Building Steam

There are big things happening at the Slate Creek!  Thanks to some new helpers, and some new resolve, there are now plaster hills and cliffs on about 70% of the railroad.  My new "crew" has a particular knack for speed and completeness, and I'm guessing in the next couple of sessions, we're giong to have the hardshell bascially done for everything that is ready for it.  My next big track project is to cut in the switches and sidings for the mine and the crush plant, and to finish the hillside for the one section of the layout that not having those in place has held up. 

(A *BIG* thanks to Paul Weiss, my senior scenery engineer, for the suggestion regarding using basketballs cut in half as plaster bowls ... the necessity of using multiple buckets (and banging on them) has all but been eliminated!  Once the hardshell is up, we'll start landscaping, and then, there will REALLY be something to see. 

Other projects include staining all of the ties for the high bridge, and assembling the bridge deck ... hopefully by the time that's complete, the gap and abutments will be in place, and the terrain installed around them.  For those of you following from the beginning, that means that for nearly one whole side of the layout, the scenery will start a foot or two above the floor and go all the way to the ceiling!

In the rolling stock department, there's also big news.  The last live steam on the Slate Creek never actually saw service on the "Mark II" layout.  The Accucraft Ruby brought from Connecticut was last run as a school demonstration, and shortly thereafter fell into the "Old Richmond Gorge" and was written off as a loss by the SCRY's underwriters, who felt that without the proper boiler testing facilities, that steaming up the potentially damaged boiler would be a mistake.  So, for the last 8 years, there have been several steam locomotives on the roster, but no actual live steam engines, with the idea that live steam would one day return, in a form suitable for pulling actual full size trains with its stablemates. 

We're pleased to report that negotiations are now underway to obtain what would become SCRY #9 (the former designee for #9, the 2-4-4T will become SCRY #3, originally reserved for the next live steam engine) Considerably larger than the previous Live Steam locomotive, it's expected that #9 will be large and reliable enough to pull the same caliber of regular trains as her stablemates.  As soon as arrangements are finalized, there will be photos and information here!

Oh, and watch this space:  While it probably won't be done in time to qualify as an official part of the Large Scale Central winter build challenge, we do have an "also ran" entry coming, for your consideration.

So, at last, there's lots going on!

Slate Creek #6 nearing completion

Several years ago, I purchased one of the very first available Bachmann 2-6-6-2's.  At the time there was a great deal of discussion about the locomotive, it's prototype (or absence thereof) and a number of technical details that meant, all politics aside, that I'd need to make some changes if the locomotive was going to be what I wanted it to.

Because most of those changes were a bit over my head, with respect to actually accomplishing them, I found some experts who were willing to help.

The result is ... well, stunning ... and it's not even finished yet:

Slate Creek #6 now has a new cab and tender (from a B-mann 2-8-0) and a lowered cab deck, modified trailing truck, and has been altered to lock the rear engine assembly in place. The front engine has had the motor moved back to the rear of the block, and pivots on the front engine (effectively converting the locomotive from a "Meyer" style to a true "Mallet" style locomotive.) The eccentrics have been reset, and the eccentric rods replaces with custom fabricated stainless steel ones that alter how the valve gear action works, and looks.  The locomotive is now equipped with battery power, radio control, and sound (with magnetic triggers,) and is currently being tested to optimize the new systems.  Left to do:  Lettering, and details, which will happen once the locomotive arrives on Slate Creek rails ... an event that will quite possibly be the longest trip EVER for a model from point of sale to user!

I've got a thread over on Large Scale Central on some of the nuts and bolts of the conversion ... you can see "how it happened" at http://www.largescalecentral.com/LSCForums/viewtopic.php?id=17331

That's enough for one day.  More soon, including a preview of coming attractions in the Diesel department, lots and lots of plaster and dust, and some heavy metal ... well, bridges, that is.

Some news now, and more to come.

It's been a long time since I posted here.  So long, apparently, that the blog changed hands (and now belongs to Google like everything else on the Internet) and so did how to write articles, and, maybe most critically, how to sign in!  But ... after quite a long time trying, we now have full control again.  There's been quite a lot going on at the Slate Creek lately, so I'll do a quick couple of posts now, with more to follow soon.

PROGRESS!

It's been a long time since much noteworthy progress happened on the Slate Creek, at least that could be published here. Certainly there have been model railroad projects in the works (some of which will soon appear in these pages) but the railroad itself fell behind mostly because of the overwhelming size of the task of building the hardshell scenery. The Slate Creek takes up most of a 40x40 foot basement, and has a hardshell "hillside" from one to three feet high for most of its length!

This week, we had a visit of state from Mr. Paul Weiss, who has the distinction of being the Chief Civil Engineer from the Slate Creek (Mark I) and with his help, we finally have something to show you!

Now, the Slate Creek is primarily a loop railroad, so, starting from the pier and working clockwise around the main line is officially "Timetable North." Place names are simply working titles (though some will probably stick) and for now are really only designed to help visitors figure out where they're standing!

The scenery construction started at the "North" portal of the tunnel, entering the canyon area, and has now progressed through the "Big Cut" at the end of the canyon, around the curve to Midway, past the turn north of the station, and along the back side of the layout to High Bridge, and around the curve to the south switch for the Mine area. The south portal of the tunnel is immediately opposite the south Mine switch on the layout (though, in the "real world) the two would not be near each other, and when the scenery is complete will look like the two totally different places they are.

So, without further ado, the tour!



Here you see the line immediately north of the "Big Cut" This is roughly the area seen in the last couple of photos in the previous post, and has some difficult geography; the hill had to be specially shaped to allow a hatch in the "ground" to allow access to the central air unit for the second floor of the house which is directly above this area on the ceiling!




In these two photos, you see the area to the north of the Midway Station, from two different angles, and, a kind of "Before and After" effect. The hillside is made from wire mesh screen on a wood framework, which, once built has layers of Hydrocal (plaster) soaked paper towels applied, and then a finishing layer of Hydrocal. The "before" photo also features our Chief Civil Engineer hard at work ... Thanks Paul!



This photo shows the area just north of Midway and toward High Bridge. The track, for the most part is out of range of this particular shot, being below the photo and to the left until it starts to come back in toward the wall just before the bridge. This area will have the depot rd, and possibly the church... time will tell. The missing corner section has been screened in, and is awaiting plaster along with the rest of the scenery north of this point.



Here you see the future location of High Bridge, one of the few locations on the layout with scenery to be built significantly below the grade of the track. As the plaster is not yet installed, you can also see into the tunnel interior, which comes out at the bottom of the "canyon" area.



The screen currently ends here, at the south switch for the Mine area. The lower terrain makes it possible to see people coming down the stairs when I'm in the shop area, and is one of the only places on the railroad where you can see "someplace else" from any other area ... even if that's not supposed to be possible. It also allows some scenery elements that might not otherwise be available because most of the "walls" are so steep elsewhere on the layout. I kept it this way because it reminds me a little of the old Edaville, where if timed properly, outbound trains could see the inbound trains as they rounded the sharp turn at the Rusty River... even if, for purposes of the layout, those two places are miles apart and would never actually be in view of each other. I think it'll afford some interesting "railfan" opportunities nonetheless!



This last photo really should be the first, before the ones in the last entry, even. This is the south portal of the tunnel, as viewed vaguely from the hilltop I described above, and, imagining this with plaster shell, scenery, trees, and other elements, I think it's going to be one of the more photogenic locations on the railroad. No hikers in the tunnel, please! The north switch for the Mill will be located approximately in the foreground of this photo.

The rest of the layout has some of the wood framework installed, but will have to have the sidings for the mine and the mill installed before the screen can be applied... though the design of these areas is a lot futher along now that I can see exactly how much room I have to work with, and what I can make work with respect to track geometry. Stay tuned!

Altogether a fantastic week's work! A particular vote of thanks to Paul for making this all possible, and to the folks at work who let me have a couple of days off to participate ... I'm beginning to believe I might just get this thing built after all!

And... I promise, it won't be another eight months to the next update!

Moving Mountains

Progress continues on the mountains in the area currently known as "The Canyon" between the north tunnel portal and Midway.





We do, however, have miles to go before we sleep.




There may be more to report over the weekend!

A Good Week's Work

After all this time, I guess it's time to write SOMETHING here. It's not the rollout of anything huge, and no photos of the layout yet, but it's been a productive week at last on the Slate Creek.

The hardshell is nearly framed in the "Canyon" area, from the tunnel portal to the large rock cut. Today, I located a source of Hydrocal in Greensboro, and obtained a 100 pound bag, and enough aluminum screen to do the rest of the "crunchy" parts of the mountains in the as-yet-unnamed Canyon area. I have a roll of vinyl screen that will form the base of the somewhat gentler and more uniform hills from the cut through the woods to Midway, and around the corner to where the High Bridge will be (though approaching the bridge, we'll probably be back to metal screen again.) This week's objective was to have plaster cloth up on the canyon section, and I almost made it! At this point, I expect to at least have most of the screen up and maybe some plaster cloth; I may be able to make a larger dent in it next week. If anyone knows an army of tiny people who can reach the far corners of the benchwork, not step on the track in the process, and apply plaster, have them call me! Until then, this is primarily a solo act, and subject to interruption.

** Note: All place titles on the SCRY are just working titles -- once this is finished, I may give them real "Timetable" names. For now, I've got to call it SOMETHING so I'm trying to be consistent in how I refer to these places so as not to confuse anyone.

In other news, I've been working for several years with some good friends on a project to build some passenger equipment with a more modern feel than most commercially available cars or kits. The project was covered over on the Durango Dan site a week or so ago (see link to the left for One twenty point me) and can be seen in depth on Bruce Chandler's website, www.thejoat.com where you can read about the history of the project, and of parlor cars in general. I'll cover mine in detail after it arrives and becomes a project on my own bench -- for now, my car was the test assembly of the kits at Rio Grande Models UK (also see link at left...) and even in its unfinished form is just exciting! Here's a sneak peek...



(That's not the final color...) I have to commend my new friend David Gormley for his fantastic work, and flexibility on this project. When he asked if I'd MIND him assembling mine as a fit-test, I was all too ready to agree, and got him to paint it too ... I'll be doing the detail work, windows, underbody details, and interior once the car arrives here from the UK; Stan Cedarleaf is already putting the decals together for me. One major part of the work will involve scratchbuilding a railing for the observation platform, which should prove interesting. I'm hoping to be able to get most of the other 1:20.3 detail parts commercially (though I already have all of the underbody details.) I'll post updates here as the project progresses.

There's been some discussion lately about the Bachmann Forney. I've got one, and it went from the box to a couple of laps around the track to make sure everything worked, to the workbench. It now looks like this:



As you can see, this is going to be a "roots-up" project, and will entail lowering the cylinders, lowering the body of the locomotive, dealing with the horizontal and vertical seams in the lower part of the smokebox, reconstructing the cab detail, re-engineering the power and control system, and then changing around some of the details to give a family resemblance to another 2-4-4T that's near and dear to my heart in the 1:1 world. I will, of course, post photos and progress here as it happens.

And, there are a zillion other things to do. SCRY #10, a 45 ton diesel, is currently in the shop and will receive the first QSI system on the railroad, followed by Shay #5. There's an enginehouse being built by Randy at PCGRS in California (also in links, left) which will probably come to fruition late in the year, and other motive power and rolling stock projects on the horizon as well.

But first... I need to have a decent "stage" on which these models can perform, so the focus is the layout itself. Hopefully there'll be photographic proof of some progress in that department in the next week or so.

PROGRESS at last!

For the first time in a long time there's some news on the layout itself. The wiring for the new lights is up, and the frames to hold the scenery are installed from the north tunnel portal, past midway, and nearly all the way to the bridge! (of course, you have to think a little fourth-dimensionally to understand where these places are...)

The turntable has a pit, finally, and is visible in the yard. It needs some cosmetic help, and the table may need some reinforcement around it... but it's in, and turns!

There will be photos of all of this very soon, hopefully with some screen work completed too.