Feb 22nd, 2022: After learning many lessons the hard way during the construction of my ~5’ tabletop layout and reading a bunch of Lance Mindheim’s books, threads on here, etc., I started my second layout. The goal is to build something small and simple that I can finish in the next couple of months, take with me when I move back to the US in 2023, and then reassemble and get up in running quickly. I’m limited on space here in Japan, and I have no idea where I will live next, so I’ve settled on a small switching layout. It is 10” deep and 6’ long, with a narrow 2’ extension behind a bookshelf providing me some additional room. One of the mistakes I made on my first layout was crowding it with all sorts of structures. So some of those are moving to this new layout. Now both layouts will have a few industries with enough space for scenery areas so it won’t look cramped. I like unitrack, and I can get a lot of used unitrack over here for cheap, so that’s what I’m going with. I’m from northern Illinois, along the Wisconsin border, so I remember WC as a kid. I’ve decided CN never bought them and they survived to the present day. I’m putting my fictional layout somewhere between Antioch and Lake Villa, Illinois. Power for local operations is a mix of “rebuilt” GP30s and GP40s. (When I can get back to the US and get my hands on the right WC color paint, I’ll get some more modern power-but for now I limited to Atlas GP30s GP40s Athearn F45s (when they come out) and Kato SD45s-which are dedicated for longer hauls right now) Enough background-today the shelf is on the wall! Track is down. Power works. Some additional white foam to elevate structures to track height is down too. I’ve got to clean up my tools and mess, but I’m excited to start scenery. I intend on illuminating all the structures, adding some exterior/parking lot lights, and adding interiors to the two buildings closest to the front. I am entirely ignorant about signals. I would like to do that if that makes sense for an area like this , but that would be a lot of things to remove before the move home. I may wait until I get back to the US to do that, even if it means I’ve got to redo some scenery. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I will welcome you back. I lived in the Milwaukee area from '71 to '06. There are few places were business is stacked close together. I'm now up in Appleton, WI and the CN rules. Very little WC. Menasha (sub of Appleton) is were the WC originated about 3 miles away. Richard
A lot of the WC was 'blind' territory for signals. 'Menasha' was a british NMRA layout , covered a theme similar to yours .
If you get a little homesick for area railroading, I sometimes listen to https://www.broadcastify.com/listen/feed/8487 which covers Milwaukee to Watertown, WI on CP Rail and Rugby Jct. to Mukwonago on the Canadian National, along with some UP.
MetraMan. WC in N scale is more than possible. As well as those locos you list above, Atlas did the SD24 in FVR livery, also SD35 in WC . I have a custom GP35 in WC , and have a couple of SDL39 kits to make from Briggs Models.
Thanks-I’ll look out for that SD24. I took a Kato SD45 in Santa Fe and patched it for WC awhile back. I enjoyed doing that. ScaleTrains has a CN ET44AC coming out in WC heritage. I’ve got a preorder in and will find a way to remove/patch out the CN whenever it arrives. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Thanks! I'll have to check this out. I live in Mukwonago about a half mile from the CN tracks. Moved here in 1995 and saw quite a bit of the WC back then. I used to railfan spots from Burlington to Duplainville. The CP tracks south of Milwaukee run right behind the plant I work at in Oak Creek. The plant had two tracks that went into the warehouse years ago and also handled tank cars on the three tracks outside. Also, Atlas offered a WC GP40.
Thought you had a familiar appearance. From 1990 to 2005 I lived on Eagle Springs Lake. Behind the grade school. Now in Neenah.
Sunday, 27 February 2022 Update: Had to work late Friday and spent Saturday out with the family so only a little bit of scenery got done this afternoon. I like doing a base level for my scenery that brings a little bit of color and texture out before I get into details. I added a grass mat in a couple places-rocks, dirt, leaf litter, trees, bushes, and different lengths and colors of grass will come later. I put down some asphalt and concrete in a couple of places using Arizona Rock and Mineral powders. It should dry overnight or while I’m at work tomorrow and allow me to pave other places. Building placement is locked in now-so I put up the fence around Variety Printing. Next steps will be some combination of the following: -“pour concrete” near the engine shed, freight house area and elevator when the “asphalt” is dry. -blend terrain together where grass/dirt/concrete/asphalt/tracks transition -complete the parking lots for Variety Printing, Midtown Auto Body, and Classic Car Restoration Once that stuff is done I’ll touch up those three buildings and that will section of the layout will be more or less done. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Sunday, 06 March 2022 Busy weekend. First, I glued Lego baseplates to a coffee table so now my youngest has a Lego table in her room. I ended up doing a lot of scenery on the right hand side of this layout. Ballasted track, finished and weathered pavement, added a food truck, rusted the fences, repaired buildings, added people and vehicles. —Looking “south”: the lunch crowd from Variety Printing and other local industries gathers at a food truck (LEDs installed, not hooked up and awaiting a signboard & name-Mrs. Metra suggested pierogis, so now I’m trying to come up with a clever name). —Looking “east”: DHL pulls around back of Midtown Auto Body for a delivery while a mechanic assesses the damage on the car that pulled in. A flashing light to simulate welding will go inside the garage sometime later. The car is Kato-I mauled the right rear bumper and fender a bit with a set of tweezers to give them something to work on. A couple of Variety Printing employees are heading to their cars during lunch. —Looking “south-ish”: This middle aged couple is moments away from meeting an overly aggressive car salesman (I’ve got to custom paint a guy walking later in a really loud jacket or something…he will be right behind them). The racks were kitbashed from an MTL automobile ramp kit and styrene. A big question mark for me right now is what I want to do for interior lighting for Classic Car Restoration and Variety Printing. And the parking lots, too I guess. And how I want to do it-wire my own, Just Plug, fiber? Anyways, as I waited for things to dry in different phases, I played with the River Point Station service trucks that arrived last week. I was able to add Metra decals (Switchline decals) to the white trucks and Atlas Ford explorers and WC letters (circus city decals) to the orange ones. I used a set of sharpies to add color to some undecorated model power passengers, amputated everything below the sternum, and glued them in there. I did the same with some factory lettered WC Atlas F150s as well. All of them got license plates (Switchline and microscale decals) and a few 3D printed tanks ended up in the back of a couple. Going to look for more little n scale tool boxes, etc to add more later. Also-mirrors for the RPS service trucks will wait until another weekend. I did that for the MTL HMMWVs before and it was not my idea of a good time. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
April 4, 2022: The WC Waukesha sub switching layout is almost finished after this long weekend (for me anyway…I was burning up days before I lose them at the end of the fiscal year) It’s certainly good enough to run operations. The remaining track was ballasted, and extra intermodal containers were put along the back drop in a couple of places for fun. The grain elevator was disassembled, repainted, reassembled, reweathered and I added lighting, safety railing, and a guy leaning on the railing. LEDs were added to the grain elevator office, the freight house, the storage shed, and the engine shed. Additional details-people, pallets and other freight details added to the loading docks along where appropriate. Of note, I was fortunate to acquire a few items from Jim Reising’s estate. The BNSF Geep was one on them, making a guest appearance on the WC sub this week. He was a really skilled modeler and I wanted to make sure he received credit for the loco with all the aftermarket details, including operating ditch lights. Lastly, I did a little prep for interior lighting for the auto body shop and the printing plant. But not done yet. There are a couple areas of light bleed I need to address, but happy so far. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Tuesday, April 12, 2022. I’m still waiting on some lights to come in the mail, so no work on structures to finish the switching layout. I worked on some rolling stock, with photos of the BN centerbeams below (also posted in the weekly modeling accomplishments thread). The lighting isn’t great-I’m a bad photographer. I also started, but didn’t finish some well cars. I bought both sets of the Kato Maxi-I well cars in the Maersk scheme because I liked the way they looked. But I believe they were all sold and relettered to other roads (or so the internet says). So I figured I’d do the same and add a few to the WC fleet. Not done yet, but a start for next week’s update. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Thanks-one day when I have more space the intermodal yard will be a bit more prototypical. But for now, they come in handy as part of a back drop Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
