jeff train: Bridges

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miðvikudagur, 2. apríl 2014

Wordless Wednesday #41 - Prototype inspiration for 'Williams Creek' scene on my layout

Photo courtesy Bob's Photos

laugardagur, 29. mars 2014

Re-Locating Williams Creek: 3

After a long afternoon (and most of the morning) I've got the Williams Creek section in its new home. Obviously the mainline needs some realignment! But at least a favorite scene is back on the layout and not sitting on a shelf!

Wow! That turned out to be a lot harder than I thought but I'm happy to report the Williams Creek bridge scene is securely fastened in place in its new location between Waterbury and Essex Junction.
Next step - getting the sub roadbed reinstalled and laying the mainline in place.

föstudagur, 28. mars 2014

Re-Locating Williams Creek - 2

Phase 1 of the Williams Creek scene relocation is complete. The first photo (left) shows how the scene looked before I removed the background hills and determined the final location of the Williams Creek "section."
The shot below shows how the scene looks after the twin mountains were removed. The flextrack shows the approximate location of the mainline realignment. The white paper cut out is the Williams Creek section template. Note this will take up some aisle space.

PHOTO 2

I think this arrangement will work, but want to play around with some other mockups first. In any event, the truss bridge has to move for the track geometry to work. A couple of possible approaches:
1. Option A: Place Williams Creek as shown in photo 2 and remove the through truss bridge. Fill in the river scene closest to the camera and add a small industry and perhaps a grade crossing.
2. Option B: Place Williams Creek where the paper template is shown in Photo 2 and slide the through truss bridge closer to the fascia and angle it to match the new mainline alignment. At this point the scene has the mainline crossing the same river twice, once on the through truss, the second time on the deck girder Williams Creek bridge. We assume the river bends "off scene."
3. Option C: Remove the through truss bridge and place the Williams Creek scene in its place. Photo 3 shows the Williams Creek template in position. It's hard to see since it's draped over the truss bridge, but this option doesn't require eating up any additional aisle space. I also think two bridges may be just a "little too much of a good thing."

PHOTO 3

All these options will allow for 'something' - either a feed mill or a riverside mill building - between the mainline and the backdrop. There may even be room for both. I have good ideas for prototypes for both of these elements. All I know for sure is this area of the layout needs a focal point.
I'm leaning towards Option C.
Which would you choose?

fimmtudagur, 27. mars 2014

Re-locating Williams Creek - 1

The Williams Creek bridge scene, which has been featured in Model Railroad Hobbyist and appears in the title banner of this blog, became one of the most recognizable scenes on the layout - if for no other reason than it was closest to being the one scene that was "done." So my crew was somewhat surprised when one of the tasks at the last work session was to remove the Williams Creek scene in order to make room for a longer passing track at Randolph. The Williams Creek scene looked like this (right)

after it was removed. Since January it has been sitting somewhat unceremoniously on a shelf in the utility room "awaiting disposition" (to use an old railroad term).
with the track at Randolph completed, wired and tested it was time to see if I could actually reuse the scene in some other portion of the railroad. The most obvious potential spot was the long section of tangent track on the Essex Junction side of the peninsula. Here's some of the parameters for this project:
1. Although there are some background hills and trees in this area, it's certainly not finished scenery, so I don't mind reworking/removing the scenery in this area.
2. There is another bridge scene that I've never been terribly pleased with so I have no qualms about removing it to accommodate Williams Creek.
3. That "other" bridge scene is located in such a way that there was no room to develop anything on either side of it - I might like to add a very small town scene (grade crossing and spur serving one industry) to that area of the layout, so the rebuilding should leave room for that possibility. This means Williams Creek shouldn't be in the same location as the other bridge.

The first step was locating where the Williams Creek "section" could fit. Since it's too bulky and heavy to slide around on top of the layout (besides, the background hills and trees would be a real problem!) I traced the section full size on a piece of paper, being sure to mark the track centerlines and the approximate position of the river. Using this template I located a spot where the scene drop into place. Looks like it will fit nicely in the area shown above between the edge of the fascia and the spool of green wire. (That "other" bridge scene is just to the left out of the photo). I'm satisfied it will fit, will provide an appealing "out in the country" scene between Waterbury and Essex Junction, and shouldn't be that hard to integrate into the layout�besides, I really don't want to scrap the scene - I've always been pleased with how the water turned out!

Stay tuned�

fimmtudagur, 4. október 2012

Peninsula Progress - Things Coming Together

Or at least it's starting to look finished. It's amazing what that last 1/16th of an inch can do to convert the scene from a construction site it was a few weeks ago into something resembling a slice of the real world.
The impetus was some out-of-town visitors coming by tomorrow. So I planted some trees and positioned an old store leftover from the last SNE. Not sure if I'll use it in location shown.

This is the side of the peninsula opposite the Waterbury scene. Plan calls for a simple grade crossing for the as yet unfinished road (currently a rough gray streak!). Of course we'll have pole lines, ballast, cinders, and maybe a section house. To the right of the track between the road and the bridge will be a pasture scene surrounded by an old stone fence.... But before getting to all the pretty stuff need to get the mechanical issues like track and wiring. To that end I'm going to put away the scenery stuff for a while and focus on getting the entire layout up and running. So stand by for more track and wiring shots. . .
But I couldn't resist trying one "pretty picture" test - Obviously, the water isn't finished yet and there's more tweaking needed to the rocks - but the scene is finally starting to look like something.

þriðjudagur, 30. ágúst 2011

First Scenery - Williams Creek

The inspiration for this scene is the prototype photo I bought from Bob's Photos a few years ago.

Russ Greene at New England Brownstone used the photo to create his plaster abutment kits. The bridges are Micro-Engineering 50-foot deck girders. I wanted to have the river look more like a clear New England stream than a Midwestern or Appalachian muddy river (although this week I know plenty of rivers in Vermont look plenty muddy and murky . . .).

The sub-base of the river is 1/4" Masonite painted black and covered with a combination of sifted sand, gravel, and Scenic Express "River Bed" gravel. I left some of the black-painted Masonite showing between the rocks to represent deeper areas. I applied a coat of Envirotex, let it set up completely, then painted some tan riverbanks and some green/black areas on top of the Envirotex - again, not covering the surface completely. Once that dried I added a second layer of Envirotex. Since the Envirotex leaves a perfectly flat surface, I've been adding several coats of Min Wax Polycrylic Polyurethene. I think at this point I'm at six coats, and it's just starting to "bubble" a little - which is a bad thing on furniture (MinWax warns against too many coats) since the resulting surface looks rippled and a little like waves.

I still need to finish this up obviously (the blue tape on the track should be a hint). Still to come:
1. A few more coats of MinWax
2. There are one or two of the background Supertrees that look a little too wavy from the side - they will be replaced with some with straighter trunks.
3. Foliage, undergrowth etc . . . around the base of the piers
4. Adding some electrostatic grass to the embankments
5. The harvested field with the corn shocks (the field is not visible in these model shots)
6. And, obviously, a coat of paint on the fascia.

.... Oh, and a few more coats of MinWax!