Concepts

“Simplicity, clarity, singleness: These are the attributes that give our lives power and vividness and joy as they are also the marks of great art.” —Richard Holloway

The early 1980’s spark pleasant memories of youth, people, music, and events. I model the Chicago & Indiana (reporting marks CINR), an Alco-powered regional railroad struggling to operate former Erie Lackawanna and Penn Central lines across northern Indiana’s corn belt. The real CINR took over operations from Erie Western in July 1979 and called it quits just six months later. In my version of history, CINR persisted a few more years before the state of Indiana pulled the plug on operating subsidies. Thus, for modelling purposes, the end is near but never comes.

My series of connected "operable scenes" will live in a narrow, dedicated railroad room in our finished basement:

Each scene will consist of shelf-style benchwork attached to the framed backdrops, which creates a gallery type atmosphere. Well-lit, finely detailed scenes can be connected by nondescript, removable cassettes that virtually disappear into the background. It's just the way our eyes and minds work.

I don't have a ton of free time these days, so my goal is something I can finish in a year or two. 30-minutes is a typical operating session for me. Finally, I want something I can easily take with me should my wife and I decide to move.   

Watching with interest

Digging it... looking forward to the future here

enjoy the build(s)!

jeff

Flavor

Berne Indiana, my initial scene, depicts a bulk fertilizer dealer along CINR's Portland Branch. This customer utilizes rail-to-truck service for Canadian potash and granulized phospate fertilizer off the SCL in Florida. This present-day scene from nearby Warren serves as a rough guide...particularly for ground contours and textures.  

What looks like a simple scene offers plenty of operational interest: multiple car spots, respotting partial loads, and using gravity drops to service the facing-point spur.

Thumbs up

Looking good so far. Following with interest. 

"Each scene will consist of

   That's an interesting concept. I'll be following your progress as the scenes develop. Do you have a plan for turning corners when you get to the end of the wall? ......DaveB 

Foundations

Benchwork...the proverbial underwater portion of the iceberg. I tried to keep it simple and functional.

Module supports are 3/4-inch birch plywood. The rear sits on a ledge formed by the backdrop frame. The front is supported by knee braces. The result is a clean appearance with strength that easily holds my body weight! 

I added a simple shelf to hold power components, etc.

Each module is built on a platform of plywood and foam, which simply sets on top of the wall supports:

  ​

The "mainline" sits atop a double layer of cork roadbed. The spur drops down onto a single layer of cork sheet. Terrain contours were formed using Woodland Scenics foamboard and foam putty. The cork running diagonal across the layout is for a powerline right-of-way.   

I used masonite for the fascia, painted the same color as the layout room walls:

Exit Stage Left

The area between the wall and my first module is the off-scene staging/switching lead. A simple lift-out cassette does the job.

The staging cassette simply drops into place from above. Layout side:  

Wall side:

Hi DaveB: If I decide to "turn the corner" so to speak, I can make a curved cassette to plug into another module along the other wall.

Testing 1, 2, 3

After all the sawdust, foam shavings, glue, and paint...it's nice to watch something run!

I set up some temporary track to see if there was anything I'm not happy with. Turns out, I felt like the spur dropped a little too far below the branch's mainline elevation, making the incline up to the mainline too steep. A thin shim quickly fixed this. I'm now pleased with how the grade separation looks visually. 

Looking good, but downscaling?

Dear Jack,

The existing progress looks very impressive, I'm looking forward to seeing how your "linked-up scene" approach turns out... (Shades of Iain Rice's "linked-up logger"? ).

I have to ask though, does this mean that the O scale "New Castle Industrial RR" is on-hold?
At the very least, you had a small-but-core following of the NCIR blog, and your writings have been sorely missed...

Happy Modelling,
Aim to Improve,
Prof Klyzlr

Standards

I admit I'm kind of a perfectionist with the way my rolling stock behaves. It's been awhile since I modeled in HO, and some things bothered me while testing operations on my track.

The chief things were the "slinky effect" from excess play in the Kadee couplers, cars vibrating side to side, and not being able to set cars out on a grade.

I added a crap-ton of weight to my cars ala Mike Confalone, and that took care the vibration issue. 

I use Kadee #158 whisker couplers, but found that also adding a Kadee centering spring in the coupler box removed excess forward/backward play. While I was at it, I added small pieces of velcro under the carbody, which introduces a bit of resistance to the inward wheelset axles. The cars still roll well, but have just enough resistance to be set out on grades without rolling downhill. The velcro is invisible when the car is upright.

The added weight, whisker + centering springs, and velcro solved my issues. Now when I ease into a coupling the standing car or cars don't move. I can prototypically stretch the coupling or slowly introduce a little slack on the pin when uncoupling.

By the way, I standardized on Arrowhead Models Code 88 wheelsets. I think the inside wheel faces and tapered axles look great and they perform flawlessly. 

Off to a good start!

Good to see you back Jack!

Looks like you’re off to a good start on a neat layout.  I’m looking forward to seeing where you take this.

Very exciting!

I've been thinking about the next stage in my layout projects and yours really tickles my imagination. I'm hoping to build an environment with movable modular scenes and a backdrop that basically becomes a studio for photography with the modules  connected by simple "running sections" when not in photo mode.

 Your design and execution is elegant and inspiring. 

1/48

Thanks guys. And thanks for the kind words Prof! I made it through some serious health problems and its good to be back modeling and sharing.

The NCIR ran its course, but I haven't abandoned 1/48. I'm working on a cameo layout that I can take with me if we move. At this point in life, I can't afford to lose any progress I make 

I've learned a ton about handlaying track with individual tie plates and spikes!

Track

I used Micro Engineering flex track: Code 70 for the branchline main and Code 55 on the fertilizer spur, removing about every 8th tie and altering tie spacing/alignment to that typical of industry sidings. 

Track is affixed to the cork roadbed with DAP nonsilicone adhesive, weighed down with cans of fruit and vegetables pillaged from our pantry.

The staging cassette got the same treatment. When dropped in place, there's just enough play to shift the cassette to the right, towards the layout. This slides rail joiners under the rails of the main layout...keeping everything in alignment. I've had no trouble after a year of varying temperatures and humidity levels.  

Drop feeders are soldered the base of each individual section of rail, then connected to two main bus wires running beneath the layout. All solder connections were covered with liquid masking tape.

I wired a Hex Frog Juicer to the turnout, which is a simple process. I move my switch points by hand, so there's no hassle with switch machines or linkages. 

Terminal strips at each end of the module allow for easy wiring to staging tracks and future connections.

Track Details:

I added 4-bolt joint bars to the outside rails facing the aisle. 

I then took the module outside and sprayed all track and ties with a base coat of Krylon Ultra Flat Brown Camo. When dry, I brush painted the rails and tie plates with Polly Scale Railroad Tie Brown. Ties were individually brush painted with Polly Scale Grimy Black, then drybrushed with various whites and tans to alter hues and highlight wood grain detail. This process went quicker than it sounds.

When all my ballasting is done, I'll add more weathering with chalks, but for now I'm pleased with the look.

Nice results

Track looks really good. Had to do a double take!

God's (Granger) Country

Another fan of Granger railroading in the upper Midwest and Great Plains here, and very much looking forward to additional installments (and learning a thing or two to apply to my own layout in-progress).

Glad you're back in the (modeling) saddle.

Can't wait to see how this develops

Good to see you back in the modeling world again. Like some others have said, your concept of connected scenes is intriguing. Do you have an idea of what the "whole" will look like yet?

Awesome work so far!

Love It!

Jack,

I an a Tom Johnson junkie and am really  looking forward to what you are doing.  We may move, new house, new railroad.  Exactly where I was going, beat up Alco's hauling grain hoppers.  How wide are your shelves and how many scenes is there going to be?  Is that the same room you used for the NCIR where you really did a great job?

Speaking of ht NCIR, it had a real big impact on me.  I had a failing railroad, but had enough track where I could duplicate the box factory and the chemical offload.  I was amazed how long it took to switch those two operations. Opened my eyes it is all about spots, not track.  I was really bummed out when the NCIR went silent.  Glad you are back.

Very nice

Beat up power and covered grain hoppers...right up my alley!  Really nice work.  I'll be following along with interest.

Fantastic

Looking forward to how this concept works in practice. I’ve had something similar in mind, so will be watching anxiously. 

Nice work.

I like your ideas. I may have missed it but what is the size of the first module?

Size

Thanks guys. Very much appreciate the feedback.

Allen McClelland's V&O was a big influence growing up. But I think Mike Confalone, Lance Mindheim, Tom Johnson, Joe Atkinson and many others here have just taken model railroading to a whole other level! Folks are so good at capturing the mood and atmosphere of a certain location. I hope I can achieve 1/5 of that on my little project.    

To answer a few questions:

The first module is 8-feet x 13-inches. Very easy to move around. I love that I could simply pick it up and carry it outside to paint track! 

I have a few ideas I'm batting around for future connecting modules. One may be the run-around and furniture manufacturer in the town of Berne, which would be to the left of the first module. Another candidate is a feed mill complex, but I need a lot of practice building structures before I can tackle that.

To the right, or south, of the fertilizer spur I may simply model a stretch of decrepid track in the weeds. The railroad stored shortline boxcars when the IPD boom crashed in 1980. Crews spent a lot of time switching out particular cars when they were resold to other railroads. Would make for interesting operations for sure.

I think a string of colorful boxcars setting on weedgrown track is kinda cool. And its something I vividly recall seeing adjacent to our farm growing up. On the railroad, we'd get our lease boxcars back in off the road. They were "fun" to deal with...having to get repairs at the shop, then go to a vacant siding for storage, then be dug out later to send to the interchange to reenter service. Lot's of cool paint schemes. Its another good memory/experience I can capture in 1/87.

Cheers,

Jack      

Gravel Lot

Nothing earth shattering, but I've made a little more progress at Berne, Indiana. The final layer of dirt is down and the gravel lot is roughed out at the fertilizer dealer.

After multiple trials with various grades of gravel and grout colors, I finally settled on a plan of attack for the gravel lot:

I simply put down a level layer of very fine sifted ballast, compacted it with a roller, and fixed it in place with Matte Medium. When that set, I simply rubbed in various shades of sanded grout by hand. Very similar to what Mike Confalone outlines in his excellent video tutorials. (Thank you Mike!) 

Next will be more blending and pastel chalk work to bring out areas where trucks regularly travel. Then it'll be on to grass, weeds, thickets, and other vegetation!

Jack

Great work Jack.

I love rural shortlines and branchlines in any era. I love the farm country of the Midwest and as someone already stated on here I’m somewhat of a Tom Johnson junkie myself. Those old alcos are also a favorite of mine. I have to say that is some great work on the track and ballast. You seem to have found a great blend that works really well. I can’t wait to see more of your progress.