Weekend Update 7/6/14

[up1950s]

[mark dance]

Guess I am first up this week!  First, may I wish Happy 4th of July to the American members of this forum from all your friends North of the border! 

Work continued this week on the Celgar kraft pulp mill: the largest modeled industry on the C&W.  Heeding Mike M's warnings about the area around such mills needing to withstand heavy loads, I studied aerial photos of the prototype and noted the large amount of paved surface surrounding the plant.  To this much hobby time has been spent in the time consuming process of cutting and shaping styrene sheet to form paved and concrete surfaces. 



...and more of an overview with the parking lot and entrance gate.



In this shot we see the 9 different  spotting locations for the plant which hold nearly 40 cars between them.  Phew: no wonder the Kraft switcher job is so challenging!



Starting at the top are the tank car unloading scaffolds for chlorine, caustic soda and sulfuric acid, much of which comes from the Cominco smelter by way of the Rossland sub, and dry additives to the right behind the shipping building.  Next down, inside the building, 40' box cars are loaded with bales of pulp for the Rayon plant in Edmonton while the outside track will have doors on 50' centers for box cars to head south of the border.  The rails of the next track down are embedded in pavement to make it easier for the plant engineering and maintenance teams' forklifts to unload machinery and special equipment.  Finally, at the bottom of the photo are the two chip tracks and a mock up of the end dumping mechanism for the CP's home made end dump hoppers.

And finally here is a shot approaching the plant from the east through West Robson's siding.  The little 44T was borrowed back from Tehachapi-BC to test the paved trackage as it was installed.  It's a stand in until there is a working N scale Trackmobile...



This will be the last work on the pulp mill for a while...I am shifting attention over to scratch building the affiliated sawmill.  This is something I hope to tackle during our summer travels.

Have a great weekend!

md

[DKS]

I love that muddy pond in the last pic, Mark. Sublime.

Lo-fi modeling continues on the vintage layout refurbishment project. I must say it's nice, low-stress work, what with the biggest decisions to make along the lines of what color to paint a structure. Just turn off the brain and enjoy a high school flashback.



More in the project thread: https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=33075.msg380880#msg380880

[Kisatchie]

I didn't do much this past week. Just finished an Intermountain 40' box car kit that's been sitting on my workbench for at least 6 months. 


Hmm... hey Kiz, how old
are these bananas you
just gave me... 6 months...?

[LIRR]

Nice work mark. Will you be able to reach those back tracks for uncoupling and re-railing?

[mark dance]

Nice work mark. Will you be able to reach those back tracks for uncoupling and re-railing?

Yep, reach has not been a problem...it is only 20" deep at that point and the track is 42" above the floor. 

md

[chuck geiger]

Checkout the BNSF in Wind River Canyon, WY and Thermopolis, WY: http://cheyrails.blogspot.com/

[LIRR]

I've used 1/4-inch hardware cloth for a handrail atop a silo (photos on my L&N layout thread), found another use for it, whipped up a safety cage for the ladder on the silo.

[mu26aeh]

No modeling this weekend.  Just cleaning up basement after new heat pump installed.  I did get photos hung though.

[High Hood]

This.  This is awesome.

[Scottl]

Nice work Mark, that mill scene is coming together nicely. 

I did some modelling work for the first time in months.  I laid down the rock on the west back of the Fraser River.

[BCRail_FSJ]

Put in a bit of work on the Beatton River Bridge diorama.    I applied several layers of static grass today.  First step in many layers of ground cover as this bridge is deep in northern forest.

[ns2688]

A empty coal train prepares to head out and work the mines.

[nkalanaga]

LIRR:  Fascinating.  GMM makes safety cage ladders, and I've seen a few pictures of ones  soldered from wire, but I think yours is the first I've seen made from "found" materials.  Looks good, and it's the right color for most such ladders without painting.

[coosvalley]

Happy 4th of July weekend to everyone!...I'm digging the paper mill Mark... 

I managed to finish a few projects recently, so here are some pics...The cars are N, except for the tank car...

The MEC caboose I repainted and decaled and weathered..

The ESM cars I weathered...these are GREAT cars...Thanks Bryan!

The Kato Amfleets I weathered the underbodies on, I have not cleaned the wheels yet, but I did protect the power pickup system....I think just weathering the underframes and trucks made these look soooooo much better....These are so cool the way they snap together...I'm thinking some Alclad metalizer next...This will be a new experience for me...Fingers crossed!

And the last was a factory Atlas car I re-numbered and weathered and added a weathering solutions "ICH" decal too, as in this pic...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v678/sw1000b/Aug.3b.jpg

















Thanks for looking!