40' x 8' x 8' shipping container layout

[KriegslokBR52]

Totally redid the track by Groningen, passing siding and team track, the depot looks a lot smaller, will have to raise it up a little.

View attachment 207702

Put in another hill just before the depot. At the big curve there will be a forest and logging scene. The track goes up the grade to the right and the quarry will be over there.

View attachment 207703

I use aluminum screen and hydrdocal. Makes a strong hill. Separates the turntable at Grantsburg from the mainline to Groningen.

Don't expect to make any progress tomorrow, taking the wife to Duluth for shopping and lunch out. Saturday will resume this hill and getting the bed landscaped in.

Dave LASM

More space to run some really cool power, like the Northern Pacific W5 mikados, if you can find one.

 

[logandsawman]

Progress on Hill #2, landscaping with hydrocal, staging the track around the Quarry site:

I purchased bridge track, will be painting this section and cutting into 3 pieces, one for each crossing. The 36" section is the perfect length

Hill #2 is actually a couple hills put together, this is now ready to paint. Separates the Grantsburg town site from the Groningen depot area. That is a gravel road to be built penned out on the right.

a little further down there is the section house and the lower track goes to the Quarry buildings and the elevated section will be partially hidden by the quarry stone wall where they are extracting rock. Along the lower track will be the quarry engine shed, stone cutting building, and tool house (all completed, from the old layout) and I will be adding a rock crushing building and maybe some other accessory structures pertinent to the quarry operation

Here I am staging the tracks for the quarry buildings. These are all spur tracks, as the prototype was set up. The right track is the through track - mainline.

I had several days off last week, otherwise do not usually get this much done in a week

Thanks for looking!!!! Dave LASM

 

[Rico]

Lookin' good Dave!
I just don’t know how you’ll get double stacks under that bridge tho!
(kidding of course!)

 

[KriegslokBR52]

You are really moving.

 

[KriegslokBR52]

Lookin' good Dave!
I just don’t know how you’ll get double stacks under that bridge tho!
(kidding of course!)

And commit a carnal sin?

 

[logandsawman]

I got a bunch more track roughed in, the quarry area

The quarry stone face will follow along the raised track on the right side of this photo, a new crusher building and storage bin for crushed rock will be between the rock face and the center spur.

here is looking the other way, the engine house and behind it the stone cutting mill building. The stone face will follow the raised track, and will be 6' long with fresh rock cutting activities and spoil piles, derricks, work areas

Staging some of the Groningen buildings. Nothing attached, will be moving these when I paint the track and ballast.

The boxes under the layout hold all the buildings and rolling stock.

Dave LASM

 

[logandsawman]

Attached prototype photos of the quarry area

(photos from "Sandstone Quarries, Taylor Publishing Company, 1989; and the Minnesota Historical Society")

above - this photo depicts the working face of the quarry around 1905. The actual extraction area extends over 1100 feet to the left. That is the Kettle River in the foreground, the source of hydro power for the stone cutting, drilling, and hoisting. To the far right of the photo is the spoil pile, which I will be modeling to the best of my abilities as well.

They used flat cars, box cars, and gondolas. All Great Northern.

above, the best photo showing the stone crushing building in the center and storage/sorting bin (looks like a grain elevator) to its right. Most of the crushing mechanism was underground, with sorted material conveyed to the storage bin. These buildings will be modeled on my layout, along with the working face

This shows the other end of the operation, the engine shed must be either under construction or the roof burned off. It was in use during the duration of activities. The far left building is the engine house, which I already have modeled. The stone mill is the long building on the right of the photo, which I also have modeled (and substantially condensed). I will still be adding a quarry office, I have a tool house.

I will not be modelling the wood sawmill part of the scene, just the stone cutting mill.

The challenge is getting the rock face to look real while not being able to create the original elevations. I am looking at about 6" high and 6' long for the stone face.

THANKS for looking!!! Dave LASM

 

[KB02]

View attachment 208400

The challenge is getting the rock face to look real while not being able to create the original elevations. I am looking at about 6" high and 6' long for the stone face.

I saw a video online the other day (can't find it now, or I would post a link) where they were cutting foam to create rock faces and they used one small technique that I had never thought of. The rock layers tend to not just lie flat, but are angled by tectonic forces. If you look at the scene above (that's going to be so fun to model!!) the rock layers are angled up from left to right. Just that small little detail was an "Aha!" moment for me.

 

[AuburnCentral]

Edges of broken drywall works also

 

[logandsawman]

I saw a video online the other day (can't find it now, or I would post a link) where they were cutting foam to create rock faces and they used one small technique that I had never thought of. The rock layers tend to not just lie flat, but are angled by tectonic forces. If you look at the scene above (that's going to be so fun to model!!) the rock layers are angled up from left to right. Just that small little detail was an "Aha!" moment for me.

Good call on the angle wall formation, I was planning on following that pattern myself.
I know foam is a popular material for many modelers, however there will be no foam on my layout. I am making a form out of wood and using tin foil to line the wood mold, will be pouring hydrocal into the form. I followed this technique on my previous quarry model (much smaller) and really liked the results.

I utilize hydrocal and aluminum screen and paper towels for all my terrain and rock work, along with real materials (dirt, sifted gravel, clay, stones, etc.)
Here is some of the discarded hydrocal from recent batches mixed for the hill work shown earlier:

These chips are easily broken up with a hammer and used as debris

Check it our how closely these resemble the real thing:

Early quarry scene, this area changed drastically as material was extracted.

Credits - Minnesota Historical Society and Taylor Publishing


Thanks for commenting!!! Dave LASM

 

[bnsf971]

Good call on the angle wall formation, I was planning on following that pattern myself.
I know foam is a popular material for many modelers, however there will be no foam on my layout. I am making a form out of wood and using tin foil to line the wood mold, will be pouring hydrocal into the form. I followed this technique on my previous quarry model (much smaller) and really liked the results.

I utilize hydrocal and aluminum screen and paper towels for all my terrain and rock work, along with real materials (dirt, sifted gravel, clay, stones, etc.)
Here is some of the discarded hydrocal from recent batches mixed for the hill work shown earlier:

View attachment 208437

These chips are easily broken up with a hammer and used as debris

Check it our how closely these resemble the real thing:

View attachment 208438

Early quarry scene, this area changed drastically as material was extracted.

View attachment 208439

Credits - Minnesota Historical Society and Taylor Publishing


Thanks for commenting!!! Dave LASM

Your second pic looks almost like a lynching...

 

[logandsawman]

Your second pic looks almost like a lynching...

So, this was about 1895. Most of these men (and at least 1 boy) were immigrants, they did not all speak English.

They worked long days and lived in temporary housing, they walked to work, and generally did not have a soft bed to sleep in.

Many workers were transients and commuted to their homes in Great Britian, Sweden, Germany. Holland, etc in the winter.

This was a tough life, the materials they produced went into hundreds of prominent buildings, many still in use today.

In my community, they are afforded a great deal of respect.

 

[bnsf971]

So, this was about 1895. Most of these men (and at least 1 boy) were immigrants, they did not all speak English.

They worked long days and lived in temporary housing, they walked to work, and generally did not have a soft bed to sleep in.

Many workers were transients and commuted to their homes in Great Britian, Sweden, Germany. Holland, etc in the winter.

This was a tough life, the materials they produced went into hundreds of prominent buildings, many still in use today.

In my community, they are afforded a great deal of respect.

I should probably withhold comments until I can view images with something larger than a phone screen.

 

[KriegslokBR52]

So, this was about 1895. Most of these men (and at least 1 boy) were immigrants, they did not all speak English.

They worked long days and lived in temporary housing, they walked to work, and generally did not have a soft bed to sleep in.

Many workers were transients and commuted to their homes in Great Britian, Sweden, Germany. Holland, etc in the winter.

This was a tough life, the materials they produced went into hundreds of prominent buildings, many still in use today.

In my community, they are afforded a great deal of respect.

That's a lot like in my area, where the Irish, Italians and Polish worked in the Antracite mines, they were barely scraping by just to be able to keep their families. It was actually the British who owned and ran the mines and they treated especially the Irish like second class citizens. The miners themselves were able to dig in the coal waste to pick coal to heat their homes with, but the coal companies charged them even for that.

 

[logandsawman]

Making progress on the quarry scene, first part one of the working face of the sandstone quarry:

I was not expecting to make it like this, I had other plans altogether but after I started I think the chisel and piece of wood was the wisest choice for the rough in part. Nice angular chunks in the foreground made from hydrocal, as well as the chips (which I have tons of)

The crusher building is roughed in, I like it

I got the right proportions for the rock bin as well, took a couple tries, the prototype is in the previous post

I expect tomorrow to be a big day in the train shed for Quarry progress

Stay tuned! Dave LASM

 

[logandsawman]

Got the structure of the Rock bin done, put a coat of paint on the crusher bldg, staged the Quarry scene today:

The track is laid out satisfactorily, the center track join back up with the mainline, the other two are spurs (left one serves the crusher and working face)

Here it is from the other side, the two buildings on the right are the new ones I am working on

The quarry wall is ready for paint, although there is a lot to do with the track and foreground before the sandstone gets it paint. Hydrocal was used to make the stone chunks and the whole wall.

Gives you an idea of size, the rock wall is about 5' long

Thanks for looking!!! Dave LASM

 

[Bruette]

Thanks for looking!!!

Thanks for sharing, I'm enjoying your work.