Group Input

A few of us were looking at an oil loading platform setup that John had completed. It was noted that it was too bad that the actual loading areas were so close together. It was suggested he move a ladder from one end, add it to the other end, and turn that section around to separate them a little, a lot of work.  Another idea was to separate the two platforms, easy enough, but it might look odd.  Then Jim says, in a matter of fact tone, "just turn both of them around so the steps are in the middle" hum, I might not have though of that.  This is the true value of a club, group input of ideas.  Carrying this even further, the kit was Jim's dads, but reassembled by John and critiqued by the rest of us, lol.

two cars could not be loaded at the same time

now the loading areas are further apart

Simmer's Block

A friend of our group, Bill Simmers put together a few buildings that Don had gave him.  Bill did a great job of painting this group of buildings for the city of Wellington.

great paint job

Tuesday Night at the Huff and Puff

Ricky's wife sent in some homemade cookies, a wonderful start to our Tuesday night, thanks.  Five of our regulars were missing but the rest pushed onward.  Some basic scenery was added, including rock painting, ballasting, river painting, and hard shell plastering.  The two bridges were put back in place over the McDonald River, completing the mainline.

COOKIES

painting the rock, base and road

trusty ballaster hard at work

cardboard web applied to scene

bridges replaced and river painted

McDonald Crossing

Glen gave the club an Atlas 18 inch through truss bridge for a river crossing on the clubs layout.  After cutting back the roadbed and supports, a piece of panelling was added to the bottom of the backdrop, this seam will be hidden by the deck of the bridge.  The back drop was then painted and appropriate rock castings were added to the scene. The river bed has a base layer added.

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This is the Pits

This is what happens when you programme in the incorrect engine number. This is at Don's OWR.

Power Plant Road

Jim adds more plaster around the Power Plant. Adding this winding and hilly road will add a lot of interest to this whole area, with several level crossings and and an overpass.

cutting a rock casting

power plant road where it climbs to upper level

Wright Petroleum

John has been working on a refinery for Springbank and brought in the loading platform. After setting up it's location we decided to add a track to the other side of the platform,  another example of why you don't ballast a siding until the buildings are in place. We may also add another turnout to switch a warehouse for this industry.

loading platform

Jim's Cut

Plastering is always a messy job.  Jim has cut down a couple of wing walls for the tunnel entrance, which were stained with diluted black paint.  After gluing in some card stock supports, plaster soaked paper towels were laid in place.

retaining, wing wall in place

messy touch ups

Harvey Woods

Glen brings in another example of his great modelling ability.  He used the front and one side of Cornerstone's American Hardware Supply for the Harvey Woods building and the back and other side to build Wood Gen Supply. Both of these industries are/were located in Woodstock. By hand painting them different colours and adding extra details, both buildings are unique. Wellington will be the home for both of these buildings.

Harvey Woods

Wood Gen Supply

Tuesday Night at The Huff & Puff

To start the night off, we had a visit from some of the Ingersoll Model Railroad group. Scenery work was in full swing, with several areas being getting attention.  More structures arrived and were put into place. And to end another productive night, Matt arrived with coffee and Tim Bits, thanks.

more rock work on the branch

gaps being filled between castings

another road

coffee time, thanks Matt

Hard Shell Trial

Dried out baby wipes were dipped into a soupy mixture of hydrocal and brown tile grout and applied over a foam base.  It dried to a hard, grey-brown layer, not bad. Another layer of the same material brushed on top of this, should make a good scenic base.

A Painting for Cliff

Cliff is making a display module and as me to paint the backdrop for him.

he looks pleased

Upper Loop Scenery

The track plan we adopted for our layout produced some challenging areas to for us to produce believable scenery.  There always is a trade off between scenery and track work.  Four of these are the long rock wall behind the port, which will be broken up by the Long river Bridge and some buildings. There is also a lot of rock work on the branch line.  Then there is the top of the hill above the quarry, a bare hill right now, but it will be forested latter on.  There is also a cut on the upper loop where it skirts the cement plant.

working on the upper loop cut

rock face on the branch

top of the quarry

Ward's Cut on G.&E.R.R.

Jim Long posted these pictures of Ward's Cut snow plowing on the Goderich and Exeter Railway. This cut is between Goderich and Clinton Jct.

didn't make it

digging out the snow

Tuesday Night at the Huff & Puff

The scenery in all areas received attention.  Building bases were added in Lincoln and gaps in rock work, in various areas,were filled in.  The power plant road was extended and rock cuts were added in this area.  More scenery was added to the upper return loop as the ballasting in Wellington continues.  The branch line had the areas between the rocks worked on.  Discussion on the DCC system requirements continued.

road work near the power plant

scenery along the branch line

filling the gaps

bases installed at Lincoln

Yet another way to do scenery

Jim, being in the construction trade, brought in some plastic web screen used in roofing, to make some land forms.

screen land forms



roll of plastic screen

Paving by Doug McLean

Doug paints the streets with shoe polish, after the linoleum is glued down, upside down.

shoe polish to paint streets

Tuesday Night at the Huff & Puff

An oil refinery was built by John and will be part of the Springbank skyline. Track cleaning and testing went well with an engine completing a lap on the main line ( well almost, one bridge is temporarily removed to do some scenery under it).  Most of the main line is ballasted and we are now working on the rest of the sidings.  Scenery is being added to various locations on the layout.  DCC requirements were also talked about.  It's nice to see the progress week by week.

cleaning up some ballast

adding some scenery

John built this refinery

had to blast away a rock face along the main line

DCC Throttles

This is a list of throttles that can be used on our layout.  They can be broken down into two types, utility or advanced, and within these types, you can get walk around (tethered) or radio (we will not be using infra-red, in my understanding).  A word of warning about the advanced type, if not careful you can programme the whole layout ( yes it does happen) with a push of the wrong button, and therefore not the preferred type for everyday use.
Advanced types.
DT100 was the original programming type and are no longer sold.
DT400 super walk around (tethered) throttle. This is mainly used to programme engines and is quite large and complicated.  The club already has one so none of use need to spend $180.00 on one.
DT400R radio version of the DT400 and lists at $230.00, not a requirement for our layout.
Utility types
UT1 tethered throttle with only 2 digit address ability. Can be used with an engine programmed with a two digit address. Don't think this is sold anymore, but if you have one, it could be used.
UT4 tethered throttle with 4 digit address. List price is $80.00 . Can be used on our layout but restricts not only the user but also others trying to get around you.
UT4R radio throttle with 4 digit address.  List is $130.00 and is highly recommend as the throttle of choice.
The above is posted for information only, for each member to make their own choice of the throttle they want to use, and should not be construed as forcing the use of any particular throttle. Remember to let Don know what throttle you may want to buy for our first order.


DT400





DT100



UT1



DT402R



UT4R





Ballasting made easy by Rod Blonde

Just when you thought you knew it all, Rod, who has been a model railroader for all of 3 months, comes up with a ballast applicator I never thought of, a plastic ketchup bottle, who knew?

ballast applicator