask an area and hit it with darker pan pastels. For example you can simulate the clear delineation line at the asphalt transition in the previous proto photo, or pothole repairs, etc.