Construction Update #24 - Westmoreland, TN Part 4, Details around Tunnel 2

The Maintenance of Way shed, storage yard and company housing near Tunnel 2

 

Two CSX GP-38's spliced by a FURX SD40-2 drift downgrade out of Tunnel 2 and by the two company houses, MOW storage yard and shed, in route from Chattanooga, TN to Bowling Green, KY.

I tend to model individual scenes, in no particular sequence, and then connect the scenes with generic scenery.  Such is the case with the small triangle of space outside Tunnel 2 between the main line in the foreground and the backdrop.  I didn't really have a preconceived plan for the space nor was it on my short term "to do" list.  The scene just evolved in my mind as I was planting trees on the hill above the tunnel portal.  The usable area is about 18" wide, 6" deep on the narrow end, and about 9'' deep adjacent to the tunnel portal.

I initially settled on a small shanty/storage shed and MOW storage yard.  After looking around for a suitable shed, I settled for one of the Atlas "Track Side Shanty" kits left over from my store inventory.  I painted the building two-tone gray with a black roof and weathered it with Bragdon's powdered pigments.

The storage yard was built using Woodland Scenics chain link fencing.  While the end result turned out OK, it took several attempts and two packages ($12each) of fencing to produce an acceptable model.  The fencing came warped right out of the package and proved almost impossible to straighten without breaking the plastic parts.  The mounting pins are also very fragile and break easily.  I suspect the problem has something to do with the manufacturing process and differences in expansion/contraction rates between the metal and plastic parts.  .

Initially, I tried mounting mounting a larger version right on the pink foam base.  The mounting pins broke and each section of fence, three panels on one side, bowed unrealistically.  The second attempt involved building a smaller yard with one panel on each side.  Two sections were glued together to make two corners like the one shown below.

This time, I drew a outline of the fence on a piece of .0080" styrene and drilled holes along the perimeter to line up with mounting pins on the fencing.  The two resulting section were then straightened out, under tension, and the mounting pins were slid into the pre-drilled holes in the styrene base.  ACC was used to hold them in place.  As can be seen in the following photo, this method kept the fencing reasonably straight.  Finally, I wouldn't recommend the purchase of Woodland Scenics chain link fencing.  There are far better alternatives on the market.

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I moved the shed and storage around on the layout before deciding on their final location.  Once I was satisfied, they were set in place with paving sand and diluted mat medium.  After the initial ground cover has set up, the inside of the storage yard and the vehicle parking and loading area in front of both the shed and storage yard will a get a overlay of screened (fine) paving sand and N-Scale cinders ballast.  And, eventually some weed, grass, and other details.

At one time, section houses were located near or next to a section of railroad and used for housing railroad workers.  By the 1970's, mechanization and system gangs eliminated most of the need for section gangs and company housing.  The houses were slowly phased out and many were sold off and converted to private residences, moved, or demolished.

Two company houses fill out the scene to the west of the storage yard.  Shown still under construction in the following photo, the two house were built from the Walthers "Company Houses" kit.

The houses, built per the kit's instruction, were painted in the same two-tone gray scheme as the storage shed.  The roofs were painted green.  A little soot was added to the roof around the chimneys but other than that, very little weathering was applied.  In order to raise their elevation a bit, I mounted the two houses on a piece of 1/4" cork.

  

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Details make the difference.  Figures were added to both company houses.  A man standing at the top of the stairs along with his dog are out front of the house on the left.  Two gents playing checkers along with an observer are on the covered porch on the right.  I added a grade crossing along with a pair of cross-bucks on the right.

 

 

 

This small scene is just about done.  I still need to add some "stuff" to the storage yard and do a little landscaping around the two company houses.

 

Construction Update #23 - Westmoreland, TN Part 3 - CEMEX, the Team Track & Tunnel 2

 

CEMEX Westmoreland

 

Parts for the CEMEX redi-mix plant at Westmoreland have been sitting around on the layout for months.  Since the plant is right around the corner from the small commercial and residential district, I thought I would get started on it.  The first thing I did was paint the track, and put down some basic ground cover and ballast in the areas that would be behind the plant and hard to reach in the future.  There are two spurs that run into the plant.  Aggregate will be unloaded on the rear track and transferred to the storage bins via the conveyor.  Bulk concrete will be unloaded from covered hoppers on the spur in front of the plant.

 

Once the ground cover was in place, I sat the plant in place.  It was assembled on my work desk in the house on a reinforced .0080" black styrene base.  The bins, on the right came out of my "parts" box.  I think they were originally part of an old Con-Cor kit.  The blending plant, on the left, came from the Walthers "Blue Star Redi Mix" kit.  Other parts were scrounged from other kits or the "parts" box.  The sign came off the internet.  I sized it and added "Westmoreland, TN" below "CEMEX" with Photoshop.

The concrete unloading shed was scratch built from Pikestuff components.  The corrugated office/warehouse in the left foreground came from the Walthers Clayton Valley Lumber kit.  The Ortner aggregate cars are from Walthers, the covered hopper is a recent release from Athearn.  I steel need to add some ground cover, figures, vehicles, and other details.

The Westmoreland Team Track

 

At one time, most towns had a team track and freight house.  Freight houses, for the most part are long gone as is the LCL (Less than Carload) business that once moved by rail.  While the prevalence of team tracks has also diminished, you can still find them along the right of way.  The lots surrounding them are generally full of potholes, overgrown with weeds, and littered with old dunnage.  But, they are still used... occasionally.  During the mid to late 1980's, when I model, team tracks they were more prevalent, in better repair, and used a lot more often. 

The Westmoreland team track dock was built from a Pikestuff modular loading dock kit.  I assembled the dock per the instructions and then filled in some of the gaps with Tamiya white putty. Then, using a rattle can, I sprayed the the dock a concrete color followed by a thin wash of alcohol and black Lincoln shoe die.  Scale strip wood, stained with Builders-In-Scale "Silver Wood", was added along the upper edges to protect the dock from trucks backing into it.

 

While the dock lined up nicely with a freight car, it was about a scale foot to high for a truck backed up to it.  I used two sheets of .0080" styrene sandwiched together to raise the area around the dock.  Screened paving sand was then used to surface the lot.

 

 Tunnel 2 (The Helix)

 

Leaving Westmoreland eastbound, the mainline uses a helix to reach the second level of the layout.  I thought about using a overpass and a lot of trees to disguise the entrance to the helix but ultimately decided upon a tunnel portal.  The back ground was extended using another six feet of  backdrop from Trackside Scenery and the concrete portal, wing wall, and tunnel liner came from CC Crow.  The portal parts were assembled, stained and weathered using the same methods I used on the State Line Tunnel (Construction Update #19).

The hill behind the portal was built up with pink foam and covered with plaster cloth

 

 

The area around the tunnel portal was covered with paving sand, some ground foam and dead-fall, and super trees.  Some additional foliage materials are needed but overall, it looks pretty good.  Eventually, if Atlas ever delivers the ex BLMA signals I have on back order, there will be a dispatcher controlled absolute signal leading into the tunel (helix)

An Unexpected Surprise

 

Every once in a while, you run across something built by someone else that may be just what you needed.  I ran across these little gems at my local hobby shop, The Electric Train Shop, in Burien, WA.  Scott, the owner, makes a habit of picking up old collections and selling them off in his store.  I rarely did this in my own store, The Inside Gateway, but in hindsight it was probably a mistake.

 

I wasn't looking for either of these structures when I went by the store.  But, the small storage building instantly caught my eye.  I didn't know where or when I might use it but just about any layout has a spot for one of these little inconspicuous jewels.  It was sitting right next to the tower that I hardly noticed the first time around.  Around ten minutes later, I found myself staring at the tower and wondering how it would look in Bowling Green where the Madisonville Sub crosses the old L&N line through town.  I bought the tower to use as a temporary "stand-in" until I got around to building something better.  

 

To tell the truth, they are both nicely built, painted and weathered and I didn't know they were built from inexpensive plastic kits until I turned them over.  Now, after they have been sitting on the layout for a few days, replacing them is way down, I mean way down, my list of priorities.