remodelling the track for the new board

The new scenic board necessitated the re-working of the track in the East Yard. I used the opportunity to lay a runround loop in the yard, which will free up the runround on the main line, which obstructs through traffic - result.

...and the first (aborted) attempt at the photo backscene. It was too washed out to look realistic.

Jon

You need to really dirty that asphalt plant up.

You have a good start on the asphalt plant.  I would think you need a lot of spillage of oil, tar and asphalt around the plant.  Since summer is coming on remember the dump truck fleets hauling asphalt out for pot holes?  Those trucks and the plant would be filthy.  There should be a lot of broken and crushed stones for the trucks to drive over in the plant.  This would create a dust of its own each time a truck enters or departs the plant.  You might want to include a couple of tar bobtails.  Those are the trucks that go out to repair the cracks in the asphalt roads.

Den

Thanks for the suggestions

Thanks for the suggestions Den. I have a couple of rollers that are sitting around doing nothing - maybe one in the yard and one as a flatcar load

Jon

sweethome

sweet very nice work

Amazing scenery to backdrop transition

I really like your weed grown

I really like your weed grown tracks. What sort of products have you used for this?

Impressive backdrop transition

Very impressive backdrop transition- looks really good.  I especially like the road leading away from the plant down the tree-lined road in the first photo- that's very well done.  I think the photos are just faded enough to imply distance away from the foreground.  I hope mine turn out half as well.

  Three weeks to the

Weedy track

So far I have only applied Woodland Scenics static grass. I shook the container and sprinkled on the grass while the diluted white glue used for the ballast was drying - no need for any expensive applicators - just shake the plastic container. I will be applying some Silflor tufts to finish the scene off

Jon

Asphalt Plant Weathering

Looks Great. Having worked with a heavy highway paving company and been around asphalt plants you are on track with your plant layout.

The aggregate hoppers need to have a conveyor run across the bottom of the hopper to the burner.  The aggregate is mixed from the hoppers onto the conveyor belt by the gate opening at the bottom of each hopper.  This is directly fed in to the drum via an opening in the end. Also the insides of the hoppers need to be shinny bare metal.  The aggregate acts as large sandpaper and paint doesn't last but a few days.  A front end loader feeds the hoppers from various size of aggregate in separated piles.

You need two tanks for the plant.  On for fuel to fire the plant and one for the liquid asphalt.  You also need to have an electric generator the size that fits into a semi trailer.  Much of the equipment runs at 440v. 

The fuel tank and asphalt tanks are often ( not always) at a 90 to the asphalt drum adjacent to the bag house. Nice to see that you modeled that.

What you need to weather is dust.  Major dust.  There are areas with asphalt around them, under the surge silos and the service road running out from under the silos.  A small amount of fuel oil and asphalt spillage is ok but not much.  You also need to have semi tankers on site unless you plan on rail service.

When we were paving and the plant was producing around 400 ton / hr we would use about 6 semi tankers of liquid asphalt and 1 to 2 semis of diesel fuel depending on how much we had on hand in a 10hr shift.

Finally most of the time, the slat conveyor to the surge silos is placed at a 60 to 70   degree angle.  I do not recall seeing a vertical slat conveyor.

Don

Thanks for all the great

Thanks for all the great ideas Don. 

A few, like the shiny hopper interiors and the electric generator will get done before my show in under 3 weeks. I'll also try to give everything a good dusting down. 

Some of the others, like the angled conveyor to the silos is a longer term project. The vertical conveyor is what comes with the kit but I have a photo of an asphalt plant in Alabama with a huge angled one, so it is on the 'to do' list 

Jon

I have been concentrating on

I have been concentrating on finishing the electrical work on SWA in preparation for an upcoming train show next weekend (Hornby Live, Hartlepool (UK) 7th and 8th July), but I have had time to work on a bit of scenery and weather a few hoppers. Here's the progress

....overlooked by a rather fat, feathery owl called Sage

Jon 

Beautiful!

Jon,

I love your work and photography!  Nice detail with the owl!

Rick

Building in the June 7th pictures

Hi Jon,

Great looking work as usual! You have really captured the look of the South. I can't wait to see the finished product. And that was a really great idea to use the magnets in the removable loads. Thanks for posting on the MRH website.

I was wondering about the Southern building in the June 7th pictures where you were redoing the track. It looks like a freight house, perhaps?  Is that a scratch built model or is it a kit bash?  Again it looks like a building that you would see in the South. 

Keep up the good work,

David