The Atlantic and Southern Build, Part 1

[RWL]

Tom,

The scene you are creating will certainly be a signature scene for the railroad and in a good location. You don't hear from me often, but when you do it is usually with questions and this is no different.  Is the span being bridged, a flood plain, a flowing river, a dry river bed, or did I just miss the answer in the dialog?

Bob

[S&S RR]

Tom


The ballast looks good, just the right color.

[ACL1504]

Good Morning Tom,

The tie and ballast work looks great. The material from Arizona Rock is very finely crushed and "sits" well. I used this material on my neighbors layout and have been using on mine. I have tried the other materials including the crushed walnut shells, and nothing works as good as the Arizona Rock. And you did the right thing by getting all the material at the same time. As we all should know, rock colors change from batch to batch and the probability grows if you by it by the bag over a period of time. Looks Great. Keep up the great work. How about a pic of a train on the ballasted track?

Frank / Erieman

Frank,

Yes, the Arizona Rock is a far superior product than the crushed shells. Looks better also. I'll get a picture up of a train on the track in the ballasted area.

As far as the color change, I believe it's possible to have color change in the ballast from the same rock.
However, I do have enough of the same ballast batch to finish the second level.

Tom

[ACL1504]

Maybe a ballast train?    Looks good.  When you're finished there I have a few hundred feet you can ballast here.

Jeff

Jeff,

Thanks for stopping by. A ballast train would look great wouldn't it. Unfortunately, I don't have one.

I would love to come out and help with your ballast but there is just one little problem. Your temp. is nothing more than sub-zero. To cold for this Florida Cracker.

Tom

[ACL1504]

Tom,

The scene you are creating will certainly be a signature scene for the railroad and in a good location. You don't hear from me often, but when you do it is usually with questions and this is no different.  Is the span being bridged, a flood plain, a flowing river, a dry river bed, or did I just miss the answer in the dialog?

Bob

Bob,

Thanks for checking in and asking about the area. You didn't miss anything in the previous postings as I didn't really say what the area is going to be.  It will be some form of a slow moving river of sorts. However, it will only be under the large bridge span and the abutments won't be in the water but on the land.

I will have one of the highway supports in the river.

Next time you are up this way give me a call. I'd like you to see what I've been up to.

Tom

[ACL1504]

Tom


The ballast looks good, just the right color.

John,

Thanks, much appreciated. I'm happy with the ballast at this point in the layout build. Once the last little section of mainline is finished I'll start on the yard area.

Tom

[cuse]

Looks great Tom...you're certainly on the move, as usual!


John

[ACL1504]

John,

Thanks for stopping by and yes, I've been busy and will continue to be for some time.

Tom

[ACL1504]

I'd like to add this concerning the ballast. I was talking to Erieman, Frank Baker, and he mentioned that John Siekirk, S&S RR, was going to Arizona to visit. Frank took John to Arizona Rock and John was kind enough to pickup 15 bags of ballast for me. John fronted the money and when I met him at last years Expo I repaid John.

It was very gracious of John to do this for me and for Frank taking John to Arizona Rock. Also, it was Frank's suggestion that I buy several bags at a time in order to get the same basic color.

So, a big THANK YOU to Frank and John for their help in getting me the ballast.

The people on this forum are the BEST. I love this place.

Tom

[S&S RR]

I'd like to add this concerning the ballast. I was talking to Erieman, Frank Baker, and he mentioned that John Siekirk, S&S RR, was going to Arizona to visit. Frank took John to Arizona Rock and John was kind enough to pickup 15 bags of ballast for me. John fronted the money and when I met him at last years Expo I repaid John.

It was very gracious of John to do this for me and for Frank taking John to Arizona Rock. Also, it was Frank's suggestion that I buy several bags at a time in order to get the same basic color.

So, a big THANK YOU to Frank and John for their help in getting me the ballast.

The people on this forum are the BEST. I love this place.

Tom

Tom


I agree with you on the great people I have meet as a result of this forum.  Your ballast along with the 5 - 5  gallon buckets of rock talus that I brought back from AZ really helped the Jeep with traction in the snow storms in the mountains on the way home and again on the way to the EXPO. 


FYI - I have tried to call you a few times this week - I will try again next week.  I have a question for you.

[ACL1504]

I finally got the yard tracks painted and weathered.



Ballast in the yard is next. More on that later as I'm doing something different.

I started to install the guard rail on the bridge. The rail is code 83, same as the track.





Continued in a few.

[ACL1504]

I needed to bring the track ballast up to the edge. I used blue painters tape to block the ballast.



I then wet the ballast and applied a healthy amount of diluted matte medium to the area and let dry.



And here is how it looks now.



More in a few.

[ACL1504]

Remember this picture of the bridge area from the January 15 post? Well, the bridge has been in place since then and I'm not happy with it. Those of you that know me can guess what happened this afternoon. Yepper, the bridge is gone. Not all of it but I changed the span from the two on the left and one on the right to one on each side.




New bridge section. I also think it looks much better and realistic.



The extra bridge span took the track more up into the corner and caused me to reduce the curve from 36.5 to 34 inch radius. Diesels and small steamers liked it but not the Northern class 4-8-4 locos.

In the photo below you can see the now 34" radius curve. I even weathered it and then decided to remove it.

The black line to the left is the old 36.5" radius. Removing the one span will allow me to relay the raodbed and track back to the original radius of 36.5". Lesson learned.



I should have it finished tomorrow or Monday at the latest.

Tom

[ACL1504]

This morning I removed the track and old roadbed.



I removed the old section where the bridge span met the plywood. I used this piece of plywood as a pattern for making the new section. I added 7" to the new section. The 7" is the length of the one bridge span.





Continued in a few.

[ACL1504]

I then glued some new roadbed in place on the old 36.5" radius curve.



After all the new roadbed was in place and the glue dry. I used some medium sandpaper of a small block of 1X4 and leveled the top of the roadbed.



Did I ever mention that level is good?



Continued in a few.