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D&RGW narrow gauge: Back to scenics.


JZ
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My Shapeways items have arrived.

First up we have a handcart.

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I understand that when cleaned up the wheels rotate and the handles move. To be honest, it is very frail and will only be a static model, so I will resist the temptation.

Next a 6500 series fishbelly flatcar.214323697_10161372917324012_8103393389856810580_n.jpg.e8fd2549ca455ef0305521d8f35ed8e7.jpg

These were rebuilt from standard gauge cars. Some had bulkheads fitted for pulpwood loads. Several survive on the Durango & Silverton, where they see a fair amount of service. One has been modified with an end ramp for loading tracked vehicles.

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The Cumbres & Toltec has a number of them, but they are all disassembled at the moment.

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Some parts were used for passenger car construction.

Next are two items I added to make the order more cost effective on the postage.

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Gilsonite sacks. Gilsonite, or asphaltite, is a form of asphalt with a high melting temperature. There are large deposits in the Uintah basin of Utah and Colorado and was one of the principal loads for the Uintah Railway. Though to me, it's just a load of sacks.

And finally some US style phone booths.

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The flatcar was a nice easy project. Fortunately I had enough grab irons over from Rail Line kits, though I did have to bend 4 for the drop ones on the ends. A dig through the spares box gave me the pieces needed for the brake wheel and I bent up the uncoupling levers from 0.45 brass.

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None of which really show in the photo. The black is where the frames have been filled with 'liquid gravity'. Just need to add some stirrups. Then it's ready for painting in the morning. It is designed to take Kadee #705 and I have the correct pattern trucks, also Kadee.

 

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Edited by JZ
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Another layer of weathering on the deck, but otherwise done.

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Don't look too closely at the fine print, I had to make do with what I had, but the relevant information is there, if slightly incorrect. But at 3ft...............Yeah, it's OK.

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The package that left Miami on the 8th (twice), arrived in Miami at 2am this morning, left at 4am and at 5:36am, it was processed through the same one it left on Thursday.

The one from AZ is still sitting in Compton CA. 5 days now.

Fool that I am, I ordered some decals from Microscale. These are also in LA somewhere. Though they usually arrive pretty quickly from them. Probably because they come as a large letter.

Awaiting news on my loco bodies. I expect Gilso is crying into his cornflakes this morning, after Brazil lost to Argentine in the Copa America.

DHL have my tank cars. They are somewhere between Nuremberg and Radstock.

 

UPDATE: The order from Tichy Trains has left an airport in Fort Lauderdale. Not very specific, I can find four. Hopefully it's the International one, but where is it going?

And another update:

The Microscale decals, Your item departed our USPS facility in LOS ANGELES CA INTERNATIONAL DISTRIBUTION CENTER on July 11, 2021 at 9:08 am

Edited by JZ
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My three tank cars arrived this morning.

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This one was missing a brake wheel, which I had been informed of before making the purchase. Picked up for 40 quid each including postage. Not bad since they are seen on eBay for $100+ starting price. The Gramps logo may look relatively modern, but was applied in 1939/40. The reason for it was so that the Grandchildren of Lafayette Hughes would know which car were carrying oil from his oilfield. I now have 8 Blackstone tank cars, 4 frameless like this, all Gramps and 4 narrow frame ones.

 I have two of these on order from San Juan Car Company.

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These have been a long time coming, but the production models are finally on their way to Colorado. Maybe in a month or so.

Together with my three PSC kits and two from Creative Miniatures, I'll have a realistic length oil train.

 

No updates from USPS today, but an update from Brazil. The post office there is accepting parcels if the value of the goods is more than US$90 mine is about $68. I think the reason for the arbitrary figure is just a way of clearing the backlog.

Edited by JZ
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Working on the High Line section of the layout, I need to get more foamboard to build up the scenery. My preference on this is the pink stuff, meant for underfloor heating. I find it's less messy and more easily cuts with a hot wire. Most important for me is the less messy bit.

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This is what I am trying to achieve. My version will run about 12-13 inches above the river and the total length of the section will be about 40 inches long, on a gentle curve and leading to the second trestle. The first, wood, trestle is going to be over a dry gully, the second. steel, one will be over a cascade that drops into the river. I am wondering whether to have it as close to the edge as this:

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Having a £500+ loco derail and drop to the river is slightly worrying, but it will cross a 12" high, 30" long trestle without railings, so maybe just make sure no loose rocks have fallen. Wills random stone sheets will form the supporting wall, with rail fixed to it. Also, looking at these pictures, I need more trees.

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A few minutes ago, this photo popped up in the Rio Grande Southern group.

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So maybe I need to sent Henry D Wolford along the line to check it's clear of rocks.

Photo by Otto C Perry, from the Denver Public Library Collection

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Working on the gully that the wood trestle spans. As can be seen. a lot of foam from the previous layout has been recycled. A few odd holes to fill and then a layer of plaster.

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A bit of plaster slapped on and it starts to look a bit better.

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The tunnel mouth needs narrowing slightly, but height wise OK. I think. I will have a better idea once I put a loco on there. I'll give the plaster 48 hours to dry, then put a finishing coat on and fill the cracks.

 

 Made up a wall similar to the one in the earlier post. Rails have been glued and wired to the wall and I have given some a bit of a bend like on the real thing.

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Doesn't show on the photo, but there is a pinkish hue to the stonework.

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And it looks a different colour under the lights.

Edited by JZ
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For gauging the tunnel mouth, I will be using a standard gauge boxcar. The reason being , that both the rotary plow, OM (you don't know how much that hurts spelling it like that) and the wrecker, OZ were both standard gauge items on narrow gauge trucks, actually standard gauge trucks with 3ft wheelsets with extended axles. The OZ was a Tichy Trains kit I picked up years ago, it being not that different from some steam cranes in the UK. While not quite the same as OZ, it isn't that far from it either.

 The postman brought me a couple of books yesterday.

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Many useful pictures and technical information.

 

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Lots of colour photo's in this, together with B&W and the odd painting. Certainly given me a few ideas for my planned trip to Colorado next year.

Both of these from UK bookshops, at a fraction of what US ones were selling them for.

 

Nice to have the scanner working again. It gave the impression it was dying, first could not get scanner connected, then the printer failed. managed to dig out a USB cable and all is good again.

 

And now the update you have been eagerly waiting for.

The first is with my postman now, the second is at Heathrow and the third is in transit across the Atlantic. According to the latest tracking I have.

 

 

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Couple of posed shots on the High Line. First is one of the K-27s. I applied the smaller Rio Grande herald on this in error. Took me ages, but I did find a photo of K-27 with the smaller one. So maybe, just maybe, the Rio Grande used whatever it had handy, like BR with the large and small ferret and dartboard. 456 was the only K-27 to retain it's round smokebox numberplate through to scrapping.

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The rock face behind is from Chooch Enterprises. I'm using this because it is flexible and, I think, gives a good representation of a dynamited face. It's not fixed into position at the moment. I have 4 of these and the blend line(between loco and tender) will be improved upon before fixing in place. Also the top will be trimmed ready for some rock castings above it.

Next we have my K-36. The eagle eyed with spot that the front pony is derailed. I cut the power, but forgot that all my Tsunami2 equipped locos have a brake and by the time I remembered, it was off the end of the line.:banghead:

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WARNING

Parcel update.

Decals have arrived at my local sorting office.

Order from Tichy Trains, the one that left Fort Lauderdale on Sunday, has now left Atlanta. So it's calling points were, Alamance NC, Greensboro NC, Miami FL, Fort Lauderdale FL and now Atlanta GA. A journey of 1491 miles in 11 days, yet it is only 350 miles from it's starting point.

 

And more.

Ordered the pink foamboard from the cheapest supplier and they offered free 24 delivery, the downside being they used DPD. Waited in the afternoon for the delivery timed between 15:09 and 16:09. No sign of it. Checked DPD tracking and it said it was delivered at 10:34 and signed for by Ben. Pop around to see Ben, who has been at work all day. NO. Go back to the tracking and now says it was delivered at 15:19 and the driver will try again. It is now 17:30. By 18:00 it says the driver tried again at 16:19 and no reply, so will try again tomorrow (today). Later still there appears a photo of the packages standing on my front path, not by the front door, but at the end of the path, 15' away. Did the driver knock from there? Has he very long arms?

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5 hours ago, JZ said:

Ordered the pink foamboard from the cheapest supplier and they offered free 24 delivery, the downside being they used DPD. Waited in the afternoon for the delivery timed between 15:09 and 16:09. No sign of it. Checked DPD tracking and it said it was delivered at 10:34 and signed for by Ben. Pop around to see Ben, who has been at work all day. NO. Go back to the tracking and now says it was delivered at 15:19 and the driver will try again. It is now 17:30. By 18:00 it says the driver tried again at 16:19 and no reply, so will try again tomorrow (today). Later still there appears a photo of the packages standing on my front path, not by the front door, but at the end of the path, 15' away. Did the driver knock from there? Has he very long arms?


I actually hadn’t been able to work out from this how the story ended - whether you found the packages out on the street, or whether they were reloaded onto the truck and taken away again…

 

1 hour ago, JZ said:

Foam delivered one minute into the allotted hour.


…now we know.

 

Edited by Keith Addenbrooke
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More work on the gorge that the high line runs along. Still needs some infill behind the trestle.

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The plywood base for the river is in. Not sure what colour to paint the river bad, maybe a sandy colour? The river will be in a proper gorge, though the front side will not be as high and will feature a trailer park/camp site. Need to make sure that it's not too narrow, so as to get a camera in for photo's.

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This is a set by Busch.

Now sitting back and letting everything set before adding more plaster. Tomorrow I set work doing some casting some rocks, for the gorge walls as well as the river bed. The flat slopes will have the odd small rock glued to them, but otherwise these will be scree.

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View from the river.

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Slapping a bit of plaster on has improved the looks somewhat.

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Some genuine rocks have been pressed into the plaster.

Visit to the hardware shop in the morning to get a suitable colour for the riverbed, varnish to seal it  and another 2 tubes of No More Nails.

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Finished* the Pagosa combine today. It was lovely in brass, but really needed a paint job.

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I wondered why the passenger cars had the full 'DENVER & RIO GRANDE WESTERN' along the cantrail. yet the combines and non passenger coaches had D&RGW below the windows. No-one in any group has been able to come up with the answer. A bit like why former LNWR loco's never had smokebox numbers.

 

*Once I assembled it, I noticed that I had forgotten to paint out the toilet window. Never mind, a job for another day.

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On the workbench at the moment is the short caboose.

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This is a 'pre-kitbashed' kit from E&B Valley. It is from their long caboose and all the parts have been cut down to size for re-assembly, you can see the joins in this blow up. The side grabirons are in the last package from Tichy Trains, though, interestingly, USPS says it left Heathrow this morning and Royal Mail say it arrived there this afternoon. Maybe tomorrow. Grabirons are supplied with the kit, but are rather frail and the side ones take the most handling.

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1 minute ago, JZ said:

On the workbench at the moment is the short caboose.

218346180_10161391231404012_2912016764437785531_n.jpg.22d2276182a570136fa2f68e82705b75.jpg

This is a 'pre-kitbashed' kit from E&B Valley. It is from their long caboose and all the parts have been cut down to size for re-assembly, you can see the joins in this blow up. The side grabirons are in the last package from Tichy Trains, though, interestingly, USPS says it left Heathrow this morning and Royal Mail say it arrived there this afternoon. Maybe tomorrow. Grabirons are supplied with the kit, but are rather frail and the side ones take the most handling.


That’s a helpful photo - interesting to note how ‘thick’ the platforms at the ends are.  May well get copied (my list gets longer).

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3 minutes ago, Keith Addenbrooke said:


That’s a helpful photo - interesting to note how ‘thick’ the platforms at the ends are.  May well get copied (my list gets longer).

If you are interested, I have a surfeit of cabooses and can spare a E&B long caboose kit if you want one. To get the short one, I had to buy a job lot that included two long ones among other things.

 

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A virtual field trip to the area where this part of the layout is set, reveals that there are large areas of greyish/cream rock, particularly around the North Fork Gunnison River. This helps two ways: A. I couldn't find an off the shelf paint match, B. It matches the colour of Woodland Scenics Talus. So.....

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Base coat of Homebase Stone Beige, the rock wall by the ledge will be dry brushed.

The is still some reddish rock about, so.

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A light sprinkling of red sand to start. Gradually build up some more colour, including some baked and sieved earth from my own garden. Then add some grass tufts and a sprinkling of scatter and finally some trees along the ridge. I have also included a small cave, which will be the lair of a mountain lion and her cubs. Somewhere in this scene I want to include this.

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A little one piece resin casting of a hunters cabin, barely big enough for a bed, stove and a little storage. Of unknown provenance, it was given to me by @Jack Benson.

 I have also been casting rocks. Decided to go back to WS Lightweight Hydrocal. The Herculite2 I used before was cheap, but also heavy and very hard and also had a glossy finish that didn't take adhesive too well. I used No More Nails, only to fid one bit I had glued on had fallen off overnight. Even a bit that was pushed into wet plaster came away fairly easily. Not had that problem with the WS stuff.

 

Edited by JZ
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Cheap trees from China along the ridge. I think they look OK there, but I'll be saving the better quality ones for the foreground. I bit of WS earth scatter sprinkled over and a few grass tufts. The vertical faces will need some dry brushing or weathering powder to bring out the detail.

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Once thats done I can ballaste this short piece.

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46 minutes ago, JZ said:

Cheap trees from China along the ridge. I think they look OK there, but I'll be saving the better quality ones for the foreground. I bit of WS earth scatter sprinkled over and a few grass tufts. The vertical faces will need some dry brushing or weathering powder to bring out the detail.

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Once thats done I can ballaste this short piece.


Great to see this ‘vertical scenery’ - very reminiscent of the basement empires I used to read about in Model Railroader years back, and a nice contrast to the town scene.

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Thin wash of black over it this morning. Brings up the detail in the vertical rocks.

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Since taking this, I have ballasted the short length of track between the tunnel and trestle.

Also started to add a few details.218681773_10161395025164012_1276662369570781233_n.jpg.785743d21c6003e9141dfa56048b09b9.jpg

Family of mountain goats. These things have superb climbing skills, so no worries about putting them here. These are 3D prints from miniprints.ca

 

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Family of cougars. Dad has obviously seen the goats and is off to get lunch. Mum and another female look after the three cubs. These are from a WS set.

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