Thanks Bob. It has been a fun project. What's funny to me now is when I first started or I should say restarted in this hobby some 40 years ago, just the mention of scratch building scared the hell out of me. Now about 95% of the structures and all the track work with the exception of staging will be scratch built.
Well it's been a while since I posted to this thread. Work has been a little hectic since our boss passed away but life must go on for the rest of us. I finally got back to working on the scrap baler. I added stairs to the operators' platform and the control stand for the hydraulics. I still need to add the railing around the platform and it will be ready for paint. Here are a couple of progress shots. With the control stand added I posed a HO figure next to the baler so you could get and idea of the size. I hope to start painting and weathering after I get the railing added tomorrow
Thoroughly enjoying your layout through this thread!!!! Keep up the great work and sharing for all to see ratled
Thanks Ratled. I have enjoyed sharing and hope folks on this forum can learn and/or get ideas for their own layout. After all that's why we do what we do on Trainboard.
After attaching stanchions and railing the baler is ready for paint. Here is the front view. And the rear view. After the paint is completely dry (no paint fumes) I will paint some of the details and weather this beast. Since this baler sits outside it will receive a pretty liberal dose of weathering. Then I can install the baler in the scrap yard and we'll be ready for business.
The hydraulic lines appear to be brass steam engine parts? Did you just add them where you thought they would be appropriate? Thanks.
Yes and yes. The stairs are scratch with .078 wire for the railing. The stanchions are extra Athearn short stanchions. The hydraulics are steam lifting injectors to be precise. I aquired some steam detail parts some time back and since I don't model steam, they seemed like a good substitute. The driving force behind this project was 1) the need for a baler in my scrapyard and 2) spend as little as possible on the project. To date everything I've used was on hand in my scrap box so not one thin dime has been spent...just my labor. I'm about finished with this project, so I will post a complete build how-to in the Inspection Pit later for those that don't look at the HO forum.
Looking at a few of your pix, by the way the MoPac "VL" train operated from "V"anderbuilt, TX to N Little Rock, AR. Van Buren would see the KL, LK trains, plus grain trains and coal trains going to White Bluff (south of Little Rock). Lots of grain, lumber, rock. Very little auto parts, almost no intermodal or auto racks. Traffic on the Van Buren line was stuff between the upper midwest and Arkansas/Louisiana or connections to roads other than the NW at Memphis (Kansas City to Memphis-N&W traffic rode the SMU/UMS via the White River route). There would be lots of ties in gondolas northbound. You would see lots of L&N, Seaboard or ICG engines (we had a ICG GP10 that was the Van Buren switcher for a couple months). Dave H. (Asst Roadmaster at Van Buren for a brief moment in time back in the early 1980's)
Dave, thanks for the heads up. An ICG switcher...Hmmmm. I always appreciate prototype train information. I do plan to add more lumber and grain cars as funds allow. I do have to admit that I model a Van Buren Sub that is on steroids at least operations wise (hence pig and auto traffic. Besides I already had the cars so I wanted to use them). To model the line "as is" would be somewhat boring as far as "local" traffic is concerned. The elevator and cannery still exist in Van Buren and the team in Ozark for pellet hoppers. Spadra has the grain/feed mill and that's about it. The branch is now a bike trail through Clarksville (although it seems it still existed in '75). I've tried to model most of the industry that was in the area plus I've added industry that never existed on the line to add more switching (I love locals) and additional through freights so that more operators can enjoy a op session. As to the actual trains that did ply the sub, it was my understanding that there were two long distance locals, one from North Little Rock and one from either KC or Coffeyville that would terminate in Van Buren and return. Did these locals actually run and what would have been their symbols? I would appreciate any further symbol information about the trains that ran on the sub.
I can't remember the names off hand, they were numbered (3 digit number). There was one between N Little Rock and Van Buren and One between VB and Coffeyville. There was a steel dealer just north of VB off the main. Russelville shipped frozen chickens in UPFE reefers. It was fairly common if the Ft Worth to Coffeyville line was plugged or having major maintenance work to divert trains between FTWR and KC via Little Rock and KC.
Thanks for the info. I'll need to do more research on those locals. One last question if I may. I seem to remember the Van Buren yard office as being a one story brick structure, however, when I went up there in '04 to chase 3985 the yard office was a modern glass and steel structure. Any pictures of the old structure (if it did exist) that might allow me to model it?
You mean this one? Shot this beast (as well as that ex-Rock GP38-2) in Van Buren about 1981 or thereabouts.
I got a little further on the scrap baler. I did some detail painting on the hydraulic pumps as well as the control box under the operators platform and the conveyor motor. I then weathered the unit with boxcar red and rust. I stippled and dry brushed the weathering (no airbrush). Here are a few outdoor shots. The first two were taken by a friend on his 1/35n20 layout. The baler is sitting on one of his turntables. Front view. Rear view And one I shot out in the backyard. If all goes well this week, I may get this beast finished and planted in the scrapyard ready to go to work by next weekend.
It's time to put the finishing touches on this project. In a earlier photo I showed the end rollers installed for the conveyor belt now I need to install the belts. I filled the area between the rollers with cardboard so the belts wouldn't sag in the middle. The belts were made from coffee filter paper painted black as seen on the right. That one section is enough for all three belts. I then installed and glued the conveyor belts in place. After everything dried, I weathered the belts. I had a little of the belt material left so I fashioned a baffle on the exit end where the bales are discharged. I also added some additional weathering. To finish off the model, I used a #2 pencil to burnish the areas (sides of conveyor) where the steel scrap and the finished bales (exit chute) rub the paint off and expose bare metal.
With that I now have a finished scrap metal baler And it's ready to start work in Davis Salvage. This has been a fun project. All the materials I had on hand so there was no cost (except labor) and the end result is a unique one-of-a-kind model. As I stated earlier, for those that don't look at the HO thread, I will post the construction of this project in the Inspection Pit.
