MORRISTOWN & ERIE RAILROAD - WESTERN DIVISION

[Erieman]

Good Evening All,


While working on ideas for weathering the bridge into Chester, I continue scenery in other areas of the layout. The following photo shows a scene in Ironia. The station to the right is scratchbuilt built from an article in model Railroader may years ago. It is the station in Thurmond, West Virginia. It was fun to build.
The GP in the background is on a spur leading to the mine in Ironia. Perhaps the town name will give you a clue to what is mined there. Coincidentally, Ironia was a big mining town in Northern New Jersey back in the late 1800's/ I just liked the name. Trees are still be adding as well as ground cover.


Additionally, I received another piece of rubber rock from Cripplebush today. It has been installed against the backdrop area as the train exits Chester. Several small details there are nearing completion. The pulp car in the foreground contains several hundred sticks that I cut from dead branches on a Palo Verde tree. While a tedious exercise, the visual effect was well worth it. Some of the bark has varying colors that add realism looking birch wood.


Don't work about the lack of scenery in the lower right corner. That is tomorrow's project.


Frank / Erieman

[sdrees]

Hi Frank,

I understand that pieces of tumble weed make great bases for trees.  So the next time you have to clean up your yard after wind storm, you might want to take  look at the tumble weeds.

Picture looks great.

[Erieman]

Hi Frank,

I understand that pieces of tumbleweed make great bases for trees.  So the next time you have to clean up your yard after wind storm, you might want to take  look at the tumble weeds.

Picture looks great.

Good Afternoon Steve,


Those wind storms you speak of are called Haboobs. You guys in Tucson get them more that we do. We  only get a little dust where I live because of the mountains in the way. The dust is bad enough.


Thanks for  the help.


Frank / Erieman

[sdrees]

Frank,

We do not get those winds in Tucson.  They start north of us near Picacho Peak when they occur and north to Scottsdale.

[Erieman]

Frank,

We do not get those winds in Tucson.  They start north of us near Picacho Peak when they occur and north to Scottsdale.

Steve,


I thought Tucson got some of the Haboob as well. You learn something every day. As you know, I have been working feaverishly on the the layout. Thought you might want to see some more pics. And yes, I know I need to add some trolley poles. All in due time.


Frank / Erieman

[Erieman]

Good Evening all,
Well, several days have gone by and you are probably asking, where is a photo of the weathered bridge. Well, lots of other things have slowed me down, but I finally got back to it. Over the past weekend, I visited Alan Olson, a fellow modeler here in Arizona. I asked Alan for a lesson on weathering steel. He has done several beautiful structures and cars with superb weathering. He gave me several ideas and we painted a portion of one of my bridges.

That being said,  I looked at the bridge in question and found that the bridge was only partially primed. After removing the bridge from its location (whew), I primed the bridge and then started painting. Talk about time consuming, each member has four sides, each with access and pigment issues. After several hours, I have done about 1/2 of one side. Yes it is a lot of work, but I like what I see. I have used some pastel on to weather engine smoke. A couple more days and I will be able to reinstall the bridge and move onto something else.

Frank / Erieman

[bparrish]

Frank....

Pretty cool.

Thanx
Bob

[Janbouli]

Looking good already Frank.

[S&S RR]

Amazing how the weathering makes if blend into the scene. It looks great Frank.

[sdrees]

Now your railroad is beginning to look like your in the rust belt.  I would do several shades of rust though.

[Erieman]

Now your railroad is beginning to look like your in the rust belt.  I would do several shades of rust though.

Steve,


Thank you for stopping by. This is my first pass of the paint job. Actually, I have three more of these bridges to paint. UGH. I thought removal of the bridge was going to be a task, but found it much easier than I thought. Here is a finished pic, along with the ice house facility in Chester.


Frank / Erieman

[sdrees]

Looking good now.

[Powersteamguy1790]

The scenery looks great Frank.

Stay cool and run steam..........

[Erieman]

Frank....

Pretty cool.

Thanx
Bob

Thanks Bob,


This bridge is done and there are now only three more bridges to weather!


Frank / Erieman

[Erieman]

Looking good now.

Good afternoon Steve,


Just have to put some scenery below the bridge and clean up a couple of things, then it on to bridges 2,3 and 4. Actually, I am going to put in some more trees and paint the rubber rock scenery on the West side of Chester. That should finish most of the scenery work along the back wall and I can move closer to the details in the foreground. Since I now have a tentative photography date, the pressure is on.


Frank / Erieman