Initial Operations Update

 

Just in the last few days, I created a new, freelanced piece of operations paperwork in Pages (one could use Word or any word process application). A recent blog post by Tony Thompson in Modeling the SP discussed using Train Line-ups for operating. He shared a Southern Pacific standard form. After a brief search online, I didn't find a GN form so I adapted the Clearance Form A that I had reproduced as part of my collection of somewhat prototype paperwork. 

As I continue to work on the first phase of my 4th Subdivision branch line railroad, I plan to start with very simple operations approach: sequence of trains. This Daily Train Line-up form provides a basis for using train sequence somewhat prototypically. In Tony's earlier post here, particularly in the comments, he discusses the use of a train line-ups form as a paperwork foundation for outlining an operating scheme. 

In this earlier post, Thompson also mentioned the "On Operation" column by Jerry Dziedzic in the February 2019 Model Railroader. While the train line-ups described in the article were targeting the safety of track gangs, they also could be thought of as a snapshot of a schedule. With my one-town initial TOMA approach, using the Train Line-ups form could substitute until I later develop a timetable and fast clock system. 

Fruit and Produce Company -- Part 2

Main building started

Back in December I introduced the idea of the Nooksack Valley Fruit and Produce Co. as a fruit packing complex to be located in the town of Nooksack. Having drafted a revision (or actually a new version) of one of my clinics for an upcoming Susquehanna Division meeting a few days ago, I have returned to working on the packing house complex. 

For this low relief building kitbashed from parts from the Walthers Grocery Distributor kit, I first returned to the photocopies of the wall sections to determine where I would need to make cuts to fashion the brick walls. I gathered the molded plastic pieces and tools that I would need before marking and cutting the brick wall sections to match my paper mockup. I scored the cuts in the wall with a hobby knife and then used a fine-bladed Zona saw to finish the cuts. I also sanded the edges and any sprue tabs. I trimmed the door and window castings off their sprues and sanded any little tabs left before collecting them all in a plastic bowl, so they won't get lost on my workbench. 

Yesterday I assembled the wall sections. As seen in the photo, I used some Evergreen styrene strip that I have on hand as foundation and bracing. Years ago, when I was still in Seattle, I was able to pick up a large bundle of various styrene strips for pennies as a hobby shop went out of business. I used .125 x .125 to extend the foundation and corner bracing. I also used .060 x .060 and .030 x .100 to fit around the molded-in ridges to even the corners and supports. Having learned one lesson on the kitbashed structure I built for the Ingleton plank, I paid close attention to making sure the corners were square and plumb. The Plastruct solvent worked fine, but using the brush-in-the-bottle made for extremely sloppy glue joints. Here on the interior, they will not be visible. As I plan to scratchbuild another low relief building for this complex, I will need to come up with another technique if I build it from styrene. In the current (March 2025) NMRA Magazine, Jack Hamilton MMR discusses glue/solvent application tools. Perhaps it is time for me to invest in a "Touch-N-Flow" device. At the very least, I should use a much smaller natural bristle brush for trim joints that will be visible. 

Staying focused on this building, the next step is painting. A few months ago, while shopping in Stroudsburg, PA, I took this quick snapshot of the back of some older industrial buildings. It has some nice prototype weathering of bricks and adjoining wooden siding to use. However, I am still thinking that the brick building in my packing house complex should be painted white. I spent some time yesterday looking online for packing house images and many of them are white. I just haven't found an image to use as a model for a paint scheme that I am happy with yet. I once saw a video with Gerry Leone using hairspray to create worn/chipped white paint effects on bricks, but that might be too dilapidated of a look. This is not an abandoned packing house, just a hard working one.  I think I will do a little more online "research" and see what rattle can primer colors I have in stock. Maybe a red primer with a white wash/dry brush over it? I just don't want to inflict analysis paralysis on myself!