The Union Pacific Soggy Bottoms Subdivision (HO scale)


Its nice to be back in the saddle again , isn't it? I model trains like you , during the winter months , when I cant work . When everyone else is crying about the snow and cold I am quietly cheering to myself :) The bridge pier work looks good . I look forward to seeing it on the layout.
 
Well, I broke out the paint booth and the airbrush this afternoon. I think the bridges look much better now that hey look much older!
I first hit them with 2 to 1 mix of pewter gray and white, thinned about 50% with distilled water. Next they got a dusting of 10 drops burnt umber, 3 drops white, 2 drops red, and two drops yellow. (Yes, I made it up as I went along.) I also thinned that 50% with distilled water. I sprayed it at 15 lbs. pressure. I don't think they came out too bad, although I might could have used a bit more yellow.
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I did learn one thing I will put into practice when I paint the Warren truss bridges: Cover the gluing surfaces with masking tape and paint the bridges before assembly. I couldn't get into all the nooks and crannies inside the bridge so there are still areas of black, which was the color of the plastic.

Don't be too harsh on me, I'm still an airbrush newbie!
 
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The Warren truss bridges came in and I got the braces glued on. IF these trusses bear a striking resemblance to those used on the deck bridges, that's because they are the same part number for the trusses. The bracing and decking are different, but the truss sides are identical. Which means that on the Warren truss bridges, there will be holes that will not be used. I didn't want to leave those holes open, so I used some Testor's contour putty (that is so old I don't even remember when or for what reason I bought it) to fill in the holes. This is after the first application. I have since filled in some of the areas better.

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Now, they go to the paint booth. I washed off what paint I could get off the deck bridges. I think I'll go back over everything and really try to eliminate the black areas.
 
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I finished getting the hardboard pads for the yard and industrial area glued down. I purposely left the edges near the track cut unevenly to represent embankments and erosion. I will need to sand some spots down and fill the gaps. I thought I had some drywall compound around here somewhere, but I don't know where it went. Oh, well. Time for the body-man's secret weapon: Bondo! I have plenty of that! Then I give it a couple of coats of flat brown latex paint.
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That pile of track and turnouts shall soon be put to use!

The height difference isn't real pronounced, but it is there.
The track on the right that has the insulated joiners will be my programming track.
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Once the programming track is installed I will wire up the track and turnouts for the mainline and passenger terminal sidings, testing everything as I go. Then I will do the yard and industrial areas, testing as I go. The cost of the Caboose Industries powered turnout throws is something I try not to think about.

I need to clean up in here.:eek:
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My goal is to be able to run a train around the loop by the end of the winter.:)
 
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It looks like you are really making progress on the layout! Pretty tough to avoid a mess while everything is under construction.
 
Looks good! I like the storage built into the layout. This is the most fun part, when the table is done and the track is finally going down!
 
I finished getting the hardboard pads for the yard and industrial area glued down. I purposely left the edges near the track cut unevenly to represent embankments and erosion. I will need to sand some spots down and fill the gaps. I thought I had some drywall compound around here somewhere, but I don't know where it went. Oh, well. Time for the body-man's secret weapon: Bondo! I have plenty of that! Then I give it a couple of coats of flat brown latex paint.

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Wow! Guess I've been out of circulation much too long. I'm not quite sure of what I'm seeing here. my last layout was bench work then a layer of 3/4 and/or 3/8 plywood sub roadbed, cork road bed track then built up scenery.
On the top of your bench work I see maybe 3" extruded foam, then a layer of something else then another layer to cover that. No doubt in my mind that it all serves a good purpose and quite beneficial, but I have absolutely no idea of why. A slight explanation would certainly be appreciated before I start putting a top on mine
Thanks in advance
Willis a guy behind the times :D

PS It's looking great, very impressive
 
It's 3/8" plywood, 2" extruded foam, then 1/2" Homasote as the original plan was to nail the track down. That has since been changed to gluing the track down. The roadbed is 3/16" Woodland Scenics foam roadbed. I have 1/8" hardboard down in the yard and industrial areas to lower the track level a bit. The track will be laid directly on the hardboard, no roadbed. I wanted the track a little lower to look more prototypical and prevent runaway cars from rolling out onto the mainline, but not so low as to cause issues when laying it. The foam gives room to carve ditches, creeks, etc.
 
Yesterday I filled all the seams with drywall compound ($4.68 for 12lbs. at Menard's). Let that dry overnight, and this evening I sanded it all nice and smooth with my drywall sanding screen. Then I took my Makita 1/3 sheet sander with some 100 grit paper (boy, you don't want to let that sit in one spot too long) and broke the sheen on the hardboard. This way the paint will stick better. I still need to get a tack cloth and go over it all, then prime and paint.
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OK let's see if I have it right
Extruded foam well maybe solid base and sound deadening (?) Homasote to nail the track OK, then the plywood on top?
or is it
3/8 plywood then the 2" extruded foam, then Homasote then the hardboard ?

LOL :D I'm old and have a thick skull

It sure is impressive construction, well done and neat

Cheers
Willis
 
Man that's going to be real sturdy bench work and to top it off it looks great during the construction. Do you have a track plan?

Cheers from
chilly Willie

(lots of Frost this morning, time to head for the basement :D )
 
Do you have a track plan?
(lots of Frost this morning, time to head for the basement :D )

Started off at 40 degrees this morning, hit 60 this afternoon. Having a brief warm spell right now, but the cold is coming back!
The track plan can be seen in my original post of this thread. I've made a few minor changes, mostly turnout sizes.
I did redo the yard into a straight ladder.


Other than that, the track plan is pretty much the same. I'll probably head for the basement after supper and putter around for a couple of hours. Might do a little touch up painting to the bridges, and that center pylon needs some contour putty in the seam.
It was a tiring day at work, don't have a lot of energy left.
I appreciate all your kind words and encouragement.:)
 
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Silly me! Why didn't I think of that go to the first page, so simple, yep spent more time looking at the photos of the bench-work. But then again if I hadn't asked I'd have missed out on some good bench-work photos.
Just one more question "Why angle the gate at one end only (assuming you will also cut the track at an angle also)?"
On my previous layout I had the gate angled at both ends for zero derailments. Not criticizing Just curious.
The frost melted and it turned out to be a nice day, the same is expected for the rest of the week. It's 32 deg now
Cheers
Willis
 
Just one more question "Why angle the gate at one end only (assuming you will also cut the track at an angle also)?"
On my previous layout I had the gate angled at both ends for zero derailments. Not criticizing Just curious.

I don't know, that's just the way it worked out. The swing gate has since been converted to a lift out due to having to add a piece to the corner where the end of the gate would have been when not in use. It now hangs on the wall when not in use. When I put it in and lock it down the track lines up quite nicely each time.
BTW, that's quite a layout you have going! That's a good looking waterfall you have there.
 
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Well, I ran into a snag concerning the bridges. The original plan was to have the Warren truss bridges side by side on top of the combined Atlas piers. Not gonna happen. After I got the bridges assembled and painted I test fitted them to the supersized pier, well that's when I discovered that the resulting track spacing was too wide for the track on the lift out, where the river scene is going to be. As Eeyore would say "Oh, Pooh."
So I surgically removed one side of each bridge and placed them side by side to check the track spacing.
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The spacing came out to 2-1/8", which, happily, is the track spacing on the lift out section.
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I bought some Plastruct .060" sheet and 1/4" I-beams. I measured length and width of the side by side bridges and cut a piece of .060 sheet to fit. Next I cut the 1/4" I-beam to form stringers and cross pieces, and glued them in place on the bottom of the sheet.
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Next I cleaned the paint off the bottom of the bridges and glued them to the new deck assembly. It was easy to clean the paint off as it is acrylic and has not yet been sealed.
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Next, it was paintin' time again! I decided that in order to make the deck bridges and truss bridge assembly match better, I should strip and repaint the deck bridges, which I did. I also made real sure not to leave black areas this time. :eek:
I used straight pewter gray diluted with water and painted the deck bridges and deck assembly for the truss bridges. I also hand painted between the ties on the truss bridges with pewter gray. I didn't come out the nice uniform color that the airbrush paint did, but that's OK as I think it will give the exposed deck a more weather-beaten appearance. I also used some Testors Model Master steel color enamel to paint the guard rails. The deck bridges have had the ties touched up with some flat black enamel to hide where the steel got it where it shouldn't have ought to been. This pic was taken right after I did the guard rails on the truss bridge. I also used some Testors contour putty and filled in the areas where the braces were removed from one side of each truss bridges, as well as the open areas on the bridges where they would have set on the Atlas piers.
I'll let this dry for 24 hours, then form the contour putty to shape and use flat black enamel to touch up the ties and puttied areas. Then I will Dullcote the bridges. When that is done I will weather them, then reapply Dullcote. I want to seal the paint before weathering in case I need to strip the weathering and redo it.
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I found this nice picture of a truss bridge deck online. It's the Columbus and Greenville Railway bridge over the Yazoo river, not sure what state, Mississippi maybe?
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Now, if I can just make it until 3:30 tomorrow afternoon, I have 12 days off from work! :):)
I should be able to get something done on the railroad during that time!
 
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