Landforms Around the Trestle

The plaster cloth is cold to the touch, so it is not dry yet.

To install the trestle (the last step to finish the track-work) I needed to actually start the scenery by creating the landforms around the trestle. In addition to the creek bed directly under the trestle, I am creating the landforms in the vicinity--hills on either side of the creek and a cut through the hill for the track.

A number of techniques are possibilities for creating 3-D landforms: pink foam insulation board, screen and plaster, geodesic foam scenery, paver sand à la Paul Scoles, rosin paper, or glue shell. I have chosen to use cardboard web and plater cloth, largely because I have a bunch of cardboard around the house--Ikea packaging and the seemingly endless stash of boxes from the move across the country. While it has fallen somewhat out of favor, I will describe the process of this old-school technique.

The first step is to cut 1 inch strips of cardboard using a utility knife and a metal straight edge. Then, the framework for the landform is created by weaving the strips into the desired location. The ends can be attached with a staple gun or hot glue gun. To attach the strips to each other as they are woven together, either an office stapler, hot glue gun, or white glue and clothespins can be used. I used the office stapler and hot glue gun to save time; I also burnt my finger with oozing hot glue.

After the cardboard webbing is satisfactory, the next step is to protect any surrounding parts of the layout from the application of the hardshell. While using plaster cloth is a lot less messy than paper towels dipped in plaster, the potential is still there for plaster drips to cause an unsightly glob where you least want it. I covered the track and cork with blue tape and the backdrop with wax paper. This photo shows the webbing complete and the rest of the layout protected, ready for the application of the plaster cloth.

I had a roll of Woodland Scenics plaster cloth on hand. I picked up a budget kitchen scissors at the dollar store for, wait for it, a dollar, and it has become the dedicated plaster gauze cutter. I cut the pieces at 4-6 inches, and piled up a bunch of them before starting. The application is fairly straight forward. Picking up a rectangle by two corners, it is dipped into water just long enough to wet the surface, held above the bowl or paint tray to drip excess water off, and then it is applied to the cardboard web.


I overlapped the pieces by about a third, and then, smoothed out the plaster with my finger at the overlap to adhere the two pieces together. I also used my finger to smooth the plaster cloth down as it joins the plywood. After the plaster dries, I will double check the trestle in location. I may add a final layer of Sculptamold over the hardshell and a rock casting at the vertical face of the cut seen in this photo.

Transition to Scenery and Operations

Since my last post I have laid the track and wired the West (fold-down) staging track.

Folding staging deployed at the west end of the layout.

Now that all of the track for the initial "U" of the 4th Subdivision is in place and wired, my focus will be shifting to scenery and operations. While all the track is in place, some final testing should be completed and some joints still need soldered.

A major part of the transition from a focus on track laying and wiring to a focus on scenery is the trestle and creek scene. It is the one location where some scenery must be completed before the track-work can be finalized. At the least, the initial landforms must be in place for the trestle with its bents rising out of the landforms to be installed. A later post will discuss the technique I chose to use.

For a final test of the track-work I want to prepare for and conduct a first "operations" session. This will require that I complete a few more steps as well.

First Steps for Scenery:

• River bank and hills/cuts around trestle--initial landforms
• Complete trestle
• Track ready for paint
• Paint any bare plywood

Next Steps for Operations:

• Mount Willow Springs control panel
• Final NCE UTP installed
• Bill boxes and labels in place
• Program locomotive 

Willow Springs Under Way - - Last Spike

Extra 27 Westbound meets 288 at Willow Springs

Over the last week, I finished the track-work at Willow Springs; the mainline, passing track, and the four spur tracks are all complete. I did choose to use code 70 and adjust the ties to emphasize the difference from mainline trackage on the spurs. The fold up staging is the only remaining track and wiring to complete.

Today, I ran trains, including setting out cars at each of the spurs. The Willow Springs bill boxes still need to be installed, and all the boxes need labeled. While the track-work and the turnout controls mostly worked very smoothly, I did notice a short between the Baldwin switcher's glad hand and the "Y" at the bottom of the "U" which needs my attention. I will have to determine whether the turnout or the glad hand is at fault.

Now, I get to make the big transition from track-work and wiring to scenery and operations.

Willow Springs Under Way - - Getting Closer

Mainline and passing siding at Willow Springs

With thunderstorms and intermittent rain interrupting our painting of the house, I have been able to work on the layout. The mainline and passing siding at Willow Springs are complete with all six turnouts wired and tested. I have not soldered all the rail joiners yet though; I want to do a few more test runs first. I used one of the internal switches in each of the Tortoises to power its frog, and by the final install, I had the process (described in a previous post) down. I have to say that if I contemplate expanding the layout, I definitely should plan on laying and wiring the track before mounting the section in place. Having the flexibility to work with the section on its side on sawhorses would be so much easier than crawling under to work overhead.

Installing the turnout controls

To control the turnouts, I am using Touch Toggles mounted to a track diagram. In addition to the Touch Toggles and Base Unit, I purchased DC Power Extension Cables and a Wye to run a turnout bus from the original East Staging control panel. Wiring the controls couldn't be simpler. I used bell wire soldered to the #1 and #8 pads on the Tortoise and then ran it to the Direct Base attached to the fascia. As I want the normal position on a main track switch to be for the main, I set up that position to be green on the Touch Toggle LED. It was easy to switch the wires at the blue screw terminals to be consistent with that scheme (if I even needed to change them). In the photo the turnout controls are all wired and the angled supports for the inexpensive frame are glued in place. I have since taped the toggles in place behind the diagram and clamped the frame in place, but I have not permanently mounted it yet. I want to try it out for a bit and pick up black pan head screws and paint the plywood supports before the final install of the frame.

Next up, the spur tracks

The next step is to install the spur tracks, but first I have to make some final decisions. I have the flex track on hand to either use code 83 (like the mainline) or code 70 for the spur tracks. In a recent (July 2017) Model Railroader article, Lou Sassi recommends using "different size rail to help distinguish between types of track" in addition to using different techniques for ballasting. While this is predominantly a scenery decision, the decision does need to be made now. Another scenery consideration is whether I have enough room for the appropriate structures along the Oil Spur. I should decide now whether to shorten the spur in that location. Removing some cork roadbed before laying the spur track will be easier than tearing up everything later.

Curved Pile Trestle -- Part 2

Workbench set up for bent construction

While my wife and I have started a major house project this summer, I am still finding time to work on Willow Springs track-work and build the trestle for the bottom of the "U".

Stringers are complete, glued in place

At the last trestle construction post, I left off with construction of the deck, upside down, glueing stringers to deck planks at the bent locations. I completed that process and cut and stained more deck planks. I decided to wait to glue the balance of the deck planks until after the bents were glued in place under the stringers. That will be done with the bridge upside down again, and these original deck planks will identify the location for the glueing of the bents.

Before starting on the bent construction, I mocked up some cardboard as stream banks on the layout and glued a copy of the bent template to cardboard to figure out the height of the various bents. The two middle bents remained the full size of the original template drawing, based on measurements from the plywood river bottom to the top of the cork height on the layout.

New bent template with bulkhead and
a couple of the completed bents

Using a copy of the original bent template, I drew up a second template including the various heights of the remaining bents and the bulkhead ends. Then, using the templates, I was able to construct the bents after cutting and staining the parts. Typically, I either taped a temporary jig to hold the bent cap in place or taped the bent cap itself to the wax paper covered template drawing. Then I was able to glue the piles in place following the template. Like on the prototype, the sway bars and the bulkhead planks help to stabilize the bents.

The next step is the "fiddly bit" of placing NBW (nut-bolt- washer) castings in the sway bars. After that I will be able to glue the bents in place under the stringers and continue the trestle build.

Willow Springs Under Way - - Track Laying Continued

While I am in the process of scratch building a trestle that will connect the two sides of the layout, I am also continuing work on the Willow Springs mainline and siding track. I have started track between several of the turnouts and with a piece of section track as a placeholder for the trestle, I can extend working track (and running trains) to this side.

In the photo to the right, the first three turnouts and the track connecting them can be seen in place. The next step is to install the flex track curving back to the trestle placeholder and the siding flex track at the ruler location. At that point I will use the sequence I used on the rest of the layout, similar to a pilot's checklist:

• Connect the feeders
• Check visually (joiners correctly engaged, track straightness)
• Check with multi-meter
• Check by running locomotive
• Solder joiners, final install of track nails

At that point, I will install several of the Tortoise switch machines and start the turnout control panel. While I will still have the other end of the siding and all the spur tracks to go, I will be able to use Willow Springs as staging and run multiple trains. 

Curved Pile Trestle

As part of the track-work, I've planned on a trestle over a small creek as a scenic element connecting  Willow Junction to Willow Springs. The plan is to scratch build a curved wooden pile trestle, somewhat similar to one I visited along a Burlington Northern branch line in Washington. While the prototype is not curved, both it and my model have ballasted decks and six pile bents.

I drew up a working drawing of the deck based on a 24" radius section of track as well as a more finished drawing of a bent to use as templates. I planned approximately 12 foot spans between the bents. The pile and bent caps are 16 inch scale stock (3/16" dowels and strip wood) and the caps are 16 scale feet in length. I chose to use a continuous butt pattern for the stringers made from 8" X 16" stock (3/32" X 3/16"). For the decking I am using 3" X 8" stock.

To start construction I stained the stringer stock and some of the decking (pre-cut to 16 foot length) with my Prego jar mix of 70% alcohol, India ink, and raw umber acrylic paint. I set up the working drawing as a template by taping it to a plate glass surface and then taping wax paper over the drawing. I then taped deck planks in place where the bent caps will be located. Then, working upside down, I proceed to glue the stringers in place with Aleene's Tacky Glue. To provide the curvature, the straight stringers varied in length between the bents; some were 12' while others varied between 11 1/2' and 12 1/2' whether they were on the outside or inside of the curve.

While underway with glueing the stringers in place I decided to just use double stringers under the rail and two, rather than three, stringers outside of the doubled stringers under the rails. The prototype, the Milwaukee Road's S-turn trestle in Tacoma, on which I based my bent drawing is a main line, and I am constructing a branch line. More practically, I felt that the underside would be too crowded with stringers if I followed my original plan. Another practical, rather than prototypical choice, was to use several longer stringers to help to tie the whole structure together. At this point I am focusing on constructing a practical model, and hence enabling track-work completion, rather than prototype sincerity. While I am trying to push my quality of modeling with this layout, I am not building this trestle to enter a contest, but rather to complete the track-work and as part of a future scenic feature.