The suburbs, part 1

Part of my personal history around trains involves riding the MBTA commuter rail when I was in college.  I'd like to recreate a part of that on my layout, and I have enough room for a small neighborhood with a grade crossing and the hint of a small commuter rail stop.  It took a while to decide how to lay things out, and like other times, at some point I realized it didn't need to be a big decision and it was time to just do something.

I started by roughly laying out where some houses might go, and how much space they'd need.  I've kept the roads at two-lanes, 4 inches wide, so far.  These aren't supposed to be major thoroughfares.  No room for on-street parking for anyone, but sometimes you have to selectively compress things to make it work.  I don't foresee any of these folks having very big yards either.  It will allow me to model some of these things from the rear - much of what you see on a train is the back of things.

So far I've poured most of the roads with Woodland Scenics Smooth-It plaster and foam tape.  For the grade crossing I used some advice from YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CG6t_dUSlI) by first building it up with some old cork roadbed, then next with some spackle.  I'll see if I can build up the rest with plaster.  Based on the grade crossings around here, I need to get some small pieces of balsa wood to use along the rails.

In terms of planning going ahead - it's frustrating to see how few available kits there are for residential houses.  For the density I'd prefer, it would get pretty expensive too.  I bought one so far that should be alright for an old house in a modern setting, we'll see how it goes.

Lessons learned:

1. I've found that I don't really like working with plaster. I keep thinking I'm doing something wrong.  I thought I mixed these batches better than I did last time I was pouring roads, but it's still hard to get it to pour and move smoothly.  Based on how much sanding I had to do last time, I plan to buy a small power hand sander.
2. I used some of that spackle to build up a gradual incline to the crossing level (not shown in these photos yet).  We'll see how well it dries.

Water water everywhere, even on the floor

It's been a while since I've posted any progress on the layout, due to a lot of other stuff going on.  Hemingway once said "the shortest answer is doing the thing", and after months of thinking about and preparing for pouring the "water" for the river, today I took the "plunge".  I used the Woodland Scenics Deep Pour water system.  According to the calculations from their website, I needed FOUR of the packages to fill the shipping channel space. I watched the instructional video many times; I painted the river bottom; I sealed the ends as best I could with tape; and forged forward today with mixing and pouring the epoxy solution.  Once you pour this, there's no going back, no do-over's.  Whatever happens, it is what it is.

From those you'll see some of the initial work plastering the banks and painting it all, pouring the "water", and where it managed to leak underneath.

Lessons learned:

1. Rest assured, it WILL find a way to leak underneath. No matter how well you think it's sealed.  Have plenty of painter's tape and duct tape ready, and be ready to rip dried epoxy off your arm later that night. What you hope for is that there's enough "water" in there that before it all drips away, it'll solidify enough in place.  "Lowered Expectations."
2. I wasn't sure - should I place the tugboat in there as I pour, or have it sitting on top afterwards?  I went for the former.  It's in there, it's not coming out.
3. We're about 9 hours into it, and they said to wait 24 hours for it to fully harden - but so far, considering cost-benefit, I might as well have gotten some gloss paint or polyurethane and just used that, it wouldn't have looked much different.  We'll see how it looks later tomorrow.
4. I thought I was done with crawling under the layout and hitting my head underneath - no, we've still found new reasons to do so.

Next up (because this is what it is), besides cleaning up/painting over epoxy on the basement floor: finishing ballasting; working on a grade crossing at the suburban scene and pouring roads around there.  Maybe I'll get these done by....Christmas?

Tugboat

I've completed the Walthers tugboat kit.  Well, perhaps I might paint the deck a different color, or re-do the flags, but for all intents and purposes it's done.  The hull is cut to the waterline so it didn't need any adjusting that way.  My inspiration was the tugs my employer uses.  They're not exactly like this model but close enough.  I printed out some flags, a Corps castle, and some lettering for the bow and glued them on.  One of the pieces looked close enough to one of the radars on the control house.  All in all, I'm pretty happy with how this turned out.  Especially considering how tough it was to put together at times.  It will make a nice focal piece for the shipping channel scene.

I've been watching some videos and planning how to proceed with pouring model water.  You only get one chance to get it right.

Walthers Cornerstone kits

Ohh, ooooh, oh those Walthers kits.  I've said it before - you're thankful they exist because you don't have to scratchbuild these things.  But so often they don't want to go together very easily.  And you want to have words with the engineer who designed it.  ("Did you guys ever actually have to put this kit together?")  A vital tool for building one is a roll of blue painter's tape.  To hold things together that are supposed to go together while the glue dries.  The tugboat kit is going about as well as you'd expect right now based on the amount of tape you see in the photo.

I set up some plaster cloth for the embankment on one side of the shipping channel, and started setting up the cardboard supports on the other.  As much as everyone wants to get outside, and the calendar says it's spring, it's not spring here yet.  We woke up to an inch of snow yesterday morning.  The kind of weather that helps facilitate layout progress.  I want to get some Sculptamold plaster to even out the surface of these embankments, then I'm going to need to seal the river bed (plaster? or maybe the paint will do it) and paint it.

Ballasting and river planning

As you'll see with the following photos, I've been making gradual progress on ballasting the mainline.  All that's left is most of the end on either side of the harbor bridges, plus the area around where a grade crossing will be located.  I've gotten the hang of ballasting, though I want to go back around and do a thorough job of getting any excess ballast away from the rails. I need to buy more ballast, and I also need to figure out how I'm going to ballast the passing tracks and the sidings.  For the sidings, maybe dirt, though I have black cinders for the steel mill area.  For the passing tracks, maybe the same as the mainlines, maybe some dirt mixed in. 

On a layout, one thing tends to lead into another.  In order to do one thing, you need to work on another thing.  Thus as I was ballasting, I realized I needed to plan for any grade crossing, as well as for the river.  The river is supposed to be a shipping channel, which means it should appear straight and deep.  I found that the bridges didn't appear to be too high over the potential surface of the water, but it sure seemed like the ground level was.  The embankments will be a little steep, but maybe that means that the channel had to be cut through there.  I'm planning to get a Walthers tugboat to place in there, and I've been watching videos on how to use Woodland Scenics' water modelling materials. 

To start, I placed a couple pieces of hardboard under the bridges, for the abutments to lean against.  I painted and glued on the abutments underneath.  Then I started attaching the cardboard strips that will support the embankments.  One thing I need to look out for this time is the slight depression in the plaster cloth along there, either I need more supports laterally or maybe get some sculptamold plaster afterwards to smooth it over.  I'm not sure yet if I'm going to install any sheet piling.  To cover both sides I'll need 3 of the Walthers kits - that's $45 for sheet piling, maybe I can make that myself.  Or just go without it.  I think I want to pour some plaster along the bottom of the river bed - to seal along there and along the sides, and provide a good surface to paint on.  I'm glad I got something started on this however.

As I was typing this I thought, I'm missing some actual trains.  Right now I have one CSX switcher and a few cars.  Maybe I should take a break soon and buy some more trains to run.  Of course, that will also involve learning how to program a consist in the DCC system, and perhaps buying another controller.  Never a dull moment.

Ballasting and embankments

"Ballasting" is probably going to be part of the post titles for a while to come.  It's not exciting work but I do a little at a time, it adds up.  I've adjusted my methods a little bit - I start by pouring out ballast over a short section, then I spray it down a little with the scenic cement.  This wets the surface enough so that when I do the next step, placing more scenic cement with an eye dropper, it penetrates the surface easily. 

I have most of the one side (the main lines only) done, up to a point where I'm thinking I may put a grade crossing now.  I have ideas for a suburban area there and it would make sense for the road to cross at some point.  I have to figure out exactly where to place it and how to build it up to the rail level (probably with some cork).  I shudder at the idea of working with more plaster however.  On the other end, the ballasting has almost gotten around the curve at the end.  I bought some black cinder ballast to use around the steel mill, it seemed an apt color to use, but I still have some thoughts about how to fill in the spaces in between.

Prior to ballasting the curves leading to and from the lift bridges, I thought it prudent to do some more work on the embankments there.  I figured it would be easier to do this before there was ballast on it than after. I had some putty left over from a previous job that I used to build the sides of the embankment, and in some spots I was just able to cut the foam to an angle.  I found last time that this kind of putty doesn't dry, even after I left it out there for a week, but that doesn't matter, it was just a space filler for the plaster cloth on top.  I like how this went, the plaster cloth is very easy to work with.  This morning I cut and puttied the other side, waiting to let that set a while before I finish it with the plaster cloth.

Lastly - so much of the time this hobby takes is consumed by thinking.  Looking, pondering, then re-thinking.  I'm starting to plan for the river/shipping channel.  When you look at it by the bridges, it doesn't seem like much clearance over the "water" (the board).  When you compare that difference from the rest of the homasote surface, it seems overly high.  The challenge is, how to create an embankment from the layout level down to the river level.  I can't cut back because some riser supports are right near the edge (poor foresight on my part).  However, I should be able to use some cardboard strips and plaster cloth to create a (steep) embankment, at the bottom of which I can put some sheet piling.  That would make sense - the sheet piling is there (as in Cleveland on the Cuyahoga) to keep back the embankment, so the channel can be continually dredged to the authorized depth.  I already bought some Walthers abutments to place under the bridges, they fit pretty well.  I need to find a couple boats - maybe a tugboat and a few kayakers - and they'll need to be ready when we're ready to pour whatever Woodland Scenics 'water' product is best (easiest) to use.

Lessons learned:

1. A bread knife does an excellent job of cutting foam.
2. A shop-vac is a good thing to have when cleaning up from cutting foam.
3. I -actually- needed to use the Pythagorean Theorem yesterday, so I could calculate the length of the embankment in the river.  It's amazing how this was something I knew how to do as a kid but forgot, because I have no use for it in my daily life.

Ballasting

I've begun ballasting the main lines.  It's a slow process, one where you do a little section at a time.  I've watched a few videos on best methods for doing this, most of it boils down to: pour some along a section of the center of the track and smooth with your finger.  Pour along the sides until it covers the cork roadbed.  Spray/drop scenic cement on there, let dry for a day.  I thought that using the spray bottle, I was using too much scenic cement mix and kept having to go back and spray things again.  So I got some eye droppers and used that, that seems to work more precisely.  I'm using a Woodland Scenics medium grade gray blend, it looks alright.  Kinda brighter than I expected, but maybe that's because I got used to the dark brown-painted rails and roadbed.  It does make it look one step closer to complete (though there's a very long way to go).

Lessons learned:

1. Try out some different methods, see what works. 
2. Keep a rag handy, to wipe off the tops of the rails as you work.
3. Be careful not to dump too much ballast along the sides, if you do, the cement may not penetrate all the way and it won't be secure.
4. I tried a method from Model Railroader where you rub some glue along the sides and drop a little ballast along there.  Let that dry.  That gives the rest of the ballast on the sides something to cling to.  I found it difficult in places to get the ballast to pile properly along the cork roadbed. 
5. I realized I'm going to go through a lot of ballast and a lot of scenic cement.  No problem, it'll be a good ongoing project.