shortliner Posted January 8, 2018 Share Posted January 8, 2018 I've been soldering the wires to the track. Which has worked pretty well so far, though I hadn't considered the option of soldering the joiners onto the rail. I'll see if I remember that next time I'm laying track - all being well that'll be some time away! ...but don't solder the joiners to both of the tracks that they are joining This leaves the track the ability to expand without distorting Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zomboid Posted January 9, 2018 Author Share Posted January 9, 2018 So I've fixed the troublesome area, repainted the rails, applied new ballast, and posed a couple of cars in the area. You'd never know what a nightmare that 12" of track has been... 7 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanielB Posted January 10, 2018 Share Posted January 10, 2018 You've got the Louisiana ground cover down to a tee, there. Nice work. Glad the trackwork is fixed now. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zomboid Posted January 10, 2018 Author Share Posted January 10, 2018 The ground in Louisiana looks like a roll of cork? I've never been, so I'll take your word for it 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conrail Joe Posted January 11, 2018 Share Posted January 11, 2018 I really like the weathering job on those cars!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zomboid Posted January 14, 2018 Author Share Posted January 14, 2018 You wouldn't say that about the other side of the covered hopper! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanielB Posted January 16, 2018 Share Posted January 16, 2018 The ground in Louisiana looks like a roll of cork? I've never been, so I'll take your word for it Yup. It's a reddish clay coloured mud, for the most part. Add grass tufts and greenery over the top and you're set. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zomboid Posted May 3, 2018 Author Share Posted May 3, 2018 Long time no update... That's not going to change much. I've been painting the Walthers Golden Valley depot into an approximation of SP yellow/ brown colours, which has at least proven to me that I'm not one of the world's painters... Photos once it's all stuck together and everyone can see how ropey it is. I probably ought to buy an airbrush, but that's for another time. What I really wanted to say was that I've recently acquired a copy of "Mixed Train Daily", and if anyone doesn't have a copy, then you should put that right. A fascinating book, and justification for running a 2-8-2 on a single combine... 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zomboid Posted May 7, 2018 Author Share Posted May 7, 2018 Here it is then, a shoddy "Golden Valley Depot". For what little it's worth, I thought it was a really good kit. Went together very nicely. I brush painted it before assembly, and the result of that is that the paint is way too thick in some places, the window bars in particular. The green of the roof is too green, and the brown might be a little bit too brown (though I did originally try with a lighter colour, but that didn't look very nice). I suspect that the SP paint scheme might have been a bit too ambitious for a first attempt, too - particularly the contrasting panels on the doors. Still, it'll do for now, I can think about other buildings and come back and upgrade this later on once I've got a bit more skill, and probably an airbrush. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zomboid Posted May 7, 2018 Author Share Posted May 7, 2018 After that I spent a bit more time playing around with washes on these 3 (1466 is DC only, and doesn't run very well, so seemed OK to sacrifice for this experiment). I'm pretty happy with it. Quite a good tool for taking that plastic sheen off things, though maybe not for any fine details... I also tried it on my freshly finished depot. That was... irritating. I now know that enamel based washes can be used to remove acrylic paint (I bought a commercial mix, so I don't know exactly what in it, but I assume it's mostly enamel thinners and enamel paint). Ah well, I was going to replace it eventually anyhow... 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanielB Posted May 7, 2018 Share Posted May 7, 2018 Find me photos of the depot at Abbeville, and I'll make you one and post it to you, if you'd like? I like a scratchbuilding challenge, I'm very much personally invested in your layout now. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zomboid Posted May 7, 2018 Author Share Posted May 7, 2018 I'm (flattered? Honoured? Something along those lines...) that you'd do something like that for me. I'll do a bit of research and let you know if I find anything out. I'd speculate that it'll be a standard SP depot of some sort. It'll be interesting finding out at least... 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanielB Posted May 7, 2018 Share Posted May 7, 2018 To give you a starting point, the SP called the line to Abbeville the Midland Branch. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zomboid Posted May 7, 2018 Author Share Posted May 7, 2018 15 minutes on Google brings up some interesting info... Turns out the old freight house is still standing in Abbeville, on the SW corner of the intersection of South Jefferson & West Lafayette. Sadly the Google car hasn't driven down either. Here's a few... https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=The+Depot+at+Magdalen+Place&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjllIfXl_TaAhUpBMAKHaxcAzUQ_AUICygC&biw=1536&bih=686 No such luck with the passenger depot, but there are two pictures (one very fuzzy...) here http://abbeville-louisiana.wikimapia.org/photos/. Interesting at least. And the Sanborn maps here are also fascinating, if not particularly useful for depot information http://www.vermilionhistorical.com/features/sanborn_maps.htm - they've also got this which I think has to be the freight house based on the maps (photo was probably taken from the passenger depot) http://www.vermilionhistorical.com/images/rice_mill_and_depot.jpg. I'll probably try to base my representation of the rice mill at least partially on that. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanielB Posted May 7, 2018 Share Posted May 7, 2018 The Depot is most definitely the old freight house. Here's a photo of it still in use back in the 1970's: http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=735089 If I can find out what Standard Type Depot the one at Abbeville was, I could hopefully find suitable photographs of the same type of depot elsewhere in the country and be able to say reasonably that a model made of it would be accurate. My knowledge of SP Depot types is quite poor though. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanielB Posted May 7, 2018 Share Posted May 7, 2018 I've asked around on some SP groups on Facebook to see if anyone recognises the depot type. What footprint do you have for the depot on your layout, so I can do some selective compression if needed? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zomboid Posted May 7, 2018 Author Share Posted May 7, 2018 I'm very grateful... I think anything much longer than 2x 40' cars (30cm) would look a bit silly, though the space is there to go to 40cm. Depth could be up to 12cm. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zomboid Posted May 15, 2018 Author Share Posted May 15, 2018 Re Abbeville depot - I've been in touch with the Vermillion Historical Society, and they don't have a whole lot more information, but there are a few glimpses of the depot in this slideshow: http://www.vermilionhistorical.com/features/presentations/abbeville_in_1922/abbeville_in_1922.htm (slides 52-68 in particular). Probably not enough to be much good for building anything, but I'll share it because it's interesting nonetheless. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanielB Posted May 15, 2018 Share Posted May 15, 2018 Oh that's definitely good! There's an image of the back of the depot, which I've not been able to find anywhere else. It's certainly a typical eSPee depot, but I've yet to find the exact type. I've not forgotten though. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zomboid Posted May 15, 2018 Author Share Posted May 15, 2018 The back of the depot? you mean the one with the boys on the tanks? It's the maps that interest me the most, I'd probably have built the track slightly differently if I'd seen them before. That and proof that loco 220 visited (though if it's SP 220 is another question...). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanielB Posted May 15, 2018 Share Posted May 15, 2018 Thanks to that link I've got a good idea of the shape of the depot now, or at least an approximation of it. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanielB Posted May 15, 2018 Share Posted May 15, 2018 VERY rough sketch of the depot front. I realised from one of the photos from that side show that the rightmost door is actually a double width freight door so I'll need to correct that. https://flic.kr/p/27co7CD 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zomboid Posted May 15, 2018 Author Share Posted May 15, 2018 Very nice indeed Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zomboid Posted May 19, 2018 Author Share Posted May 19, 2018 I've been messing around with the washes again. Attacked my RS3 and a couple more freight cars today... It looks a lot better than when it was box fresh, but I don't think perfection has been achieved yet, though I guess it's all about practise. Annoyingly the glazing reacted with the wash (presumably the thinners part), but never mind, can't see a way to go back on that, so I guess I'll have to see about replacing it. Here's a close-up of the loco. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zomboid Posted June 9, 2018 Author Share Posted June 9, 2018 No progress to report, just a couple of photos that I liked from running my trains at Bearwood today: This module is called Coconut Grove, and I believe it's supposed to be Florida. So my GN RS3 couldn't be much more out of place without being on the wrong continent... RS11 waiting for clearance to proceed at Telegraph Road. 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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