Layout Update - #13

Another Rolling Stock Update
One of the industries on the NML is Fergus Gravel just outside of Geraldine on the way to Falls Yard. This industry loads hoppers and gondolas with ballast, rip-rap and other grades of gravel for various uses.

The gravel pit is actually off the layout and accessed by a road that will go from the ramp to the edge of the layout. I have always liked the empties-in and loads-out part of operations. The only way to make it work realistically enough is with removable loads. Time to build some loads!

Removable Loads for Cars
After searching local hobby shops and the internet, I have not been able to find ready to use loads that have the look I want. Then it hit me! The NML uses ballast pulled from the Fergus Gravel pit. The loads should have a similar look also. I created the loads using the most common method that most modelers use. A pink foam base covered with your favorite material. While the one photo below with the load sitting on top of the car shows a lot of pink foam, once it sits down in the car it doesn’t show.

Layout Update - #12

More Rolling Stock Updates
The fabulous Lee Nicholas of the Utah Colorado & Western layout fame gave a great clinic on weathering cars quickly and easily using various techniques with acrylics and chalks. It was a good learning experience. What I found interesting is that not every car needs to be weathered as if were a contest quality model. Prototype railroad cars are just dirty. Some a little more than others. The idea is to get your rolling stock looking like models of working cars. Not just a bunch of cars fresh from the paint shop. This helps add to the overall realism of your layout. So, here are a couple examples with before and after views.

Click on the photos to enlarge them.

As you can see in these views, the photos on the left are taken with an older camera and the photos on the right are with my new Nikon. A good camera really does make a difference. Both cars received new couplers and metal wheels. While the change is not as drastic as you might expect, a little can go along way to the overall effect.

Time to Toot My Own Horn
To help raise some revenue for the 2013 Wasatch Rails Show put on by the Northern Utah Division of the NMRA, I was asked to create the artwork for a car they could sell. The decision was made to create a refer car for Wasatch Breweries “Polygamy Porter”. I love their slogan, “Why have just one!”. What could be any better to sell here in Utah. After receiving permission from the wonderful people at Wasatch Breweries, I set about to recreate the logo and develop the overall design. Accurail was commissioned to produce 48 kits. I think it came out very nice. All but one of the kits sold prior to show in November. I am sure it won’t be long before the last one is gone.

Click on the photos to enlarge them.

Layout Update - #11

or How I Spent Time While on Vacation
Besides taking the time to update this blog, I planned on some evening modeling activities. Yes, I brought model railroading with me on vacation. It’s kind of like work, you never ever really get completely away from it. It is always there sometimes as a friend and sometimes as reminder of the things that you haven’t yet done. The nice thing about the model railroading hobby is that you can spend as much or as little time you want. It’s always there like an old friend waiting to say hello.

This year for our annual trip to Island Park, Idaho, I packed the tool case and three freight car kits that have been on the to do list for a long time. For the necessity of space and time, I choose three kits that would not require a great deal of work. Simple kits that could be easily assembled in one evening. Additional time will be spent in the future doing the final detail work and weathering. For now they are ready for use on the layout.

Click on the photos to enlarge them.

So you maybe asking yourself why a Louisville & Nashville car for a railroad in the middle of Montana? I have spent a lot of time viewing Milwaukee Road videos to see what types and whose railroads were part of train consists on the the railroad. As I watched the videos, I made notes of these other railroads for future rolling stock purchases. This list is taken with us when we attend shows. So remember, the next time you are out taking a video of a train, video the whole train. Not just the locomotives. In the future someone will be needing to do some research for this era!

Layout Construction - Update #10

Falls Yard Updates
The yard tracks for Falls have been completed. I guess this means that all trackage for the layout is complete. I probably should have some sort of celebration for a golden spike ceremony, but I am just glad the track work is completed. Now it’s time to begin planning some real operating sessions. I do need to run some trains on a regular basis to discover where the flaws in my track work are and make needed repairs.

Click on the photos to enlarge them.

Locomotive Storage Area
Now that operations are ready to begin I needed someplace within easy reach to change out locomotives. Rolling stock is stored in moveable drawers at the far end of the layout. Locomotives were being stored in some additional drawers on the opposite side of the room. A situation that is not very convenient for the person in charge staging trains. To solve this problem I installed small shelves above the staging tracks. This also helps to remind me of  work that needs to be done to some of the locos. Details, DCC decoders, paint, weathering and more are just waiting to done, No more out of sight and out of mind!

Layout Construction - Update #9

Changes to the Helix Entrance and Swing Bridge
Construction of the tunnel portal at the lower helix entrance finally began. This will act as a view block to helix. I decided against building a tunnel liner to allow easier access for derailments. It does kind of ruin the illusion, but easy access sometimes should trump realism.

Click on the photos to enlarge them.

I added ballast and static grass to the swing bridge area. That area will not receive much detail. A few bushes and possibly a small tree or two and maybe some telephone poles. The movement of the bridge will prevent much detail. At least it doesn’t seem so naked anymore.

Layout Construction - Update #8

The Milwaukee Scale House
Scale houses were common at terminal/yard tracks along the Milwaukee mainline. I have not been able to verify if Great Falls had a scale house at Falls yard or elsewhere in the area, I’m sure they must have, just no proof. I do have photo documentation of a scale house next to the yard in Lewistown. Unfortunately there is no room in my Lewistown yard for a scale house. I do however have room on the Farmers Union grain elevator track next to Falls yard on the layout. Walthers has produced a kit with two types of scale houses based on Milwaukee Road designs. The hard work has been completed for me. For now I am using the single track design. In the future I plan on building the scale by-pass track.

Click on the photos to enlarge them.

Layout Construction - Update #7

The Cows Are Finally Coming Home

The Northern Montana Line was known for hauling a great deal of wheat and other grain commodities from Montana’s “Golden Triangle”. Up until the mid 1960’s cattle was another commodity that was prevalent on the NML. Even though cattle by rail had stopped during the period that I am modeling on the NML, it is something that I remember well. Growing up along the Milwaukee mainline you would see stock cars in many trains. The photo above was taken from the top of loading gates at the stock yards in Martinsdale, Montana. On the day this photo was taken there were six stock cars waiting to be loaded. The cattle had yet to arrive, so I had free rein of the yards and stock cars. Memories…

My version of the Northern Montana Line will have stock yards located at Denton and Geraldine. Most cattle shipments will be sent to Great Falls where there was large cattle exchange/auction. The Great Northern and Milwaukee supplied cattle to this industry. The cattle pens for Denton and Geraldine will not be to difficult to build. Walthers stock yard kit will produce pens for each town. Stocking these pens with cattle could be expensive. Woodland Scenics makes a nice set of Black Angus cattle. The only problem is out seven pieces only five represent mature cattle for market. While my stock pens are small it would be cost prohibitive to fill with Woodland Scenics sets. Ebay to the rescue! I found company in China that sells a large bag of unpainted cattle for about $25. With a little trimming, paint and time I can fill those stock pens with ease.

Click on the photos to enlarge them.

              Tools and supplies ready!                                    Six poses. The horns will have to be trimmed.

                   Ready for painting.                                     The purple cow is in honor of Seth Goddin’s book.

Home made vs. Factory made

Layout Construction - Update #6

Where has the time gone?
I told myself that I wouldn’t let the blog slip into history this year. We’ll so much for keeping promises to myself. It is October and I am on a “forced” vacation. What I mean by “forced” is that we travel once a year to Island Park Village Resort to use our once a year week. The Resort is part of a time-share that we purchased from my in-laws. It is a use it or lose it situation. If you don’t use it you still have to pay for it. Anyway, that’s the reason I’m writing now. The reason I haven’t been updating regularly is ONE: Pure laziness and procrastination. TWO: Work and other activities. Work, unfortunately I have little to no control over. Other activities have been through the local model railroading club (Utah Society of Railroad Modelers) and the Northern Utah NMRA division. I regrettably have cut out most of the club and division activities until work settles down. Hopefully soon! On to the fun stuff!

Playing Mother Nature
Since I built the static grass tool, I have used it only a few times. The following photos show the Denton area where I have filled in a lot of areas around the new depot and in-between tracks. I am using a custom blend of static grass from Scenic Express. The two colors I use are 2mm, 4mm or 6mm Autumn Green and 6mm California Gold. Why so many different sizes of one color? A batch of grass is created when I’m ready to add it to the layout. Each time I mix a batch I will use a different size to create variation in the overall texture. At times I will add more of one color to add more variation.

Click on the photos to enlarge them.

Creating Your Own Grass Tufts
I wanted the random tufts of grass to closely match the larger areas of static used elsewhere. Especially in areas like the dirt road and in-between ties. Since the color of grass is custom, I need custom tufts to match. I heard on a podcast that someone made their own tufts by using non-stick aluminum foil. These tufts are made using slightly diluted white glue. If the glue is diluted too much it will bead up into small puddles. Sometimes that is not a problem, but if you want a longer row it can be difficult.

Click on the photos to enlarge them.

Layout Construction - Update #5

Geraldine Handcar Shed
Just a short post this time. After completing the Denton station, I decided that a smaller project was in order. I had purchased the Pikestuff Handcar Shed (Stock No. 541-0006) more then a year ago. It had ended up in the box of "Future Projects". I HATE this box, but every modeler seems to end up with one. For some modelers it may not be a box, it maybe a shelf, a cabinet or some other storage device. You all know what I'm talking about. The "I'll buy it now and finish it later" box. My real concern is that I buy something with good intentions, but never seem to get around to building or using what I purchased. Oh well, if it were not for these boxes there would be fewer tables and less bargains at swap meets or train shows. Enough with the soap box (pun intended).

Construction is very straight forward and would be a great kit for first-time builders. A styrene based kit that requires only a few tools and glue. I followed the basic construction of the kit. I painted the shed the same primer gray that I used n the Denton station. The only difference is the lack of the darker gray lower color that the Milwaukee Road used on their stations. I surmise that a utility building did not deserve the extra cost for additional paint. I added shingles from Wild West Models and gave them the same green color as the Denton station. I feel it is very important to keep all the everyday railroad owns building a corporate look. A small bit of weathering, including a touch of rust to the door hinges and you have a nice structure with very little work or time required.

Layout Construction - Update #4

Denton Station
The Milwaukee Road had a large variety of depot styles for their different locations. This variety was reflected on the Northern Montana Division. For this update I will focus on the depot at Denton, Montana. The Denton depot was considered a class "D-3" depot by the Milwaukee's Engineering Department. The depot was constructed in 1913 as the Milwaukee Road continued it branch line to Great Falls.

The construction of the Denton depot model was something that was already taken care of for me. Depots by John had created the model I needed for the depot. Unfortunately, the kit is now out of production. The kit is a simple resin construction with added details from other companies. Building the kit was really nothing more then about a four or five evening project. I added shake shingles from Wild West Models for an extra detail. The Milwaukee Road used a variety of colors for their depot, in the west region of the railroad they settle on a two tone gray scheme. The roofs were usually a green asphalt or shake shingle depending on the age of the depot. I stained the shake shingles from Wild West Models by using an olive green color art marker. Additional details will be added along with window glass. With the right amount of weathering you can turn a good kit into a great model!

 

Here are a few views of the depot in its natural setting.