Wolfcreek Update-OCT2010

Things haven't been going well. I'm sure you've all read the blog post I made reguarding it. Being the stupid idiot I was, I nearly lost the best thing in my life. After the funeral, I sat up in Milton Junction, Wisconsin (where we're all buried. No Joke, even I have a plot up there) in the cold wind, heartbroken, but even though I threw Asya under the bus, I decided to open up to her personally. We talked about a lot of things, words were exchanged, both happy and out of anger. And it came down to one simple thing, We still love each other but the only way for us to salvage what we had was to throw 8 years of us away and start anew. And it began. Slowly. It's hard to spend almost a week sleeping by yourself after 8 years of sharing a bed with the one you love. But we're mending. And today because of that, Wolfcreek Moves One Station Further.

The Fence is up. Right now we need to finish off the last section and install a gate. But it's up. The concrete in the posts is drying over night. It's a nice sized fence. And here's the best part. The Layout will be raised 4 feet off the ground. 2 Track Mainline and a Trolley Line on a reversing Unit. This will be seperated by terrain. This also prevents my Husky from digging. Because it will be up against the Fence. We put a lot of hard work into half-arsing the fence work, but together we saved a buttload of money. It brought us one step closer.

This project won't be done by winter, but 2011 Summer is the new goal. Next project up will be electrical upgrades, Bridgewerks Power supply and 4 Aristocraft TE Revolution Recievers in the GP40's. The FA/FB/U25B will have to wait. Next up is finishing up the station, the station details, aquiring the buildings, waiting platform and the switch tower. The paint scheme for all has been chosen. I'm taking things one step at a time. In a hobby about fun, about realism, running trains. This hobby isn't about that to me anymore. It's about healing a relationship. That girl puts up with all my stupid crap and I think I pushed her too far finally. It's said that only fools gets a second chance. Well I'm a fool and not wasting it.

So this weekend is the Train Show. I missed it last weekend because of a family issue, I.e. I had to help her mom rennovate her bar she works at (Her mom taught us to drink responsibly, seriously. Don't drink and drive.) I'm looking for several things at the show:

LGB Unlighted Track Bumpers x2 (Dealer had em for 5 bucks apiece, 9 just for me as a repeat customer)

Walthers GN HO Observation, Cb&Q Sleeper, BN Diner/Vista Dome, GN BSB Vista Dome/Coach

Rapido GN BSB Baggage Car

Anything LGB or Aristocraft on my roster list

USA Trains Double Stacks (Will only go through my local boys.)

HO Scale F7 Engine Detail Parts

LGB Track/Switches/Overhead wires

But the week is young, so we shall see. Thanks for bearing with this update. Photographs of the fence will be tomorrow when it's all finished. I can't believe after 17 years of living here I have a real wooden fence. It's really awesome. I know. So until tomorrow and/or a Post-Show Update.
Adieu~

EDIT: Ammended a few things that got left out due to my illlness. I actually have the flu but work has to continue around here.

-DragonFyreGTcute:

 

Post Show: Well I walked in, and right around the corner was a plethora of LGB, Piko, and Pola from the 80s. This old couple was downsizing their layout of 25 years. It was heaven. Real Garden Railroaders for once. I found my Pola 2 Engine Shed, non automatic doors for 150. Pre-built, weathered and in good condition, and not like the last station set. Minor glue repairs are being made right now. I will be tapping and drilling for lights too. But that's not all! My Pola Station Clock! It's missing the back face but that's okay, as I'll make a black plastic circle to seal it up. That clock brings me to finishing up a few station projects, the station and the train orders board. Wolfcreek's coming together nicely. Slow but together.

Now lets focus a bit to the yard, my backyard, not the engine yard: Tree Stump. That is all. And a broken shed, but in due time. Fence gate tomorrow will be installed. So as short as this update is, I'm going to crash for a bit, then photograph my new aquisitions.

 

Picture Time!

Lets start with the new Wolfcreek Engine Shop. The Engine yard will be one of 2 big displays. See this layout features "Wolfcreek" due to space constraints, and the Engine yard and the Station are the attractions. So here's the front and right quarter shot:


Now the next project brings a clock to the unfinished station. I'm still working on it but I have time now. See my side project of Final Fantasy XIV is failing as Square-Enix is a bunch of software programming Morons. So the Wolfcreek Station will be recieving this clock that lights up. It needs a new plastic backing but I'll take care of that. Now the next idea was a fun one. See in my little weird world, when the Wolfcreek Station was rennovated after flooding, it was decided to scrap the old Northern Pacific Train Orders Board. But after petitioning, the county was able to historically landmark it, and a part of the station remains original. So here's the photos of the clock and unfinished Ozark Miniatures Train Orders Board kit:

 

I mocked up the Engine shop last night on the indoor set up. At the moment I'm trying to procure a left hand LGB Manual or Eletric switch to split the siding into 2 and hopefully push the shed back just enough. I have one of my GP40's and my Garden Railways boxcars inside it. I also tried to auto-enhance an interior picture of it, but everything backfired. I'll upload it anyways. In the actual Garden Railroad plan, the Engine yard will be off the mainline on a slight degree, making it easier for engines to refuel and be serviced close to the main lines and the freight yards. So many small town railyards have provided influence for this. I can't wait to finish mocking up the track plan for outside. So anyways, before I ramble into the next photo op section, here's the 2 pictures of the Wolfcreek Engine Shop (Ignore the dust bunnies):


I have a small problem. With the LGB Track Bumpers, the Shed is 2 inches shorter than the GP40 so single engine storage isn't happening. I'm going to replace the interior track bumpers with the LGB RHB Style Steel onces for indoor use. If that doesn't work in the shortening problem, Tomar Industries manufactures Wheel Stops in G, HO, O, and N that I can use in place. Other modifications will be interior track plates down the center, tools, workers, and outside will be a refueling depot, the small one that Piko makes. This building was my big purchase for the month and I'm glad I have it.

Now lets turn focus to the new outdoor fence. My Fence is up. 2 sections. The main section and a small section to prevent the dumb neighbor kids from throwing trash into my yard like they love to do. See I have a manhole cover in my backyard (Ironic but yes it's true) and these kids keep causing flooding problems by blocking the sewer drain. But this first photograph is from my new camera's panoramic Mode. The rear of the fence to the front. As you can see I have a lot of yard work and stump removal to do. The downed branches are claimed. Assuming people come cut them up and take 'em. It's a small backyard, but i can easily get 8 to 10 foot in my back yard on a 2-track mainline and a third trolley track. Layout configuration subject to change. The shed there is going down. It was poorly built by my cousin. He installed the rain drip guard wrong and the water leaked inside and wrecked everything inside. I'm going to rebuild a shed that matches my Garage specifically for staging tracks and storage. Since the layout will be raised 4 feet. I will have a bridge for a walkway so the dog can get underneath and a raised ramp to go over to act as a tunnel. This requires the Doublestacks and Auto carriers (when their made) to be measured for proper height. The raised line will continue into the proposed shed where the main Idea was to add a grain elevator, but instead will be a giant staging yard. It will be fully finished, just don't know how yet. But anyways here's the yard pictures:


I'm aiming for a spring/summer 2011 date on the layout. I know I said this summer but things didn't work out like I wanted to. And I didn't want to go ahead w/o my g/f in general. That relationship took priority on repairing first, which so far things are better. If we can't avoid the pitfalls we took before on a second pass, than something's wrong with us both. But anyways. Track for my layout will be Made In Western Germany LGB Brass R5 track. Why? Because That's my choice. LGB's old track has never let me down. When I was housebreaking my husky, I learned that Aristo's track corroded to dog urine, but LGB's held up nicely. I guess that says something for their old quality back in the day. Switches will be LGB unless otherwise needed by Llagas Creek. Track will also be free-floated in ballast. We have a quarry just down the main road in town. Should be able to work out a deal with them. The overhead catenary will be What I think is Train-li's brand. If their catenary Posts are not Train-Li brand, then remove their name. It didn't say who made them. I'm going to go with US Style to keep it within the time frame. All Signals will be block wired (I hope) and done by South Bend Signal Company (who were mysteriously MIA at the show this month). I'll have track cross overs on the main lines but not connecting the trolley line. And finally the landscaping blocks on the raised layout will extend outwards as needed for town and building scenes.

Don't ask about plants. I know I want dwarf Spruces and that's about it. I haven't gotten much further. The plan was also to bring in real rock from the Cascade Mountains but that's not going to happen budget wise. Now My layout will be track powered. This means that if I want to do an open house and people don't have battery power, I can still run. I want to run Train Engineer Revolution System on track power for my layout. The point of 2 mainlines, while not prototypical (since BN had sidings but mostly single track lines), is so I can run 4 trains on 2 tracks, more if I time it correctly. Oh and the tolley line will be on it's own Bridgewerks Mini-Mag. LGB Reversing System too. I don't want to have to worry about running a third track manually. And yes it will be overhead powered.

 

Who made the engine shed, I like it and that would look good on my layout

 

It's a Pola Building. Right now they run 400-600 new. I paid 150 for a used one that just needs a few minor repairs. But These came from the seller who owned them so I was guarunteed to have one built right.

 

October's a busy month for updates. Lets start outside first. The gate is in. And as promised I have pictures, my battery died last night, But I have a wooden gate. Code Enforcement regulations state "No Code enforcment officer may enter any residential backyard, not even with homeowner and/or land lord permission." That's what it states for my town. Our last batch of code enforcment agents got fired after 9,000 (we have 10k residents in town, actually make that 20k now) complaints of them doing so. Well no way they can get in. That handle is a one way. And I have a pad lock for it. Although the new guys are good. So here's the gate:


Now we go indoors. A Severe Breakup with my g/f, to whom it really wasn't anyone's fault, and the pressure on us both to try and not throw it all away, has kept me busy. No it's not because I've given up on her, quite the opposite. If I stay busy, I don't focus on the bad things in life. So I've been busy again on the Wolfcreek Station. I've shown a few upgrades bought for it in the past and the new Rosenbach station kit I got made by piko. But after painting all the parts, the assembly is beginning slowly. Mostly because I'm out of the glue Piko sent me, 2 small tubes of UHU Plast. None of my local hobby shops carry it so I have 3 big tubes on order from a shop in England. I love this stuff much better than anything Testor's can make. It holds very well. Sometimes it needs a few clamps to hold them down. By the way, I use Wolfcraft Hobby Clamps, available at your local home improvement store (Or Menards where I shop.) I have the baseplates right now level. They have marks from the old station, but We're going to fix that when the station is assembled.


Now yes that's the phone booth I bought that was made by Train-Li-USA (If not, I'll take their name out, but I'm fairly certain this is their homemade product.) I hacked the bases off and by hacked, I notched it with my hobby knife and snapped it off. Part of the bottoms came off too but you won't and don't see it in these photographs. It's crooked because of the pull of the model, not because of my gluing. This is the end of the Wolfcreek Station, and I'm going to mount a light over the phone booth. The Vending Machines will be moved to the platform area and I don't know about the clock yet. I'm going to mount the station walls on the platform, one by one to help hold them up. Then I'll assemble the station details. Hopefully soon too. I want this project done this year. I'm tired of unfinished projects, like my yard office. I will complete one project this year. Well, I did finish my station sidings so I guess that counts. But anyways here the station wall picture.


Stay Tuned, as I complete this project I'll start uploading pictures into this thread again. Now that I have a working camera I can focus on that.

So til a few more building walls go up, Adieu~

Edit: Minor Note. My Kit was missing parts from the factory. Rather than send me one wall (the back) which shouldn't have window frames, they sent me one that did. So to compensate for gluing the window frames in the wrong wall, I'm going to get some styrene, do a woodgrain texture in it and paint it like plywood and glue it down over the windows that don't have frames to give it a "rennovation" look. Like storm damage being repaired but the rest of the station is okay.

I love this hobby, when things go wrong like missing parts, creativity can save the day. And my plywood idea just makes my station look more real, and makes it fit this fictional town that's nestled in the Cascade Mountains.

 

Just a quick update, I realized I forgot to put the shutters on the walls when that Phone booth was glued in. So Plan Change. That wall will have the shutters leaning against the ground, with a repair scene in place, like they were being replaced or something. Next, Only one Plywood Styrene will be needed since I found a spare part in my box. Still missing the other one though. The Vending Machines will need to be figured out at another time, but I have a list of parts I need and holes need to be drilled for the station lanterns, thankfully, I have a dremel rotary tool and drill press stand for it. Precision holes. I also have the shutters on 3 of the walls, but I ran out of my UHU Plast. So no more updates until the new bottles come from across the pond. I'm also going to move the second phone booth over to the future building, w/e that one may be.

 

I'm going to put some chainlink up out of the ground near the raised layout bed to deter her. I've got a friend who has that in front of his fence for his sled dogs that's going to help me put that up properly. They really don't like walking on that stuff. Every effort to Husky Proof the layout is being taken for the build which I'm planning for next spring/summer.

 

Holiday Horror Projects

With Halloween around the corner, I realized I had a horror story of my own to deal with. See ever since I got my GP40's and found out how the battery MU cable gets in the way of proper detailing, I've been horror-fied. Haha get it... Horror...fied... Yeah. Anyways, I was looking through someone who details and kitbashes conrail G-Scale Units and I got to thinking. I picked one of my units up, #3022 and put her on my sofa table and just stared. I can do this. I just need to remove that battery terminal cable. So here's the deal. 3022 is my test subject. She will receive the MU Cable and Plow (ATSF Style as that's all they have) from Ozark Miniatures. She will also be the first to receive her firecracker antenna. This is a massive project. I run the risk of screwing something up, but I really need to do this. To Make sure that things get done right. Oh adding a Speedometer cable aswell.

http://www.trainpix.com/bn/EMDORIG/GP40/3004B.HTM Will show you the MU Cables
http://www.trainpix.com/bn/EMDORIG/GP40/3032B.HTM Will Show you The plow
http://www.trainpix.com/bn/EMDORIG/GP40/3022.HTM Will Show you the Speedometer cable

The horns have been shown either in the front or the rear by the exhaust fans. Seeing as though I don't wish to move anything that doesn't have to be moved, I'm keeping the fans as they were.

 

Garden Railways Sweepstakes October-December

So while I wait on parts, I wanted to discuss something. How many of you who subscribe to Garden Railways, actually enter the monthly sweepstakes? How many have done so and won? And what does this have to do with my layout? Very simple. The winner for the last one was announced today. It was a Piko Starter Set. The one that has been plauged with problems. So I saw what the next one is:

A USA Trains Santa Fe GP30 Locomotive Valued at 432 Dollars Well around that price. Soon, very soon, if I win, some Santa Fe Pool Power will join my layout. What's that you're asking? Am I going to repaint it? Nope. I might not even keep it, I might see if my local hobby shop will let me exchange it with them for a BN Unit. Or a CB&Q Unit! Or It might be sold to fund parts of the layout. But overall, I am seriously considering kitbashing the locomotive to represent a generic shop rebuild, that is put detail parts on that normally wouldn't go with it.

A lot of times, I want to win the sweepstakes but don't really want to keep the prize. This time, even under Santa Fe Blue/Yellow colors, I want to win this just to keep and play with. Already looking up the truck swap so I can put the new GP40 style ventilated fan trucks on aswell.

Also update to my GP40 Test Dummy....er subject. The parts will be ordered after the train show in 2 1/2 weeks. The battery MU Cable is going to be removed and taped behind the bumper. The Foot plates on the front bumper do come off aswell. I do know how to mount the MU Cabling now and several reference photos later, I know where everything must go. I want to link you to a better shot of the snow plow (though no side shot exists sadly):
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=29980

Keepin the projects rolling. Til show update~ Or Uhu Plast arrives. Happy Halloween.

 

Last Update For October

Folks, The station won't live til November. But I have a few minor updates for you. Turns out, the UHU Plast didn't come from london. It came from Cyprus!! I have 2 cool stamps I saved from the mailer. Bigger Bottle that should allow me to finish the entire station. Now that I have it, the future projects require the station lanterns to be in place, thus pushing the GP40 Project back to December.


Now to achieve the properly drilled holes in the wall, I went to my local ******* Store (Sorry but their the only major Retailer in my town that carries this product) and picked up Dremel's Workstation. It's a fancy word for "Drill Press That uses your Dremel and has a tool stand." I haven't used it yet because the maiden voyage will be the station walls. Now they don't say on the box "Some Assembly Required." Wow. Even as an adult I have to assemble my own stuff? Thanks life. But I digress. It's base is hefty and has holes to mount it to a stable work surface. I will when the new shed gets built with a work bench system. The assembly was easy, the instructions were not clear. But it's a nice device to have if you don't need a full size drill press. Other tools Dremel makes that relates to my hobby include "Table Saw, Mini Saw Attachment, Multi-Saw (Rotozip style) Attachment, Work LED Lights, etc." This little rotary tool is becoming the work horse for the operations of my layout.

For those who ask, I own the Dremel 400 XPS. It uses the new EZ-Lock system as well as the older standard system. So here's the Dremel 400 XPS on the Dremel Workstation:


Til November. Happy Halloween and Turkey Day (Belated for you Canadians )

EDIT: Almost forgot. I went to ********* And picked up a hobby file set for ***. So far my tool list is becoming more refined. Going to need a glue gun and a soldering Iron soon /glare Dremel

 

Sorry, you can not mention store names as per rules of the board. You can word yourself as I went to my local store and picked up a dremel instead. Prices are not allowed either however you can say I got my dremel really reasonable.