Rainier Great Western Const Update

Yes to both, the plant does not and never has use the loco to deposit the fuselage into the building, but mine will for visual and operational interest. Instead they put the fuselage on a silly and pull it in via tractor. That said, I am using photos and measurements to try and simulate the actual building.

Here is the west side with the larger doors for the finished planes to depart:



The doors on the side I'm modeling are 35ft high and 60ft wide. The building is 75ft high. M

 

Once again short staffed, what with Scott on a cruise and Ed laid up with hip replacement, get well soon buddy! But the boys were in fine form last night.

A collaborative effort was the focus of the evening. Wain called earlier in the day with thoughts of making more progress on the Edwards & Bradford lumber mill in Palmer. After discussion, we realized we needed to finalize building placement before we could proceed. As such, upon arrival we put our heads together (not always a good thing) and determined major changes were in order.

While we settled on placement, it was only after we realized that large trucks entering the facility needed significantly more room to turn than we could offer. Now I understand that you can model the impossible and trick the mind into believing it anyway. But in our case it was simply not going to work. The original plan was to have a bridge cross the mainline from the northeast into the plant. Trucks would swing around the planing mill and under the sawdust chute and then cross over the house tracks and back to the bridge. Essentially a nice circle. It was fraught with issues. It wasn't just that taking corners would be against the laws of physics, you would also have to be assured no freight cars were obstructing the pathway as you crossed over the tracks. In a working mill that simply wasn't going to be the case. Second, the gaps between the buildings, tracks and our access road were just too tight to be believable. Third, we put cars on the tracks and realized we could only put two on each track, that simply wouldn't work.

The solution, agreed to by all, was to add a second incoming bridge, this one from the northwest. Trucks would go in a straight line under the chute, then back across the NE bridge out to the great beyond. The planing mill building would be moved south and the gondola chute moved north. Finally, to gain more track length, we decided to move the entry point to the mill west by about 8 inches.

Here is some of the effort to pull that off. Wain and I pulled all of the track spikes and he cut the concrete tie section back the required 8 inches. Here is what it looked like at the outset:



We needed to cut the gap wider to accommodate the new approach angles.



Wain used various methods, including a sureform tool to smooth out the sub base, Doug was at the ready with the vac:



We also needed to repair some of the gaps left behind:



We then put down a coat of spackle to fill the remaining gaps and provide us with a solid base for the tracks, here that is this morning:



As for gaining track length, this picture shows how effective that was:



Couldn't be more pleased with how this is turning out. Next week we'll put it all back together and start prepping the ground areas with plaster.

While all this was going on, Rey added two Milwaukee hoppers to the fleet and Doug added more roads in Renton.





That's it for now, thanks for checking in. M

 

I'm sorry to say I missed the Weyerhaeuser mill, but I can imagine such a chaotic enterprise.

 

Tuesday's work party concentrated on the Edwards & Bradford lumber mill. As you'll recall from last week, we cut the turnout ladder out and moved it back 8 inches to accommodate much needed clearance between buildings and track. This week we replaced the track and tracked it into place using a straight edge.

Here is Wain anchoring the track at the intended point along the BNSF's concrete tie track.



Once we had it in place we tested the tracks for electrical continuity and after making some minor adjustments here is the layout. First, looking east:



And to the west:



There are still several structures to place in the mill, but you get the idea of the configuration.

Rey completed the latest hopper for the fleet, this one for the Montana Rail Link, and tweaked the couplers on the caboose to improve its operating reliability.



Next week we put down the plaster sub base in the lumber yard. Thanks for checking in. M

 

Last night was a concentrated focus on the lumber mill. Wain and I set out to build the mini dams that will assist us in channeling the plaster when we put it down. First we cut out basswood strips to run on the inside of the tracks.



We then used small amounts of hot clue to track them hard against the track spikes.



We also formed dams for our key foundations.



We then sanded the basswood smooth at the rail head using 80g sandpaper on a wood block.



The final step was to place jute in the seams between the rail and the basswood. This step prevents plaster from fouling the inside rail. Once the plaster dries, you just pull up the jute to expose the rail.

Here is Wain and yours truly in that process.





Here is how how it looks by evening's end.





Kudos to Doug for getting all the ties in place at the joints and Wain for painting the rail before we started the basswood.

That's all for now, should be fun (and messy) next week. Til then, thanks for checking in. M

 

I'll try and get some video for you. M

 

One other item from last night, Rey added an ATSF hi-cube boxcar to the fleet; fantastic work as always. Wish I could convey in words just how much effort he puts into each car. The coupler work is impeccable. Thanks Rey. M

 

Last night was our "big pour", or more precisely 10 big pours. If you follow this thread you know our intent in the lumber mill is to "bury" the tracks in soil. Problem is, to accomplish that, we waste a lot of dirt. So we decided to do a layered technique using plaster to create the base up to rail height, then cover that with real dirt.

We start with materials:



Flexible bowl, the flex allows us to get in the corners to get dried material out between pours. Spatula, hard bristle brush, rit dye (Brown, because it will be under the real dirt and do not want white to show through), measuring cups and ice water (the colder the water, the longer you have to work with the material). Not shown are the hair dryer to thoroughly dry the bowl between cleaning and the next pour and the cleaning bucket. It's a 5 gal. bucket of water to immerse the bowl and spatula in for cleaning.

A must have is the plaster powder; 2 cups powder to 1 cup water per the directions. We however use a bit more water to create a soupy slurry versus the pancake batter consistency some recommend. Why, we find it easier to fill gaps left from prior pours and much easier to move in the places you desire.



You have to work fast, you might have 5 minutes from mix to hardening, so time is of the essence. We set up an assembly line, Wain would mix up a batch and get to the work area to pour, then Doug or I would grab the bowl/spatula and head out for cleaning as Wain spread the slurry.

The pours are small, and to cover an area this large took, as mentioned, 10 pours. First we had to lay down modeling clay to protect turnout areas we didn't want exposed to the plaster.



The first pour covered the southern most track:



Then it was just a case of putting down more plaster and continuing to cover the areas you intended to cover.



You are not going for aesthetics, just function. This all gets covered later by dirt, so no need to be perfect.

One tricky part was following our basswood outlines for building foundations. Here Wain carefully moves the slurry around to ensure it stays outside the lines, scraping out anything that slops over the top.



Eventually you have the entire section covered.



One note, we also used a 1 inch plaster knife to scrape the drying plaster off the rails. The more of the orange jute you see the better.

Once we had it all in place it looks like this:



I have a lot of video and hope to post that later tonight. That's it for now, thanks for checking in. M

 

Last night we completed the next phase of the lumber mill project. After last week's plaster pours, we set out to pull the jute from against the rails and use a combination of 1" and 2" putty knives to shave off high spots and remove any unwanted plaster and modeling clay. We also hit the rails with brite-boys to clean them up.



As you can see from the pic, it was taken right after we pulled the jute. The rail is hidden and the wood dams are not visible. That gets remedied as we clean the area. One thing we also found was that some plaster got under the jute. You can see that in the pic above, as it discolored the rails. This meant we needed to chip some plaster out of the grooves to assure smooth running. We used small flathead screwdrivers to accomplish this.

Once we had this finished, Scott, Wain and Wain's brother Paul, worked together to get the plaster chopped out from around the building foundations. One note, keep the vacuum handy at all times.



Scott used a variety of tools to shave away any excess plaster that inhibited the foundations from laying flat.



While they were doing that, Doug and I carved out the exit road for the chip trucks.



Once we all had our projects done and the rail tested, we set out to put the buildings back in place.



In this next pic, note the clean rail and the wood dams are now visible, creating a much cleaner edge and look.





Finally an overall view looking west. A few more structures to go, plus the piping for the chip system. Once in place we'll put down the real dirt and begin the process of super detailing. Should be fun.



This has been a great project, given it came from a 1991 Model Railroader magazine article. We will use this method again on the RGW. Thanks for checking in. M

 

Yes, need to add last night's stuff

 

At some point last night this thread passed 50k views. Many thanks to all who follow and participate in the progress of the RGW. You are all appreciated. Michael

 

Thanks Ken. Your participation is and always has been important to me.

 

Appreciate your input as always Alan.