Cleanin' and Primin' Model Memories South Shore Catenary Span Bridges

The span bridges all primed with Rustoleum metal primer, which will dry for a week or two before further painting.  Hats off again to Oberleitungsbaumeister Don Silberbauer of Model Memories for producing these showpieces--
the bridges looked great in bare brass but they look even closer to real with this first coat of paint. The etched
brass lattice is truly delicate-looking, but still quite sturdy.

Model Memories South Shore Catenary Span Bridges prepped for painting. They were thoroughly
rubbed down with a wire brush, then with steel wool, and finally wiped down with denatured alcohol

South Shore Catenary Construction First Steps--Woo Hoo!

Siting the Model Memories catenary span bridges--the first step of many in my catenary construction adventure! One lesson learned here is to plan better, because it was starting to look like the grade crossing and Mineral Springs flag stop might need to be rearranged (as in torn out and rebuilt). but I think I worked it out so that the flag stop will actually look more interesting , with a pole right there by the shelter.

Workbench in a Rare State of Grace

Flag stop accoutrements almost ready for final installation at Mineral Springs Road on my cleaned-up workbench. If this blog had smell-o-vision capability, you'd be catching the sweet whiff of turpentine, as there was just some dry-brushing with artists' oils and subsequent paintbrush cleaning going on here.  Coffee in a Star Wars cup is a vital part of my pre-noon model railroading activity.  Porter (the beer, not the tiny steam locomotive) in a tumbler helps out with post-noon model railroading .

Flag Stop Progress is Progressing

The Dunes Junction flag stop is coming right along. From left to right: the a-building flag stop shelter, scratchbuilt from styrene and temporarily held together with drafting tape; a painted and decaled Walthers Cornerstone public telephone held in the clutches of a clothespin; and guard posts fashioned from Code 70 rail and painted an awesome shade of dull orange from a Liquitex spray can. Good times!

Grade Crossing Progress

Mostly finished and scenicked in. I built some footings
 for the crossbucks  from styrene, which I then painted with
Floquil concrete. Aleene's Tacky Glue holds the crossbucks
 down on the footings.

Over the recent long holiday weekend, I was able to nearly complete the Mineral Springs Road grade crossing. The road and wood crossing had been completed for some time, but was missing crossbucks.

I decided to try my hand at some lighting effects to add a visual action to the scene. Busch 5934 US Crossing Signals had the look and the price I was looking for, plus they were 'ready-to-run' with a flasher circuit included in the package.

The Busch signals are pre-wired with hair-like magnet wire, and the circuit is in very small case around the size of large ice cube. Two leads connect to a 12-24v AC or DC power source.  The magnet wire terminates into the circuit via binding posts that are secured by press-fit plastic pegs. Have never seen anything like this, but they work.

I like to test electrical things, and re-test them, and then test them again during all stages of construction and installation. I test-ran the circuit and crossbucks off an old analog power pack, and ultimately acquired a Radio Shack Enercell 15V wall wart power supply, which will now serve as accessory power for the whole layout. These Enercell wall warts can be equipped with a variety of tips, including a plain old set of test leads, but I chose an actual plug-and-socket arrangement that can break away easily when moving the layout .

The flashing crossbucks are controlled via a miniature SPDT switch mounted to the front of layout adjacent to the road. I considered but rejected a detector circuit (too expensive, too hard to install at my current stage of completion, and probably would be annoying on such a small layout) and DCC stationary control (too expensive and kind of complicated compared to direct control via a cheap and simple ol' switch).  I wired it all up to easily accommodate an ITT crossing bell sound module, which will go in over the coming weeks.

The crossbuck flasher circuit from below. At upper left, the SPDT control switch. The black doo-dad with three yellow binding posts is the Busch flasher circuit; barely visible wisps are the magnet wire leads for the crossbucks. At the rear left is the terminal strip for the installation, which is ready to accommodate the addition of a sound module. Left of the orange spring clamps is the socket for the type 'N' plug fitted to the Enercell wall wart on the bottom right.  A cheap AA battery-powered headlamp was essential for me to see and complete all under-layout wire terminations.

Fresh Images From Rick Abrams' Awesome New Haven Under Wire

Go over to Model Railroad Hobbyist magazine's blog community and check out new shots of Rick Abrams' electrified New Haven layout--make sure to check out the comments to get the whole schmear.

Rick's work demonstrates what can be done with state-of-the-art heavy electric modeling--always a pleasure to see this awesome depiction of the heyday of New Haven electric operations.

Trains I've Seen Lately, Summer 2013 Edition

June has already turned out to be a busy month with travel and work, but trains keep turning up, no matter where we go.  We hiked the Inca Trail in from the outskirts of Cuzco, Peru to reach the breathtaking Macchu Pichu ruins, and then took the 3-foot modern narrow gauge PeruRail back to Cuzco to fly back home.  Back down closer to sea level (and home), some snaps of CSX mainline action from the parking deck in Gaithersburg, Maryland.

Rails through the Inca Empire: A three-foot gauge PeruRail passenger train gets ready to depart Aguas Caliente, Peru, for Cuzco.  Aguas Caliente is the rail and road hub to reach Macchu Pichu and other Inca Trail ruins. Note the soaring, vertical terrain in the background. 

All of the PeruRail rolling stock, right-of-way, and facilities we saw evidenced a well-run, modern operation. These spiffy diesel railbuses provide local service primarily to Peruvians who work in the region's booming tourism industry. Inspiring scenery, short trains, dense operations, a mix of Euro and North American equipment: seems like an awesome modeling opportunity . . . 

Back at sea level, TOFC action in Gaithersburg, Maryland.

A long train of empty auto racks westbound through Gaithersburg.

Hot double-stack, eastbound through Gaithersburg.

NJ Transit Snaps From the Cheap Bus Window

Spotted from the window of the cheap bus from New York to Washington ($25 each way + Internet bandwidth enough to post this). Taken this trip many times, and still find this vista of New York and New Jersey as breathtaking as anything in the Western states. What an awesome country!

Side Project: Quick n' Cheap HO Automobiles

With all this scenery and road building going on at Dunes Junction, I took on a side project to bring some more man-made visual features into view.  My 70s and 80s era layout could use some 70s and 80s era heaps and rustbuckets to stay on theme--Northwest Indiana is the rust belt, after all--so I dug into my backlog of projects to get a few quick n' cheap vehicles into the rotation on the layout.

The starting point for this little side project is the Motor Max Forgotten Classics Six-Pack. I stumbled upon this inexpensive little gem of set for cheap a year or so ago at Engine House Hobbies in nearby Gaithersburg, Maryland.

This die-cast set is a virtual who's who of completely forgettable 70s and 80s US-badged jalopies--

Motor Max Forgotten Classics Six-Pack. What a bargain!

and just the kind of workaday visual cues of a place and an era that puts Dunes Junction in Carter/Reagan-era Indiana. Back in those days, there was a strong 'Buy American' theme to auto-buying trends in the region, tied to the declining steel and heavy manufacturing economy--so these and similar cars are evident in photos of the South Shore from that period.

The set includes a '74 Gremlin and '77 Pacer, both made by the now-defunct AMC, which coincidentally operated a plant in South Bend, Indiana; and four Ford products, including a '77 Pinto custom wagon, an '81 Escort, an '84 Tempo, and '75 Mercury Bobcat (a 'luxury' Pinto).

The lineup.

Out of the package, they would be acceptable 'background' models, but they are too chrome-y and too shiny. To get them ready for the layout, I needed to kill the shine and emphasize the excellent detail with paint effects.

I started by dissassembling them to simplify the paint effects and endullenation process. All but the Gremlin can be disassembled by removing the small screws that hold the die-cast bodies to the plastic chassis tubs; the Gremlin is riveted so I took other steps later in the process.

The paint effect is scandalously simple: a 'sludge wash' of acrylic paint, water, and dish soap. wiped off when dry. It's an old airplane modeling trick used to accentuate panel lines.  Fine Scale Modeler, sister publication of Model Railroader offers an awesome explanation of the technique. Once the sludge wash is dry, it gets wiped off with a tissue or cotton swab, leaving neatly accentuated recessed details. I applied the wash to panel and door lines, as well as chrome wheels and grills.

On the move. I think Wayne and Garth might be in that Pacer . . .

Good old Testors Dullcote comes next. Dullcote will fog up any clear parts--so I only applied it to the die-cast car bodies and the wheels. For an old or weathered vehicle, this might be desirable--I've seen a neat windshield wiper effect done with a semicircle-shaped bit of masking tape. I was too lazy to un-rivet the Gremlin, so I masked its windows with bits of damp tissue pushed into place with a tooth pick.

Indiana license plates only on the rear back then. The custom Pinto wagon (my least favorite vehicle of the lot) got Illinois plates, which are the customary front-and-back

After the Dullcote dried overnight, I reassembled the autos. A final finishing touch: era-specific license plates. I found some license plate images on Google and reduced them to HO using Photoshop, then printed them, cut them out, and glued them on. This detail fills in an important visual gap and ties the cars to the era and place of Dunes Junction.

Have a look and see what you think . . .

Amtrak's New ACS-64 Electrics Are In The House

From the Amtrak blog comes photos of new ACS-64 electric locomotives.

ACS-64s under wire (natch!) Photo: http://blog.amtrak.com/

They look so smooth and European!

We thought the same thing about AEM-7s back in the 80s, but they turned out to be kinda butch-looking, even Millenium Falcon-like, what with all those grab irons and other knobly appurtenances and such.

Feast your eyes, but don't hesitate to click through to Amtrak to see more 21st century electric loco goodness!

More photos below, courtesy of Boston Herald/AP:

Side view. Apparently these photos were taken at the Siemens Mobility plant in Sacramento, CA.
Photo: Boston Herald/AP  

Pans down in the shop. Wonder if those skimpy little pilots will get beefed up?
Photo: Boston Herald/AP  

Completing the Highway Bridge

The highway bridge is complete: it has been weathered and blended into the scenery. It's mostly Silflor tufts and Woodland scenics foam clumps, held down with Aleene's Tacky Glue. The Rix highway guardrail was painted with flat gray spray enamel and then washed and drybrushed.

The scrubby, skanky, nasty under-the-bridge area: cinders, dirt, foam clumps, and weed tufts. Wish I could figure out a hygienic way to do 'smell-o-vision' complete with wet cement-y and creosote essences. I love the smell of trains in the morning!  

Dan D. Sparks: Bloggin' Traction Modeling in Style, As Usual

Every Dan D. Sparks post is a must-stop-and-read treat! He's reporting here on his overhead pole construction progress.  Hope to be doing the same on the Dunes Junction by summer's end.

"Dan D. Sparks: Can't See the Layout for the Poles!" http://feedly.com/k/18FhdTF

Running a Train Through Dunes Junction, Just Because

Took a break from scenery making to run a train through Dunes Junction and test out video capabilities of my Samsung TL500 point and shoot. Sometimes, you've just gotta run a train . . .

There's (Progress On) That Confounded Bridge

The highway bridge, weathered with a wash of lamp black and raw umber oil paint, followed by successively lighter dry brushings of raw umber and titanium white, and finally with straight titanium white.  Like the purple bath towel? Well, I like it a lot better than the visually distracting open studs, cinder block wall, and file cabinet that it's covering up! Maybe it's time to get a mirror or curtain in to that space.

Progress toward completion of the 'behind the tracks' area of Dunes Junction continues apace. I want catenary so bad I can taste it!

The focus of the past few days has been that confounded bridge over which US 20 or US 12 (both Indiana Duneland highways that alternately cross or parallel the South Shore between Gary and Michigan City, Indiana).

We built and painted the highway overpass back in late 2011, so now we've got it worked in to the scenery and weathered it.  Next up is a guardrail fitted to the road grade up to the bridge. Once the guard rail is in: finishing touches to the ground cover and weedage. Stay tuned for progress.

Here's the Pikestuff guardrail being formed into the correct curve for the grade up to the bridge. I held the pad of graph paper up to the bridge and traced the curve, then taped the sections of Pikestuff guardrails to that curve. With a little filing of each section, they can be formed into the curve and then cemented with liquid styrene cement. Next time, we'll attach posts and paint and install the guardrail, along with completing the scenery around the bridge.

Scenery Progress: The Weedage on the Other Side of the Tracks

The past week or so has seen a lot of scenery progress at Dunes Junction. Trevor over at the Port Rowan S Scale blog has been blogging about his scenery progress and the instant gratification of scenery building, which has played a small role in prompting me to get my landscape freak on here a Dunes Junction.  Real life has also made some room in its schedule for Dunes Junction, too.

Over the coming months, I am hoping to get all of the area between the backdrop and the mainline scenicked and detailed with various man-made details like the flagstop and the highway bridge. Why? Cuz we're going to put in catenary, which will essentially block off all that real estate.

That's a paper mockup of the flagstop shelter. A scratchbuilt model will replace it, and will be joined by other odds and ends such as a pay phone, guard rails, and a flashing crossbuck. Note the 'before and after' on each side of the tracks.

Looking northeast across the spur at the 'field' between the Mineral Springs Road flag stop and the Highway 20/12 over pass. Note the difference in texture between the completed area on the other side of the tracks and foreground.  The foreground grass and weedage will go in after the installation of catenary span bridges and wire.

Ah, yes, the scrubby weedage of Northwest Indiana. In addition to a presentable flag stop shelter, I need to get to a photo in that blank spot at the end of the road.