AT&N: Modern-Era Layout

Aren't those some delighted faces??!!

TG

 

I scrapped the idea of freelancing the Tombigbee River for a more feasible freelanced bend in our local Bogue Creek, a tributary of the Buttahatchie River which is a tributary of the Tombigbee River. Like the Tombigbee River, Bogue Creek is often filled with "red clay" sediments. I applied 4 coats of paint and 4 coats of clear coat spray. I'm not sure I did it right but I'm satisfied with the results considering it was a first-time modeling experiment for me. I'm going to round off the top of the banks with a router, paint them green, and line the banks with an erosion protecting layer of lime stone. I'm looking for suggestions for ways to adhere the limestone to the plywood banks. I may go back and pour a thin layer of Magic Water.
Keep in mind these are pictures of a creek project that is by no means finished but I cut the table top tonight with a jig saw and got this far. The jars are filled with sorted sizes of lime stone. I am aware of the cons of actual lime stone but I'm willing to risk it...I think. Once the creek is finished, I can extend the AT&N northward from Reform across Bogue Creek to the awaiting BNSF turnout at Sulligent. After all, it is a modern-era, freelanced layout. Beats Nothin' So Far.
Speaking of BNSF, I'm having a problem with local residents on my AT&N layout vandelizing one of my locomotives. The modern AT&N aquired a green monster but for some reason, folks keep throwing rotten eggs at it and spray painting orange and white graffiti on it!?! - Brandon

 

That's my kind of vandalism! Great work!

 

I grew up during the post-Frisco/BN era, but the attack on your BNSF locomotive is exactly how I felt at the time the Warbonnets invaded my area in the mid 90's. Two thumbs up. Priceless! And thanks for the compliments on my efforts. - Brandon

 

More progress tonight w/pics. Worked on creek banks & outlined/painted roadbed for northern extention. 2nd coat on walls to come. Slowly but surely. - Brandon

 

The northern extention of the AT&N has connected Reform to Sulligent and is open for business! ...sort of. I had to finish it with some 22-year-old snap track from layout #2 until I can get my hands on some more flex track. I turned the lights off for the "Any Time At Night" effect.



This picture of a depot with 3 tracks is the proposed site of the West Alabama Railroad Museum. The museum tracks are from my first layout when I was 3 years old. They may be brass? Talk about never throwing stuff away...you may need it later. Still runnin that 1st train by the way...albeit with a replacement ebay chasis/motor.

A family member gave me this chandelier in 2006. I didn't find a place/use for it until a couple of months ago. I bet it's not everyday a model train layout is lit with a chandelier. Just using what I already had on hand but I think it's funny looking...especially in the back of a storage room.

On the bogue creek bridge. Not so well lit from this angle. I hate that the layout is so cluttered in these pics/video with the results of progress but I was too exhausted to tidy up. I'm sure everyone who sees this already knows what layout progress looks like. Just imagine I'm modeling tornado damage for now.

I'm so glad I found this site a few years ago. The users here got me interested in model railroading again after a decade long modeling droubt. I'm having a blast, even if I am a novice by comparison. Thanks everyone for the inspiration. - Brandon

 

Nice going, Brandon.
I like what you have done, and your muddy looking water reminds me of the Red River back home.
You gotta slow down those trains a little - The crewmen are getting whiplash!

 

Any slower and the loco can't make it across the old track sections. For now momentum is a must. Thank for the kind words.

 

I would also check the track for any excess oxidation or grime build up. My layout is in the garage and I fight a constant battle with dirt and oxidation.

I recently bought a Woodland Scenics track cleaning kit, and I highly recommend it. It comes with a long handle to reach into tunnels and through truss bridges, as well as several different types of non abrasive pads and a cleaning solution.

Equally important is to clean the wheels of your locomotives. I use a really cheap, but effective method of doing this by placing a small thin cloth, usually a cut piece of t-shirt, soaked in rubbing alcohol over the track. I then put one engine truck on the cloth and apply power. A few seconds of the wheels spinning on the cloth will completely clean them. I then turn the engine around place the other truck on the cloth and repeat the process. If you use a white cloth, you can really see all the dirt and grime that came off of the wheels.

Pat Moreland,
Union Mo.

 

Pat,

Get yourself a couple of those moister trap jars from Wal*Mart and put them in the garage. They will help to absorb the moisture in the air. Unless your garage is totally sealed, I'm afraid you are going to deal with that a lot, but those moisture jars will help.

Manny

 

Thanks, Manny. I've never heard of moisture trap jars, but I'll look for them next time I'm at Walmart (which is too often).

Pat Moreland,
Union Mo.

 

In which department does Walmart stock those moisture jars? The bad track is 22 year-old snap track and came packaged with a life-like, double train set from the 1990 Sears Christmas catalog. It is very oxidized. I'm going to replace it with new flex track and the sooner the better... just have to get around to buying some. I need to buy a left and a right turnout when I do to start a small yard on each side.

 

Cleaning, Air Conditioning Improvements, & TV!

Clutter: I haven't done much with my freelanced, theoretical, modern AT&N layout in the last few months but today, I took advantage of a couple of circumstances to do some much needed "declutering" of the layout. First, I am a teacher and school is officially out for the summer for me. Needless to say, I have a lot of extra time on my hands for a while (well deserved I might add if I do say so myself). Second, we had relatively mild temps with low humidity here in Alabama today. That may not sound like much but my layout is in the back of a storage building. Those who know how hot and humid late May can be in Alabama and what is to come later in the summer can appreciate weather like we had today... warm but not too hot and not too humid for this time of year. I decided to take advantage of the relatively mild weather to get some work done on the layout. It was very nice to be able to leave the door open and work in the fresh "dry" air. I know the hot, humid, sticky, muggy stuff will be here very soon. Like they say, "Make hay while the sun shines."

Storage: Another thing that motivated me is the fact that, a few weeks ago I bought a couple of Sterlite 3-drawer organizers at...where else... Wal-mart, for the purpose of storing locomotives, rolling stock, and vehicles. I have the organizers underneath my layout table for easy access. It is a great improvement over the storage containers w/lids that I had been dealing with. I had gotten to the point where I wasn't even putting things away and stuff was all over the layout. I'm certainly not one for storing everything in it's original box. The organizers serve my purpose very well. Here is a link: http://www.walmart.com/ip/Sterilite-3-Drawer-Organizer-White-Set-of-4/15442451. I think these are a good investment. They certainly helped me clean up my layout.

Air conditioning (revisited): A while back, my parents had central heat/AC put in their house. They gave me a window unit air conditioner. The building containing my layout is bricked with a door but no windows. I am renting so creating a hole in the brick wall for a window unit air conditioner isn't something I am interested in pursuing. About the same time my parents gave me the air conditioner, someone gave me a nice rolling cart just to get it out of their way. The timing was great. I put the air conditioner on the cart. I cut a piece of paneling to fit the door opening, cut out a hole for the air conditioner and mounted the paneling onto the cart as a way to have air conditioning through the door opening. The portable air conditioner helped during the summer months last year but I am thinking of tweaking the system by replacing the thin paneling with a sheet of more rigid foam board within the next week or so.

TV: I'm one who (for whatever reason) likes to have a TV on while I'm working on projects and what not. In fact, I have it on right now while I'm typing this even though I'm not realing watching it. Not too long ago, my grandmother-in-law had to move into a nursing home. During the move, she gave us a 19" TV which we used to replace a 13" TV in our rec room. (I should say, our kids' rec room since my layout got booted out by all of their stuff.) Very soon, I will be putting the 13" TV in the storage room with my layout so that I can once again have a TV going while I'm spending time with layout.

A clean layout + air conditioning + a TV going in the background makes me a happy modeler. I'm looking forward to catching up on some model RR time this summer. My layout still needs zoning for stuctures, lots surveyed, streets constructed, street signs installed, utility polls erected... not to mention that the sky still needs the second coat it never got last August. Hopefully I will have some progress pictures soon. If you made it to the end of my rambling, thanks for reading and...

Ship It On The Frisco!
-Brandon

 

TV/paint/creek banks

Update: As of 5/31/13, about 9 pm CDT, I now have TV (43 channels) in the layout building. Now I'm more likely to spend more time out there. My 9 yr old is excited about it. She likes to "play train" with me and she is also a big fan of professional wrestling. She said tonight, "Now we can play trains and watch wrestling at the same time!" It's a little hard to see but in front of the TV is another quart of paint I bought today for the 2nd coat on the walls. You may notice a few train related items sitting on the layout in the background. I recently went through some things in storage and found them. I plan to put up a shelf for them somewhere in the building. One of the items is a steam locomotive shaped/sounding alarm clock. I love it but I hated waking up to it during high school and jr. college. It's very LOUD!!! When I transfered, I spared my roommate and bought a different alarm clock.

After trying to think of something to help this creeks banks...

I found some green modeling clay at a craft store in Tupelo, MS. I can't remember the name of the store.

Here's what I was able to do with it. I wanted to press in some ballast to model a limestone-lined bank but the results were not at all pleasing so I stopped while I was ahead.