Progress on the Huron Central Railway

RailMix Mar 22, 2020

  1. RailMix

    RailMix TrainBoard Member

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    Since the winter layout party ended, I've been working on a couple of projects and taken a fairly interesting field trip. The structures I've been working on are for the Saginaw inspired area I've come to think of as "little Potter Street". First, the brick effect on the walls of the passenger station are done. This was done with several different colors of paint, drywall mud for the mortar lines and a final treatment with orange and red pastel chalks. Several of the wall sections, ready to assemble, are shown in the first photo.

    Depot Walls.jpg

    Next is the freight house. This was a train show find. So far, I've applied different layers of acrylic paint and gray tinted drywall mud, which I found to be somewhat more difficult on an already assembled structure. Hopefully, dullcote and treatment with pastel chalks will tone it down somewhat. The roof has received a coat of medium gray paint followed by washes of raw umber and black. Doors and windows, originally a buff color, have received an uneven coat of medium gray and next will receive an uneven coat of green, allowing both the gray and some of the original buff (unweathered wood) to show through. Like the brick effects, this is a technique I picked up from a Jason Jensen video. The stone effects on the foundation remain to be done using a technique from Luke Towan. Once I have finished this on the freight house, I will finish those parts of the depot. You will notice the foreground corner in the first photo.
    The mortar lines in this area were apparently sanded off, so this area will get some Ivy to hide it. I should note that, according to the Huron Central's hypothetical history, these two structures would have been constructed in 1881-82 by predecessor Green River and Eastern. The passenger station, being the public face of the railroad and also housing the company offices, has received much better maintenance over the years. The freight house, on the other hand, will show more signs of use and neglect. I'm going to hold back from going full Jason Jensen on it, mainly because the Huron Central is not interested in allowing anyone's freight to get wet:oops:.

    FREIGHT house 1.jpg

    FREIGHT house 2.jpg

    Oh yeah. What about the field trip? It was an interesting look around Bay City, but I'll save that for another post.
     
    Last edited: Mar 22, 2020
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  2. BNSF FAN

    BNSF FAN TrainBoard Supporter

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    That brick looks fantastic Tom. That is going to be one cool looking passenger station when complete. The freight house looks great too! (y)

    The party's over but the fun is still going on!
     
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  3. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Very nice job on the brick. It looks as though that building has been standing for ages. (y)(y)(y)
     
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  4. RailMix

    RailMix TrainBoard Member

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    Last edited: Mar 22, 2020
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  5. RailMix

    RailMix TrainBoard Member

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    Got a little farther on the freight house and passenger station this week. The freight house is basically done except for window glass, signage and some ivy Although I'm not entirely pleased with the separation of paint colors, etc., I'm reluctant to mess with it too much further. There are a few places I may attempt to touch up, but I am finding this stuff to be considerably more difficult on an assembled structure. The doors and windows have received some green paint and some weathering along with a wash on the foundation stones and a dusting with chalks. I also put some random tarpaper patches on the roof. Between the first and second photos, I noticed that the chimney was way too clean and gave it a heavy dusting of black chalk to tone it down some. IMG_1190.jpg

    IMG_1193.jpg
    Also got some work in on the passenger station. Got a lot of the capstones over the doors and windows installed. A few were hiding in the bottom of the box, so I still need to paint them. Next step will be to install the window and door frames and assemble the walls to the foundation.

    IMG_1196.jpg
    There is a lot to this kit. It's quite fussy if you want it to look good, but I hope the results will be worth it.
     
    Last edited: Mar 30, 2020
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  6. RailMix

    RailMix TrainBoard Member

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    Haven't gotten a lot of modeling time in recently, but finally got all the capstones applied, the doors and windows installed and the styrene "glass" applied. The next step is cleaning up the surgery I did on the platform preparatory to assembling the walls and applying brick sheet to the platform.

    IMG_1206.jpg
     
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  7. Chops

    Chops TrainBoard Member

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    Freight house looks amazing. Perhaps the addition of the ivy will meld the separation of colors you are seeing. Looks like
    something I would have explored on an amble, trying not to step on rusty nails.
     
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  8. RailMix

    RailMix TrainBoard Member

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    Haven't posted here in a while as modeling has been proceeding slowly for a while now. Progress on the passenger station will soon merit photos, but for right now I took a little detour and started on what will be a Sunoco station. This will be part of an area that's a tip of the hat to the American car culture. Part of it is the whole cruisin' thing, but to start with, it's about something else that happened in Michigan. Every Friday night beginning with the opening of trout season and ending with the close of deer season, there was a rush North. M13 in Bay City was a as good a place to observe this as anyplace. Among other things, this was where my first visit to McDonald's happened. There was at least one gas station there (Fletcher's Texaco) that had a selection of fishing gear hanging in the display windows. There will be a highway running across one end of my layout that will feature a Howard Johnson's (more a memory of Port Huron thrown in for good measure), a farmers' market and a 3D printed McDonald's I designed and printed in multiple colors a number of years ago. Another feature will be Don Barker's Sunoco. Part of the name came from Don's Gas Station, the Model Power kit I started with, with the other half decided by CMW's 41-46 Chevrolet wrecker, lettered for Barker's Sunoco. This structure has large windows and will be located at the edge of the layout, so a detailed interior and exterior will be important.

    IMG_1230.jpg

    As the story goes, Don Barker took this gas station over when he came home from the army in 1946 and operated it for the next 40 years.

    The first problem he would have run into was the size of the garage bay. It was perfect for Athearn's Model A or CMW's 36 Ford, but the 57 Chevy shown below would just barely fit. A vehicle like the Oxford 46-48 Desoto or 61 Cadillac? Forget it. OK, if this gas station was located in, say, California, it might not be much of a problem- just leave the door open and let the car's rear end stick out- but in Michigan this approach would get old in a hurry some time in October or November.

    IMG_1234.jpg
    The solution I came up with for the model world, which was what I would consider doing if it was my problem in the real world, was to knock out the back wall and use some concrete block (Pikestuff?) to add a couple of feet to the rear of the garage. It would be difficult to disguise a change in the building's length, so why not make it obvious? I should also note that the concrete color does not appear to have that much of a yellow cast in actuality.
     
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  9. pwaka88

    pwaka88 New Member

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    The weathering on the freight house looks amazing.
     
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  10. RailMix

    RailMix TrainBoard Member

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    Been a while since I posted here, but my modeling has been on hiatus for a while due to other stuff to do. last weekend I did get a chance to (almost) finish the ceiling in my future train room up north.

    IMG_1282.jpg

    In the process, I gained a new appreciation for my dad's abilities as a carpenter. He hid fluorescent lighting in the two false beams, and between those and the "cathederal" ceiling, the ceiling tile installation was an ordeal. His original installation looked a lot better than mine, but all I've got left to finish is the small row at right. Cutting and fitting makes for slow going. Hope to get back to some actual modeling soon and will try to install some benchwork next spring.
     
  11. RailMix

    RailMix TrainBoard Member

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    Finally got the ceiling done in the future train room- tiles, molding, the whole nine yards. Whew. Hopefully, I'll be back on structure building and starting benchwork fairly soon. I plan on starting down here and hauling it up north.

    IMG_1352.JPG
     

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  12. RailMix

    RailMix TrainBoard Member

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    Just giving this thread a bump as I will be posting here now that the layout party is over. Stay tuned.
     
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  13. RailMix

    RailMix TrainBoard Member

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    OK, so I reposted the photo of my homemade circle cutting jig for use with my router. I took this while I was waiting for a box of #12 capscrews to show up so I could finish putting the jig together.
    [​IMG]

    Guess what? It works.
    IMG_1565.jpg

    Obviously, the first section of the layout I'm going to be building is the round section. Initially, the operating scheme will be a roundy-round (imagine that). Tomorrow, I'm going to biscuit the two pieces together, frame this section up, tape some paper to it and lay out the trackplan.
     
  14. RailMix

    RailMix TrainBoard Member

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    This is what the track plan will look like initially. Although continuous running is definitely possible and I'm sure it will happen occasionally, I probably won't do that often, although I'll probably put an occasional passenger train together and run it around the loop. More likely, the upper right portion of the largest loop will be used for staging. The freight will appear at GreenRiver (lower left) make pickups and setouts on the inner loop and leave town, returning to open staging. Then a switcher stationed at GreenRiver will switch spots at GreenRiver followed by a disappearance through the double sided backdrop to switch Hickswille. In the steam era, this will be either an 0-4-0T or an 0-6-0T, while in later eras, this job will be handled by either a gasoline powered 4 wheel Plymouth or a 4 wheel EMD diesel (I forget the model designation on that one, but it's a very cool little locomotive). This is needed due to the 16" radius on the Hicksville spur. I did this at least partly on purpose to complicate operations. There actually is a prototype for this spur with multiple spots. It's the 1.5 mile long Lapeer Industrial Railroad (see link below).

    LIRR | abrailroad

    Round 2B.JPG
    As additional sections are built, the straight track that runs past the GreenRiver depot will lead to industries at each end. The two spurs branching off the outside loop at upper left will become part of a wye with the main line leading off to the left. Eventually, while the continuous run capability will still be there, operation will primarily be either point to point or out and back. I intend to try both and see which one I like (or maybe a combination of both).
     
    Last edited: Mar 15, 2023
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  15. RailMix

    RailMix TrainBoard Member

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    I've refined the full layout design somewhat and want to pose a question here. Since the scrolling era this layout will operate in reaches way back into the steam era and I dislike running my steam power tender first, there needs to be a way to turn locomotives at each end of the line. At top center, there is a reverse loop than can be used for out and back operation. There is also a wye that can be used for point to point operation.

    Full Layout.JPG

    This brings me to my question:
    I regard an engine facility placed somewhere on the line as a must. On the other end of the line, I have managed to shoehorn a turntable along with coal and sand facilities in at bottom center. I have a roundhouse I would love to use, but it would effectively eliminate the aisleway needed to get in and out of the layout. The question, then, is how much of a PITA would it be to put the roundhouse on a removable layout section? (I can think of a few ways to design good, repeatable locators. Alternately, I could probably find space for a single stall enginehouse without restricting the aisleway. What do you folks think?
     
    Last edited: Mar 18, 2023
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  16. RailMix

    RailMix TrainBoard Member

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    Got the round section of the layout done and am fairly pleased with the way it turned out. Both the top and the framing are 1/2" birch plywood. I used PVA everywhere, put the two halves of the top together with joining biscuits and used pocket screws for everything else. I was amazed at how solid the whole thing is.

    IMG_1582 (2).JPG

    When I get a chance, I'll cover it with paper, draw the track plan and place structures, locate the double sided backdrop, etc. I'm not going to install legs or apply foam until I take it upstairs to the train room. It's just shy of 60" in diameter and I have to say that if I was modeling in N scale, it would be large enough to build a nice stand alone layout on.
     
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  17. Hardcoaler

    Hardcoaler TrainBoard Member

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    That's very nice work @RailMix - strong and prescise. I also see a fine old drill press you have there at the right. (y) My Dad had a similar Atlas drill press from the late '40s or early '50s that one of my brothers has now, exposed rear belt sheaves and all.
     
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  18. RailMix

    RailMix TrainBoard Member

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    Thanks. The drill press, BTW, is sort of a family heirloom, (OK, so if your family heirlooms include a drill press, you just might be a redneck. Guilty as charged.) It's a Craftsman that was bought new in the 30's by my dad or his brother- I'm not sure which one of them. They passed it back and forth between them according to who needed it. It was in my dad's shop when I was a kid, then went back to my uncle when my dad passed on. When my uncle passed, it came back to me. ("You can have it when I'm done with it", he had promised.) I gave it a coat of paint and rplaced the motor in the 80's and rewired it last year. Otherwise, it looks much like it always has.
    Nxet the drill press and barely visible behind the "table" is a bandsaw made by King-Seeley for Sears in the 50's. Not an "hierloom" in this case, just a flea market find. A friend gave me the stand, I bought a motor and fabricated a belt tightener. It still needs some tuning but does what I need it to.
     
    Last edited: Mar 25, 2023
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  19. BNSF FAN

    BNSF FAN TrainBoard Supporter

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    That round section benchwork looks really great Tom (y)(y)(y)
     
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