More on TXI....

I'm continuing on the Cement plant. I'm thinking that I might try to go ahead and scenic this area and try to finish it as my first sceniced spot on the layout. I'm about ready to get SOMETHING finished on this thing! Anyway, I've been working on scratchbuilding the loading zone of the cement plant.

Here's a photo of the prototype. I've tried to replicate it as best I could.










And here's a shot of the model. This is my first real attempt at a complicated scratch build. So far, it's been hard to find some of the industrial type parts but I'm learning. I've still got a lot of work to do to it but at least I

TXI Cement just South of Artesia...

I've been making some progress on the TXI Cement plant just South of Artesia. Here are a few images of the progress.

Aberdeen Sub in the News

Just after Chrsistmas, Walt Grayson with WLBT news in Jackson, MS stopped by to visit the Aberdeen Sub. He filmed a quick story that aired on WLBT this week. It was a pretty good segment however, I wish he would have left me out of the video and focused more on the trains. There were some much better scenes on the layout that would have looked much better on TV than my ugly mugshot. HA!!

A foam filled day!!!

With the holidays, I've had more free time to work on the layout. This week, I've been concentrating on getting the basic scenery base in place. I'm using a few different types of foam and cutting to fit the spaces on my open grid benchwork. I've been running trains for a while now but I've been VERY nervous while running on the upper deck as a derailment could be catastrophic with the open grid. I'd hate to see a custom painted and weathered loco tumble 60" to the floor. Now that I've got the foam in, I feel a LOT better about running trains and testing the track on the upper deck.



Here's a shot of a local I've been running all week while testing some Sergent Engineering couplers. These are by far the best couplers I've ever used. Much better than Kadee so far. They are strong and reliable and prototypical in operation. Zoom in on the open knuckle on the front of the GM&O unit. I'm swapping out my entire fleet. Notice the open benchwork below the track bed. Accident waiting to happen.


Here's a view from the same spot above but looking "West" towards the East bound local. Now that the foam is in, I feel much more at ease when thinking about derailments. The area under the tank cars will be a low wetland area with a couple of small creeks and two wooden trestles.

Here's another trestle that's already in place. This will be also be a low swampy area with cypress trees in standing water. I'm looking forward to working on this scene.

About time for an update!!!

Well, it's been 7 months since my last update. After 16 years, I finally decided to go back to school to get a masters. I'm now halfway through the program and it's kept me BUSY!!! Thanksgiving has offered a little relief so I thought I'd add a quick update to show a few things that did get worked on.

First off is this scene where my IC/KCS main is about to cross the double track Southern/NS line. Here, I've added in the bridges, a couple layers of plaster cloth and some of Joe Fugate's cement ground goop. I REALLY like his recipe for this ground goop as it forms a VERY solid scenery base. Having a solid base is important to me with my three young kids "helping" on the layout!!

Next is the last bit of track that I installed. It included these industrial spurs towards the backdrop. This will be the Georgia Pacific MDF board plant in Louisville. It has an outgoing shipping track for box cars, two "Glue Tracks" for tanks and hoppers and one track for woodchips. I only have one more track to get in service on the layout. It's a Rip track in the Artesia yard. I need to get off my duff and put it in!!

Finally, we have downtown Ackerman. The L/A Local pulls through the siding at Askerman while Pap cooks fish at Pap's Place in the background. These downtown buildings were built by Rich Cobb. He did a great job on them. I can't wait to finish this scene.

Well, that's all the updates for now other than a few mechanical and electrical repairs while running trains.

Getting closer to the golden spike

Today, I laid the LAST turnout on the layout. It's on the upper deck at the Georgia Pacific particle board plant. This plant has three switches and four spur tracks. The only track left to lay now are the four spur tracks!! The countdown begins!!!

A busy month....

It's been a busy month since my last update. I've gotten a good bit accomplished but of course, never as much as I wanted to do. First of all, I got my command cab bus wiring in and complete including six NCE UTPs for emergency plug-ins for my radio cabs. Now, no matter where you are on the layout, you are only a few steps away from a CAB bus plug in the event of battery failure on the radio cabs. 

 

I was also able to get all the fascia in place and 98% painted. I've got one some area left that I plan to get painted this week. I've also got a small bit of fascia trimming to do as you can see in this shot of the Tibbee area. I've still got some foam to lay in for contour then I'll trim my fascia to match the contour. 

 

My latest bit of track work is shown with this photo. This is the Port of Greenville that's on the back side of the Columbus and Greenville reverse loop. Now, I'll be able to prototypically run the Columbus to Greenville train on the layout. you can also see the Helix in the background of this photo. 

 

 

 

I was also able to get all the track on the upper deck back into running shape. This winters cold, dry air played havoc on the track. I had several places where the benchwork shrank causing the track to buckle. I'm now about 97% done with track work. I've got about 8" of code 55 track to add to a TXI cement plant track and I've got about 6' of flex track to lay at the NS interchange on the lower deck. This should only take about an hour or so to get done. After that, the last bit of track work is the Georgia Pacific plant at Louisville on the upper deck. A few hours on this should wrap up my track work. I hope to be able to report all that done by the end of the month.