Foundry Track Structure - Plant #4

Wanting to take a break from track laying and wiring, I recently started building Plant #4, a Walthers background building, as a structure for the foundry track at Willow Springs. While the building itself is a stock kit, I did design a scratchbuilt loading dock for it as a replacement for the supplied concrete steps.

The brick structure was fairly easy to build and has nice details. As the sides were molded in a different color from the front panel, a first step was to paint the wall panels. I used Rust-Oleum 2X Flat Red primer, which covered well without obscuring the molded brick details. The mortar wash was a combination of white and raw umber acrylic along with water and a spritz of window cleaner. The next time I apply a mortar wash, I plan to try 70% alcohol instead of water. After the wash dried I scrubbed the brick surface with a pink eraser to remove excess white.  As a final step in painting the brick walls, I toned them down with a slight application of Red Iron Oxide Pan Pastels. Before assembling the building, I painted the window sills and foundation parts with Concrete Flat Model Master. I painted the windows and door with Poly Scale Empire Green (actually a greyish dark brown). I ended up painting the roof panels this same color as I was unhappy with the coverage with Model Master's Grimy Black Flat. It would be excellent used as a weathering wash, but did not cover as a base color over the plastic roof panels. Other than modifying two of the windows, so that they appear to be open, I followed the instructions for construction of the model.

The loading dock for this structure was a simple introduction to scratchbuilding techniques. Basically, I used a process described by Gerry Leone in a Dream, Plan, Build video. The Walthers building parts and the existing cork on the layout provided the necessary measurements to draw up a plan. The scale size of the lumber for the dock was partially determined by what I had on hand: 6" X 12" for the framing, 3" X 12" for the decking, and 9" X 9" for the posts. I precut the pieces to length on my Northwest Shortline "Chopper".



Having a scale drawing to use as a template is key to this project. After cutting sufficient wood for the entire project, I stained it with my Prego Jar mix, 70% alcohol, India ink, and raw umber acrylic paint. While the pieces dried I taped the drawing down on my work space's plate glass with blue painter's tape. Then I covered the template with wax paper, also taped in place. The first step was to construct the frame directly over the template drawing. I used Aleene's Tacky Glue to glue the parts together. After the framework dried, I set up a backrest or jig as seen in the photo to the right. Then it was a straightforward process to apply glue to the top of the frame and attach five or six deck pieces at a time. After the decking dried, I turned the dock over and glued the posts in place. I later added the bracing to the front of the dock as a final flourish.

With the basic building and dock now constructed, the next step will be to add some additional detailing. At this point I am considering several options:

• Filling the interior with a black construction paper curtain to hide the blue backdrop
• Signage on the building
• "Stuff" on the loading dock
• A shadow box interior for a second floor "office"
• A light over the door

East Staging -- DCC and Independent Control of Staging Tracks

While it first appears straight forward to wire a small staging module, my East Staging section turned out to be somewhat complicated.

Wiring under the East Staging Module: DCC feeders,  DC bus,
individual track power control panel to the far right.

With sound decoders in each of the locomotives waiting on the staging tracks, I wanted to be able to turn the power off and on for each track. Since I also wanted to be able to identify whether the tracks had power by a visual signal, I needed to start a 12 volt DC bus on this module to power LEDs as well as building lights or other accessories on the rest of the layout. Finally, as noted in the previous post, I am starting a 12 volt touch-toggled, Tortoise switch machine bus at this module as well.

The first step was to drop feeders from each of the rails, either to connect to the DCC bus or a control panel for the staging tracks. After soldering the feeders to the outside of the rails, I painted the ties and track with a brown satin rattle can. After the paint dried, I cleaned the top of the rails and used a Dremel tool with a cut-off disk to cut gaps in the outer or "black" rails. Then I returned to the underside of the module and the construction of the track power control panel.

Schematic

Powering the feeders was not complicated, but the control panel took some planning. The schematic to the right was what I came up with. As the actual wiring starts to be a bit of a rat's nest, I wanted to keep some sort of record of what is actually going on. The panel itself was made from a scrap piece of masonite, with holes cut for sub mini slide switches (RS 275-0033) and LED assemblies (RS 276-0271)  from Radio Shack.

Control Panel Rat's Nest

To the left is the so-called rat's nest behind the panel. Black Wires from the DCC bus and to the track were soldered to one side of the DPDT slide switches, while the other side controlled the LEDs with connections (red and white wires) to the DC bus that originates at this modules.


While both the bill box and the track power control panel still need labeled, the East Staging tracks are live with independent control. Accomplishment of some trackage ready to run trains can be seen in the photo below.