Gateway Subdivision

[logandsawman]

Across the doorway on the upper logging level is the spring house.
The cut stone walls are made from --Baby Building Blocks--from Uncle Ben's Consortium. I don't even know if they are around anymore, I got these for layout #1 back in 2017-18. The stand pipe is a Brass Lambert model , I used a narrow, Walthers stand pipe base, and added an extension to the spout mounting pipe. I have two of these Accurail cars each a different #.
View attachment 267996

The cars are modeled with two-piece doors, but unfortunately, nothing opens.......
These cars actually ran on the SP, they had two tanks inside, filling up at a spring by MT Shasta.
View attachment 267997

Those building blocks look great!

Nice job,

Dave LASM

 

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Thanks Dave, here's the blocks. I think there was a couple hundred in a pack, I did have two packs. They glue together with AC nicely.

 

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Here is a better view of the Shasta cars. The photo doesn't really show the contrast in the paint jobs, one is darker (rt side) than the other, which I like.

 

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My first landscaping project was the hill on the logging line as you come off the helix. I cut 1" foam and glued it on edge. I cut and stapled some 1/4" mesh nylon screen that I found in the Wal-mart parking lot going back to my pickup. I went back into Walmart a few days later, and the "associate," said they don't carry the stuff........idk were it came from?.....idk
Anyway, I used plaster-cloth to cover all. The rocks are bark, live pine tree bark. I saw this technique from and English youtuber. He used bark from a playground, I used live bark. The difference is the edges of the bark. Mine are very sharp, were his are rounded from the processing to get it to the playground. I like mine, but the next bark "rock" I do, I'm going to rough up the edges, so they are not quite so sharp.

The wide spot between the track and facia I'm thinking of a pond and small ridge........

 

[logandsawman]

The

My first landscaping project was the hill on the logging line as you come off the helix. I cut 1" foam and glued it on edge. I cut and stapled some 1/4" mesh nylon screen that I found in the Wal-mart parking lot going back to my pickup. I went back into Walmart a few days later, and the "associate," said they don't carry the stuff........idk were it came from?.....idk
Anyway, I used plaster-cloth to cover all. The rocks are bark, live pine tree bark. I saw this technique from and English youtuber. He used bark from a playground, I used live bark. The difference is the edges of the bark. Mine are very sharp, were his are rounded from the processing to get it to the playground. I like mine, but the next bark "rock" I do, I'm going to rough up the edges, so they are not quite so sharp.

The wide spot between the track and facia I'm thinking of a pond and small ridge........
View attachment 268083

View attachment 268084

View attachment 268085

The bark looks like shale.

Interesting idea, and it comes across very well the way you did it!

Dave LASM

 

[2Tracks]

The

The bark looks like shale.

Interesting idea, and it comes across very well the way you did it!

Dave LASM

Thanks Dave, there are a couple wall corners on the other end I figured I would try again......

 

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Good morning model railroaders......
Today I thought I'd show you my paint sample selections. Somehow my will to put an unpainted plastic kit on the layout is just not there!
So, over time, wanting to know what colors look like on a model, I've collected these........

The overall group, including wood, plastic, tin.

The three pieces middle left, white styrene unprimed, top. Dark grey primer, middle, and light grey primer bottom. These are all the Vallejo metal colors I have. The ID for each one is written on the back, and of course you can see some are written on the front.
The very bottom piece is grey primed styrene w/red , brown colors.....

The top grey card is corrugated tin samples. Below that is four wood samples with stains......
Below them is a grey primed styrene piece with the Vallejo wood weathering series......
Below that is a black primed styrene piece with the metal colors.

More wood......

 

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In between the bigger building projects, I worked on some of the smaller details.......

semaphores

Tell Tales & cross bucks.....

And three single track Tell Tales.......

 

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I have access to all the roadbed building materials around here that the railroads had. So, I bought a classifier and am making my own ballast/groundcover. The only track that gets a purchased product is the GN mainline on the freight. The biggest use of material for the RRs when they started building was red cinders. Complete "buttes" were obliterated for roadbed/fill. Most of my non-mainline tracks will have ballast of red cinder, but there are other places I will use other types of rock.
Six different size mesh screens in this one...... The 35 size I'm using on the shoulders of the track and 60 between the rails in the cribs.
And of course, all sizes can be used for landscaping.... It has been a while since I got these, I believe the meshes come in different combinations....

All of these are #10.....

From left to right..........
I call this one Lower Lake, because that is where I got it. It is a grey, finer grain sand, no material stayed in the #5 mesh......

Black cinder....not as plentiful as red cinder, but lots of it none the same......

Pumice...pure volcanic pumice... Not so much for roadbeds, I was thinking loads, other stuff.......
(Pumice is volcanic glass--obsidian--frothed up like a milkshake......)

This one is called Perez, because it came from the area around the Perez siding on the Modoc Northern track of the UP.
I like the color of this so I'm using it as a major source of ground cover. It's probably a little more reddish than the picture shows.....

I did give both the red & black cinders a magnet test. I have a little extendable parts magnet that I poked in the cinder. Yep, they are magnetic. I ballasted a section of track in both the red & black cinders, and after thoroughly drying & cleaned up, retested with magnet, and of course nothing stuck because it was glued down, but if there is a question on the cinder being magnetic and a loco(s) running over it and something happening? idk. I will find out! I am going with it.....

I would offer red cinder (rocks) to anyone that would like some, no charge, you pay shipping.......
Happy Modeling!

 

[ctclibby]

I have access to all the roadbed building materials around here that the railroads had. So line, I bought a classifier and am making my own ballast/groundcover. The only track that gets a purchased product is the GN mainline on the freight. The biggest use of material for the RRs when they started building was red cinders. Complete "buttes" were obliterated for roadbed/fill. Most of my non-mainline tracks will have ballast of red cinder, but there are other places I will use other types of rock.
Six different size mesh screens in this one...... The 35 size I'm using on the shoulders of the track and 60 between the rails in the cribs.
And of course, all sizes can be used for landscaping.... It has been a while since I got these, I believe the meshes come in different combinations....
View attachment 268551

All of these are #10.....
View attachment 268552
From left to right..........
I call this one Lower Lake, because that is where I got it. It is a grey, finer grain sand, no material stayed in the #5 mesh......
View attachment 268553

Black cinder....not as plentiful as red cinder, but lots of it none the same......
View attachment 268554

Pumice...pure volcanic pumice... Not so much for roadbeds, I was thinking loads, other stuff.......
(Pumice is volcanic glass--obsidian--frothed up like a milkshake......)
View attachment 268555

This one is called Perez, because it came from the area around the Perez siding on the Modoc Northern track of the UP.
I like the color of this so I'm using it as a major source of ground cover. It's probably a little more reddish than the picture shows.....
View attachment 268556

I did give both the red & black cinders a magnet test. I have a little extendable parts magnet that I poked in the cinder. Yep, they are magnetic. I ballasted a section of track in both the red & black cinders, and after thoroughly drying & cleaned up, retested with magnet, and of course nothing stuck because it was glued down, but if there is a question on the cinder being magnetic and a loco(s) running over it and something happening? idk. I will find out! I am going with it.....
View attachment 268557

I would offer red cinder (rocks) to anyone that would like some, no charge, you pay shipping.......
Happy Modeling!

Jerry: In case you do not know - those red cinders crushed from what was called Montana Pink. Was even used in the western hiway systems and came from the Essex pit. They later found that it was too soft and went to basalt ( dark gray stuff ) and granite.

L8r

 

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I d

Jerry: In case you do not know - those red cinders crushed from what was called Montana Pink. Was even used in the western hiway systems and came from the Essex pit. They later found that it was too soft and went to basalt ( dark gray stuff ) and granite.

L8r

I did not know that....Essex pit? never heard of that.....Montana Pink, any relation to the Mazzola flood? (if im naming that right....)Kind of the same time period?

 

[ctclibby]

I d

I did not know that....Essex pit? never heard of that.....Montana Pink, any relation to the Mazzola flood? (if im naming that right....)Kind of the same time period?

Oh boy, if I remember my geology - the plate under Glacier Park tipped a few million years ago towards the West and all the water to the East flooded and created the inland flat lands of what was to be Western Washington, Northern Idaho and British Columbia. The pink stuff was before the dinosaurs, and went downstream and was broken up into chunks, pieces and sand. Most got deposited on the Western edge of Glacier so pretty clean except for small bugs, flies and wigglies. The coulee in Washington was also created: now Coulee Dam. Essex is just before you go into Glacier Park proper. Missoula flood was only 15K years ago stemming from Glacial Lake Missoula and washed out what was to be Washington, Idaho and Northern Oregon...again.

You can kinda see the Pink of the pit:

L8r

 

[ctclibby]

Oh boy, if I remember my geology - the plate under Glacier Park tipped a few million years ago towards the West and all the water to the East flooded and created the inland flat lands of what was to be Western Washington, Northern Idaho and British Columbia. The pink stuff was before the dinosaurs, and went downstream and was broken up into chunks, pieces and sand. Most got deposited on the Western edge of Glacier so pretty clean except for small bugs, flies and wigglies. The coulee in Washington was also created: now Coulee Dam. Essex is just before you go into Glacier Park proper. Missoula flood was only 15K years ago stemming from Glacial Lake Missoula and washed out what was to be Washington, Idaho and Northern Oregon...again.

You can kinda see the Pink of the pit:
View attachment 268615

L8r

Was wondering .... Missoula Flood did create the Coulee for Coulee Dam. Woops!

L8r

 

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Was wondering .... Missoula Flood did create the Coulee for Coulee Dam. Woops!

L8r

So, are you saying the cinders down here came from up there? I have always understood that it was geological forces that created the cinder buttes.... Some of them are in the Lava beds in northern California,.......

 

[ctclibby]

So, are you saying the cinders down here came from up there? I have always understood that it was geological forces that created the cinder buttes.... Some of them are in the Lava beds in northern California,.......

umm, no. I only know about the Pacific Northwest and that knowledge is probably minimal. You should be able to google ( or whatever ) "California Tectonic Plates" and read about them to see what happened where and when.

Have fun!

L8r

 

[2Tracks]

umm, no. I only know about the Pacific Northwest and that knowledge is probably minimal. You should be able to google ( or whatever ) "California Tectonic Plates" and read about them to see what happened where and when.

Have fun!

L8r

copy copy.......
I always did enjoy the study of geology, especially in my area......southern Oregon...... I will look that up.....

 

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The latest of the projects I'm working on for the Gateway Sub, is this B.T.S. McCabe water tank for the logging line.

The base is pretty cut & dry. I did change the NBW's though... it came with what they called, large NBW's, having a four-inch round washer, with a lot of flashing. I was surprised as I can't recall Grant Line NBW's as having much flash on them.... I have some GL six inch square washer NBW's, that's what I used, painted a dull dark grey primer.....

The tank's inside structure measures 2 1/4" dia. The instructions say to get a 2 1/2" dia. jar, wet the tank wrapper and secure it around the jar and let it set for 24 hrs. That didn't work, too hard to get the wrapper to stay glued to the inside structure.
This is the second try with a 2" dia. (Tamyia) can. I soaked the wrapper in hot water before placing around the can and let it set for 3 days.

Putting on the tank bands..(styrene)... The instructions say to use CA to attach bands to tank. I didn't think that would work with wood being porous, and even with gel CA, I couldn't get that to work, effectively, I used Ilene's tacky glue to put the bands on.

All the bands on, gallows affixed, primed, (from the same can used above) ready for paint. The plans call for Oxide red, I'll use whatever brand I have. Just for something different, I split the band clamp placement on each side of the gallows, instead of being all stacked in a row.....

 

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Another ongoing project with the water tank, is the Walthers Bulk Transfer facility.

Ready to go on the layout.....

Placed on the layout, room for two cars past the pit. That's the office foundation near the end of the cars, just checking its placement. I opted to place the office building down towards the isle where the security shack is. (w/out roof) Chain link fencing w/security shack comes with the kit, I'm probably not going to use either here.....

This is how big a pile is going to be, I stopped pouring when the cinders hit the edge of the platform. If I went this way, four, maybe five piles would fit around the platform.

I wanted more piles so I made a template of the platform, and using scale tie stock, glued bulkheads together to go around the perimeter of the platform.

This will allow for seven bunks around the platform. I'll use scale 2x10/12 lumber to build extension walls out from the bulk heads.
Happy Modeling!

 

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Around the corner, to the right of the Bulk Transfer, are the lumber sheds, another Walthers kit, built in the individual shed style.

The rock landscaping is not permanent yet, I was just doing the, how does this look thing.....

I like to be able to remove the building for whatever reason....so the office building has pieces of styrene angle at the inside corners of the foundation to hold it in place.

The two lumber sheds I attached a couple pieces of rectangle styrene to the bottom. A piece of 1/8 styrene tube goes thru the center of the rectangles and into the shed base as a guard against shear force...... I painted fingernail polish on the pads to mark their location on the foam to cut clearance holes....

Scale dimensional lumber was used in both sheds. This is Kappler Lumber that I had ordered when I did layout 1 several years ago. Each stack in both sheds are made of individual boards. Starting at top right with 2x4's and moving left, and then to bottom right and so on, for both sheds.
I started with all the 2" dimensional lumber, then 4", 6," 8" and so on. The bottom of each stack has the dimensions on it and is held in place with the slightest dab of tacky glue......

With 36 bays to fill, I needed something else, so I got some scale redwood lumber from Northeast Scale Lumber. I put it on the top rack, reasoning that being a higher priced lumber, it didn't sell as well as the common lumber below..... I have since put a stack in bay 35, but left 36 open. I figured that would be a place that the lumber yard would store/keep miscellaneous stuff....... Also I have put the railings on the upper decks.

A couple of close ups.....

A view from each end (railings installed). I used the LUMBER CO signage from the kit and added the BASIN. That's why the font is off.......
I'm still undecided as to what kind of ground cover I'm going to have around the sheds, across the tracks, pavement, concrete, gravel cinders...idk

How all of the lumber stacks are made...... Happy Modeling!

 

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I used a Woodland Scenics timber portal cut down, to help hide the entrance to the helix up on top.....

I poured a tunnel liner the other day for the inside corner so you're not looking at the helix structure behind the portal......