Tuesday night at the Huff and Puff

All of the upper mainline track was laid and test by running cars through every turnout and track joint. Lots of eyes sighting down the track to check alignment and make final adjustments.  Finally, small sections of ballast was glued down to hold everything in place.

Upper mainline leaving Springbank. There is a short passing siding there for the coal mine. The sidings to the coal mine also need to be installed.

Mainline leaving Lincoln back to Springbank. This is the passing siding for trains coming and going from Lincoln. The logging line trestle (yet to be installed) is to the left.

Branch line as it loops around the back of Lincoln. At the top left you can see the start of the benchwork for the branchline where it will loop back around, away from the mainline and head for Ortona.

Bus wire guides being installed. We decided to keep the 4 pairs of bus wires separate this time.

Tuesday night at the Huff and Puff

Progress was slow. Lining up the turnouts at the end of Springbank has been very troublesome, with the new direction it now has to go. We did get most of it put in. The same can be said about Lincoln. It has 2 mainline and 2 branchline connections and some benchwork to complete. We got a lot of it put in but there is still work to be done to get all the track and turnouts installed. The rest of of the upper mainline track should go faster.

Upper mainline leaving Springbank. 

The end of Lincoln where all the work has to be done. 

The above picture of the lower mainline shows that we have not started on the benchwork for it. The track on the left, where the turnout is sitting, is the branchline. The next track to the right is the lower mainline and the next track is the Lincoln east end switching lead. The 2 tracks to the right are sidings. The tracks turning off at mid picture are for the upper mainline. We have decided to install all of the upper mainline, wire it and then test it with Mike's battery operated engine, before doing much to the lower mainline. We will also do some work on the branch and logging lines at the same  time. We have opted to use part of the branchline in Lincoln as an extra passing siding, but because of the way the turnouts are oriented you can only leave the branchline by reversing onto the mainline as the branchline doesn't service Lincoln, it connects with the lower mainline at the east end of Lakeview,  on it's way to Elsewhere.

Planing Mills part 2

Construction of the buildings is complete. Still need a tall water tank. Piping will wait until the actual location is ready for a test fit as will the doors on the mills.

Some painting done on buildings. No they are not pink.  Weathering will be added next.

Noticed the main doors on the drying kiln are lower so it will be on elevated ground. The doors have to be level with the delivery ramps. Can't do anything more until I know where the main doors will go, and the arrangement of the buildings. 

Tuesday night at the Huff and Puff.

Construction continues. All the upper mainline benchwork was finished up. Members began setting out the track to see what the best arrangement would be.

The area where the coal mine will be.

The plywood for the sawmill area was cut out but not installed. Meanwhile the benchwork for the loop into Miller was cut out and installed. We also did a scrap clean up.

Benchwork for the loop into Miller. 

Homemade gooseneck pole/door lights.

Very easy and inexpensive  way to build your own gooseneck lights. I bought a pack of 8 mm flat pad post w/clutch ear ring findings at Hobby Lobby, well I got my wife to buy them, less stares that way. Only cost $3.00 for over 14 of them, it says, mine had about 20 pairs.

Next you make a punch out of a piece of 3/8" dowel. I chucked it in my drill and held it against a bench belt sander, until it had a rounded end. For the die I used a scrap piece of oak and drilled 2 3/8" holes in it. A 1/16" hole was then drilled through the middle of each hole to accept the post. With the punch still in the drill, I held a piece of sandpaper over the die hole add pushed the punch into the sandpaper and hole and spun it a few times, moving the sandpaper each time, until the shape of the punch matched the hole in the die.

If you also drill a 1/16" hole in the rounded end of the punch you can also make umbrellas. Simple place the ear ring stud in the hole and punch it into a concave shape. Make sure the post doesn't stick out of the other side of the die. If it does you will have to add another piece of wood with a matching hole under it. Next, just past the keeper ring area on the post, on the pad side, make a 90 degree bend. If you bend it in the keeper ring groove area, it will break. Moving a bit closer to the pad end of the post, with the previous bend up, bend a half circle in the post with a wire bending pliers,  the type with the round jaws.

Should look something like the one on the left.

Mount them on the adhesive side of a piece of masking tape mounted on a piece of scrap and spray paint them.

They should look like this, if you use green paint. I will add a white bead to represent the bulb as in the 1 on it's side.

Planing Mill Structures, part 1.

The 6 structures of the Planing Mill complex, 2 planing mills, a breeze way, boiler house, sawdust tower and a water tower, combine to make up a big block of buildings within the Saw Mill complex. The transfer shed will not be modeled.  The bottom of the main walls were made with clapboard siding topped with a small header of board and batten. Scrap wood was used to strengthen the walls.

All of the windows in these structures are located in the clerestory walls. These sections were made by using a flat piece of pine stock, painting the areas where the windows will go, black, and gluing the windows and board and batten spacers to it.

The McCabe buildings are 35' x 58' and 30' x 50' I  made mine 26.5' x 62' and 26.5' x 48'. The width was chosen because Northeastern Scale Lumber, 1/8" board and batten is 3.5" wide. The lenghts were also chosen in part by the length of Northeastern's clapboard siding.
The 2 planing mills, some of the power house and sawdust bin are taking shape. I glued the walls of each building and held them together as my wife stretched out rubber bands, and put them around the building to hold the walls tightly together, as the glue dried. The building was checked for square and each joint was checked for alignment. Oops, must have missed one.

Building the Drying Kiln

The Drying Kiln was build to mimic the 1 in the McCabe Stayfork Sawmill kit. I did make it about half the width. My kiln measures 38' x 14'. The walls were constructed with board and batten and scribed siding. The small lean to shed has clap board  siding. Inside bracing is scrap pine strips. The bottom strips were exposed to represent a cement foundation.

Although not all the bracing strips are not yet installed, the siding was stained with Hunter Line Weathering Mix. Some of this weathered wood will show through the finishing wash of red paint, adding an age look to the building.

The front door height from the ground, was determined by the height of the delivery ramps.

Front loading door and outside bracing have been added.









The Kiln is almost complete, it still needs steps, Windows and doors, and some weathering.

Progress at the Huff and Puff.

Finally we are in the rebuilding stage. The benchwork and almost all the road bed was installed for the upper mainline, last night. People were standing back and commenting " Now I see the plan." Amazing how a little bit of benchwork changes everything.  Yes everything is still a mess, but its looking good to me.

Maybe the next step should be to install the track and wiring before we start on the lower mainline, especially at the end of Springbank? Thanks to our new member, Larry, all the track is cleaned and ready to go. We should also decide on our electrical blocks and where the quad unit will be installed.

The corner was cut off of Lincoln for better access to the branchline and logging line. The station was going to be moved anyway. The church can occupy the vacant lot, if the waterline leak is ever fixed.

Ortona benchwork raised up to 53 inches and installed into place. Most of the background was saved in this area by lifting the back wall an inch and a half. A new top and road bed will be added to the top of the cabinet. The plan right now is for Ortona to act more like a staging area with trains being dispatched from there.

Tuesday night at the Huff and Puff

Last of the destruction was completed. The ideas listed on the cad drawing were reviewed and agreed upon. So we will have a large sawmill complex, passing sidings on either side of Lincoln, the branchline loop around Lincoln will also be used by the mainline as a passing siding, the coal mine will go in the exit door corner, the gravel dock will be in Lakeview and Ortona will be its original width and containg the ore mine.
During a short meeting we welcomed Larry Mayberry as our newest member, and agreed to start rebuilding per the plan. Phill also reported on his visit to the Central Texas Area Model Railroaders. He brought forward the idea of having a handout pamphlet for the club, much like the one he brought back from Texas. It was agreed to pursue the idea.
With the little time left we started to build the supports for the upper mainline towards Northdale and remove the old branchline turnouts on the back side of Lincoln. In review Lincoln will have the same 4 track, double ended yard, with long switching leads on both ends. Plus there is a passing siding on each end of Lincoln. The branchline will start after Jutland, in the town of Lakeview, run around Lincoln and end in Ortona. It will also have running rights on the mainline from Jutland to Elsewhere.