Superior & Seattle Railroad Build

[jlgrove]

....wow, nice work on the doors....seeing this really makes me love my laser(s).......

[S&S RR]

John,

Hey, I forgot all about the roundhouse! The doors look great!

Tom

I can see why you forgot, it has been on the back burner for months while I completed the lower level track work. I have a couple more wiring issues to resolve and I think I will have the lower level complete and ready for ballast.

[S&S RR]

....wow, nice work on the doors....seeing this really makes me love my laser(s).......

Jeff
I agree laser(s) are great tools but sometimes I want it to look like it was hand made. There will be slight differences in the size of these door because I made the portals for the front of the roundhouse by hand - using a template. The way Grandpa used to do it. Thanks for stopping by.

[S&S RR]

Here are a couple pictures of GN 703 with a load of 15 brand new 40 foot boxcars making it's way around the lower mainline during this mornings track testing. Wayne and I gave the track work a good workout and started experimenting with the ballasting.

[ACL1504]

John,

Looking very good my friend, very good! Love the saw mill on the upper level! Are you pulling all Kadee 40' cars?

Tom

[S&S RR]

The first step in ballasting is to use good old beach sand to fill in the area around the track.  Here we are just getting started.



At this point the track work has been painted with rail brown paint and spiked down with track nails in the center. The sand is added to save on ballast. After the sand dries we will add the final coat of ballast.

The next step will be to remove the track nails and do the final cleanup of the track.  Then it will be weathered and detailed.

I will post pictures of each step as we go along. I'm using 4:1 white glue to hold everything in place.  The sand and the ballast is sprayed with wet water first and then the glue is added with a large turkey baster.

This is a mountain railroad set in the 1940's or early 50's so the ties are purposely left at odd angles here and there so they don't look like the machine laid ties of a modern railroad.

[S&S RR]

John,

Looking very good my friend, very good! Love the saw mill on the upper level! Are you pulling all Kadee 40' cars?

Tom

Hi Tom - thanks for the kind words.

Yes, the cars are all 40" Kadee's that I have been collecting for years.  First time they have been out of the box.  Lots of weathering to do at some point.  Another project for another day.

I have a narrow gauge wood trestle planned for the center of the upper level scene.  I also have the FSM sand house kit about 60 percent completed on my workbench that will go to the right of the saw mill on the upper level.

[ACL1504]

John,

At one time I was collecting the Kadee cars and I think about 200+! I compared the Kadee to the Accurail and Blueprint series and decided to go that route.

By then the Out of Production Kadee's were selling like hot cakes on Ebay. I sold 150 of them and pretty much doubled my original investment. I did keep many of the favorites but still need to weather another 25 or so. Seems like building a railroad model never stops!

Tom

[ReadingBob]

Looking good John.  Great idea to use sand as a filler to save on ballast.    

.... Seems like building a railroad model never stops!

Well let's hope it doesn't.  What fun would that be.   

[S&S RR]

John,

At one time I was collecting the Kadee cars and I think about 200+! I compared the Kadee to the Accurail and Blueprint series and decided to go that route.

By then the Out of Production Kadee's were selling like hot cakes on Ebay. I sold 150 of them and pretty much doubled my original investment. I did keep many of the favorites but still need to weather another 25 or so. Seems like building a railroad model never stops!

Tom

I try not to look at Ebay prices and I especially don't want my wife to know what some of the stuff is going for like the FSM and SRMW kits.  I actually stopped using Ebay about 6 years ago after a bad experience with their PAYPAL service.  I have most of the older kits that I wanted, and for the few that I would still buy I pick them up at shows when the price is right.  I brought home some good finds from the EXPO last year.

I'm not sure how many of the Kadee's I have but I bought them all below the MSRP.  I will only sell the stuff I don't find a place for on the layout.


I'm hoping to keep this model railroad thing going for at least another 50 years.

[S&S RR]

Looking good John.  Great idea to use sand as a filler to save on ballast.    

.... Seems like building a railroad model never stops!

Well let's hope it doesn't.  What fun would that be.   

Thanks for the kind comments - and yes the sand does save some big $$$ - here in Michigan you can dig a hole just about anywhere and find beach sand. It really works well as a base coat for any scenery. 

And,  yes you are correct we sure don't want to finish the railroad model. No danger of that happening here for the next 50 years or so.

[bparrish]

John...

Great idea on the sub layer sand.

See ya
Bob

[S&S RR]

I'm playing with using fall transition colors in the higher elevations. Here are a couple of picture of my test grove of Aspen trees.   What do you think?

[gnatshop]

The Aspen trees look great!
I've never lived where they grew, but I've visited the area.
The black spots on the trunks definitely identify them, and they did grow out of
rocky barren areas that make you wonder if there was enough soil!
Their underground root sysem should continue to populate your higher areas!

A super addition for the higher areas.

[bparrish]

John.............

Given David's remark above.............. he is absolutely correct about the nature of aspens.

I just got back from Yellowstone and this was a topic of conversation.

They have an extensive tuberous root structure that causes more trees to come from the root structures than from seed.  Thus they grow in tight groves and in rock draws and creases that collect water.  They also are stimulated by fires that fry off the tops.

They are also very susceptible to the pressures of grazing of animals.  They don't do well when the tops keep getting munched off by deer and elk.

However........ deer and elk are, like most other animals.......... an energy conservation machine.  People are just lazy.  They will search out food sources that are the easiest to gain access to. Thus if the hillside is step enough, aspens will come back very well as the critters will not work it unless they have run out of everything else.

So............ keep planting those aspens............. they look great.

The problem with trees on a model railroad........... once you plant the first tree it yells for a thousand more ! !

see ya
Bob