East Staging: First Structure, a tool shed

In working on the east staging, I decided that I wanted to build a couple of small structures that would be appropriate for a small yard. The first one that I tackled was an ITLA toolshed. This seemed like a good start since I am out of practice with building wood structures, and I want to improve my modeling skills. I have also started some terrain work, but I would like to have the structures on hand to finalize the placement of roads, paths, and simple foundations. As I am hoping to consider composition in creating the scene, having the actual buildings will be helpful. 

After reading the instructions and checking that all the parts were there, I decided on a paint scheme. While depots and public buildings would have been in GN's two-toned grey scheme or the new white and green scheme in the 1950s, buildings such as this tool shed were painted in a "Mineral Red." Early depots had a dark green (almost black) trim with the Mineral Red body color. I have a photo of a shed painted in that scheme that I took in Puyallup, Washington. I made the decision to go with that scheme rather than all Mineral Red. 

I mixed Vallejo Model Color 70.908 Carmine Red with 70.994 Dark Grey for the Mineral Red. I found the mix too light and bright on this first coat, so added more of the Dark Grey on the second coat. For the trim, I mixed Vallejo 70.894 Camouflage Olive Green with the same 70.994 Dark Grey. As seen in the photo, I painted the trim still in the carrier sheet and the walls before assembly.

While for the most part I followed the instructions provided in the kit, I did make a couple of changes. I decided to add bracing to the kit, carefully planning where to add 1/8" square strip wood to further support the tab joints of the kit. I also switched from using a canopy glue to using Titebond 2 yellow wood glue, after seeing how the canopy glue dried glossy and was hard to remove if it oozed out. After the bracing dried I painted the inside of the walls with a light grey craft paint. After that dried I glued the walls together and to the floor, bracing with a pair of small angle squares as seen in the photo. In the last wood structure kit I attempted, several corners were noticeably out of square in close-up photos.  Careful bracing with angle squares or the Micro-Mark magnetic glueing jig (tools that I have on hand) should be mandatory when building future structures. 

After the walls were glued together and dry, it was time to work on the doors, windows, and trim. Another change from the instructions came about as I struggled with the windows. As best as I could tell, the supplied clear plastic was intended to fit into the window openings in the walls. I could fit the window sash in after careful sanding, but the window "glass" did not cooperate. So, I followed the directions for the sash and trim, but chose to cut oversize clear plastic from my plastic sheet collection and glued it inside the wall. As I worked to complete the walls, I touched up the interior and trim pieces with a second coat of paint. 

Walls, windows, and trim complete;
clamp and glue the roof beam.

Spread a thin layer of wood glue on the walls and beam,
position the laser cut shingle panels, and clamp with a rubber band.

Before installing barge boards, weather the shingles 
and along the bottom with "Oiled Earth."

Learning Points:

• Consider both aesthetics and realism for paint schemes; consult resources such as photos and GN "Reference Sheets."

• With wood construction, brace and paint/stain all sides to prevent warping.

• Find a glue from all the appropriate options that you are comfortable with, in my case wood glue.

• Utilyze jigs and clamps to insure secure and correct glued joints.

• The ITLA kit was high quality; I would use their materials again. I really liked their shake roof!

TOMA Phase One: Developing a Rolling Stock Roster

Earlier this spring I attended several of the online NERX clinics, including one by Drew James on developing a realistic or plausible rolling stock roster. In developing my initial rolling stock roster for this first TOMA section, Nooksack and a sceniced staging module, I am using notes from his clinic, some information from a Great Northern 1955 Annual Report that I found online, and some of my planned industries for the 4th Subdivision. This roster is focusing on freight cars; passenger and engine rosters are a different topic.

Percentage of Railroads Represented

Drew James, in his clinic, suggests considering the era, the setting, and the type of railroad. In my case this is 1954, Whatcom County in Washington State, and a branchline of the Great Northern Railway connecting with the mainline in Ferndale and interchanging with the Northern Pacific. I described this in a recently posted rationale. He then goes on to suggest developing a target percentage of the railroads represented in the roster and ultimately creating a spreadsheet of cars. Keeping in mind that this is the percentage of different railroads, not kinds of cars, at this point, here is his suggestion for target percentage:

• Home Road: 50%
• Connecting Foreign Road: 25%
• Foreign in Region: 13% (This would include such roads as Milw, UP, CN, SP&S, etc.)
• Foreign Outside Region: 6%
• Private: 6%

If I pick a total amount of around thirty cars for this first iteration of the 4th Subdivision, his target percentage of rolling stock would work out like this:

• 15 Great Northern cars
• 8 Northern Pacific cars
• 4 foreign in region 
• 2 foreign outside region
• 2 private

Percentage or Number of Different Car Types

I have guidelines for the number of cars from different railroads, but what about the numbers of different types of rolling stock? Just a few days ago, I found a Great Northern annual report online from 1955 that included information about the amount of freight revenue by different commodity groups in 1954. While this may not reflect my branchline, it does give an overview of traffic pattern (and hence types of rolling stock) for the Great Northern in general. Here are some percentages and notes theorizing about variance based on location in the Pacific Northwest:

• Forest Products: 15% (a lot from the PNW, so percentage may well be higher)
• Agriculture: 31% (almost 2/3 of that grain)
• Manufacturing and Misc.: 31%
• Mines: 18% (Most was iron ore, 25% of that is other)
• Animal and Petroleum: around 2% each

The freight traffic along the 4th Subdivision is much more likely to be impacted by the types of industries present than the traffic patterns of the railroad as a whole. So, an inventory of industries and likely traffic should also be considered. 

• Nooksack:
• Cannery: boxcars, refers, tank cars 
• Fuel Dealer: tank cars
• Grocery Warehouse: refers, boxcars
• Team Track: gondolas, flatcars, boxcars
• NP Interchange:
• Limestone: hoppers
• Miscellaneous: boxcars, refers, all kinds
• Farther East:
• Silica Sand: covered hoppers
• Copper Ore: ore car
• Lumber: flatcars, gondolas, boxcars

Using the same 31 total cars I built an initial breakdown of car types. In addition to the general and specific commodities and industries considered I was also influenced by a chart of "railroad cars in service" from 1955 in Jeff Wilson's Freight Cars of the '40s and '50s in coming up with a first draft of target numbers for different types of cars: 

• Boxcars: 12
• Hoppers: 3
• Tank Cars: 3
• Refers: 3
• Flatcars: 2 
• Gondolas: 4
• Covered Hopper: 3
• Ore Car: 1 

A New Spreadsheet and Other Considerations

With my rolling stock having gone through a second move and with these target numbers in mind, I plan to create a new Excel document for this first phase based on Nooksack. I have a spreadsheet of rolling stock that I created in Meadville for the first version of the 4th Subdivision. I hope to become more familiar with sorting functions in Excel, so that I can design this new spreadsheet with railroads represented and car types easily sorted. Even without new Excel skills, I can always resort to analog techniques with color pencils. 

Revisiting my standards may well be another consideration as I develop, review my existing collection, or add to my rolling stock roster. A much earlier post describes my existing standards, and another post explores combining mechanical standards with weathering. I haven't yet written about or fully determined what standards I might develop for level of modeling detail for this new version of the railroad. In developing this new roster, I am striving for a level of plausibility and realism based on overall impressions and assumptions rather than researching and recreating actual car lists from September 1954. (Although a first step in this direction might be obtaining a 1954 edition of the Official Railway Equipment Register.) At this point though, near flawless running and overall impression of realism take higher priority than insisting on contest level rolling stock. On the other hand, I have nothing against improving my modeling ability or raising my expectations moving forward. 

East Staging, a Switch to Modeling

Interbay Yard, Seattle 1960 Cornell University Library
"U.S. President's Railroad Commission Photographs Collection"

While the east staging still continues as my initial focus area, I find that I am transitioning from what I think of as layout building to, more directly, modeling. More and more I find having prototype photos useful. I have printed out both the opening photo (believed to be in the public domain) and one of the SP yard in Eugene, Oregon from Tony Thompson's post: Open-car Loads: Forest Products. These photos are inspirational for several kinds of modeling, providing inspiration for both scenery and rolling stock and to some extent even structures. 

Scenery starts with terrain. With my interest in backdrops and hiding the transition between them and the benchwork, I started with a berm along the back. I covered the track with blue painter's tape and the painted backdrop with waxed paper. Then I formed a berm or slight rise with paper and masking tape before then applying plaster gauze. I have more plaster gauze on order as a joint between the Nooksack modules hidden by a now collapsed hill will need to be repaired, and I used up what little gauze I had on hand. The next step will be to apply some Sculptamold, and perhaps create some small plaster rocks.  I think I will carve some drainage into the foam along the mainline in the front. Referring back to the two photos, the yard area can be quite flat, but a subtle ditch and very slight rise between the mainline and the spurs would kill the pool table look. I should at least start thinking about vegetation; the photos suggest a variety of static grass and small shrubbery. Somewhere along the backdrop I will place some fir trees. I have read about or watched videos of two conifer modeling techniques that I want to try.

Before I get too carried away with planning the terrain (such as, will there be a road or just paths?) I need to think about structures. I ordered a yard office from GCLaser and a tool shed from ITLA, both kit companies whose products I have not worked with before. I also am considering a third small building, a telephone booth/car-knocker shed. I have several six-over-six window and a door casting that would be appropriate if I decide to scratchbuild that one. I started the tool shed by consulting the GN Railway Historical Society's Reference Sheet No. 402: Standard Exterior Colors of GN Frame Structures and Depots to come up with a reasonable color scheme. One more modeling session should finish the tool shed; its construction may be my next post. 

Another possibility is to review my standards for rolling stock and to consider what my initial rolling stock roster will look like. Tony Thompson's lumber load post referenced above really got me thinking about another modeling project, adding a couple of flatcars to the roster. Whether modeling structures, scenery, trees, or rolling stock I have plenty of modeling projects to get me back to the workbench and back in practice. 

 

Nooksack: East Staging Part 4

In the post from March 25th, I described a punch list of next steps. Many of them are now complete. One can see several under way in the opening photo. The temporary staging module is bolted in place, as are the legs. A four foot fluorescent fixture has had both tubes replaced with LED tubes, hung over the new staging module, and plugged into the switched power strip along with the other layout lighting. Also, I installed one of the older backdrop panels here on the the east staging. After touching up the sky, it fits in although it will not be the permanent backdrop. While this section will be my focus for a while, I need to remember that while it will be sceniced, it will not be permanent. As I plan scenery here, I need to keep in mind that the staging will move to other locations, likely having what is now the front of the module, later be the back. 

In this photo, the Northern Pacific interchange track in the back and the connection between the staging and permanent module have been installed. In both cases I decided to use a few track nails rather than soldering the rail joiners to make a smooth transition. Later it will be easier to disconnect the staging track and any expansion and contraction will have room. On the interchange track, I just used a few dabs of white glue to hold the track in place until it is ballasted as it will most likely be removed when the staging module is moved. The mainline track connector is held in place with adhesive caulk on the end near the turnout while the end near the permanent module is loose. Feeders are already in place on both sides of this unsoldered rail joint connection, and the track nails are holding the joint securely and smoothly without the kink seen before.

Over the last few days I have replaced any missing ties, prepared the track for painting, airbrushed the track, and then hand painted the ties.

Removing tie plates and spikes: working carefully,
always cutting away from my fingers holding the ties

Scrubbing the soldered joints to remove any flux residue

Painting with 1/3 each: rail brown, tie brown, and thinner

Hand painting with airbrushed color and 
light grey craft paint; not as tedious as it looks!

At this point the staging is ready to be sceniced. I have found a couple of prototype photos that provide inspiration and suggestions for details to include. I attended a clinic at the Rails to Pittsburgh convention several weeks ago that also provided some inspiration. I suspect that exploring the inspiration and the first steps that I take will be my next post. 

 

3 Weeks, Really? and Rationale Reviewed

It has been over three weeks since my last post, a big gap considering my goal of three posts a month that I set for this year. Model railroading didn't stop during that time. I traveled to Pittsburgh for four days for the MCR 2023 convention: Rails to Pittsburgh, an enjoyable experience on several levels. I tackled many of the "next steps" I listed for working on the new east staging module. Perhaps not as successfully, I attempted several approaches to "an organizational framework for my big picture next steps" mentioned in my last post. I tried brainstorming some SMART goal ideas as one approach. I also researched a graphic organizer, in this case a "concept map." I spent some time with both of these approaches reviewing and/or learning about them and coming up with a draft for each. Since neither really accomplished what I was hoping for (a richer, more concise, and perhaps visual overview) I won't spend more time here beyond noting that I provided a link to an overview for each. I did end up updating my initial rationale for the 4th Subdivision which I will include below. 

Mt. Baker from highway approaching Ferndale, Washington

Rationale

The 4th Subdivision of the Cascade Division of the Great Northern Railway is set in Whatcom County of Washington State in September of 1954. The branch line travels approximately thirty-five miles through a mix of prototype and freelanced locations from the Strait of Georgia north of Bellingham into the Cascade Mountains. While based somewhat on the actual 3rd Subdivision that traveled from Anacortes to Rockport in Skagit County, the 4th Subdivision is my creation. Running east from the fictional harbor town of Port Gulick, it incorporates part of what was the Bellingham and Northern Railroad (in real life, it became a landlocked branch of the Milwaukee Road) and interchanges with the real GN mainline near Ferndale and the real Northern Pacific line near Nooksack or Everson, crossing branches of the Nooksack River several times. Around the midpoint of the line it transitions from farmland and forest into more rugged foothills of the Cascades. Two fictional towns, Chikamin (Chinook for metal) and Greenrock, still have more than just a legacy of mining and logging in the early 1950s. While the Birch Bay & Cascades logging lines still bring out logs and have trackage rights over thee 4th Subdivision, the copper vein near Greenrock is just about played out, but a major silica sand source is still very active there. 

In designing the 4th Subdivision I tried to build on an awareness of my interests and goals. Coming to model railroading with an interest in history and art, I hope to capture the atmosphere, mood, and theme of that time and place by approaching the 4th Subdivision as a three dimensional painting. I also have an interest in the model railroad having some operational flexibility, whether taking a "fun for one" approach or having the potential of holding a small  operating session for a small group as a possibility. 

In building the 4th Subdivision I am taking the TOMA, or one section at a time approach, starting with the town of Nooksack, a connected scenery module, and temporary staging on either end. The Nooksack modules are ones that I started in Meadville and moved while one of the staging sections is a completely new module. With TOMA, one builds a section to completion including scenery, structures, rolling stock, and operations before moving on to additional sections. 

Moving past this need for an overview, I am likely to explore the steps I have already taken to complete the new east staging in an upcoming post. Another likely post will explore an approach to completing a scene presented in a clinic that I attended in Pittsburgh and how I might use it on the new module. 

Nooksack: East Staging Part 3

Mainline connection to East Staging module

Today, I ran a train into and out of the east staging using both turnouts and all three tracks. It all worked smoothly. However, at the joint where the new staging module meets the Nooksack modules seen in the photo above, a slight wobble appeared as some rolling stock went through. Nothing derailed, but my goal is to have the best trackwork possible. Now that the new module is bolted in place, I need to remove the slight kink and even the rail height. One option is to solder the rail joiners, and another is to spike the two sections of track into alignment without soldering the joiners.  

Next Steps to Complete East Staging

• Fix mainline connection discussed above
• Legs bolted and painted
• Continue running locomotives/trains to double-check trackwork and electrical
• Don't forget the NP interchange track!
• Clean solder and install missing ties (Nooksack too!)
• Install backdrop
• Paint rails and ties (Nooksack too!)
• Light over staging module
• Fascia and UTP install
• More basement organization

Transition to "Big Picture" Next Steps

I am not quite sure how I am going to approach this, but I feel the need to clarify my plans for the Nooksack one-town TOMA. With TOMA the goal is to bring this section to completion with scenery and operations not just under way, but finalized before moving on to the next module or section. I am leaning towards revisiting my goals and interests, perhaps creating what Iain Rice called a rationale or others have called a vision statement as well as creating a draft graphic organizer tying all the interrelated parts together: History and Art with model railroad topics of operations, industries, rolling stock, structures, and scenery. All these topics are part of the Big Picture next steps, but I need an organizational framework as a starting point. 

Nooksack: East Staging Part 2

 

Cutting, fitting, and laying the track

Although it has been a while since I last posted, work on the new staging module's track work and wiring has progressed over the last few weeks. Because of trying some new or unfamiliar techniques and excellent weather pulling me outside, the work has gone slowly. This module functions as staging, but it will be sceniced and have the same level of standards as the rest of the railroad. I fit the track and turnouts carefully using the same materials: code 83 rail, Peco Electrofrog turnouts with frogs isolated and powered feeders soldered under the rails, around four inches of straight rail into and out of turnouts, and most metal rail joiners soldered. My earlier post from the Ingleton practice plank series describes my process for preparing the turnouts and fitting track with the goal of smooth running.

 The "clear" DAP 230 goes on
white,but dries clear

In this module, I experimented with some new techniques with the benchwork which led to my attempting new techniques with the track. I went into the build contemplating laying the track directly on the foam board, but when my local brick-and-mortar hobby store was backordered until June with HO cork strips, that cemented the plan. With the hollow-core door and foam benchwork, I learned to guide the feeder wires through with a plastic straw. When actually installing the track on the foam board I experimented with glueing the track down with DAP Dynaflex 230 clear sealant. I marked where the moving parts of the turnouts would be located to ensure that they would not be glued down. My approach for my initial attempts started with finding some small wood blocks to prop up the track. I then squeezed a small bead of the sealant under the track before spreading it thinly with a one and a half inch putty knife. At that point I eased the track into place, double checking the positioning before pressing the track down into place. The positives for this technique include that it grabs and holds, the clear dries clear, and it cleans up with soap and water. For me the only negative was that holding the track up while squeezing the caulk gun and then spreading the bead into a thin film was awkward at best. I find caulk to be messy to work with. I'm sure it becomes easier with practice.  

Track wiring complete!

With my wife's help, I unclamped the staging module and we turned it upside down on a bed of bubble wrap on a rolling cart. Using my typical wiring standards (as seen in this post from January)planned for the rest of the railroad, the work went relatively smoothly. Things really do become easier with practice! One relatively minor new step included pulling the straws after sanding the somewhat splintered bottom surface of the door. My choice of employing the Peco spring in the switch rails and manually operating the turnouts here in the staging module rather than switch motors means that I also chose to use the Tam Valley "Dual Frog Juicer." The frog juicer comes set up for DCC use for two turnouts, so all that I had to do was attach the tinned jumpers and DCC jumpers to the bus wires to the appropriate screws. 

We returned the module to the Nooksack module, clamped it back in place, and ran a steam switcher and some rolling stock through it successfully. After the first successful tests I bolted the modules together and removed those clamps. After another trial run, I will be confident enough with the trackwork and wiring to move on to some next steps.