87th & 3rd (mid 70`s urban US switching layout in P48)

Brian T

Western Thunderer
Have started laying the ties today,a bit tedieous but also very relaxing all the same!.

P1000371.JPG

So, so far i`ve laid the start of the two main running tracks and three turnout`s all with 3/16th sq balsa wood.
Fortunately as i`m modeling the Penn Central i can use the Pennsylvania railroad track diagrams as a guide,which takes a lot of the guess work out of things.
Anyhow the main running tracks are spaced to 18 ties per 33ft, (29.75 inches,1:1 scale) with the ties at the joint bars being spaced at 20 inches.
As for the turnout`s, ties range from 19.5 inches to 20.5 inches, (1:1 scale) but rather than trying to lay them to those tight measurement`s, i just opted for a 20 inch spacing...well, who`s going to know!.

Brian.
 

Brian T

Western Thunderer
Well after a few afternoon`s plugging away i`ve finally finished laying all the ties.

P1000374.JPG

I also decided to straighten out the upper most siding after the street crossing, (top left) mainly because this is where i intend to have a spot for a 34ft 2 bay coal hopper to unload directly between the rail`s.
So now i can make a single unit with the rails already imbeded in it, akin to say a concerete pad with a hole, and covered with an open metal grate,for the coal to drop though. (this will be a forge)
Other than that the plan stay`s the same.

The next job to do is a little bit of sanding to get things flat,and also to bring down the height of the road bed which will use code 100 rail to the correct level. Then it`s a case of graining & distress the ties before giving them a coat of 'Jacobean Dark Oak' wood dye.

But before that, a little play time is need; purely for testing purposes of course......:D

P1000376.JPG

Brian.
 

Brian T

Western Thunderer
Not a great deal done this week, but i have made a start on one of many kitbash/conversion project`s that i have in mind.
This entails chopping two Intermountain 1937 aar 40ft boxcars into a door and half 50ft Southern boxcar,of which the prototype is a stretched 40ft itself.

This is the a picture of one not long after conversion in the mid sixties;
http://rr-fallenflags.org/sout/cg2874ajs.jpg
And this is later on with full Southern lettering after a re-paint in the mid seventies;
http://rr-fallenflags.org/sout/sou521701akg.jpg

And my Frankestein....

P1000381.JPG
The body and underframe are fairly straight forward cut and shut job`s,and the roof was supposed to be the same too.....
But as you can see it`s made of three parts from two roof`s,not as intended!.

Originally i`d marked the first roof to have from the end;six panels then the three 'new' ones plus two,loosing the final panel,then adding the last four panels from the second donor roof.But numpty here altered the wrong two of the three 'new' panels to start with,so that is how i have come to have three sections instead of two!.

Anyhow,the next job will be to fill the old door opening`s, remove the rivet detail either side of 'new'doors to make welded panels and then to make new side sill`s, followed by the three diaganal roof panels.

Then once i`m happy with the body and roof ,i`ll make a start on the underframe.

Brian.
 

Brian T

Western Thunderer
A cautionary tale of read before you buy!.

Having stained all the ties with a ' jacobean dark oak' dye,i was going to give them a wash of diluted black ink to add some depth to the 'graining' they now have,but first needed to buy said ink.
So off i popped to the local hobby craft store,and duly brought said black ink to do the job,which i did this afternoon.
Anyway to cut it short,i went back upstairs earlier to see my handy work only to be confronted by a rather sparkly scene.......:eek:

P1000383.JPG

It seem`s that in my haste to get back home i`d failed to properly read the label on the bottle of black ink that i`d brought,because as it turn`s out i`d gone and brought some 'Pearlescent' black ink.......:rant:

Anyhow, i now have some very sparkly ties to sort out!.

Brian.
 
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paulc

Western Thunderer
You could have a permanent rain scene as to me they now look wet .
My wife hand makes cards and they use all those sorts of inks so i have learnt to ask before i raid her stash .
Cheers Paul
 

Brian T

Western Thunderer
You could have a permanent rain scene as to me they now look wet .
My wife hand makes cards and they use all those sorts of inks so i have learnt to ask before i raid her stash .
Cheers Paul

Wet....i can see that,but i was thinking more along the lines of a hard frost..?

I `ve given the ties another dose of the dye,so when it`s dry i`ll see if it`s (hopfully) reversed the 'sparkly' look.
If it has, then it`ll be another wash with the ink.

Brian.
 

Brian T

Western Thunderer
I would also try a wire brush on the ties to see it could have remove any of the sparkly bits.

Thanks for the suggestion Dave,but i`ve already used a Xacto saw and small wire brush to 'grain' the ties,so some of the sparkly bits are in quite deep.
Hopefully with the dye being slightly thickish,it`ll cover the worst offenders.
As for the sides of the ties,they`ll probably be covered by the ballast,dirt and grass later on so that should`nt be too much of a problem....



Brian
 

jonte

Western Thunderer
A cautionary tale of read before you buy!.

Having stained all the ties with a 'dark jacobean' dye,i was going to give them a wash of diluted black ink to add some depth to the 'graining' they now have,but first needed to buy said ink.
So off i popped to the local hobby craft store,and duly brought said black ink to do the job,which i did this afternoon.
Anyway to cut it short,i went back upstairs earlier to see my handy work only to be confronted by a rather sparkley scene.......:eek:

View attachment 105083

It seem`s that in my haste to get back home i`d failed to properly read the label on the bottle of black ink that i`d brought,because as it turn`s out i`d gone and brought some 'Pearlescent' black ink.......:rant:

Anyhow, i now have some very sparkley ties to sort out!.

Brian.

Hopefully a ‘Happy Accident’, Brian

Edit: just realised I forgot to press ‘post’ after I wrote this afternoon......
 

jonte

Western Thunderer
Hi Brian.

I’ve still got my feeble attempts left over from my abandoned ‘Downtown’ project:

362B7ECA-C355-47F8-B4EC-E63A9523B29B.jpeg

But they won’t be wasted as I’ll utilise them under the abandoned tramway rails in that ‘box’. ;)

Jonte
 

Brian T

Western Thunderer
I would`nt call them feeble as you`d only just started the process of track laying,but i do like your cunning plan to use them in the 'box'!

I also have to admit that i brought a copy of the Tanat valley light railway book afer reading through your plans,so hopfully you stick with it this time cus it look`s a really interesting project. :thumbs:

Brian.
 

jonte

Western Thunderer
Kind of you to say so, Brian; thank you.

Coincidentally, if you were to route through my search engine of late you’d notice one or two visits to certain book shops researching a certain tome by a Mr. Lloyd ;).

I’m also rather drawn to a certain ramshackle shelter that once served as Llansilan Road Station - I hope I’ve spelt that correctly - very modellable.

Likewise, I hope and trust that the Cambrian doesn’t lead you astray like it did me; you’ve made a great start and I’m eager to see rails on those ties.

Bestest,

Jonte
 

Jordan

Mid-Western Thunderer
index.php


Ok, I'm good at Dumb Questions, so I'm going to ask one here - why are there two sets of 'extended' ties in that photo, but on 'plain' track, not as at the far end where the tie-bar and associated switch stand for the furthest switch will be..?? :confused: :oops:
 

Big Train James

Western Thunderer
Ok, I'm good at Dumb Questions, so I'm going to ask one here - why are there two sets of 'extended' ties in that photo, but on 'plain' track, not as at the far end where the tie-bar and associated switch stand for the furthest switch will be..?? :confused: :oops:
This is what I see...
P1000387 (1).JPG

Edit: Doh! I didn't need to be so clever with my crayons :oops::rolleyes::eek: . There's a plan in post number one that shows everything already.
 
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