Construction Update #22 - Scenery around Wilson, RGS #42

 

Scenery around Wilson

It's been nearly a month since my last post.  April has been a pretty busy month and the amount of time I've had available to work on the layout has been limited so here is a quick update.  Here is where I left off in the last post.

Since color is one of the most important elements when it comes to scenery, I like to start out with a small "test" section based upon a couple of photos I find on the internet.  As can be seen, in the following photograph, there is a lot of variety when it comes to the "right" color.

After several tests, I decided to moderate the intense "reds" shown in the photographs since the resulting rock work just look real to me under the lights I am using (LED 4000).  In fact, some of the actual material I collected from the area, back in 1998, actually took on a violet hue.  Here is what I came up with.  Ace Hardware mixed the paint for the rock work that was then tinted with several different colors of craft paint (thinned or dry brushed).  The ground cover is all natural, which the exception of some ground foam,  The ballast is paving sand from Home Depot and the rest of the ground cover is a blend of paving sand and decomposed granite found on Old Blewett Pass Road here in Washington State.  The tree was made using "Super Trees" from Scenic Express.  

Fudd's Crossing

 

The Fudd's crossing trestle also got installed in the last couple of weeks.

Installing the crossing included the cutting in a a new turnout.

Once the turnout and track were in place, I built up the scenery around the abutments to stabilize the trestle.

And, here is Fudd's at the end of the spur.  This structure was built by Bruce Hanley.

Here is an up-to-date picture of  Wilson as of 3/27. 

RGS #42

I also managed to pick up a P-B-L #42 (Later run with correct cab & cab window) this last month, three additional box cars and a Banta kit for the OPhir Tram House.

The #42 is equipped with DCC and a Tsunami sound system.  It runs and sounds great.  It does have some minor damage to the tender but it can be easily repaired and the price was several hundred dollars less than one of these models typically sell for.

These three cars were picked up off ebay for $60.00 each.  All three came in the original boxes and are nicely weathered.

As always, your comments, suggestions & questions are welcome

sdepolo@outlook.com

Construction Update #21 - The Plan, Bridge 45A & Scenery around Placerville

 The Plan

 

Several people have contacted me recently over my current plans for the RGS 1st District.  Some changes have been made to the original plan...

A temporary reverse loop at trout lake has been built in order to delay the need for the duck under/lift out section in front of the entry door.  The space allocated for Old Placerville and the Placerville wye was reduced to make room for the addition of Ridgway and a couple of staging track to represent Montrose.  In the original plan, Ridgway was represented by staging.  And, a spur that crosses the San Miguel River at Wilson was added.

RGS 1st District Phase I

Phase II includes adding the duck under/lift out in front of the entry door, eliminating the Trout Lake return loop and adding Lizard Head to a shallow shelf above Ridgway.  The covered wye will be represented by a return loop in the dispatchers office.  Rico staging will be on a shelf above and behind Old Placerville.

 

RGS 1st District Phase II

 

 

Bridge 45A Bents

February 21, 2024

The center bents for bridge 45A are shown below.  Since I leave the bents in the fixture while the glue dries, I can only build one a day.  The process involves cutting the wood using the fixture, removing the wood for staining and then applying glue to the parts and placing them back in the fixture for the glue to set.  My condensed version of Bridge 45A will require 18 bents.

Here is the drawing of bridge 45A from the RGS Story Vol III, pages 203-204, Sundance Publishing.  I have completed bents 14-18, 23-27 and B.  My bridge doesn't include bents 19-22 due to my space limitations, I will have to shorten the bridge from 466 scale feet to about 280 scale feet or 52.5 inches.  I also reduced the distance between the bents by 2 scale feet to increase the apparent length.

Scenery South of Placerville

February 23, 2024

With the completion of all the track work at Ridgway, I decided to start the scenery around Placerville.  This made sense for two reasons.  First, I felt like doing some scenery, second the backdrop is installed and third all but the restrooms for the depot are now built.

This picture was taken at the south end of town.  The white foam represents the road that led to Telluride.  The profiles were cut from pink foam with a hot wire cutter and fastened in place with hot glue.  The San Miguel River is on the right.

February 24, 2024

The pink foam was filled in with cardboard webbing. Here, the hillside was used to transition from one background to another.  The webbing and pink foam were then covered by painter's paper.  The painter's paper was attached to the webbing with yellow carpenters glue.

February 26, 2024

The painter's paper was then covered with a layer of plaster cloth.  Some modelers, who don't use plaster cloth in the next step, apply a layer of carpenters glue to seal the painter's paper and then fill things in with Sculptamold.  I prefer to cover the painter's paper with a layer of plaster cloth and then follow up with the Sculptamold.

Here is another view of the scene looking from the other direction following the application of Sculptamold.  The pink foam rock was hand carved.  The cracks and seams were filled in with Dap light weight patch and paint.

 

Progress has been a little slow during the month of February.  Next month I will be working on the scenery around Placerville and finishing up Bridge 45A.  I also need to start working on RGS #41.  I purchased the P-B-L locomotive in pieces so it needs to be reassembled, have the headlight replaced, have sound installed, have the paint touched up and be lettered for the RGS.

 

As always, your comments, questions and suggestions are welcome

sdepolo@outlook.com 

Construction Update #20 - The Fascia, The Low Trestle at Fudd's Crossing and Trestle Bents for Bridge 45A

 

1st District Fascia

February 5, 2024

 

It took 5 sheets of Masonite to finish off the fascia.  The widths ranges for 5 to 15 inches.  Luckily my son Andrew has a fully equipped wood shop and it took less than an hour for us to rip nearly 200 linear feet of material.  The fascia along the Placerville scene is shown below.

 

Here is the section that wraps around the peninsula between Vance Junction and Bridge 45A.  Bridge 44A will be located where the fascia drops below the roadbed.  Color has yet to be determined. 

 

Fudd's Crossing

February 8, 2024

 

As mentioned in the last post, I decided to add a spur at Wilson.  The new spur requires a new turnout and a bridge from the mainline on the far side of the San Miguel River to the near side.

 

 

Since the trestle needs to accommodate both rail and vehicle traffic I decided to use 11 foot long bridge ties.  The stringers are 12 x14's.  The Mt. Albert scale lumber was pre-cut and stained with Builders-in-Scale Silverwood.

   

The stringers were glued together and taped to my work surface.  The ties were then glued to the stringers using styrene spacers, a square and tacky cement.

Here is the finished deck.  The guard rails are 4x8's.

 

February 9,\2024

Here is the bridge just about ready for installation.  The bents have been added at a angle to reflect the flow of the river.  The ties were stripped from a piece of flex track and the rail was attached with Pliobond.  I still need to install the planking in order to allow the passage of vehicles.

Here is the bridge temporarily set in place.

 

 

Trestle Bents

February 13, 2024

 

The RGS had lots of trestles so a fixture was made to help with the assembly.  The fixture was built using a set of plans I found in a old Narrow Gauge Gazette and several plans for 1st District trestles in the RGS Story (Volume III).  It should be noted that there were some discrepancies found when comparing the plans both in terms of layout and material sizes.  Since I don't have the room to duplicate most if not all the trestles I will need, I used both plans along with some modelers license to decide on the layout and material sizes to build the fixture from a sheet .080" styrene and some leftovers from previous projects.

 

Here is the fixture being used to cut the bents.  I started from the top and worked my way down.  The posts and the sills are scale 12x12's (The sills should probably be 12x14's).

 

Some of the bents needed some final adjustments.  I made this little fixture for my Northwest Shortline "True Sander" to maintain the proper angle while sanding down the length of the bents.

 Here is a completed bent.

 

Once all the pieces were cut, they were removed from the fixture and stained with Builders-In-Scale Silverwood and set aside to dry.  I made sure to arrange the pieces so that when it came time to assemble the bent, I would know exactly where they fit back into the fixture for gluing.

 

The pieces were put back in the fixture and glued in place with Aleen's Tacky Cement.   The sway braces were added to one side while the bent was still in the fixture.  The remaining sway braces, on the opposite side, were attached after the bent was removed from the fixture.  The sway braces are 2x12's (One set of plans said they should be 3x9's, the other 3x12's).  Based upon a review of the available photographs, it appears that the RGS nailed the sway braces to the bents so nut and bolt detail won't be added.  Here are a couple of finished bents for Trestle 45A.

 

As always, you comments, suggestions and questions are welcome

sdepolo@outlook.com

Construction Update #19 - Rehabing Rolling Stock, The Ridgway Yard and a spur for Wilson

Rehabilitating Rolling Stock

D&RGW #3549

January 22, 2024

Lately I have been running across some low cost Sn3 rolling stock, at swap meets..  The D&RGW boxcar shown below was picked up for $5 at a local swap meet.  Fixing it up, with the exception of finding a coupler and adding weight, amounted to replacing a brake wheel, two stirrup steps and touching up the paint.  It came equipped with P-B-L trucks and metal wheel sets.

Finding one replacement coupler turned out to be a challenge.  The brass coupler box was on the car and the coupler cover plate was in the box.  There was a loose Kadee #5 in the box too but there was no way it was going to work.  The coupler box was designed for a discontinued Kadee #4.

 

I finally found the #4 couplers at another swap meet leaving only the challenge of adding some weight; the car weighed about 2 ounces.  Adding another ounce and a half weight involved removing one of the doors, cutting a hole in the side, adding the weight and replacing the door.  The paint was then touched up with Floquil box car red, weathered with Bragdon powdered pigments and finished off with a light coat of Tamiya flat.  The total cost for getting the car in service for the RGS 1st District was less than $10.  The job took about 2 hours and #3549 turned out to be a pretty nice addition to the roster.

 

D&RGW #164

Long reefer #164 was a $4 find at a local swap meet.  It was included with RGS stock car #7409 shown in the November 22, 2023 post.  The total cost for both cars was $9.

The narrow gauge "long" reefers were added to the roster starting in 1924 when twelve cars were built.  By 1930 there were 20.  These Alamosa built cars were 40' long and built large enough to take a minimum standard gauge car load.  Most of the perishables shipped in these cars had to be transferred to or from a standard gauge car to reach their destinations.

 

After I had finished up the #3549, I decided to take a second look at the #164.  The roof was a mess.  The roof walk was partially gone, one of the ice bunker hatches was missing and several of the roof battens were loose or missing.  The brake detail was gone off the end and a couple of the stirrup steps were also broken. The trucks appeared to be Athearn HO-Scale Archbars with narrowed plastic wheel-sets.  The car was built using a combination of wood, styrene and commercial cast metal and injection molded plastic detail parts.  This apparently scratch built, or possibly kit built, car had definitely seen better days.

 

I started work on the car by removing most of the detail from the roof.

 

The original roof walk was styrene.  After replacing a couple walkway supports, the old styrene roof walk was replaced with scale lumber.  Several roof battens were repaired or replaced with styrene. 

The paint was then touched up and new Grandt Line bunkers were glued to the roof along with the replacement stirrup steps.  These Grandt Line parts came from a large "lot" of parts I purchased on ebay.

Unfortunately, with the exception of a brake wheel, I didn't have the parts on hand to replace the end brake detail.  Since I didn't think the car was worth the $8 for the parts, plus shipping, I decided to try fabricating the relatively difficult to see parts.  The roof was painted by hand with craft paints and weathered with Bragdon powdered pigments.

 

The replacement trucks came from my parts box.  I think #164 turned out OK for what I would consider a "basket case".  For some reason, while I don't like to build rolling stock kits, I find fixing up an "old school" car like this enjoyable.  I don't think these cars saw much service on the RGS.

Flex Track - When it Rains, it Pours

January 24, 2023

The availability of Sn3 flex track has been a problem for some time.  I was so desperate for some Code 70 flex back in December that I bought about 35 feet of used track on ebay.  Since then, I purchased about 100 more feet of new flex, more than enough to finish the 1st District, from a local modeler who is changing scales.  Then, a week or so ago, while at the Great American Train Show, I came across another 3 bundles (18 3' sections) for $4 a section.   At half the going price, I couldn't walk away from that good of deal!

 

As a result, the yard tracks in Ridgway got finished.

A new Spur for Wilson

January 26, 2024

As mentioned in a previous post, Wilson was located six miles south of Placerville. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, I have not found any pictures of Wilson.  The lack of available photographs gave me the latitude to locate the section house and speed/coal shed next to the right of way east of the San Miguel River when the layout was originally planned.  Recently, in order to add operational interest, I decided to add a spur on the west side of the river.  I think the bridge crossing the river to FUDD's will double for both vehicles and trains. 

Getting Organized

 

Lately I've been using a lot of craft paints.  They are inexpensive, about $1.25 a 2oz bottle and I use them for just about everything with the exception of painting locomotives and rolling stock.  I buy them online from Hobby Lobby.  I purchased the paint rack on Amazon.  It cost less than $20.  The revolving scale lumber rack came from Fast Tracks.  It cost $65.  One rack will hold all of the most useful sizes.  The larger sizes, used primarily for bridges and trestles I still keep bundled with a rubber band.  I'm thinking about buying a second rack, cutting down the length of the clear plastic tubes, and using it to hold styrene.

 

Finally, I'm working on a video layout tour to post on YouTube.  Once it is finished and posted, I will provide the link.

 

As always, your comments, suggestions & questions are welcome

https://sn3rgs.blogspot.com/

Construction Update #18 - A Brackdrop for Placerville, A Tsunami2 for #455 & A Mine for Matterhorn

Backdrops

January 1, 2024

Since I have nearly all the structures done for Placerville, that is where I plan to start doing some scenery.  On my previous HO-Scale layout, I used backdrops from Trackside Scenery.  While the Trackside Scenery backdrops are nice, they don't have anything that will work for the area around Placerville.  I also looked at backdrops from LARC Products.  They have a nice selection of scenes off the RGS but nothing for Placerville.  As it turns out, because of its location in a valley and the lack of access, it's impossible to take photos in order to create a backdrop.

As a result, I decided to use a scene from Dolores created by friend and local Sn3 modeler Dale Kruetzer (YouTube Link - https://youtu.be/ZhjHa4ptVk4?si=-22VXV9oEt9Xw98E) for Bill Busacca's layout (YouTube Link - https://youtu.be/7vmeJQU2-9U?si=sGK2YSaNgwK-val_).  Since the geography is similar, all I did was adjust the color to better reflect the color of the earth/rocks around Placerville.

The upper picture is the original, the lower picture is the color adjusted version.  The sky won't be used.

Depending upon the location, weather, season and time of day, the colors around Placerville can change dramatically.  Here is the picture I based the colors on.  Placerville is in the foreground.

Ridgway Engine Facility

January 1, 2024

Once I had power running to all the storage tracks along with the turntable lead, I started parking "stuff" on the tracks.  All of sudden it got kind of noisy with the sound equipped locomotives.  And yes, for those of you who are new to the blog, the lettering on #361 is facing backwards instead of forward. The prototype also made this mistake.  A fellow modeler sent me photos of four or five prototype locomotives lettered this way.  Eventually, I will get around to fixing it!

In order to solve the noise problem, I made a simple panel to kill the power to each of the tracks

RGS K-27 #455

January 3, 2023

When I bought the #455, unbeknownst to me, it came with a Tsunami sound decoder and a high base speaker already installed.  It ran for about 6 inches before smoke started coming out of the tender.  While no one likes to see smoke coming from a decoder, it really didn't matter.  I would have replaced the decoder with a Tsunami2 and keep alive anyway.  I installed the replacement decoder, added the keep alive along with a coal load and now it runs flawlessly.

Here is the 455 following a test run up to Trout Lake and back.

A Dozen Turnouts

January 5, 2024

Even though I don't have any code 70 flex to finish up Ridgway and install the Montrose staging tracks I do have Code 70 rail.  Since I was going to need turnouts anyway, I decided to go ahead and build the required turnouts plus a couple of extras.  It take me about an hour to make one turnout.

The B Hanley Mine at Matterhorn

January 12, 2024

There were several mines and at least two mills in or around Matterhorn.  The largest was the San Bernardo Mill located along the RGS at Matterhorn.  Building a model of the prototype mine, mill and supporting structures really wasn't an option; there just isn't enough room.  Since there were a number of smaller mines around Matterhorn, I decided to adapt the fine model built by Bruce Hanley to represent one of the smaller mines.  Here is a picture of it before Bruce decided to remove the layout.

Bruce installed most if not all of his structures so that they could easily be removed without damage.  All I had to do was build a new base.  In keeping with a lot of my structures, I decided to build up the mine scene on my desk using a 1" pink foam base.  I will need to make a minor change to the existing spur to make room for a trestle and tailings pile in the right foreground. 

 

 

Janurary 15, 2023

 

Trying to minimize weight, I watched a couple of videos on YouTube and started hacking away at the pink foam. 

Placerville Backdrop

 January 17,2024

 

The Placerville backdrop arrived and I braved the cold train room to temporarily tape it in place and take a few pictures.  I think it turned out great.

 

Here are a few more photos taken around Placerville.

 

 

As always, your comments, questions & suggestions are welcome

sdepolo@outlook.com