Jersey City Industrial Railroad Micro-Layout

[DKS]

To the earlier topic - the season.

I have a friend that is planning to model winter. His layout is large and some areas will be snow covered, some slushy, and some just bleak bare trees and ground. He has experimented on dioramas for years to get the right solution for snow. His final solution was to use marble dust. It is cheap, easy to come by and give the reflective sparkle that nothing else really could convey.

I think the hardest thing to model will be the slushy.

There is also a gentleman, Mikelhh from Australia on Trainboard that models New England in the dead of winter in HO. His results are very convincing. His photos have been in MR before in the Trackside photos section.

http://www.trainboard.com/grapevine/showthread.php?152871-Weekend-Photo-Fun-August-23-2013&p=939836#post939836

Thank you for the tip on marble dust--I'll have to check it out.

As for Mikelhh... https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=27762.msg333978#msg333978 

[Chris333]

A trolley line 

And do I see some narrow gauge track over at the crane?

[DKS]

Yeah, well, it's as much a trolley line as two rails embedded in the street could ever be. Won't be functional; just cosmetic. Thing is, in the early 1900s, you couldn't swing a dead cat without hitting a trolley car in JC; seems every other reference photo I've got has a trolley line in it somewhere.

The narrow gauge track by the overhead crane is T Gauge flex track. Might not even see it by the time I've added snow effects! 

[GaryHinshaw]

You should experiment with marble dust before you commit.  I vaguely recall hearing that it turns off color (yellow or brownish) when glued.  Though maybe that's a good thing in a slushy Jersey City!

[DKS]

You should experiment with marble dust before you commit.  I vaguely recall hearing that it turns off color (yellow or brownish) when glued.  Though maybe that's a good thing in a slushy Jersey City!

Oh, trust me, I'll be doing a lot of experimenting before gluing anything to the layout...

[Chris333]

When I was a kid I still saw old trolley tracks in the streets.

[mark dance]

You should experiment with marble dust before you commit.  I vaguely recall hearing that it turns off color (yellow or brownish) when glued.  Though maybe that's a good thing in a slushy Jersey City!

I have lots of experience with ARM marble dust (and lots of extra bags if you want to experiment!).  Mike Dannemann recommended it if for snowed tracks.  Yes it does turn brown and it requried 5 coats of gesso to get it back white again in my case.

md

[SkipGear]

I can't imagine the marble itself turning brown. Marble countertops don't change color. He has a diorama that has been done for at least 5 years and it still looks fine, minus a little dust settling on it.

I'm pretty sure he picked up 20lb bags of white mable dust from a local stone cutter for around $5 a bag. I'll find out more details as far as his source and the glue he used.

[DKS]

I can't imagine the marble itself turning brown.

Many forms of marble, regardless of color, contain traces of elemental iron. Over time the iron will oxidize and turn the marble yellowish or brownish, depending on the amount of iron present in the marble. Wetting powdered marble accelerates the oxidation considerably because being powdered exposes more of the iron, and water contains dissolved oxygen that will react with the iron.

[kelticsylk]

Dave, love the idea of simulating "girder rail" with the clipped code 55. I had wanted to do something like this for the Logan Valley trackage in Altoona, but couldn't see a way to do it.

As for the Belgian block, I thought of using brick siding, but if it worked it would only be in the straight sections. The curves are a whole 'nother story. Thought brick paper might work, but not sure how it would hold up.

I'm interested to see what you come up with.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I like the gasworks.  I like the smaller than proto structure to suggest the gas works.  It's very model railroady, and will drive Ed batshit.  I like driving Ed batshit.

This is why we're friends.

[DKS]

I like the gasworks.  I like the smaller than proto structure to suggest the gas works.

To be fair, the model is indeed smaller than proto, but only if you refer to the one in the Jersey City reference image; there were many real tanks that were about the size of the model, especially at the end of the 1800s. The one to the right in this photo is a decent size-match for the model:

[James Costello]

Dave - do you have any color photos of those gas tanks showing how they weather etc?

[kelticsylk]

Dave,
Found this while looking for N scale brick for street trackage...It's latex!
http://www.pbase.com/image/31436907

The stuff is available here...
http://yhst-4214666090577.stores.yahoo.net/nsr03.html

and comes in sheets...

[Chris333]

About snow didn't Mike Danneman just use sifted Hydrocal?
http://www.model160.com/n-scale-news-blog/photo-of-the-week-mike-danneman/