Wisconsin Central - Heritage Division

[Atsf222]

Looking great Bill, your inspiring me to get this ATSF project going faster

Tom

[w neal]

"I'm a thousand miles away from home, waiting for a train"

[w neal]

[w neal]

Doing a bit of tie weathering today. Just some dry brushing. Not sure I like it all, nor all the colors. It seems to look o.k. on the industrial spurs.

[w neal]

Got a few small things done on the layout during "spring break". Other than finishing my IC geep decaling project, I added some background trees here and there.










Realizing this will upset many, I'm putting a limited number of figures on the layout - and then only in selected areas. While some argue that static figures detract from the "realness" of a scene, as my friend says "Everyone knows its (the layout) fake". I.E. We're not really fooling anyone, no matter how hard we try. Its a free country, model how you choose. I know a few people in RR maintenance. This is my tribute.









It occurred to me what scenes like this mean. Its not just the fact that I know a couple people in RR maintenance, which is often a very tough and demanding job. Its the fact that railroading is people. The more one studies railroads and what they do, you begin to appreciate the people who keep it moving. Sure, its easy to appreciate the machines and rolling stock. But, for me, its the people you remember most.

[w neal]

Ok, here's my next project since I'm off next week too. Some say I'm off every week. Lets see what I can get done in either or both of these scenes: Waupaca Foundry 2 and Samuel's Recycling. Its been a good 5 years while laboring on the Galesburg City Job, so I'm past due...

[Ed Kapuscinski]

That foundry's the one on the railcam, right?

Can you explain how it works? I figured it was just a remelt place but then I saw coke hoppers going in. What's the deal?

[w neal]

Negative. That is Foundry 1. The railcam is atop the restored Waupaca depot.

Coke hoppers indeed and, back in the day, CSX coke express hoppers were often seen. Here ia a link to the company website:

https://www.waupacafoundry.com/en/waupaca-foundry/iron-casting-locations/plant-1

To be honest, I don't really know the inner workings of the plant. I'll see if I can glean some more info this summer at the train show. It does seem odd as its mostly coke hoppers at plant one and inbound scrap at plant 2, and both are a fair distance apart.

[w neal]

Was just looking over my pics from back in the day (90s likely) of foundry 2. I have pics of several "coal cars" parked in and around the plant, a couple of which even feature Conrail paint. So it appears that foundry 2 also may have received inbound coke. Now I have the excuse I need to park some around the place, eh?

[conrail98]

Coke is very much used as an additive for EAFs and other similar type reheats/furnaces at foundries. Many times it's in really small amount versus what you would see at blast furnace but it is utilized,

Phil

[w neal]

According to prototype photos, and before adding ground cover to the area, the foundry needs a "cement" floor. Ballasting next maybe.

[w neal]

Spreading ballast around. Also doing just a tiny bit of "mudding" aroung the holes in the layout for the blue point controllers and around the foundry floor. I'll apply some Elmers glue mix after shaping the ballast today.

[w neal]

There. Thats better:

[w neal]

Thinking about some other areas on the layout:

[w neal]

Got it. Thanks for the suggestions. All I had was the older versions, so I jazzed them up a bit with some "reflective" orange panels.