Track Gang at Newburg today

Discussion in 'Structures' started by frisco1522, May 18, 2012.

  1. frisco1522

    frisco1522 Staff Member Staff Member

    I made a deal with the dispatcher to clean out the yards at Newburg, so I have 6 freight drags and two passenger trains all hog-lawed up on Dixon Hill.
    The track gang got the yard ballasted on the east end up to the T Road crossing.
    Next step is to screen enough cinders to complete the west end.
    When I get the Fort Leonard Wood Branch laid, I will have a multi track staging area over here in the workshop and Newburg won't be so jammed up.
    The track and stuff in the background won't be visible when scenicking is done. Lotta work to do on Newburg, but it's coming along slowly.
     

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  2. Jim James

    Jim James Staff Member Staff Member

    Very nice track work and structures. Looks good.
     
  3. William Jackson

    William Jackson Bill Jackson

    Good thing it was not the real deal, you would really get ripped. That's really nice looking yard tracks.
    Kind of funny though.
    I had the Steel Gang, we were l little south of Black Rock, Arkansas. Man we were having a bad, bad day. We got the Burro Crane on the ground on a sharp curve. The gage spiker broke down on the first ribbon. We already had four ribbons ripped out and my track and time was almost up. Broke down and beaten I begrudgingly went to the call house to ask for more time. Really in 1980, nothing was off limits, the dispatcher called me about everything in the dispatchers manual. After much abuse, I finally told him "if you can run'm on one rail, bring them on"
    Since that time, I was known as the only person to put on a "Jump Order" telling the crew to jump!
    Luckily I was not fired, and the rail was put in, although about four hours late.
    Bill Jackson
     
    RogerRT likes this.
  4. wpmoreland719

    wpmoreland719 Member Frisco.org Supporter

    Fantastic representation of Newburg. Couldn't look any more like the real deal. Wish it still had that many tracks today.

    Pat Moreland,
    Union Mo.
     
  5. SAFN SAAP

    SAFN SAAP Member

    Very nice Don. You are an inspiration. I have a question for you: The smaller depot in picture one (1), on the right side; did you scratch build that or was it a kit? B-E-A-UTIFUL!

    Manny
     
  6. frisco1522

    frisco1522 Staff Member Staff Member

    Both depots are scratchbuilt from Evergreen styrene. The small one is a basic Frisco design.
    Luckily, I am the dispatcher also, so I didn't rip me a new one.
     
  7. SAFN SAAP

    SAFN SAAP Member

    Thanks Don. They are gorgeous. I just can't get styrene to behave. I'm much better with wood! Keep up the good work.
     
  8. Sirfoldalot

    Sirfoldalot Frisco.org Supporter Frisco.org Supporter

    Good work, Don. Not only the stations - but, everything looks great.
     
  9. yardmaster

    yardmaster Administrator Staff Member Administrator Frisco.org Supporter

    Don -
    I always enjoy seeing the eye-level view of things in Newburg through your camera, down to the Western Union sign (I think) on the smaller depot, and the Frisco billboard in the distance.

    What material did you use for the awnings on the main depot?

    Best Regards,
     
  10. frisco1522

    frisco1522 Staff Member Staff Member

    Hmm. Good question. I'll have to go down and look at them. It's either cardstock that I printed stripes on or thin evergreen styrene. I think it's cardstock. I've got the whole yard cinder ballasted now, but haven't gone back in and add weeds, mud and stuff like that. I have the T road as dirt and am wondering in 1943 what Newburg streets were paved in. Concrete? Blacktop or gravel?
     
  11. gjslsffan

    gjslsffan Staff Member Staff Member

    Great work Don,
    I really enjoy your modeling.
    How did you weather your track? It really brings the scene to life. Those depots are impressive too!
    Tom Holley
     
  12. frisco1522

    frisco1522 Staff Member Staff Member

    I spray them with Floquil Tie Brown after ballasting. I haven't done the yard tracks yet.
     
  13. William Jackson

    William Jackson Bill Jackson

    That's what I meant, the yard tracks are impressive. Me being in the track department all my life, it's what I look at first. I would like to know what all, you did to it. I want mine to look as good. It reminds me a little of Spring, the wheat spillage sprouts before the weed spray program.
    Bill Jackson
     
  14. frisco1522

    frisco1522 Staff Member Staff Member

    Well, the track is Code 70 laid on the bare plywood (yes I know, shouldn't do that) glued down with no particular effort to make it perfectly straight, etc. After all it is a yard and in 1943 probably hadn't had the best of maintenance. I painted the plywood black before laying the track. drilled 3/8" holes under the switch points for the switch machines (Bullfrog manual throws).
    The cinder ballast is, well, cinders. Our city uses cinders from the Labadie power plant on the streets in the winter. I went down to the City Maintenance lot a year or so ago and got a 5 gallon bucket full and have been sifting them through a tea strainer to get the fine ballast. I throw the rest of the bigger stuff away. I put the layer down and have some 70% rubbing alcohol in a small spray bottle and wet them down good and then use a 50-50 mix of Elmer's white glue and water and put a nice heavy coat down with a large hypodermic needle to control where it goes. Once it dries, I sprinkle a little Woodland Scenic grass and turf lightly to accent the cinders. I will do some light random planting of small weeds and other details to finish the scene. I haven't ballasted the main through town yet or the #2 track. I have some light gray Woodland Scenic fine ballast that looks like it will work fine for that.
    I still have to put switch machines on several of the switches and power the frog through them. DCC is really finicky about that. There's a new item coming out called the Stay Alive, which should just be a bigger electrolytic capacitor and a couple of resistors and will allow the engine to keep running through dead spots. Creeping into the yards with a 4500 and a drag is great until the darned thing hits a spot and stalls for a second. Ruins the whole atmosphere, and sometimes turns it blue.
     
  15. frisco1522

    frisco1522 Staff Member Staff Member

    Well, rode an Army helicopter today to take some photos of the ballast gang's prgress. They have nearly finished the west end and the No. 2 track needs limestone on the east end. T road is a dirt road crossing. Still don't know what kind of streets Newburg proper had in 1943. May have been gravel, but I doubt it.
    Hope I captured the yard track look with the kinky rail and wallows. And no, that's not the Newburg water tank in back of the billboard.
     

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  16. FRISCO4503

    FRISCO4503 FRISCO4503 Frisco.org Supporter

    THAT 4500 Looks great over there by the caboose track
     
  17. gjslsffan

    gjslsffan Staff Member Staff Member

    That's quite a train the 4151 has in tow. Great job on the yard tracks. I have yet to figure just how to emulate the really crooked, as well as the up and down profile of yard trackage. I mean a guy needs some smooth needle nose pliers and get busy but then you would have to do the other rail the exact same way, or there are issues with gauge and all. There has to be a way, to model it. I mean you have seen it, some of the yard tracks we have, here, just defy logic, and even at 10 MPH you wonder and expect something to happen, it is amazing just how bad the track has to be before it gets attention.

    I like the Mrs. Dash shaker in the background, it reminds me of every time my wife "Vicki" asks. Can I throw this one away? And my answer is usually. No, you can never have enough of those shakers. And away she goes shaking her head, mumbling "he has a whole box of these, he will never use them all, but he wants more"?
    Kinda like rolling stock, you just never have enough.
    Tom Holley
     
  18. yardmaster

    yardmaster Administrator Staff Member Administrator Frisco.org Supporter

    Don, our thanks to the helicopter pilot. Excellent overall view, and I think you've captured the look of yard trackage very nicely.

    Regarding the streets: as a kid in Chaffee, I can remember a lot of the streets downtown near the old River Division General Office Building and elsewhere being rather like a conglomerate-cement material. There were obvious round pebbles or rocks in it, but it was smooth enough that I didn't even notice them on a bicycle. Perhaps others can better describe it or pinpoint if it's appropriate for a small town in 1943.

    This could also be a verbatim exchange around our house. I've collected so many, I ended up returning some back to the kitchen for the annual gingerbread house-making party that my wife holds for the kids and their social circle. Turns out there are uses for them beyond groundfoam and ballast.

    Best Regards,
     
  19. frisco1522

    frisco1522 Staff Member Staff Member

    Maybe they were what they called macadam(sp?) Right now, what I have is some leftover grout from tiling the basement bathroom floor. Has a a nice texture and color.
     
  20. frisco1522

    frisco1522 Staff Member Staff Member

    Actually, there are six drags and a passenger train lined up on Dixon Hill so I could clear out the yards. Only problem I've had is one or two of my bigger engines don't like one of the turnouts due to their rigid wheelbase. Everything is a #6 except the east and west switch which are #10s. I don't rightly know what the curved ones are, I scratchbuilt them to fit where they are. They seem to work just fine. I'm going to re-do the hill on the east end also. I did it as an experiment using plaster cloth. The trees are too big and I'll refoliage it. I kind of suck at scenery, but who cares? I still have some more feeders to drop, switch machines to install, turntable to motorize with a DCC decoder, passing tracks to lay, Ft. Leonard Wood wye to finish laying track and scenic the rest of the layout. Haven't even thought about signals yet. I wish I had bought a buttload of the PFM plastic semaphore kits when they were available. I only have 5 of them, so will place them in prominent view. Oh yeah, a couple more towns to build.
    I'm tired already.
     

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