Great Work

Your plan looks good and with jigs to help building it should look good as well.

Keep up the work and let us know how it comes out.

Update 11-25-2016

Moderator: Photos moved from first post at author's request:

The coal shed will sit on a module frame for my next future layout........this will be one of either two or three modules for a large coal and fuel dealer..........maybe this will qualify under the TOMA?

The module is 36 inches wide and 72 inches long built of 1/2" thick Birch plywood (good 7 to 9 ply wood), cut into 3" wide strips, then set on edge.

This was then covered with a 2" thick sheet of the pink foam insulation board. (photo taken before the foam was put in place).

Most of the parts were made back in 2006 a few months after I got back into HO Scale model railroading.

An assembly fixture for the buildings timber frames.

And a fixture for the track trestle bents (uprights).

The white paper the parts are on is the size of the building......HO Scale 61' x 336'.

The building is 61' wide by 336' long.......the line in the middle is the building centerline.....the two outer lines are the track centerlines.......the cross line is a 50' interval mark......later there will be cross lines at 16' intervals in order to place the building and upright frames.

In this view you see two of the track uprights.......these are placed 9 1/2' on either side of the building centerline for 19' track spacing.

This is a rough idea as to how the building will go together.

Lots of parts were made......

Lots and lots of parts........

An update on this project.

I set up a few tracks for the small yard that will be behind the coal shed, also I put a few hopper cars in place to check for clearances........these tracks will be raised to match the height of the tracks entering the building.

The track in the front will be for servicing the oil section that is yet to be built.

A hole was cut out of the foam base so that the coal shed can be built on a separate piece (to protect against damage).

The piece that was cut out has been trimmed and now the fit is checked.

The building template is in place.

A piece if 1" foam is cut into 5 pieces for placement under the opening in the base.

Strips are now set in place......using PL300 from Loctite.

20# weights are placed on top to hold them in place until the adhesive sets.

Update 12-1-2016

A short update since not much has been done in the last few days.

The foam riser for the small yard is in place as is also the pieces for the end where the tracks will enter the building, and also the opposite end.

The foam piece for the actual building is fit in place for now.........in the next day or two there will be lines drawn onto it so that the building assembly can begin.

Update 2-13-2017

A short update.

Added three 1 x 1 1/2 x 8" blocks for mounting 3 block terminals for track wiring.

Also managed to get a coat of paint on the topside.

Update 2-26-2017

The terminal blocks are in place......I had to modify the screw heads so they would fit the mounting holes.

Also today I managed to get the roadbed in place for the mainline and the passing siding...........I used Woodland Scenics foam roadbed.

Update 5-8-2017

Haven't been an update in a while.......but now I'm running full throttle on this to get it in presentable condition for the NMRA convention in Orlando.

Had to repair a few bents that came loose/apart.

Set up the drawing on the model bench to get an idea of some of the work required later on.

I found a piece of homasote and taped it down to the model bench so that I can pin parts to the drawing.

And the drawing I made for the east side roof supports.

Now I'm ready to assemble the the full length of the roof support.

I did the assembly of this last night and today I removed it from the drawing.

Hopefully in a few days I'll have another update................for now......making another assembly drawing for the track supports............just placed a new piece of masking paper down.

Update 5-11-2017

Another small update ......

..........Started the assembly of the track support structure........the smaller pieces will go onto the top of the 12 x 12 timber.......this is where the rails will be mounted.

Remember ......this entire structure is almost 48 actual inches long...(336 HO scale feet).

This is the underside view of the track support structure.

These short 12 x 12 blocks are where the trestle bents will go.

Top side of the track support structure......more parts need to be added......about 800+ pieces yet.

Lots more work to do yet.

Nice!

(posting my comment here to make it easier for me to watch this post as it goes)

Pretty damned cool though.

I love the thumbtack idea. I

I love the thumbtack idea. I can be so dense never thought of it. 

I am very much refining many past experiences from your journal.

Great job so far. Very impressed also with the fact that you also start with the foam base. Great move.

Update 5-24-2017

Was off of this project for the past week.........due to getting the layout ready for the NMRA Division meet this past Saturday.

The next few photo's will show the track structure with the catwalks in place, the rail will sit on top of the small wood blocks, also gives you an idea of how the elevated track structure will look, and also starting to add the trestle bents/track risers.

Until the next update.

Update 5-29-2017

The track support structure is almost done.......just need to add the rails which will be code 55 rail from Micro Engineering.

Update 6-12-2017

Hi.....another update.

I started to mount the code 55 rail in place after I had painted it using Rustoleum "Camo" brown paint.

Here are the end walls for the building........these are cut from brick sheet sold under the name  JTT Architectural Model Parts # 97422 Brick pattern., The first one I had laid out and cut was with a pencil......but the sheet is very slick so the second one I used a "Sharpie" fine tip marker.......this worked better., As you can see there is a lower part to the end walls. This is a piece of Plastruct Random Coarsed Stone #91516, this was cut and them laminated to Evergreen styrene sheet.

Another update on this project will hopefully be in about two to three days.

Update 6-13-2017

Another update.

The code 55 rail is now mounted on the track support structure.

Now the long rear wall and East side open bay support.

For the Tie rods I used Tichy .008 phosphor/bronze wire that I blackened with Micro Engineering rail weathering solution.

Now I take four windows and make them into two.

I needed a small full round window for the two end walls.......but the only one Tichy makes is too big and not really close to what I need, so I used 4 pcs of the Tichy # 8128 Half Round Masonry Windows to make two windows that fit my needs for this building.

I sanded the flat side down to get a closer fit, then cut out the cross pieces and glued the two pcs together to get the full round window.

Thanks for following along to this point.

Another update soon.

Update 6-15-2017

A few teaser pics of things to come.

Update 6-18-2017

The end walls are now ready for soda blasting and paint.

A styrene strip .020 x .040 was added around the outside of the end wall windows.

A spot was marked for the center of the hole for the end wall windows.

Once the hole was drilled / carved out for the window a drafting compass was used to mark where to cut out the brickwork.

Once this was cut out, radial brickwork was put in place.

Until next time.

Update 7-1-2017

Okay......another update.

I wired the tracks for the module........I used crimp connectors........but instead of crimping them I soldered instead.

I cut .030 x .030 styrene strips for the windows.........2 pcs. 9 scale feet long with 3 pcs. at 1 1/2 feet long.......and made a small cheap assembly fixture.

I airbrushed the tracks with roof brown, then in spots with loco black.

Gave the track structure a dusting of loco black, along with the foam base.

Till next time.

Following and enjoying your

Following and enjoying your work. Giving me motivation to accomplish something!   

      Tom

Very nice how that is coming

Very nice how that is coming along. Very inspiring.

I'm a fan of crimping...

My soldering iron and myself don't quite see eye to eye...

Update 7-4-2017

Hello again........time for another update.

Got the tracks ballasted for the main, siding, and 5 yard tracks and also the foreground track.

I use this in a 20/80 mix to glue down the ballast and scenery materials.

I got the end wall windows painted.

I did the brick mortar for the end walls.

I glued the upper and lower end walls together and installed the windows.

I made a better assembly fixture for the side wall windows, some of the windows need a little bit of cleaning up before painting.

Now I'm taking a pile of 2 x 12's and making the bay divider walls......something I forgot to do earlier on.........I drew lines on a piece of homasote and laid wax paper on top so that I can glue to boards side by side.

Now I have the rear wall and end walls set up for assembly.

Till next time.

NMRA 2017

I'm sorry to say that this project will not be completed before the convention in Orlando............however I will still have it there for display as a work in progress if the powers that be will allow me to do so.

Keep us posted.

Keep us posted.

Update 8-30-2017

Back to work on this project again.........took a break for my vacation and took a few weeks to get settled back into my normal routine again.

Here is how I place and glue pieces into the fixture for the trestle bents that are used on the track structure.........I needed to make 4 more of these due to an error and ran short a few parts.

Till next time.

Great work

I just arrived here and wow! You're doing an amazing, careful job of modelling a really characterful prototype. I like too that it's that it's such a large building (especially for an industry that's often modelled as being little larger than a single hopper).