One Thing Leads To Another

This has nothing to do with model railroads per se, but I couldn't help myself. Saw this in the parking lot when attending my granddaughter's dance recital...

Ford COE

High "cool quotient" in that ride. Not sure of the exact year but '39 to '41 seems close enough.

As for the layout, the more I deal with these construction methods the more I like them. I don't have to be afraid of tearing up and redoing a section. After the first loop of track was permanently fastened down I encountered serious derailment issues. There were two sections of roadbed that were definite trouble. One was at Clark's Summit where a defect in the roadbed caused the super-elevation to become excessive. The Erie test unit kept flopping over. The other problem occurred inside Hollow Mountain. I used 1" thick Styrofoam when I revised the roadbed and it doesn't flex as well as I like. The result was not a smooth sweeping curve. I redid the roadbed using laminated 1/2" strips...

Revised Roadbed In Hollow Mountain

Of course to get at the curve I had to peel away the mountain. A few quick slices took care of that. I also cut away the roadbed in the tracks above. They're as easy to replace as the mountain itself.

This modification also allowed me to realign the approaches to the tunnel through the mountain. Based on a few influences, like the Pennsy's penchant for twin tunnels, I used two bores at each end. I was able to provide smooth curves at both places...

Four Track West Portal

Four Track East Portal

As for the problem at Clark's summit the only way to resolve it properly was to make sure the roadbed was level. While I was at it I went over all the roadbed for the four track spreading a viscous mixture of gypsum with a brush...

Resurfaced Roadbed, Clark's Summit

Resurfaced Roadbed, Average

Once the gypsum dries I'll check the roadbed and make adjustments. The cork will then be glued in place and track relaid. A test train will be run as the track goes down to make sure things are what they should be.

Regards,

Frank Musick

Building a dream layout on a nightmare budget

The Average Eastern Railroad

Carbon Point Resurrected

As I've mentioned before, sometimes the obvious escapes me. While it was necessary to eliminate the Q Co trackage from the layout it never ocurred to me to keep the colliery. The idea must have bubbled around in my subconscious because it came to me while I was roughing in the mountain at East End. Daugherty's foundry probably wouldn't generate as much traffic as a coal mine. So I sat down at the computer and worked out how to add Colliery #10 back into the scheme of things.

The first idea was to invert the town. I ran the road down the center of town. Then I flipped the gas station and diner so they faced said road. I added homes acoss the main road. The colliery ended up on the Hollow Mountain end of town while I left the quarry pretty much where it was...

Carbon Point "Reimagined"

Of course being who I am I had to change the design. I flipped the colliery and the quarry to opposite ends. I liked everything else so I left it alone...

Carbon Point Flipped

Even though I laid out design number two the first idea won out. The scenery dictated the actual locations of the industries. The shape of Hollow Mountain dictated the quarry be located at the east end of town...

Carbon Point

Of course with the coal mine added back and the foundry gone I had to restore the former name. I named the new mountain to reflect this...

Carbon Ridge

Just as Hollow Mountain separates Average from the rest of the layout, so too does Carbon Ridge isolate East End. The interchange is crowded into the space between the two track main and the ridge...

East End

A simple revision at East End will affect operations on the AE. I simplified the engine facilities. While locomotives can still top off their fuel and water, they are no longer turned for the trip west. This saved a bit of space and made it easier to make the area work. There are quite a few small railroads like the AE that run their engines backwards (Strasburg, Buffalo Creek & Gauley, etc)...

Simplified East End

The turntable at Average may or may not be eliminated. A number of switches would be required instead. A three way switch might work in the same space. Have to think on it awhile.

With most of the scenery in I started laying new ballast strip. The old strips are now under the shell, creating a new roadbed. The new ballast strip is narrow, about the same dimension as the tie length. It makes for better looking track. I laid the new track, gluing it in place. The track nails hold it in palce until the glue sets. I used tacky glue to fasten the track to the roadbed. The glue will hold the track firmly while it's tacky property gives me plenty of time to make sure the track is exactly where I want it...

First Permament Track At Average

The power leads were left in place from the preliminary layout so the new track could be powered as soon as it was layed. This way I'm able to run test trains and check things out as I go. Gives me a chance to break in the new Erie unit...

Test Train At Clark's Summit

Super-elevation on curves is created by placing 0.020 thick plastic strips under the outer rail...

Superelevation

Regards,

Frank Musick

Building a dream layout on a nightmare budget

The Average Eastern Railroad

More Scenery

Latest progress on scenery. It took forever to build the cardboard support for tHollow Mountain. I'm seeing cardboard in my sleep. It was worth it as this view from a canoe on the Split may attest..

Clark's Summit

The canoe didn't go far, there's no water in the river yet.

The other summit of Hollow Mountain, Gateway, won't receive its full shell until Blair Furnace and East End are roughed in. There is another "mountain" between the two yet to be named...

Gateway From The Gorge

 The Quotidian side of Hollow Mountain has its first layer of shell applied...

Hollow Mountain From Hospital Hill

It looks better than I thought it would. The PRR tracks are dwarfed, just as they should be. You should be able to make out the ledge where the AE clings to the slope just above the four track mainline...

Hollow Mountain

The concrete coating on Othir Mountain and the Gorge was our first batch and not thinned enough to work right. It crumbled and had to be recovered in gypsum. It did look pretty authentic though with all the rock & debris in the riverbed. Some of the concrete is still in place and can be seen in the center of the photo...

Othir Mountain and The Gorge

The Average side of Hollow Mountain is ready for shell as soon as I remove all the screws that clamp the cardboard together.

I've been going through all my old Model Railroader magazines for structures and other scenery items. I found quite a few bridges that can be used. The AE may end up with wooden trusses and trestles. The stone and steel bridges will be used on the Class 1's.

Speaking of the Class 1's, I think I have mentioned in the past that the layout is generic. The two railroads the AE connects with can represent any road. The PRR and the Lackawanna are the current choices but other roads will also be represented. I picked up an Erie E unit at N Scale Supply for $25...

Erie E-8

I've been buying up decal sets for other roads. I have an E-6 that will wear the B&O set. CNJ, Reading, Lackawanna, Lehigh Valley and New Haven sets are already on my workbench as are the locomotives they are meant for.

Regards,

Frank Musick

Building a dream layout on a nightmare budget

The Average Eastern Railroad

Hollow Mountain And The Split River Gorge

Been at it for a few day and it's time to take a break. Sit back with a cold brew and type...

Roughing in the scenery on the eastern end of the AE took an abrupt turn this week. Construction turned to demolition when I realized the whole Q Company scenario wasn't gonna cut it. It cramped that end of the layout. It also made it well nigh impossible to deal with the triple crossing at Hollow Mountain. Lucky for me that the layout is styrofoam and cardboard. It's easy to make changes and the oversight can be removed in one piece...

Demolished East End

Demolished Carbon Point

Q Co Trashed

The Q Co spline has already been recycled into other parts of the layout.

Removing the coal company's right of way sure simplified things. It opened up the area and allowed me to handle a number of issues with the tunnels under the mountain...

New Eastern End

You can see by the revised plan that there is much more space between the AE right of way and the two track Class 1 (currently DL&W). I turned the Split River "west" and used it to separate the two railroads. It runs through a deep ravine somewhat like the Lehigh Gorge. Just like the Lehigh, the river banks are shared by two competing railroads. When the river makes a sharp turn around Hollow Mountain the railroads have to meet it head on and tunnel through.

The town in this area has also changed. The quarry now sits against the mountain. The foundry is now located farther east. The church, gas station, diner and depot are now between the two industries. With the coal company gone the town needs a new name. I'm thinking of calling it Blair Furnace. Kind of a tribute to the failed Pennsy layout.

East End is still East End with a simplified track arrangement. There is no town or industry here, just the interchange and engine facilities.

I'm still building the cardboard support structure on this side of the layout but the general features are roughed in...

Split River

In the image above the view is west towards Hollow Mountain. Blair Furnace (formerly Carbon Point) is to the right of the AE mainline.

Looking East

Looking back from the mountain you can see the ravine and Othir Mountain running along the right side. Can't actually build a mountain, it's an aisle, but I can suggest it exists. From the aisle you have to look over the base of Othir Mountain to see the trains.

I'm in the process of making Hollow Mountain taller. In some places it was just barely higher than the AE roadbed. I actually want it to tower over the trains. I'm raising the entire ridge along the Average side of the layout from Gateway to Clark's Summit...

New Ridgeline

The new summit is just being added to the original by attaching longer vertical supports to the existing matrix. These new supports have "V" shaped cross section that stiffens them and allows them to stand on their own. It's a  mere skeleton at present. I'll just keep adding supports and cross braces on 4" - 6" centers.

The Clark's Summit end has also been widened. During operations it was discovered that some curves were too tight. The Pennsy I1s (2-10-0) stalls or derails on the inner track at Hollow Mountain and Clark's Summit. I widened the right of way another inch, essentially creating a five track roadbed. All the tracks are moved an inch further out. This should increase the minimum radius and allow the long coupled locomotives to negotiate all the curves...

Clark's Summit Before

 

Clark's Summit Now

That's it for this entry. More to come.

Regards,

Frank Musick

Building a dream layout on a nightmare budget

The Average Eastern Railroad

Experiments

Tried a couple or three ideas on scenery shell. The first was paper towels soaked in drywall compound. This works well enough provided the cardboard matrix is constructed properly. There really shouldn't be a lot of space between the cardboard strips or the towels will sag. The effect is far from realistic... 

Saggy Scenery

With the proper support the shell looks pretty good..,.

Tighter Matrix

Which brings us to another experiment. To the right side of the roadbed in the image above I used paper towels. On the left the shell was created using strips of burlap. The paper towels won out for several reasons. First was price. Secondly, cutting burlap results in "fuzzy edges" that have to be covered with additional drywall compound. Third, while the burlap is stronger it makes no difference in the finished shell. Either material works.

Of course I couldn't stop there. My son-in-law is a contractor and suggested that concrete might create a harder shell. I dismissed the idea until I ran low on drywall compund. While procuring more I realized that concrete mix is five times cheaper than the premixed compound. Needless to say the next section of shell was done with the cheap stuff. Unfortunately a shortfall became evident real quick. Concrete doesn't soak into paper towels as readily as drywall mud. I ended up brushing a very thin mixture onto areas where paper towels had already been applied. The result is a rough textured terrain with a lot of character...

Alpha and "Hospital Hill"

We had mixed way too much concrete so I had to cover all the previously created shell. I like the appearance but I'm pretty sure I need to refine the process...

Hospital Hill, Owertown side

Owertown Road over  the Tacannee

Takannee Meets West Lanearch Creek

Llanearch Creek Bridges

Alpha

Iriquois Creek

Lake Elsiniore

Split River Gorge

The last image shows what had been hastily named "Floinge". I really didn't like the name. Then it occured to me that the Average Eastern would follow the Split as far as it could. Suddenly the Split River originated from somewhere east of Carbon Point. It created this gorge on its way west.

I'm now working on the matrix west of the Split towards Hollow Mountain. The mountain actually stretches along the "west" end of the layout ending at Clark Summit above the river...

Clark Summit

During operations it was discovered that it was quite hard to access a train under the mountain. Hence the installation of the "Gateway" arch...

Hollow Mountain and the "Gateway" Arch

The other end of the tunnel turned into a set of bridges. I gave into the temptaion of the triple crossing claiming it was because of access concerns...

Triple Crossing

Still not exactly sure how I'm going to pull it off, but it does mean more bridges.

Regards,

Frank Musick

Building a dream layout on a nightmare budget

The Average Eastern Railroad

Another Day, Another Dollar

Not really, I don't get paid for "playing with trains". Oh that I could..

All the remaining "scenes" (or what ever MR calls them) have been styrofoamed and papered. From east to west...

Kern Medical Center

I made the medical center multi-level. For some reason I think hospitals in small cities are usually on a hill and made up of several wings. It seems that individual wings are on a different elevation from the others..

Like the other areas I'm showing the cement plant now has a styrofoam base... 

Alpha

The other small buildings in Alpha will probably sit on the plaster shell. Actually they'll be IN the shell. As I did in Train Simulator models I plan to build these structures with foundations. I'll cut a hole in the shell and insert the building so that the foundation looks the proper height above ground.

I repapered the Rt 442 section of Quotidian thus giving the local motorheads some place to blow off steam...

Dragsters Paradise

Hot rods in the 50's were far different than the tuners running today. No drifting, just unadulterated horsepower and a lightweight body. The "coolness quotient" was increaseed by things like flat primer with white walls, baby moons etc. Most were pre-war with flat head V-8's or GM stovebolt inline sixes. Multiple carbs and open exhaust were more a rule than the exception. Every once in a while somebody got a hold of one of those overhead valve Olds engines but they were few and far between.

Anyway, back to the subject at hand. The powerhouse, colliery facilities and Carbon Point are all supported by styrofoam platforms. At other locations the platform is glued directly to the deck. These elevated platforms are supported by the the spline itself...

Powerhouse

Colliery and Enginehouse

Carbon Point

Tomorrow these areas will be ready for trimming and look more like they're supposed to.

I also got to start on the scenery shell. I used paper towels soaked in thinned drywall compound. It's a bit messy, but most of it gets on your hands...

Lake Elsinore And Alpha

May The "Great Wreath" Watch Over Us All

Regards,

Frank Musick

Building a dream layout on a nightmare budget

The Average Eastern Railroad