Essex branch HO v4

[nuno81291]

Well... while the idea of the single staging track hit, I was struck with another idea; moving the roundhouse in so I can send a track around to act as hidden staging. While at it I decided to sneak in 3 through tracks, the more the merrier eh? Hidden staging will be accomplished by putting a backdrop to separate the two scenes that wraps around the roundhouse. Imagine the backdrop running lengthwise roughly in the area of the pile of flex. In the foreground you see my new two track swing bridge which thanks to a new construction method should be even more bomb proof than the old one. I am very happy with the conceptual “hidden staging” and how it will add to the effect with ops in the pit.

[nuno81291]

Since I have not posted a plan... The plan has evolved as it was built but here is more or less how it is now:


Tomorrow my plan is to finish installing tortoises I have on hand. Waiting for 4 to finish out the staging area from M.B. Klein. Dropping feeders and hope to finally run trains under power (0-5-0 is great for testing but...) I need to finish the last piece of subroadbed that approaches the hinged bridge on the canal side.

I wanted an industry adjacent to the yard and decided to make a tank rack area. Not sure what I will model it as but I have seen LPG in a few area yards and perhaps I go for that sort of vibe. The spur to the scrap yard is downgrade. Overall I feel this plan has a lot more interest opposed to the last, and plenty of operating potential between the yard, staging, industries and town/station area. Canals inspired by Holyoke, Lawrence, Lowell and a relocation of my previous bridge/river scene will add a lot of scenic and vertical interest. This hopefully will be the first larger railroad I build out to completion. Very excited for some plywood pacific ops while I make sure my trackwork is bullet proof.

[strummer]

I hate to admit I just now discovered this thread and read it all from start up till now.

It's super on so many levels. Your obvious modeling skills; the area you're modeling (I was born in Connecticut, and lived in Maine for a few years, so I am slightly familiar with New England); the decor in the room (Who's Next, L.A. Woman, Hotel California); and a drum set!

Waiting for a picture of your "wall of guitar amplifiers" and the Constitution. 

Mark (now) in Oregon

[nuno81291]

Back at it tonight installing the first track on the hinge bridge. I use cut down retailers for security in both directions at each joint. The rigidity of the section works great to screw and shim to fine level, much more rigidity versus atlas flex which makes for a simple but effective solution to my problem.

You can see my construction methods, I use two bolt locks to level and add protection against an accidental opening. The latch is used to pull the hinged section in close and minimizes rail gaps and takes a bit of the play out of the hinge construction. On this bridge I decided to cut an identical lower section to connect with ribs to prevent rotational forces warping the bridge. I am very happy to say I have had no derailments with my equipment on this first track, and adding the beefier door hinges and lower ply really stiffened up the design at the minor cost of a little weight. It takes all of 30 seconds to connect or disconnect the section.

[nuno81291]

Finished the second track tonight. Testing to see if I figured out how to not have rotated photos

[nuno81291]

Golden spike has been set tonight. I hope to start dropping feeders and see how far I get, looking forward to JFRT for the first time in months. After that I will test all planned moves before filling in missing ties. I am going to give scenic express grey blend a go and perhaps stock up on some new static grasses and perhaps super tree armatures.

Going to look at some rock products perhaps cripplebrush for a small cut section near the large mainline turn as well as needing a few more sheets of cut rock or sea wall style molds perhaps from NE Brownstone.

[nuno81291]

Well since adding the hidden staging I knew I had to relay the station/junction area so the amfleets had some breathing room. Was sitting about 24” I pushed to 36”, helped a whole lot and much easier to make changes like this on ply than foam in my opinion.

Christmas came early for the Essex Branch and I took ownership of my first HO steam. In other news all the track and switch wiring is over (yuck ) and I plan to test this week and place an order for ballast. If there are no major issues I hope to spraybomb camo brown for a base color this weekend and begin building some of the new town area kits I picked up.

[nuno81291]

In more unsexy but necessary news I have rebuilt the valence. Part of the bargaining chip is my girlfriend will get everything above for her use (our joint modeling efforts like the multi USS Constitutions and the other for her Lego collection). I will be fixing the drywall and coving the corners and painting the back my sky color instead of running Masonite the whole way. I will use my exisiting LED rope lights for the time being but need to get on researching what I will replace them with. Leaning toward a mix of blue/red spectrum for a good balance of warm/cool temperature lighting. I pushed the height up a bit since getting your head in to inspect on the old layout could be quite a challenge. If all goes well I may be able to start working on the landforms behind the track with insulation board tonight. [ Guests cannot view attachments ] [ Guests cannot view attachments ]

[nuno81291]

Finished the first coat of paint on the valence and backdrop. Deciding between styrene or aluminum for coving the corners... aluminum flashings plus is I have it on hand, not sure what adhesive I would use but it shouldn’t take much force or holding power to keep it in place and take a skim coat to blend the edge. [ Guests cannot view attachments ]

[nuno81291]

And for fun we decided more valence is needed at the present time:

Decided to use styrene for coving the corners held in place by heavy duty mounting tape. Once the paint dries I hope to finish installing hardboard in the window areas, rehanging my lights and ordering another few sets of LEDs. Then I can get back to the layout proper and begin roughing in land forms. Nightly testing has revealed a few areas that needed minor realignment I have been dealing with as needed. My goal is to have no question of all my stock and locos working before I even think about ballasting. Perhaps to this effect I will postpone ballast until the majority of scenery is completed, and just lay a base of camo brown on the track so I can begin weathering ties etc. I plan to work back to front in sections so you can expect to see the first corner in the left get roughed in almost to completion before I move to the bridge and then town area. Eventually I will build a valence over the yard and roundhouse but for now I do not want to spend on additional supplies and lighting or cover up the turntable and RH tracks before extensive testing. [ Guests cannot view attachments ]

[nuno81291]

Painted and lit the new portion of valence.

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Excited to do modeling I roughed this out for the hillside. Needs more layers of ground cover but glad to do some actual modeling again.

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I am doing my first minor kitbash out of this old Heljan kit. I did some brick work I like and filled in the windows. It will get graffiti, grime and is inspired by many local abandoned buildings.

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I will model a cut out overgrown spur back there.

Need to order some super trees or attempt some of the grove den examples. Here are a few local photos for inspiration sake. Teetering back toward winter instead of fall.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

That 7281 pic. Damn...

[nuno81291]

Working more on the abandoned mill.

Just put the decals on and need more micro sol then weathering. In hindsight I should have done this earlier, oops.

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Roof is a template for when I go get some styrene.

Very happy with how the brick is starting to look as a salvage job. I prefer my roundhouse technique of painting a base brick color, highlighting any of you intend to, mixing a color of “mortar” with acrylics and a bit of joint compound. Apply liberally, wipe as much off the surface as possible then clean up with water or iso on q tips or towels etc. go then with some pan pastels and I have been very happy with the effect such as on my roundhouse.

The pic with the fence is adjacent to a doctor office, active pan am line runs in the foreground by the abandoned building, to the right is a ditched boat and trailer... prototype for everything 

And finally some eye candy from my trove of reference photos. This isn’t exactly what I was aiming for but has some components I like and elements I adapted such as the beginning attempt at ivy(which needs dry brushing for the color tone to darken/brown)

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I dig the mill!!!

[strummer]

It's a shame your building had to be abandoned, but it sure turned out nice...

Mark in Oregon