Ashe County Museum

Visited the Museum of Ashe County (NC) last week to see their HO layout -- turns out the railroad is only a loop with one passing siding and one dead-end siding.  The scenery is OUTstanding!

http://ashehistory.org/index.php/gallery-item/virginia-creeper-train/

The layout is about 30 feet long with about four different eras and four local communities modeled.  The work was done by several local townspeople and the number of scenes is amazing.  Besides that, each modeler has positioned him- or herself in a scene somewhere!  A builder can be seen with a clipboard near a house under construction.  A law enforcement officer's patrol car (1949 Ford) has pulled a yellow convertible with a blonde driving (the other modelers asked if he gets her phone number and he says, "No, and I only gave her a warning").  An artist that has done a mural downtown of the Virginia Creeper can be seen with his easel set up to paint that very same mural picture.

The officer has pulled her over!

Downtown in the 1950's.

The Virginia Creeper arrives but rumor is they coasted through town to keep from getting soot on the fresh laundry -- note that "Mom" is waving as the train approaches around the bend.

I suppose this might be the junkyard that the "Greaser" on the Blacktop Crossing uses for his parts cars!

Obviously, the time of the year is Fall in the NC mountains.  No puffball trees here; every one of them has a trunk!

This layout is worth viewing.  The rest of the museum is unique, as well.  The emphasis is what happened in Ashe county that is of note -- not just a collection of old "artifacts".

More Clean-up

With high hopes that the plastic cover will help keep the dust down on the layout, an attempt was made to clean up the dust layer that has accumulated.  Basically, that meant removing anything that wasn't glued down and vacuuming as much as possible:

Look closely between the spur just to the right of the cotton field and the inner oval track -- the dusted/vacuumed portion is pretty evident (it's darker brown)!

So, vacuumed as much of the remaining plywood and tracks as felt safe to do.  Then replaced the removed pieces after dusting them with a 1/2" soft bristle artist's brush.

Replaced the plastic cover with continued hope. . . .

Loose Ends

Company is coming over for dinner before long and The Wife has offered a tour of the barn as part of the entertainment!!  That presents a couple of issues since the barn houses the train layout.  For one, it probably should be running so track and locomotive wheels need cleaning.  For another, something a bit more prototypical than sliding the throws on the turnouts would be good -- I just happen to have six ground throws!  And, for another thing, the layout probably ought to be vacuumed a bit and dusted.

Fortunately, the granddaughters had given me a track cleaning pad and holder as a gift.  I pulled out some 70% isopropyl alcohol, wet the pad, and wiped it around the tracks.  Yep, there was a good bit of crud on the tracks:

That got the switcher running around most of the layout without a hitch.  Then I wet an edge of a paper towel and ran the front wheels and then the rear wheels of both the switcher and the F-cab locomotive over the towel a few times.  A little use of the "eraser" and some fine sandpaper and the switcher was running around all of the track at a setting of 1 or 2.  The F-unit needed about a 4 setting to not hesitate, but we can work with that.

The ground throws were not as easy to install as anticipated.  Seems the model, 202S by Caboose Industries, doesn't attach directly to Atlas turnouts, but I either didn't get or have lost any adaptors.  Rather than spend the time to go across town to the hobby shop, I just took out the Dremel tool with a cut-off wheel and removed some of the throw bar (or whatever it is called).  To connect to the ground throw, I drilled a small hole (my drill bit set number about #60 which didn't match up with Caboose Industries' 0.055 inches recommendation, but it worked).  Two small brads (used elsewhere to attach track to the layout) and we were in business:

Well, not quite in business, yet.  The downward-facing pin on the ground throw protruded into the cork bed material.  But, a small grinding burr on the Dremel and enough cork was removed to allow the throw to moved full length.  Well, yes, I did cut small pieces of cork bed to place under the throws -- turned upside down so the angle on the edge would fit the similar angle on the track bed.

I can count six turnouts with throws.  Wouldn't you know it, there's ONE more turnout left.

Oh well, looks like another trip to the hobby shop after all.

Now, with all that work completed and visions of dusting and vacuuming the layout before the dinner get-together, some way of protecting the layout from future "contamination" seemed like a good idea.  So, four piece of corner molding about 2 feet long were screwed in around layout and a roughly 5" X 5" block of wood with a 3/4" hole in the middle for a 2-foot dowel provided a center support.  A large sheet of plastic, and the protection is in place.  Looks like a clean piece of plastic would be a good idea!

Maybe I can use the two uprights on the rear of the layout for a 1/8" hardboard backdrop holder.

For the sake of catching up on other work on the layout, I did install wood "timber" grade crossings a week or so ago.  I just happen to have some "black" stain I used on a pair of Adirondack chairs left over, so the timbers got a grayish stain.  To get the timbers to fit, the outside pieces had to be ground at a bit of an angle (to allow for the molded in spikes on the ties).  Then I glued them with some Woodland Scenics Scenic Accent Glue.  It seems to be working OK, but I may need to go back and use glue that is a bit more permanent -- let's wait until we add ballast. . . .

Projects Installed, Temporarily

Managed to break away from Nurse duties long enough to take the three projects up to the layout to see how they might work.

My goodness it's hard to see the desk and chair in the woodyard shed.  I'm still trying to figure out whose idea this was.  You can see the desk just inside the window, and barely make out the "shadow" of the chair through the window "glass".

 If you look through the window on the fuel oil side, the bottom of the chair and part of the chair's legs can be seen.

A little imagination helps.  I guess I'll have to be pointing out these details since it will be doubtful that anyone would notice, otherwise!

The Nash Ambassador looks right at home lined up with other vehicles beside the Cotton Factory.  I doubt that you'd find a pink Cadillac among the cars parked at the mill, but I ran out of vehicles.  Guess that means a new shopping list for the next visit to New Brookland model railroad shop in Cayce.  That's all assuming that a parking lot will be installed for the workers at the mill.

And, the well-weathered Southern Railway boxcar looks pretty good behind the Switcher, which might need a little weathering, itself.  Parking lot and Switcher are for another day. . . or two.

Whose Idea Was This?!

Somebody thought it would be nice to add some detail to the interior of the Woodyard Shed by constructing  a desk and chair from a laser cut kit.  That seemed desirable having installed "glazing" on the shed for the woodyard so the interior was visible:

But "somebody" didn't realize how small some of the parts of the desk were going to be.  The initial steps were not too difficult give or take keeping up with the minute drawer handles after they were cut out of the board:

Used Super Glue for most of the construction and that seemed to work pretty well.  Notice the drawer faces were separate parts:

Did anyone mention that the drawer pulls were minute -- as in, extremely small?  Ended up with Elmer's white glue for drawer faces and pulls to give a little "wiggle room" in set time.

Anyway, finished product should look pretty good IF it will fit through the door of the woodyard shed.

Here a little burnt sierra oil paint has been used to give some "grain" to the wooden desk.

The Black Nash

As a kid, I remember riding in our 1950 Nash Ambassador from northwest LA (near Shreveport) to the coast of SC (near Georgetown).  It was a BIG black car with front seats that would fold down.  My mother would ride for miles on end in the middle of the front seat supported by a small part of the left half of the front seat while the three kids played on what ended up being literally a level mattress in the rest of the car.  Behind the driver's seat was a cooler with a little padding to match the back seat cushion.  Often the travel was at night to avoid traffic and the summer heat -- no AC for sure.

So, it was only appropriate for a 1956 scene to include a BIG black Nash Ambassador:

This kit has been in my possession for a while, like the Southern Railway boxcar, so while nursing for the wife continues, I pulled it out and put it together.

Tough to get a good paint job with a brush, but from a distance the finish looks OK.  Two comments worth mentioning:

First, just because the box plainly says, "Peel & Stick White Walls" doesn't mean that the modeler will use them.  Just after a somewhat sloppy job of flat white painting on the tires, the little sheet of peel and stick white walls in the kit was examined to see what it was.  Doh!

Second, the kit came with a small piece of Lexan  to be cut to fit and glued into the car interior for window glass.  That's easier said than done. . . .  So, just the windshield and rear window are Lexan.  The contours of the openings do not lend to flat sheets of plastic.  But, the instructions also mentioned using Micro Scale Krystal Klear.  None of that handy, but a bottle of Micro Master Clear Parts Cement & Window Maker was.  Instructions suggested collecting cement on the end of a paint brush and rolling around window opening, withdrawing slowly.  A paint brush handle was not going to fit in the vent window, so a round toothpick, pointed at only one end, was substituted -- used the blunt end.  It worked amazingly well!  The "windows" are not perfectly flat, but at least give the impression of glass.  Not very well evident in photos, but the windows without Lexan all have cement windows except for the front door windows which are "rolled down".

Now to decide where this Ambassador goes on the layout.

Weathering. . . Weathering

Well, The Wife has had her second bunion surgery so I've been relegated to Nurse and been told to stick close for three days.  That gave me the opportunity to address a couple of projects that have been sitting around for a while.

The Granddaughters gave me a 40' AAR Double Door Southern Railway boxcar some time back that needed a small amount of assembly:

Oops, this is not MY model, but an advertisement picture to give a "before" shot.

I have yet to really try significant "weathering" but thought this would be a good "clean slate" to try on.  Looking for something along these lines:

I had seen something about dry brushing the white lettering to give a chalking effect.  Used Testor's flat white and a stiff brush about 3/8" wide.  Maybe got a bit carried away.  One suggestion was to not start the chalking ABOVE the lettering, which made lots of sense.

Also used some Testor's flat black with dry brush, followed by some grey and darker brown chalk to brush on with a make-up sponge before the paint was really dry.  Tried to layer it on a bit thick at the bottom, near the trucks, and on each end.  The C&O boxcar shows some of this. . . .

Here's a shot from almost done, but some of roof is still "virgin".

Next step was to spray a bit of matte finish to protect the chalk.  So, without couplers (will use Kadee, not what was in the kit), here's the finished product.  The car has a 1952 build date, so it's obviously seen some pretty heavy duty up to September, 1956 era of the layout!!!

Looks pretty much like the C&O proto give or take the streaky white paint.  Maybe next time we'll shoot for something more like the Norfolk Southern whitening.

Filling the Cotton Factory Coal Bin

OK, so the hopper car is not in place, but the coal situation is well in hand.

First next step was to find a block of wood to use to support the conveyor from underneath the layout, hold it in place while hole in layout is sketched on the block, measure how far the conveyor sits below the layout table top (5/16"), and then drill out the area.  Here's sketch, but it's pretty close to the edge of the block.

No problem, just shift the sketch toward the middle.  Use the non-Murphied 7/8" wood bit again plus a little chiseling and voila:

It fits.  A couple of wood screws countersunk from underneath and the block is in place.

That looks good.  Next to make a coal pile.  Starting with a piece of pink foam insulation will save some "model" coal.  A little shaping with a welding brush helps to give the natural look.

We need to get rid of the pink, so a little black acrylic paint helps, followed by a brushed application of Woodland Scenics Scenic glue, and a sprinkling of model coal.  Now take to layout to apply the edges.

What next?  Fill the hole under the conveyor with appropriate material and put some loose coal on the conveyor belt and we're ready to fire up the Cotton Factory boilers.  One note is that there looked to be a shed roof on the boiler house in one of the prototype photos.  That might be a good addition to camouflage or disguise the 2D boilers a bit.  Not hard to do. . . .  And is there a coal shovel in the house?!

Coal Conveyor for Cotton Factory

OK, so probably more detail that anyone wants to hear, but here is the coal conveyor saga:

The cotton factory apparently had a trestle where the coal was unloaded from rail cars.  This is a Sandborn Insurance map:

The trestle is left of the darker blue building and the coal bin is below it.  Well, no room on the layout for an elevated track!  Also, will need to locate the coal bin a little different.  But, we'll still have a pile of coal on the ground, close to the boiler room, representative of:

The siding will have to approach from the other side of the Cotton Factory and serve the factory products as well as deliver coal hoppers.  Only problem, how to get coal from the hopper to the bin -- how 'bout a conveyor?!  Several are available in plastic, but the Hoffa Cement Company from Model Power seemed to have the conveyor needed, with maybe a few modifications.

First, let's check the location and size of the conveyor hopper that would need to be mounted under the tracks:

OK, that works and can be positioned far enough up the siding so the rail car will not need to be turned end-for-end to unload a full load of coal.  So, pull up some of the siding to cut the cork roadbed and plywood underneath:

Turns out, the width of the hole in the cork is not 3/4" nor 1" -- the size of wood bits in my drill assortment.  But, sometimes Murphy doesn't work against you and you've JUST found a loose 7/8" bit.  That worked great -- two holes plus a saber saw trim and the hopper fits, from underneath:

And there's a hole in the track where some ties were cut with a Dremel tool.

So, if that looks like it's going to work, let's construct the conveyor:

Don't think the wheels will be needed, but the axle is in place!  Just as suspected, the support pieces keep the conveyor too high compared to the track.  So, these were trimmed back, a short brace was added, and some "weathering" was attempted.  Used Testors rust and flat black paint, as well as some watered down acrylic flat black.  Tried the "dry brushing" technique.  Weathering skills need a lot more development.

In the meantime, the Hoffa Cement bin walls were adjusted from three bunkers to only one for the Cotton Factory.  And it does look like everything will go in place.

Now it's how do you support the bin from the underside and then add coal.  It's been chilly in the unheated workshop recently, but temps are supposed to get into the 60's later in the week.  That gives time to figure out an approach. . . maybe.  Oh, and the hole in the roadbed/plywood needed a little enlarging so the conveyor didn't dump coal directly into the boiler house!  No problem, saber saw to the rescue.

The Blacktop Crossing, Itself

Still working on the railroad, although it's not necessarily a New Year's Resolution!  If the layout is called "Blacktop Crossing", it certainly needs the asphalt road crossing the train tracks.

A back of the shingle approach was found on the Internet a good while back and the road was cut out.  However, it seemed to be very wide and almost dominated the whole layout.  So, let's cut the road back from around 25 feet across (over 3 inches) to around 20 feet across (about 2.75 inches).  Here is road with cut line marked along the outside edge to give more room for the businesses and industry:

The road ought to be a bit higher than ground level (for water to run off?!), so the cork sheet was used again.  Once sections of cork were cut to match the road, they were glued to the shingles and weighted down to dry.

But the blacktop needs a "crossing", right?  The crossing timbers had been procured a while back, but needed some weathering.  India ink and alcohol has been recommended for weathering, but that didn't seem to work too well.  The left end of the bottom timbers were treated with the "wash" to no avail even though the fluid in the bottle is pretty dark.

As luck would have it, some stain was left from my daughter's Adirondack chairs I made for her.  She asked for grey or dark stain.  How 'bout ebony?

Now we'er getting somewhere.

Hmm, how to get the blacktop up to the level of the crossing?  More cork sheet, perhaps?  Let's cogitate on that while the glue and stain dry overnight.