Piedmont Blues - O scale 2 rail exhibition layout.

[DanielB]

So... I actually got some progress made on the Southern gondola. So far it's had a real wood deck added to the interior - made from coffee stirrers, naturally - as well as a brown acrylic fading wash, and a wash of black watercolour to dirty it up. The great thing with watercolours is that if you don't like how it looks, take a wet paintbrush to it and just wash it off!

 

After this was done, I went over the lettering and car number with a damp microbrush to remove the paint from the white and let it really pop again, as most of the time the lettering isn't too dirty in prototype photos.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[JAMO]

Very nice work Daniel!

[DanielB]

Thanks Jack.

[Dava]

The deck looks good.I guess you'll get round to weathering the trucks & wheels?

 

Dava

[DanielB]

Dava - I'm waiting on some Pan Pastels to arrive from Amazon before I tackle those. Unfortunately they're estimating the end of the month before they arrive.

 

Further progress on the Southern gondola from last night, one side has had dings and scratches and rust patches added. I think I went a bit OTT with this, but I'm going to attempt to tone it down a little today. We shall see.

Here's the prototype photograph I am working from - found on Southern Railfan (an amazing source of SOU images and information, and my Go-To place for references):

[JAMO]

Waow! Daniel, my friend, this car looks very realistic.

 

I know you still have to weather the trucks but I like the body and the wooden deck! Wonderful.

 

I have two old Roco models like this one (70's release) to upgrade: I'll follow your way!

 

 

 

Edited October 11, 2017 by JAMO

[jasond]

Hi Dan, how's your 3d printing?  Fancy having a go at a roller-bearing cap to make upgrading fixed r-b caps possible?  The cap needs a tube-shaped spigot to fit over the axle when the fixed bearing is filed off and drilled out.  Simple-ish, eh?  Dave Illingworth started me thinking of this on Western Thunder forum by making axles out of brass tube (for his P48 stuff, he gets the back-to-back right by cutting a telescoping piece of bigger tube).  That means you'd have a hole at the end of the axle to slip a cap with solid spigot into.

[DanielB]

I'm still learning Jason. I'm having trouble getting the printing settings just right. Still not managed to produce a decent print of much of anything.

 

I am meeting with a friend sometime this month to try and get it up and running, as he's got one himself and knows more about them than I do.

[F-UnitMad]

Re the wheels, even just a simple coat of "rust" makes a massive difference with any car. Even brand new, US stock seems to get fitted with wheelsets that have been outside for a long time!!

 

And no, I haven't got round to painting all my wheelsets yet...

[DanielB]

Jordan, I'm currently waiting for delivery of a Pan Pastel "Weathering" pack. I ordered it from Amazon.co.uk, but didn't realise the seller is in the USA. D'oh!

 

As such, I've got to wait until the end of the month for the estimated delivery date.

 

Once they arrive, I'll be finishing off the trucks and wheels of both cars.

[JAMO]

Daniel,

 

have you tested Humbrol Black + Orange + thinner and to add pastel powder when it's drying?

 

Edited October 19, 2017 by JAMO

[trevorsmith3489]

Re the wheels, even just a simple coat of "rust" makes a massive difference with any car. Even brand new, US stock seems to get fitted with wheelsets that have been outside for a long time!!

 

And no, I haven't got round to painting all my wheelsets yet...

 

The steel brake discs on my car can turn a rust colour within an hour of them getting wet when I clean the wheels - indicating that rusting can take place very quickly. 

 

The Standard for the Manufacture of Wrought Steel Wheels for Passenger Cars and Locomotives in the USA states;

"Wheels shall not be covered with any substance to such an extent as to inhibit the detection of defects."

 

I imagine similar specs exist for all railroad wheels and will mean without any surface protection even new wheels will turn a rust colour very quickly. This is by design presumably to aid the visual inspection of wheelsets to detect flaws or cracks.

Out of interest, did USA railroads have the equivalent of the "wheeltappers?"

 

Trevor

[doctor quinn]

Out of interest, did USA railroads have the equivalent of the "wheeltappers?"

 

Trevor

Hi Trevor, yes they did, they were called "car knockers" .

 

I seem to recall seeing a picture of the "Canadian" having its wheels checked at a station stop in Western Canada.

 

Nick

[DanielB]

It's been some time since the last update, but yesterday Ford delivered three 2'x3' boards for the layout so I can figure out the trackplan for the scenic section of PB.

 

The last board will be a traversor, likely a 3 road affair, and will have a bolt on extension that will keep the board size when in transport the same as the scenic boards, but at the same time will allow for the size of a typical train when in use at shows.

 

Hopefully I'll have time this weekend to get the trackplan transferred so I can hand the boards back to Ford to figure out where the folding legs, lighting bus, etc will need to go.

[DanielB]

I've just confirmed with the exhibition manager, and Piedmont Blues - in whatever form we've gotten it to by then - will be at the Mansfield Model Railway Exhibition 2018 for it's first ever show.

 

I'd best get cracking on it then!

Edited November 3, 2017 by DanielB

[DanielB]

Progress!!

 

Baseboards are done, so I've been working on the track plan and getting the roadbed prepared, and about eleventy-billion wooden ties cut from coffee stirrers.

 

Photos of the layout mocked up so far:

 

 

TIES! TIES EVERYWHERE!

 

 

I've also been into the local model car shop and picked up some era suitable vehicles - these three should be more than enough for the whole layout.

 

 

Finally, here's a work in progress Kitwood Hill 'trackside shack' kit that I've started, mainly so I don't go insane from cutting all those ties.

 

It's done mostly with pan pastels, with the only paint used being oil paint as a base for the rust on the corrugated metal sheeting, and watercolour black used as a basecoat for the tarpaper roof.

[F-UnitMad]

I am still cutting ties for my loft layout - but not too many to go now, just one siding in process of laying. 

Good luck with all your tracklaying - it's the way to go in US O.!!

[J. S. Bach]

You can never have too many boxcars!

 

You really mean flatcars, don't you?

[F-UnitMad]

You can never have too many boxcars!

You really mean flatcars, don't you?

Or Caboose.

 

Or especially - locomotives.

[Boxcab]

 

Baseboards are done, so I've been working on the track plan and getting the roadbed prepared, and about eleventy-billion wooden ties cut from coffee stirrers.

 

Photos of the layout mocked up so far:

 

Coffee stirrers, the Yorkshire answer to obtaining Ties. ( IE, You can get them for free.)

 

I have cut 1600 ties for Project O so far.  http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/124219-project-o-148th-scale-switching-layout/

 

It can be quite therapeutic really.

 

 

I am still cutting ties for my loft layout - but not too many to go now, just one siding in process of laying.  

Good luck with all your tracklaying - it's the way to go in US O.!! 

 

I agree with you Jordan, hand-laying is the way to go in US O.

 

You just need to put in the time and effort, but the end result is worth it.

 

I look forward to seeing this Daniel.

[DanielB]

Well, it's been a while, but swinging by the C&L Finescale stall at Warley exhibition allowed me to pick up a bag of PCB ties to allow me to progress with the tracklaying.

 

Unfortunately I underestimated how many I would need, so I'll need to grab another bag before I can finish preparing the roadbed.

 

I started ballasting the sections that I had enough PCB ties to get done, and here's the results (though it's very much still drying in the photographs).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's a slow process, but it's getting there.

[JAMO]

Slow but nice progress Dan!

[F-UnitMad]

You should've gone to Marcway, Dan. They do pcb strip cut narrower to match the width of US ties.

I gave the guy at C&L a slight coronary at one Show, when I asked for an O Scale track gauge suitable for use with Code100 rail..!!

[Regularity]

The important part of a track is the bit which sets the flangeway: as long as this is the correct width, and set so that the outer faces of the two pegs is the same as the minimum track gauge, then the rest us merely convenient, as the running rails should be no closer than the distance over the outer faces, and the guard rails no further apart than the distance between the inner faces. I am not denying the utility of such things as roller gauges which have 3 pegs/washers, designed to hold the running rail and guard rail in place, but they are not essential.

 

If you have three or four such gauges and a few oddments of metal (to weight town the rail and stop it skidding everywhere) then you don’t need a gauge that is designed for a specific piece of rail, especially with flatbottom rail - and not all rails of the same height have the same width at the head, and nor should they: code 100 rail from, say, Peco is intended for H0 track, and has a narrower head than code 100 rail from Kalgarin, for example.

 

For this reason, I buy Atlas code 83 flex track and remove the ties, as it has a wider head which is frankly overscale for H0, but great for S. If only they sold the rail on its own... (I also buy it directly from the USA, as even with the VAT and administrative charge, it is still significantly cheaper than buying from any U.K. importers. I know they have to make a living and have their own overheads, but they won’t be paying retail prices for it, either, and will collect the VAT when the product is sold, not when it is imported.)

 

The “guy at C&L” should have known this, and set you straight if not put you in your place, depending on when this was and who was the particular guy owning it!

[Regularity]

For reference, here is Kalgarin Models’ page:

http://www.karlgarin.com/rail_flatbottom_sizes.pdf

 

Note that the code 100/7 has a head width of 0.053”, which equates to 2 5/16” in 7mm Scale, and just over 2.5” in ¼” scale, which is what we are interested in here.

 

Here is a table from Fast tracks:

http://help.fast-tracks.net/customer/en/portal/articles/2430160-can-you-make-assembly-fixtures-for-rail-other-than-micro-engineering-?b_id=13520

 

Peco code 100 has a head width of 0.041”, or slightly less than 2” in ¼” scale.

 

Given that code 100 rail in ¼” scale is typically representative of 75lb/yd to 80lb/yd rail on the prototype, then the rail head would be 2 7/16” wide (source: http://www.s-scale.org.uk/rails.htm ) or 0.051” on the model - makes the Kalgarin rail pretty close.

 

And a track gauge designed for C&L’s code 125 FB rail will accommodate the Kalgarin code 100/7 rail very nicely.

 

So, what the “guy at C&L” should have said was, “I recommend that you use our code 125 gauge*, and Kalgarin 100/7 rail. If you are not using that rail, then put some 10 thou brass shim between the gauge and the ‘non-rubbing’ faces of the rail.”

 

Not suggesting that you pull everything up and start again, Jordan: in any case I suspect you were re-using rail from H0 track.

 

But for anyone about to start building track to represent 80# rails in ¼” scale, I strongly recommend you seriously consider using Kalgarin’s code 100/7 rail. It will look that little bit better, and even if no one else notices, you will know.

 

* Assuming that they produce one.

Edited November 28, 2017 by Regularity