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Pembroke II: Ties and Ballast Journals/Blogs
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Prolific poster 1,071 posts Rene Gourley renegourley Prolific poster 1,071 posts
Rene Gourley renegourley
As they say in another hobby, it's time to fish or cut bait. So, this week I put away the test track and went for broke on the south module. I also happily discovered that October is still more than a week away, and I may still accomplish my goal for the month. Ties and ballast I first stained the ties with a alcohol and black leather dye mix that came out somewhat darker than planned. I had actually gone over all the ties with a razor saw to impart some more grain, but that seems to have disappeared. So the ties came out somewhat flatter than I would have liked. The ones that I hacked with my skrawker were pretty good, but infrequent. Then I used some makeup pads to dry-brush on some acrylic paint to highlight them and grey the ties down a bit. This was a mix of raw umber and titanium white. On the Proto:87 Stores site, they say you should use oil paint for this, but I didn't want to have to wait for it to dry before laying rail. I did a test with oil on the engine lead where I won't lay rail for a while; it dried in a little over a day, and looks slightly better. On the north module, I will use oils. Tie colour Once the ties were looking good, I masked off the interesting ties, like those around switch rods and frogs, and dumped a load of ballast everywhere. This is a 1:1 mixture of sanded grout and Pembroke dirt. The lady at the tile store didn't know what to do with me when I couldn't answer whether the grout was for the wall or the floor (answer floor), but the colour is a decent match for the dry Pembroke dirt. Ties and ballast Ties and ballast I had a choice of a shade lighter or a shade darker, and chose the lighter one. I reasoned that colours get lighter with distance. Anyway, I'm quite happy with the effect. You might notice that one of the photos contains a piece of rail getting fitted. I also set up the rail planer this week and planed all the frogs and points. If I'd had some wire for the feeders, there would have been some rail installed tonight. Well, fortunately October isn't coming as fast as I thought it was for once.

Rene Gourley
Modelling Pembroke, Ontario in Proto:87

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makarick123 New member 7 posts
makarick123

very interesting work

Keep the pictures coming your hand laid ties are looking good , I'd like to see how this all turns out .

 

Marty
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ctxmf74 Super User 15,980 posts
ctxmf74

set up the rail planer this week and planed all the frogs?

what is the rail planer? ....DaveBranum

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Rene Gourley renegourley Prolific poster 1,071 posts
Rene Gourley renegourley

I'd like to see how this turns out too!

Thanks Marty. I'll keep the photos coming. Rene

Rene Gourley
Modelling Pembroke, Ontario in Proto:87

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Rene Gourley renegourley Prolific poster 1,071 posts
Rene Gourley renegourley

The Rail Planer

The rail planer is a Rube Goldberg contraption that I devised to accurately and quickly cut frogs and points to shape. It consists of an over-size piece of plywood, on which I have drawn lines at various angles. This, I clamp tight against my belt sander in the WorkMate. Then I clamp another piece of plywood so that it follows the lines, creating a fence the prescribed angle from the sander. Fitting points You work it by feeding rail in against the fence. It works best if you sort of flex the rail slightly as you feed it in so that you know it is against the fence. The sander pushes it against the fence anyway, but this makes double-sure. Then, when the rail contacts the sander (you can tell by the noise and vibration), it gets sanded to the right angle. I did enough frogs and points for the whole layout (sans staging) in a couple of hours.

Rene Gourley
Modelling Pembroke, Ontario in Proto:87

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ctxmf74 Super User 15,980 posts
ctxmf74

"You work it by feeding rail in against the fence"

Interesting.  Do you have a groove for the rail base to run under the fence or does the rail just sit on the base against the fence? I'm wondering if I can make something like this to do code 55 rail? do you think it would be too small to sand accurately? .......DaveBranum

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Rene Gourley renegourley Prolific poster 1,071 posts
Rene Gourley renegourley

Groove for the foot of the rail

To tell the truth, there is a lot of "feel" to the process.  I let the foot of the rail slip in under the plywood.  I suppose one might chamfer the bottom of the fence, but I've not found it necessary.  I'm using this for code 55. 

One thing you do need to watch is that the sander stays vertical.  It wants to push away from the rail.  When I do this again, I'll add a long clamp across the plywood base to keep the sander right where I want it. 

Rene Gourley
Modelling Pembroke, Ontario in Proto:87

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ctxmf74 Super User 15,980 posts
ctxmf74

" I'm using this for code 55."

Thanks for the info. I'll give it a try when I get ready to make some more points. I have no problems doing larger rail on a bench grinder but the code 55 is a bit small for that so I'm looking for a better way....DaveBranum

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