Eastern Tn logging on the DG CC & W RR 1928

[Bill Nelson]

Enginehouse progress at last!

My conversion of the Bachman GE 70 ton locomotive to Hon3 went very well, and it has moved upstairs to the railroad room temporarily, while it awaits a trip to the club. I have also been at work trying to finish or repair an assortment of HOn3 hoppers and Gons, so that there will be some cars at the club so it will have something to do .

We celebrated Christmas on Christmas Eve, as my wife worked on Christmas Day and today, on the cardiac floor of Vanderbilt Children's Hospital, So I have had a day of recovery, and have spent the morning digging out, and cleaning the kitchen, where I had done the work of feast preparation, but not the clean up.

This afternoon I may return to some firewood cutting, but I am also preparing to return to work on the Crooked Creek engine house.

I had made templates of the actual door openings by tracing the openings on paper. I folded the paper to get the center line of each door opening, and this was drawn in with ink to be more visible. I then flattened the paper out, put it on my build board (a piece of homasote), and thumb tacking wax paper over it, so I can build the doors on the template.

A couple of days ago I fired up my 4 inch table saw and cut planks out of the same pine I made the walls out of, except I cut the planks for the doors thinner. Yesterday sanded the fuzz off of that material and cut them to a length just longer than what I need for the door (you can always trim or sand some off- you can't add any more on satisfactorily)

Next I pre paint the boards grey, and then begin assembly.

I hope you all had a blessed Christmas, and I wish you a prosperous, fruitful, and blessed New Year, build lots of stuff, and share the pictures!


Bill Nelson

 

[Sawdust]

Nice process Bill for the doors, simple but yet accurate & functional. I have an engine house planned in my head for later. hamr I wanted to have some functional doors that would open & close individually. I have got to get my layout up & running. I spent some time with the Grand kids yesterday & I had a lot of fun running Thomas Trains, that's how hungry I am for something moving on a rail. I just finished a Wagon Shop for my wife for Christmas & I forgot to post it but will later. I think I'm going to stop building for a while & get busy with some track work. I hope you had a good Christmas & I wish you & your family a healthy & prosperous New Year.

 

[Bill Nelson]

Pre painting the boards with spray paint had a very helpful and totally unexpected benefit. the paint was slightly sticky so the boards would stick to each other making trimming the wood to size much easier.


If you look on the second photo from the top, you see the boards, just slightly oversize getting taped down for painting the grey (inside) side.

In the photo on the bottom, you see me turning the boards over to paint the outside .

the third photo shows the boards stuck together to make approximate door shape.



The top photo shows the door shapes roughed in.


after I get the bracing on the back side , I can sand the doors down to their perfect shape, and then it will be time to get the tiny brass wire, brass tubing, and brass strap, and start to try to make hinges, hoping I can find an easier way to do it as I need 12 pairs.

Bill Nelson

 

[Doctor G]

Hey Bill,

This model is coming along nicely. I really like the interior engine house photos.

Keep up the good work!!!!
Dr Tom:thumb:

 

[Bill Nelson]

Thanks for the encouragement/ plans for the new year.

Thanks Tom, For a building that has been in the planing stage for long enough for our children to grow up, it is gratifying to see it take shape. perhaps I will even progress to a roof this year.


The effort I have put into this building certainly ratifies my early decision to do the sawmill out of foam core and balsa. I'm making good progress on the enginehouse, but it is eating a large amount of my available modeling time, while when the big sawmill was built I was hand laying all that track; and building the sawmill was just a diversion. Of course the sawmill, which is almost 20 years old now, still doesn't have the Keystone machinery I bought for it installed, or the roofing . the rafters and roofing firing is unstained wood, I should probably take them down and paint them, but I have been trying to figure out how I could alter the roofline to add the saw filer's loft, which- besides the fact that there should be one up there, would be a cool scene to model, since one could reasonably make it mostly window and skylight.

My modeling goals for 2010 (not necessarily in this order); get the doors up and build a roof for the enginehouse!, fix up the engine facilities in Harlow, perhaps even starting work on the tannery on the hill. Get the narrow gauge track built up in Gegokayoosa (the fifth level) , perhaps adding another duck under for a return loop on top a big steel storage cabinet that holds unbuilt kits and other supplies.

At the club we want to reroute the track going into and out of the upper level of the second peninsula, so that we don't have to walk around the end of the peninsula twice when following a train going up or down the long grade. I want to get the sawmill track operational, and may do some prep work for that effort today. I also want to do some work on the bridges that will extend the legs of the switchback on the narrow gauge at the club. I have requisitioned or repaired four hoppers for the narrow gauge at the club, and plan to to to add some flats and boxcars, as well as more hoppers. This effort , coming simultaneously with the need for more rolling stock on my own railroad's narrow gauge, will take some serious effort.

I'm close to there with narrow gauge power, having made big improvements to an outside frame 0-4-4 a 2-6-2, that have resisted fine tuning , by myself and their two or three known previous owners for 30 years, and are close to being ready for service. Also my purchasing agent has made a deal for a Westside C-16, with fluted domes. I had always wanted one of these. I parted from my dad's G scale one, promising myself I'd get one in On3. Toying with my super tiny On3 cn60 Shay though has convinced me that the sacrifices needed to play with On3 are just not practical considering my vast Ho empire.

So I should have a Hon3 roster more than adequate for the Hon3 operations on Iron mountain (my home operations), or for Copper Canyon- at the club. For the first time in 25 years, I only have two non operable Hon3 engines, and there is hope for one of them.


Dr Tom has been having such fun with his micro layout I have been toying with the idea of making an HOn3 micro, after all I don't own a loop of track! perhaps I should fix that!

Bill Nelson

 

[Bill Nelson]

I have the bracing done on the enginehouse doors, I don't have a picture, as my digital camera croaked. Next it is time to try to make some hinges. that will be tricky, and I hope to have a camera befor I'm done.


Bill Nelson

 

[Bill Nelson]

Here is a pic of the doors ! the camera is replaced. I got a better camera, so I have a learning curve in front of me.


Next is to make the hinges. I have a Hockey game tonight, so I won't get started on that today.

Bill

 

[Doctor G]

Here is a pic of the doors ! the camera is replaced. I got a better camera, so I have a learning curve in front of me.
Bill

Great pictures there Bill! What kind of camera did you get???

Dr Tom:thumb:

 

[Bill Nelson]

Tom I looked @ the ones in my price range and went with a Nikon coolpix L 100, which had a bigger optical zoom, and more wide angle capability. It has a body similar to yours, while the Sonys in that price range were tiny things.


Now I have to learn how to use it.


Bill

 

[Bill Nelson]

http://www.zealot.com/forum/showthread.php?p=902188#post902188


down in the narow gauge section I have been working on fixing up some narrow gauge power, and have posted over there as that section doesn't get much trafic.


In the last post I am covering some of my techniques for painting brass, so anyone interested in that should check it out.

While paint dries, I have a hot fire in the wood stove, and I'm going to sit down and try to stay warm.


Bill Nelson

 

[Bill Nelson]

Work on the railroad itself!!!

I have escaped from the Narrow gauge car shops and Locomotive shops. I'll be going back there , but it might be a little while. As soon as my package comes in from Locodoc, I will be sorely tempted to tear into my FED 4-4-0, and my westside C-16. The cars in the narrow gauge car shops can be strung allong for a while, as until I get the staging set up in Gegokayoosa, I'll only have room for about a third of those cars.

The far end of Gegokayoosa sags a little ( it is a shelf hung off of the ceiling.) The sag could easily be ignored if that is the end of the line, but I will need to correct it if I add the return loop, so I can walk under it to enter the train room. If I do that I could also lengthen the shelf under it that holds the Georgia staging some. and use both shelves to help support each other.

From the photo, you can see the trickyness involved with building this close to the ceiling. If you look at the pictures way back in the front of this thread you may be able to see the Harlow Terminal, which this building is intended to mirror.


Bill Nelson



In any case I was up there looking at the top shelf, which is very plain as of yet, and I decided to work some on the Stateline Terminal building, which, will be a mirror image of the Terminal @ Harlow, except the Harlow terminal is a complete building, whereas the Stateline Terminal is too close to the ceiling, and thus it has some interesting challenges to modeling it.

I had already made a frame for the platform. The walls are kitbashed from a small rural station kit. I bought lots of them, and I have made my two terminals, a freight station, and at least three smaller stations out of the pieces.

Last night I cut planks for the platform out of the extra cedar I had cut for ties for the sawmill complex at the club. after I had the platformed planked I set it up in place with some of the cedar beams like what I used for the bridge @ the sawmill complex @ the club, and for the beams for the Crooked Creek engine house. from looking at the test fit, it looks like it will work, so next I need to cut the beams and glue them up to make the balcony for the second floor of the Terminal building. I'll have to study my supplies, most likely I will have to buy more grant line porch posts, corbels, and railings to finish this model off, as well as some Atlas passenger platforms like I used for the Harlow terminal, or I'll have to scratch something similar.

 

[Bill Nelson]

State line Union Station!

@ Stateline Ga. 3 railroads meet My DG,CC, & W RR, My Friend Mack Montgomery's Marietta & North Georgia (dual gauge, as a Narrow gauge branch line meets the standard gauge main @ State line). Also there is the narrow gauge State Line Railroad, a 3 foot gauge RR , which is a joint Venture between the M & NG, and the DG CC & W RR, providing logs and iron ore to both railroads,

To match the look of the Harlow terminal, I'm going to have to order a bunch of Grant line porch posts, trim and corbels. I'l have to study the Harlow Terminal building carefully to figure out what I need.


Bill Nelson

 

[Bill Nelson]

Since this building will be @ eye level, on a narrow shelf, with few distractions, I'll have to put in interior dividing walls and some lighting to draw attention from the somewhat plain surroundings.

Bill Nelson

 

[Bill Nelson]

here is the station in pace with Buford, a local resident.. I really need to do some ground cover and ballast up here.

Bill Nelson

 

[Mountain Man]

Isn't that he former mayor? :mrgreen:

 

[Bill Nelson]

Isn't that he former mayor? :mrgreen:

Heck he is the current Mayor, won't nobody run against him!

 

[Sawdust]

Turned out pretty good Bill up against the ceiling like that. The white with green trim looks good too. I'm glad the Mayors walking away.

 

[Mountain Man]

Yeah - that green trim matches your beasty...a natural 2-2-0.:mrgreen:

 

[Bill Nelson]

Last Friday I place an order with Terminal hobby shop, and amoung the stuff ordered I ordered some Grant line porch posts, porch brackets, and railings, and some Atlas passenger platform, which with some central valley stairs, which I have in stock. will allow me to match the look of the Harlow Terminal, which has the Railroad's main offices upstairs. The State Line Terminal will have the Yard office up stairs, as well as the main office for the State Line Railroad.

Soon I need to do something about some basic ground cover on that 4th level shelf, in order to make it look better. I also have some narrow gauge leads off the turntable that are not wired yet. I need to go ahead and wire them up. I also need to get the yard tracks in up in Gegokayoosa also, as with my expanding narrow gauge locomotive roster I may not have enough places to park them down in Ridgemont/Stateline. If I go ahead and do a return loop up past Gegokayoosa, I can turn and park up to 3 whole trains up there. That would be cool, as I could have an iron ore train, a log train, and a mixed passenger/ freight train. The Narrow gauge trains would have somewhere to go, and their arrival and departure from State Line, GA. could be in the way of all manner of standard gauge operations.


Bill Nelson

 

[Bill Nelson]

The grant line stuff was back ordered. I got the train sheds in though, although I have not yet started to put them together. I have done a lot of work on Hon3 locomotives (thread in the narrow gauge section). this has made me want to get back to work on Geogokayoosa, on the 5th level.


I had originally planned on a three track yard where all of the tracks ended in a turntable, allowing the locomotives to be turned. I have changed that, and want to extend the shelf all the way to the far wall, with another walk under on the other side; and use a metal storage cabinet to support the far end of a return loop. that way I can turn whole trains; which should be easier to work the staging up there pretty much without complicated switching above the level of my head.


this shelf had accumulated a lot of stuff, as had the top of the storage cabinet. I cleaned them off so I could do some surveying. the shelf is dead level. now that I want to add another walk under on the other side, I have found that the floor is not dead level, and I will have to raise the roadbed on the shelf in order to walk comfortably under the bottom of the roadbed @ the return loop. in order to do that I need to exactly determine track location, and to do that I had to clean.

Bill Nelson