Top Notch

Mike's scenery and overall fit-and-finish show layout aesthetics at their finest.  All the colors (including fascia), forms and textures create a harmonious whole.

Running the main track of the branch through the diverging route of the turnout is atypical on the prototype, but to make things fit on the layout sometimes that sort of compromise is necessary.  It seems to be disguised well enough here so as to look appropriate.

Great Article

Another great use of space, especially for an established railroad. Having torn down and started over my layout using scenes from the previous layout, it's always good to see unused spaces finding a new purpose.  On my layout, I found that recycling the entire area or just a portion of the scene was a great way to fill some empty spots that I didn't originally think of.  Is the backdrop also a photo layout similar to what you described in the DVD and previous articles?  Hope that you'll present an article on how you initially shot and then re-size your photos to give such great backdrops. Maybe also include the vendor service that you used to create the actual photo backdrop. 

the main track

I'm just wondering about one thing.  Does the main track just end behind the hill?  Does it represent a line abandoned beyond this point?  It's just the layout designer in me getting distracted from the point of the exercise, I guess...

Yes the main track

Hey Jurgen,

Yes the Allagash White Mountain Branch mainline stub-ends behind that hill representing the edge of the quarry. If you watch the sample video, there is some back-story explanation of where the branch went at one time. So in theory, the track continues beyond here for a distance. I'm considering having a remaining customer, perhaps a veneer mill just a couple miles up the line that still gets the occasional car. This traffic would simply be staged at Andover, the yard area out of site just around the bend from the quarry area.

The quarry siding actually penetrates the stud wall and there is a tail into the other room. You can spot up to eight hoppers down into there for loading. This gives the impression that the quarry area is much deeper than you see.

Thanks for the feedback guys. This was a long project.

Mike

lotsa loads

Sorry, Mike, I haven't had time to watch the video so far. 

I like the idea of a gravel quarry, and there will be one on the Sudbury Division once we get far enough north on the Cartier mainline, called Phelans, which will load triple hoppers much like yours.  Another one will be on the Little Current branch called Lawson Quarry, and it will be a quartz mine, making quartz flux for Inco, but that will be hauled in modified ore cars.  We also have a slag loader going in on the Nickel Sub hauling away crushed slag from Inco at CN Junction near Sudbury, and staged traffic coming out of Webbwood on local 96 from Bruce Mines featuring a brisk trap rock traffic.  It's nice to have visible traffic like this, adding variety to the visible loads on the layout

really well done as always,

really well done as always, I'll be buying this video too.

Now I know where I'd seen that scene from...

Painting the track

I'm intrigued that Mike paints the track with a rattle can; I have always hand-painted acrylic along the rails.  This method seems faster, but how easy is it to get the paint off the rails?

This is great!

Another hit!  Five out of five!  Can't wait to see the upcoming DVD and downloadable videos Mike.  Joe, where can I pre-order the dvd?

Painting the track

I also always use a spray can. Just wipe a piece of cork along the rail heads while the paint is still wet and give it a final clean when dry with a track rubber or similar. I have never had any problems.

Cheers

Tony in Victoria, Australia

Excellent article

Excellent article Mike. You have captured very nicely the pale colour of the freshly blasted rock contrasted with the staining on the rocks that have been exposed for some time. (Am I being a bit pedantic? Not for an ex-geologist). And you've given me the impetus to model a quarry on my N scale layout. Well done.

Tony in Victoria, Australia

Painting the track

Hey guys,

I paint the rail and ties with a Krylon spray paint product called Camouflage. I use a combination of the dark brown and the black. It dries very quickly, and dead, dead flat. I usually wait about 30 seconds after application of the paint and then quickly clean the railhead with an abrasive pad. It comes right off, peels up actually. Do a small section (maybe 3') at a time.

The thing I like about this paint is that is so thoroughly covers everything. It provides an excellent base for weathering the ties, and gives serious tooth for applying AIM weathering powders for the sides of the rail. These and all the other scenic techniques are demonstrated in the V2 DVD, coming out in a couple weeks.

Mike Confalone

Quarry face

Thanks Tony and all for the kind words. From someone in the field, the feedback is appreciated. If anyone has questions, fire away! 

Despite this project being in such a small space (strangely enough, about the same space as the paper mill) it was a ton of work. This was my first attempt at doing serious rock work.

You mentioned the look of the freshly blasted rock vs. the exposed rock. I owe that one to my wife Susan. I always ask her to come downstairs  for progress updates as she tends to cut right to the chase and give the honest feedback. At the time, I had just finished all of the rock work. She quickly pointed out that there was nowhere on the quarry face that absolutely pointed to active drilling/blasting. I knew this, but was dreading messing with the finished rock that I had worked so hard to color. I had added some AIM weathering powders to simulate a dusty look, but I needed to go further. Now there was no way around it. So, out came the chisel! Actually it was pretty easy. This "repair" is demonstrated on the DVD as well. To me, it is THE step in the process that made the quarry look..."active."

Mike Confalone

Hi Mike. Can I make one

Hi Mike.

Can I make one question?

Did I read that you use different rail codes in this porject?

Thank you.

Prototype modeling

Mike

Well they say life mimics art or something like that. It is certainly a great idea to follow the real thing when possible. Great article and bringing aggregates into the city via rail is a great way to get 18 wheelers off the inter city roads as well as making a great industry for a model RR layout. It is tougher modeling an older layout. One must do research to find photos.

                                                                                                                   Thanks for sharing your thought process

                                                                                                                                 Ray