The Union Pacific Soggy Bottoms Subdivision (HO scale)


Thanks, Jerry! I believe that word you're looking for is 'hue'. Hew is what you do to an unwanted tree. The light leak is due to the wires just being draped over the wall. I still need to drill the exit hole for them. I'm already working on the next workbench project. Should be done with that in an hour or so.
(OK. Finished it! https://modelrailroadforums.com/forum/index.php?threads/track-cleaning-car.33020/ )
 
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I got the Struct-O-Lite applied on the vertical faces of the decline, although I seem to have missed a few spots. :oops:
That's not a big deal, though. I can get those when I do the incline side. I find that mixing it until it's pretty thin, then painting the area it's to be applied to with water works pretty good. It's thin enough to be workable, but the dry plaster cloth won't suck all the moisture out of it instantly.
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My little 0-6-0 can pull 10 cars plus the caboose on level track, but it can only get 2 cars and the caboose up a 2% 28" radius incline, so I think the little guy is going to be restricted to the flats.
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My Athearn Blue Box SD7, which has a Digitrax DH123 decoder in it, can pull 10 cars around the loop with no problem. My Athearn RTR SD45 can do the same. 10 cars will probably be the normal train length, running at speed step 10 of 28.
 
I got all the Struct-O-Lite applied and am starting to color it. The major type of rock found in western Nebraska is what is known as Dakota Sandstone, which has a rusty brown color to it. I bought a gallon of cheap ($12.98) latex paint at Menards and had it colored darker than what I wanted the final look to be. I thinned it down 10:1 to consistency of a thin wash and applied it with a brush. It didn't turn out quite the color I was hoping for. :(
I think I'll give a wash of light brown, probably shoot it through my trusty Harbor Freight single action airbrush. Then if I think it needs I'll give a bit of black. Oh, well. Gotta start somewhere, right?
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The thing about rocks is there are so many color variations it's hard to get them "wrong"!
 
Coming along nicely, I'm going to try your method of making scenic cement with the matte. I've used the glue rather than the matte with no issues but I'm going to be doing some rock face coloring with the WS colors and want to make sure I don't get a gloss finish.
 
Thanks, Lynn! I really prefer the diluted matte medium over diluted white glue. Some people have great success with the white glue but I'm not one of them. Maybe I'm not holding my tongue just right as I apply it?
It was a stressful day at work today, so I just don't have the energy to get out the airbrush and try to improve the color of the rock cliffs. Maybe tomorrow. My plan is to finish the rocks, then work on the hills behind them. Once those are done I'll lay out the centerline for the inner loop and start laying roadbed and track.
 
I forget, is the elevated line going to be the CNW Cowboy line? Maybe some day, I'll bike it. Going to have anything like the Bridgeport roundhouse of old, anywhere. My Dad was from Scottsbluff, which I visited several times in the 1990's. How about sugar beets, and coal trains?
 
I forget, is the elevated line going to be the CNW Cowboy line? Maybe some day, I'll bike it. Going to have anything like the Bridgeport roundhouse of old, anywhere. My Dad was from Scottsbluff, which I visited several times in the 1990's. How about sugar beets, and coal trains?
Actually, the elevated line is there mostly as an excuse to have a bridge! (But don't tell anyone!) I saw that bridge and really wanted to have one, so I needed a place for it to go...
I'm not planning on having a roundhouse.
I've never been to Scottsbluff. I might make a trip out that way someday, just because.
I do have some coal hoppers, so they will make an appearance. A sugar beet processor would take up more real estate than I would like to give up, although there is always selective compression!
Thanks for looking! Time to work on the layout has been a bit scarce lately, but I'm getting some things done.
 
I wish life would stop being so crazy! It seems like forever since I've really had an opportunity to get anything done on the layout, plus I have a locomotive project I need to find the time to get back to! I'm going to try and get something done tomorrow, I promise!
I did get something done in train room today, though. The fluorescent light fixture in the southeast corner has been acting a bit funky lately, and yesterday it finally quit altogether. I had replaced the bulbs, so I figured it was the ballast. The fixture had two ballasts in it, actually. I've been replacing the lights in our house with LED bulbs as they go out, and installing LED bulbs whenever I add a fixture. So I replaced the bulbs with LED's, the ballast bypass type. It takes a bit of rewiring the fixture, but it's totally doable for anyone who has done any wiring. I actually replaced the bulbs in two fixtures while I was at it. The one in the upper left corner of this pic:
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and the 4 tube fixture next to the doorway
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After I got the bulbs replaced, I looked at the date code on the back of the ballasts. All 4 of them say "9 71"! Those ballasts are 49-1/2 years old! I guess I can't complain about them going out, then!
 
It’s looking good, onething I did that really improved the layout room is replace the fluorescent lites with led pot lites.
 
For the first time in several months, I actually had time to work on the railroad! :D
I did something about the ghastly color of the rock faces, gave the tops of the hills a coat of paint, and gave the table top another coat of paint to cover the evidence of construction. Yesterday I went to my LHS, Randy's Roundhouse, and bought all 4 code 100 Peco Electrofrog turnouts he had in stock. On the mainlines I want to have Peco's, but in the industrial areas I'll use the Atlas turnouts I already have.
My short term goal is to finish the inner loop so I can have a train running from the inner to outer loops across the double crossover continuously. To do that I need to install the turnouts as I go. Gets a tad pricey.
Today I worked on laying out the easement for the southeast corner. The outer loop is on a 2% grade at 28” radius. The inner loop will be flat and on a 26” radius. I want to put a 24” radius curve inside the 26” radius curve on the north end to have a small passenger station. I have an old Shinohara curved turnout, which I have modified to be DCC friendly, to feed both the 26 and 24” radii curves. We'll see how that all works out.
This is a pic looking south. My “ballast” consists of cork roadbed painted with Rust-Oleum sandable gray primer. Works for me.
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This pic shows the center-line of the track (between the two pieces of roadbed) and the easement. The center-line of the curve is offset 1/2” to the right of the track center-line. The total length of the easement is 18”. You can see two lines perpendicular to the track center-line. The farthest one is the point where the easement begins, and the nearer one indicates where I want to place the end of the turnout. There will be a run-around to the right of the inner loop to facilitate switching the industries that will be located here.
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This is going to be the fun part! There will be two easements in this area, one leading out of the curve I just drew, and another leading into the curve that will be at the top of the pic. So basically the track will come out of one easement and after a short distance go into another one.
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This pic shows the center-line of the track running along the west side of the layout on the left, and the edge of curve on the right. There is a 1/2” offset. The track on the far left is heading for the CVMW truss bridge.
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Here's a view a bit further on.
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Once I get this side all done, I'll start on the other side. That should prove to be even more of a challenge!
 
I've been working on getting the roadbed laid down for the south loop. I've also been working on mocking up the runaround track and the entrance to the south industrial area. I plan to put a tail track on the back of the runaround, seen here in this pic. This will give me a bit more flexibility in dealing with cars.
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The runaround itself can hold 3 50' cars
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or 4 40' cars.
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I've been mentally switching cars at work (don't tell the boss) and have come up with several ways to do it.
I've been trying to figure out how to drop down from the mainline to industries in the space I have available without creating a vertical kink in the track. In the end I decided to “hide” the fact that it's all going to be at the same level. I took a strip of cork roadbed, flipped it upside down, and gave it a coat of tan spray paint. I also painted some 3/16” thick 12” x 12” pieces of bulletin board cork I bought from Menards when I was building the previous layout. I butted the beveled edge of the cork strip up against the roadbed and glued it down. That gave me a straight, flat edge on the other side to which I will put some 2-1/2” wide strips of the bulletin board cork. I'll landscape the other side of the 2-1/2” strip to get rid of the drop-off.
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The south loop roadbed is down, and my UP diesel is cleaning the outer track for me. It's just about to go over the bridge. The car behind the locomotive is a hardboard track cleaning car. It does a good job!
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A close up of the tracks on the south side of the layout.
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And here comes the diesel with it's light on.

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On the north loop, there will actually be two tracks. The mainline will be 26” radius and the siding for the passenger station will be 24” radius. I'm sure I just gave the purists and rivet counter apoplectic fits! “You can't have a passenger station on a curve!” Sure, you can. It's done quite often in the 1:1 scale world.
I have a Shinohara curved turnout for the entrance in the curves, but I just couldn't seem to get a conventional turnout to line up the way I wanted it to, so I got myself a Peco SL-E87 left hand large radius curved turnout. The outer radius is about 62” and the inner is about 31”. I placed it on the lines for the transition curve coming out of the station and outer loop and adjusted it until I got it where I liked it. I think it will work quite nicely there.
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Here are the center-lines for the outer loop and the station siding. I really don't anticipate any clearance issues, but everything will be double checked.
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This is the Shinohara curved turnout, which has been reworked to be DCC friendly, aligned with the mainline on the back end and the outer loop on the near end. I have just set a couple of pieces of 24” radius snap track on the diverging route to see how they fall in relation to the center-line for the station siding. I think this will work nicely.
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I've also been doing a bit of landscaping. The gap you see is the lift gate. on the right is the river scene from the previous layout. I extended the gravel parking area onto the lift gate. It is bordered by boulders, as the rest of the parking area is. I had enough of the Jett hedgerow's left to almost make it to the edge. I think it's good enough where it ends. Besides, Hobby Lobby doesn't have anymore. I checked yesterday. :( To the left of the hedgerow's on the lift gate you can see the end of the tail track. The hedgerow's are to provide a visual and physical barrier to the tracks from the parking area.
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While working with one of the new Peco turnouts, the switch rails came loose from the closure rails! It took me a minute to figure out what had happened. The small spring in the throw-bar (which must be removed for use with a Tortoise switch machine) also serves a secondary function of keeping the switch rails tightly up against the closure rails. The Peco turnouts have a pair of small tabs on the end of the switch rails which go on the sides of the closure rails.
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When the spring is removed, there is no longer any forward pressure to keep the switch rails in place, so they can slide backwards and come off the closure rails.
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I saw this in a YouTube video some time ago, and now can't find it to give proper credit to the creator. What he did was to use a small strip of styrene 1” long between the throw-bar and the head-block. The size to use is .030 x .060, with the long dimension vertical. I used some Evergreen styrene, part #133. I used a drop of Plastruct Plastic Weld cement between the strip and the head-block.
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Once the turnout is mounted, the pressure of the throw wire on the Tortoise will hold the throw-bar in place, but until then the switch rails could come out of position. This works great! I will give the styrene strip a bit of rail tie brown paint to hide the white color.
But I think that's enough for today!
 
Nice fix on the turnout, I’ll keep it in mind!
I use these often going into a curve, they act like part of the transition into a tighter curve.
Thanks, Rico! As I said, I saw that fix on a YouTube video, but can't find it now to give proper credit to the one who came up with it, but if he reads this, know that it is appreciated!
The curved turnouts are basically going to be part of the transition curve, as you said. I think they'll work fine.
Counting the Shinohara turnout, I have 19 turnouts to finish converting. I'd best get at it, huh?
 
Well, it's time for another layout update. I know what you're thinking: “Oh, Gawwwd, not ANOTHER one!”
Yup. Another one!
I got the roadbed for the inner loop and station siding laid down. The Peco curved turnout coming out of the station is installed.
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I have the Tortoise for it installed, but not wired up yet. I don't solder directly to the pads on the Tortoise, I much prefer to use edge connectors. That way if something needs to be changed I can do so at the workbench. Plus repeated soldering and de-soldering can degrade the pads on the Tortoise.
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I marked and drilled the holes for the Shinohara curved turnout, but I somehow managed to damage the turnout. Oops. It may be fixable, but it would be a job.
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The Tortoise for this turnout wound up having to be installed directly above the rear L-girder. That wouldn't have been so bad, except it's also on a splice joint where two sheets of plywood meet. When I built the benchwork I installed a plywood splice on the bottom of the joint, screwed from above. So I can't really remove a section of the splice. What I wound up doing was to mount the Tortoise horizontally. Directions for doing this are on Circuitron's website.
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I do have a few Tortoise remote mounts, so I could have used one of those, but I did it this way. There are going to be two more turnouts on this section of track, both of which will be above the L-girder. These two turnouts will each be part of a crossover, so I'm thinking I will use a remote mount and and extra cable and drive each crossover from a single Tortoise. I've never tried to do that before, so it will be a learning experience! I'll probably experiment with a mock-up before I try it under the layout.
As it turns out, this Tortoise will most likely have to be moved, anyway. I installed the roadbed based on the geometry of the Shinohara turnout, which I have decided to replace. Yesterday I ordered a Peco SL-E86 curved turnout from Midwest Model Railroad https://midwestmodelrr.com/. It's already been shipped, should be here Tuesday. But the geometry is different, so if I try to install it on the Tortoise where it sits now, it's going to be way off on the roadbed. So when it gets here I'll decide where it needs to sit on the roadbed, and drill a new hole for the Tortoise. The other option is to install it on the Tortoise where it is, and redo the roadbed. Ain't happening, Jack!
While I wait for the new turnout to get here, I decided mock-up where the industries on this end of the layout would go, and what they would be. I want this end of the layout to be where the Town of Soggy Bottoms is located, so I don't really want the industries encroaching on that space too much. The turnout to the south of the double crossover will lead into an 18” radius curve
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which will go the RustEze Medicated Bumper Ointment plant. There will be a #4 left turnout diverging to a holding track, and the straight route will lead to a wye which will service the shipping/receiving building. The three critics (Luigi, Guido, and Mater) are inspecting the mock-up. The Kadee uncoupling magnet will be disguised as part of a grade crossing.
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The turnout just to the north of the double crossover will lead to a wye
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which will service Rusty I. Beams Metal Salvage and Auto Recycling Facility. This is the “graveyard of the rusted automobiles” that Arlo Guthrie sang about. Maybe. The track on the right will be a holding track for empty gondolas.
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I'm saving the Peco turnouts for use on the mainline and in the yard. I have a number of Atlas Custom Line turnouts which will be used in the industrial areas. It would be financially irresponsible of me to simply chuck them all, since they work well and I've never had a problem with them.
Once the Peco curved turnout gets here, I'll finish up the inner loop, and then hook the Big Boy up to the heavyweight passenger cars I have and send them around the layout, crossing over from the inner loop to the outer loop, and back again. That's the beauty of the double crossover!
 
BigG, I'm not sure what brand they are. I actually have two types. One type is flat on top and more of an unpainted finish. The other is more rounded on top and has a black finish. I used the first type in "high stress" places, because they are a bit longer as well. For most of the rest of the layout I'm going to use the black ones because they're not so obvious.
The Peco turnouts have pre-drilled holes in them, but there were a few spots I drilled a small hole. The Peco track does not have pre-drilled holes, but the bottom of the ties is grooved, so drilling a small hole is simple. The outer loop is Atlas flex track, because I'm trying to re-use what I can to help keep costs down. The inner loop will be Peco flex track.
 



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