La Mirada, CA Industrial Switching Layout Progress

Denali_Subdivision Jun 29, 2010

  1. Denali_Subdivision

    Denali_Subdivision TrainBoard Member

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    Hey Andy,

    I am following Lance Mindheim for painting the track, he suggests using Floquil Roof Brown followed by Floquil Grimy Black. Check his blog entry for June 29, 2010 titled "Painting the Track" for his tips on painting the track: Blog

    I laid down ME Code 70 Weathered Rail, which is going to get covered when painting the ties anways, so next time ill get a pack of non-weathered rail...
     
  2. cajon

    cajon TrainBoard Member

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    Josh
    Need to take a trip out to the LAJ to see what colors their rails, ties & ballast really are. Too bad there's no time machine to go back to my '60s era. LOL
     
  3. Denali_Subdivision

    Denali_Subdivision TrainBoard Member

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    LOL Andy, but im sure the ballast hasnt changed much in color since, isnt it unlikely that the railroad would have ripped it all up and laid new ballast between then and now?

    Made another change to the trackplan...

    My intentions are to have an Intermodal train parked next to the mainline. I want to have do this because I see from Bing there was a Empty Spine Car Train and when I was there a few weeks ago there was a stack train parked in the passing siding which also serves as the inbound/outbound track i think. It would be a cool thing to have, and ill mix up a Spine and Well Car train. This train wont be permanently parked on the layout, just gives me an excuse to break out some of my intermodal equipment I have stored away from time to time for picture purposes....

    Looking at the picture below, the white tracks that run next to the mainline is the passing siding. Not only will this allow me to put an Intermodal Train on it, but when there is no Intermodal Train, parts of it can be used as a run around, parts as another yard track, and allows mainline access which can also be used as a run around or even more car storage for the yard.

    Here is the revised plan. The changes require me to make some slight changes to the module im working on now, so ill have to order 2 more #6 turnouts to make that crossover on the left end of Module #5 between white and yellow tracks.
     

    Attached Files:

  4. Denali_Subdivision

    Denali_Subdivision TrainBoard Member

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    Well crud, I just ordered the Red Caboose BNSF Coil Cars this morning from Intermountain and well there were only 7 left in stock, and they wont be getting anymore in.... Thats a bummer, but at least I got 7 lol. Im not sure if there all different roadnumbers or not, but if there are duplicates, I will just have to renumber them... I guess ill try and pick a couple more up on ebay when these come in so I can see what roadnumbers I got so i dont get even more duplicates LOL
     
  5. Denali_Subdivision

    Denali_Subdivision TrainBoard Member

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    Got some Caboose Industries Ground Throws in yesterday. Next time I bring the module down ill mate the with the switches :D

    Going on Vacation with my family, leaving for a week to Mammouth, CA on this coming Saturday so wont be back till August 7th, and that means no more progress on this module for a little while.

    When I come back, the Red Caboose Coil Cars should be in and waiting for me :D
     
  6. up mike

    up mike E-Mail Bounces

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    Lookin' good Josh I'll keep my eye on this thread I'm in Whittier a few towns away
     
  7. Denali_Subdivision

    Denali_Subdivision TrainBoard Member

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    Thanks Mike! :D


    Whittier ehhh? Your a lucky guy, in the same town as Craig (BLMA Models) :D
     
  8. up mike

    up mike E-Mail Bounces

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    Yup used all his parts when I was doing N scale...........
     
  9. Denali_Subdivision

    Denali_Subdivision TrainBoard Member

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    Got the WYE Turnout and the other 2 #6 LH's I needed to make the crossover on the left end of Module #5. Got them laid down and nailed in place. Now I can mask and weather the track/rail and then ballast the module.


    I also got 2 of the BNSF GP60M's, I need 4 more lol. So far I have one BNSF in the H2 Paint and one in the BNSF Warbonnet Paint. I just bought the Warbonnet a few mins ago from Milepost 38 Trains, they had one sitting in the case and i could pass it up since it was one of the latest run units and i cant seem to find them anywhere [​IMG]

    Ill post some pictures of the new engines and the latest trackwork later this evening to update further and bring the life back into this thread since i know everyone likes pictures and not just boring text :D
     
  10. Denali_Subdivision

    Denali_Subdivision TrainBoard Member

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    I just got off the phone with Phil @ Arizona Rock & Mineral. He is a nice guy and i threw some business his way. My La Mirada project will be ballasted exclusively with his products [​IMG]

    Here is what I just ordered:

    (4 bags) 1052 - Penn Fine
    (4 bags) 1053 - Penn Mainline
    (6 bags) 1172W - ATSF Fine
    (3 bags) 1173 - ASTF Mainline
    (3 bags) 1381 - CSX/SP Fine
    (3 bags) 1382 - CSX/SP Medium

    When this order comes in i should have the track painted/weathered and ready to lay some ballast down to hide the ugly blue foam base [​IMG]
     
  11. Denali_Subdivision

    Denali_Subdivision TrainBoard Member

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    Here are a few pictures showing the 2 new GP60M's and the latest track that has been laid on the left end of the module. The numbers on both locomotives will be changed to match 2 of the engines that serve La Mirada

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  12. Denali_Subdivision

    Denali_Subdivision TrainBoard Member

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  13. Denali_Subdivision

    Denali_Subdivision TrainBoard Member

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    Well I just finished painting all the track. It took a long time (about 4 hours) but I got it down and I like how it turned out. I followed Lance Mindheim's blog entry for painting track, which can be found here: Blog (scroll down to the June 29, 2010 entry). He suggests using Floquil Roof Brown followed by a dusting of Floquil Grimy Black, so, that is exactly what I did and I am happy with the results. Cleaning the railheads was the most tedious and time consuming. I did small sections at a time because of the large amount of track, which ensured that the paint didnt completely dry to the tops of the rails.

    I sorta came up with a little system to get the paint off the tops. As I have mentioned, im using Micro Engineering Code 70 Weathered rail. When its painted and you wipe the paint off the tops of the rails, you cant tell if its clean because it was pre-weathered. So I laid a small piece of papertowel down ontop of the track and took a putty knife and scrapped the paint off the railtops. After that, I took small pieces of papertowel's soaked in Paint Thinner and ran them along the railtops to remove the rest of the paint until the rail tops were smooth. Of coarse, doing small sections at a time meant overspray on sections that had already been painted/cleaned, so once everything was painted and cleaned, I re-cleaned the entire module by repeating the cleaning process. The Turnouts railtops are shinny as they should be. And as I mentioned before, I will NOT be using Weathered rail on the rest of the layout, too much of a headache when soldering and cleaning after painting :rolleyes:


    I also got the Ground Throws in place for the turnouts. One of them will have to be customized because there is not enough room for the throw to sit. Ill have to figure that one out a little later

    Ill snap some pictures a little later of the painted track so you guys can see the latest progress
     
  14. Denali_Subdivision

    Denali_Subdivision TrainBoard Member

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    Track painted and Ground Throws installed

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  15. Denali_Subdivision

    Denali_Subdivision TrainBoard Member

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    And this picture, you can see where i knocked over the paint thinner can and well, it ate a hole in my foam base :eek: So I will have to fill this hole before ballasting that section :rolleyes:

    [​IMG]
     
  16. Denali_Subdivision

    Denali_Subdivision TrainBoard Member

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    Been ballasting the mainline and the first track next to the mainline the last few hours. Havnt gotten much done, just doing small sections at a time and taking my time making sure that I fill the ties just enough without over filling them as well as doing inspections to make sure no ballast is on the tops of the ties after the Matte Medium Adhesive. So far ive gotten about 5' of mainline, 3' of the track next to the mainline, and one turnout ballasted with Santa Fe "Winslow Hue" from Arizona Rock & Mineral. The other tracks in the yard will be either light or medium gray blends mixed from Penn Gray & CSX/SP Gray Ballast

    Will post some pictures when I get a little more done and its worth snapping some pictures off lol
     
  17. 2slim

    2slim TrainBoard Member

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    Josh,
    That thinner will terraform faster than a hot wire, unfortunately you can't control it!! LOL Looks like a great place for a lowboy bridge or culvert/drainage ditch, remember "lemons into lemonade"

    2slim
     
  18. Denali_Subdivision

    Denali_Subdivision TrainBoard Member

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    Hmmmm a bridge where the whole is, thats not a bad idea to fill it in :D Thanks for the suggestion, I might just do that lol
     
  19. Denali_Subdivision

    Denali_Subdivision TrainBoard Member

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    Got some pictures to update on the ballast work that I have been slowly working on the past couple days. I finally got a good enough portion done worth taking pictures for lol. Im about half way ballasted with Module #5 now...

    Here are a few pictures:


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  20. mikelhh

    mikelhh TrainBoard Member

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    Nice! Good-looking rails, too. Not orangey :thumbs_up:

    Mike
     

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