An unidentified tunnel on the line from Lewistown to Great Falls
This photo and some upcoming photo are from the John W. Barriger III National Railroad Library posted on Flickr. This collection contains thousands of photos from over 70 railroads from across the United States. It is an amazing collection! Visit the Barriger Collection @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/barrigerlibrary/sets/
Geraldine Depot Update #3
The depot is completed for now. I say for now because there is always something more to do. I like to study these photos and see where improvements can be made. Touch up paint here or there, additional weathering, fill a bad gap, you get the idea. It is interesting what you don’t see until after a photo is taken and studied.
On this project I did not have enough pre-made shingles for the roof. Rather than ordering or buying from the local hobby shop, I decided it was time to make my own. I have done this on other structures in the past, but found a great time saver in the pre-made variety. For this roof, I wanted to push it a little farther then I had done in the past. The shingles were given a random texture as to their size and condition. That meant cutting more angles for individual shingles and a wider gap in between. For the gap defining each shingle, I took a #11 blade and snapped the point off. This allowed for a wider separation between shingles. The it was simply a matter of doing some angle cuts from these gaps to give the shingles a more aged look. The color of the paper I used looks like your standard shopping bag or card board light brown.
The Milwaukee Road in this area I’m modeling had green shingles on their roofs. To get an approximation of that color required some trial and error. As an art student we were taught to create illustrations by using markers. This was before computers were common place and you had to learn illustration. I still have a large selection of these markers that were purchased during my college days. It is amazing that most of these work after 35 years! For the shingle color, I choose an olive style green and randomly went back over the sheet with several colors of gray to add variety to the overall appearance. Creating shingles this way took more time, but I really feel the end result is worth it.
Click on a photo to enlarge the view.
Geraldine Depot Update #2
Here are some more photos of the progress I have made on the Geraldine depot. The walls have all been assembled with the roof and details in place. I have given the depot a coat of primer gray which closely simulates the color that the Milwaukee Road used on their depots out west. Yet to come are the shingles and chimney for the roof. If you click on the photo below to enlarge it, you can see how I adjusted the bay window after inserting it upside down. It now looks like a simple window with the same size trim around all four sides.
Lewistown Yard looking to the east end and the branch to Heath.
Click on the photo to enlarge.
This photo and some upcoming photo are from the John W. Barriger III National Railroad Library posted on Flickr. This collection contains thousands of photos from over 70 railroads from across the United States. It is an amazing collection! Visit the Barriger Collection @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/barrigerlibrary/sets/
Geraldine Depot
The next building to complete is the depot at Geraldine, Montana. According to the Geraldine Historical Committee, “The Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway completed its line across Montana in 1909 as settlers began to populate rural areas under the Homestead Act. In 1913, a branch line stretching from Harlowton to Great Falls was nearly finished. Midway between Lewistown and Great Falls, the brand-new town of Geraldine, named for the wife of Milwaukee Road financier William G. Rockefeller, anticipated a bright future. The Geraldine Review reported that Milwaukee officials planned to make the town "the show place of the new line." Workers put finishing touches on the only custom built depot on the central branch and a New Year's Eve dance ushered in 1914 christened the building. Its hardwood maple floors were pronounced "splendid." The special design, described as "a rustic bungalow of the California pattern, " featured two waiting rooms, a ticket room, freight room with scales embedded in the floor, nickel trimmed hot blast stoves and a ventilating system that changed the air every five minutes. Geraldine was a busy stopover serving two daily passenger trains and freight crew until passenger service ended in 1955. All the other depots were sold after the Milwaukee's demise in 1980, salvage companies removed the rails from Great Falls-Geraldine section. The non-profit Geraldine Historical Committee acquired the depot from Central Montana Rail in 1995. A model of expert workmanship and quality materials with most original details intact, the depot is still Geraldine's centerpiece and central to the town's history.”
Photo copyright by courthouselover July 2013
Depot Construction
My rendition of the Geraldine depot will not be an exact copy. Depots by John produces a resin kit called the “Country Depot”. This depot is based on Milwaukee Road depots in the mid-west. You can find out about more Milwaukee related building and details by clicking here to visit the Depots By John website. The photo below shows the start of construction with windows and doors already glued in place. These kits are nice to work on. You need to do a lot of sanding and test fitting to make sure everything goes together correctly.
Pay Attention to the Details!
After taking photos of the walls completed so far, I noticed the front wall with bay window had an incorrect window placement. Look at the first photo and see if you can see the problem. Then look at the second photo to see the problem. You can click on the photos to enlarge them.
Several things appeared that I hadn’t really noticed until after the photos.
FIRST: The top of the front wall is not level. It takes a dip down to the bay and then back up again to the end. I took a roof section and placed it in the proper position to see if this would be a problem. After some head scratching, I decided that you would have to plant your face on the layout right next to the depot to see the gap.
SECOND: This is the real reason for the title of this section. PAY ATTENTION TO THE DETAILS! The bay window is on upside down! Not sure where my head was at when I did this, but what is done is done. I considered using a CA debonder to fix the problem. These windows are delicate and would have to order a new set if they become damaged. So I decided that A little cutting and sanding would be a better alternative. The window will not have a sill, but at least it will look correct unless someone notices that the windows are hung upside down. I will have photos of the change in a latter post.
Construction Photos
This is something that I highly recommend to anyone who builds any kind of structure for the layout. A magnetic base to hold all of your pieces in alignment while the glue dries. I purchased a this set at a local train show. The set includes magnets and several 90 degree angles. This tool allows me to quickly assemble two sets of sides and then using the same magnets and angles to make sure the structure is square in the final assembly.
