Weathering Break

All of the covered hoppers in this image were weathered over the last day or so, I use washes, direct application of paint and pastels to create the weathering. I used to use an airbrush but have come to find I like the pastels better and feel I can create an appearance much closer to the actual look of the weathering in the photos of equipment. If I can find photos of the actual car type and paint scheme of the railroad I will use that to do the car. If I can only find the car type I will pick a photo that I like the weathering I see on the car and use it on the model.

Back Drop Painting

The back drop was painted using a basic green to start the shape and profile. After that the trees and foilage was added using various shades of green. I added tree trunks in areas I plan on having the forground trees thin. I used both brushes and sponges torn into random shaped to get the desired affect.

Update

I am ashamed to say I have not updated for months, however job related travel has kept me on the road for most of the year. When I have been home I completed laying the rest of the trackage, installed the DCC wiring, installed ground throws on all the switches and have painted the back drop. On my last week at home I put the basic scenery form in the blob area using a combination of foam and cardboard strips and then covered it with masking tape and gray paint from a previous room painting. The panoramic image above shows most of these items.

Construction Update

It has been a month since my last post, much has happened. All of the spline roadbed is in with cork roadbed glued to the top. All of the mainline from the ,east heading west, from Portland staging through Sanford and almost to the B&M interchange is in. In the photo you see the mainline to the left and the cement plant siding to the right with a cut of cars on one track. I need to lay the track from Rochester staging out to the B&M interchange so that the rest of the cement plant subroad bed can be installed. The Cement plant tracks deviate from the trackplan at the bottom of the blog page. I would have had to make the grade too steep to get intro staging with a switch at the location closest tom the B&M interchange. The cement plant will now have a two track yard for drop offs and pick ups and fopr the plant switcher to use for shuffling cars. The mainline now has a 2.5% grade down from Sanford to the B&M interchange and then 2.5% from there down into staging.

The B&M interchange is also evolving and will be quite different from the intial drawing. The short length of of the sidings and trying to get a run around at the end would have made the maximum train length 3 cars plus caboose and engine. The new design will allow the B&M trains to access the P&R main and the run around switches have been deleted. this arrangement makes a convoluted wye. I am waiting for a 60 degree crossing and tracks to start working this area.

Spline Roadbed Review

This is a cutaway view of my spline roadbed. I used 8 pieces of 1/4" x 3/4" hardboard. Others cut the ballast profile into the hardboard, I chose to lay cork roadbed on top which will keep a uniform surface for track laying from the spline to plywood surfaces. The cork is attached with liquid nails to the splines.This technique is new to me and after getting used to it I found it makes the curves transition nicely and is very solid after all the sections are glued together. Once the first two sections on a curve are glued together it holds the curve! The only issue you would have with it is small radius curves. Mine are 24" throughout and I have one section that will not be scene that is 20" for a short section. The strips will break if not adequately supported or held to the radius on these small curves.

News Flash - Work Crews Near Completion

Portland Press Herald, January 12, 2008 -

Work crews have completed the sub road bed for all Portland and Rochester trackage and have completed most of the roadbed grading in preparation of laying track. With only a small amount of work left on the B&M interchange track, crews should be completed by the end of the day.

Portland and Rochester Chief Operating Officer, Cameron Green, stated; "The speed of the crew has taken management by surprise and the delivery of rail and ties is not scheduled until mid spring. We are working with our bank to release funds to purchase at least some of the material to begin mainline track installation."

DCC and Spline Roadbed

I purchased a Digitrax DCC system from Tony's Train Exchange for this layout. I also ordered 4 circuit breakers to allow me to have 4 power blocks. I have been operating on others layouts for several years now and you really enjoy the realism of operations that DCC allows. Then you add sound powered locomotives and the model starts being the real world in your mind.

I finally completed laying the staging yard trackage and dropped all the staging track feeders to the staging district power bus 2 weeks ago. Then I opened all the boxes for the DCC system and started reading. After getting the basics of the connections I hooked up the system and powered it up. Sound came up on the Loco and I started blowing the horn and used the bell. Now I need to sit down and figure out how to work with the CV's to properly address the Loco's I have. 3 have been purchased with DCC and sound. I have a bunch that will need DCC added and sound to some.

With the DCC system set up and tested it is time to continue with roadbed installation. I will use spline roadbed for most of the layout and plywood sheet for the town of Sanford and the other large industries. The first spline were installed last night coing out of staging heading towards the Talc plant west of Sanford. Some call it easy spline but I am already thinking that is a stretch of the imagination. I may change my opinion once I have more time working with it.