Eastern Tn logging on the DG CC & W RR 1928

[Bill Nelson]

I have the main line in through Harlow, the inside track is a very long passing siding the outside track will lead to a future riverboat warf.


The snow scene is my front yarf this morning.





tracks along the river that will lead to a warf for the riverboat and barges. very nice getting the basic scenery done before track installation keeps things neat.

 

[Bill Nelson]

I got my train oerder and have started work toward building kits for the new Harlow, got a slow start , as I had a busy beginning od the ewwk, and then got ill. this will be a big change, old Harlow had no buildings except the Imperial Desk and Chair Co. that were more than two stories tall

 

[Bill Nelson]

 

[Bill Nelson]

Having fun with buildings, am working on a fire station with a hose drying tower for the right of the Court house square the fire hose drying tower will allow me to hide another piece of all thread to support the upper deck. I am studying the court house roof, trying to design a tower for it.

 

[Bill Nelson]

doing some more work on the river, found the water based polyurathane floor finish I was hoping to use. used a belt sander to even up the outside edges of the river and round the corners. I also have a support put in for the base of Main Street, which will also support the buildings on Main down by the corner with Water street.

 

[Bill Nelson]

[/ATTACH] getting there with the river! have also been working getting the last bit of backdrop on the center spine ready to paint with the Sherman Williams Brisk day that the room is painted with, and I also use as a starting point for any backdrops. I have also been buiding some Jordan Miniature fire trucks. I have the sub assembalies ready to paint before final assembaly. the details on these things are mind nubing, imagine brake petals on an Ho scale T model. then imagine trying to get them glued in right.

for some reason this new system doubles up some photos, not sure what the patern is

 

[Bill Nelson]

I got those fire trucks almost done, I need to get a paint that makes a good representation of brass, I had some I had used on train bells and whistles, but it was 15 years old or more and dried out. in the mean time, I put the trucks on the layout by the fire station. I may want to re locate the all thread support rod, so I can move the firehouse farther from the street to have more room to display the fire trucks in front of the fire station. don't know why, but one of my images is doubled the upladed images only show three, but I get one of them doubled, sometimes I can fix this with editting.

These Jordan Miniatures fire trucks are amazing, especially since these kits have been available for over 30 years Yje T model wheels have valve stems, and these trucks have brake petals, that is an insane level of detail for HO

 

[Bill Nelson]

farthrer down main street, I had a flat made from a DPM kit. I really liked this building, but that street needs taller buildings. I realized DPM modular sections with arched windows had windows simaillarly sized and spaced, so I cut up several of them and used them to turn this two story building into a three story building. the side walk is made from dese foam from hobbly lobby, cut up mat trays will work just as well but take a little more work cutting up. I have all the sub road bed in for the switching leads on the back side of harlow. once the roadbed and track are down there I can play with building locations over there as well. It will be time to get the Harlow block wired up and working soon. it will be easy except for the two crossings. I wnat to set them up linked tot wo switches, so that when the switches are thrown for the DG CC & W RR main, the crossings are wired for the DG CC & W RR, and when they are thrown for the Southern, the southern's side of the crossings are powered. That will be complicated to wire, but If I can pull it off operations will be easier.

 

[Bill Nelson]

I got it in place on Lower Main, and it looks OK! I have to get the sidewalk squared away for the building on the corner, and build stepps for where the siewalk elevations change. in old Harlow, the change in elevation of the street, and the way the building height, and sidewals were stagered; was one of my favorate parts of the scene. reproducing that in the new Harlow is very satisfying

 

[Bill Nelson]

I moved the all thread through the fire house an inch and a half toward the river, so there would be room in front of the fire station to park the fire trucks oustside the station, wher I can see them. with the all thrad located on the front side of harlow, I was able to set up another piece of all thread just opposite it on the back side of Harlow. I hid this one in a water tower. below the tank it is painted black to represent the water pipe, above the tower it will be painted sky blue (Sherman Williams Brisk Day, to match the backdrop, and the walls of the RR room

 

[Bill Nelson]

I have been playing with some of the flats that are refugees from the old main street. I have been fitting them to a curve in the backdrop near the helix. thse will but up against the walther's merchant row 4 (?) buildings. thsed fronts will need some short wall sections and roof sections, glazing and other details

 

[Bill Nelson]

I have the track in up to the Imperial Desk and Chair Co. In Old Harlow, that sidding was off the Southern wain line that was just for looks, soon when I wire Harlow, I will be able to Switch the imperial Desk and Chair Co. for the first time! Have also experimented with the location of the smoke stacks for the electric utility. Need to cut some lumber for a massive coal trestle fot the electric utility and the coal dealer, that trestle will run from just behind the watertank to the near corner of the electric utility. the river is starting to reflect but is not as shiny as I would like yet.

 

[Bill Nelson]

Having fun experimenting with building placement on the back side of Harlow

 

[Bill Nelson]

I had some flats left over from Harlow, was cleaning up, and needed a place to put them, there was a little bit of space up in state line, against the the south wall of the RR room, where state line is about a foot wide (it is skinneer in the west wall), and the back is vertical; on the north end of the room, State line / Georgia staging is hanging on the 45 degree sloped ceiling, it is also very narrow, so putting a flat on the west end of the room on the upper levels is tricky, as the side walls have to be triangular, and they take up a lot of the available narrow shelf. as a result, the only sturucture on the west wall (ceiling really) is the State Line station, which is kitbashed; and is made to look almost exactly like the Harlow station. Harlow used to be at one end of my RR, and State line the other. so the stations there were envisioned as Terminals; in the literal sense of the word. So State line has a station that is made to look as if it is of equal size with the largest station on my RR, but I had had no structures nearby, excepting a water tank , a coaling tower, and a couple wood frame houses. A little light bulb went off in my head, and I figured I should use that available square foot of space to try to make it look as if State Line GA, where my RR interchanges with two branches of Mack Montgomery's Marrietta & North Georgia, ( one Standard gauged, and one narrow gauged), and my Narrow gauge subsidiary, the State Line railroad. is more than just a place where strange little railroads meet on the Tennessee/ Georgia border.

The church is St Stephen's which used to be in Harlow, there is a thread in Scratching and basdhing on it's construction. it is kitbashed from a plastistruct cathedral that Was missing a wall and parts of the roof, that I found at the club. Harlow became a much larger ciry in this rebuild, and this church looked too small. I have not found a comercial kit for a church that is just right for Harlow, so I may have to scratch build or kitbash a church for Harlow. I like church buildings and have had as many as seven on my RR, this one looks pretty good in State Line, and helps with the illusion that there is more here than just railroad facilities.

 

[Bill Nelson]

I have started doing some more wiring work; hoping to add blocks for Harlow, Southern staging, and the helix. The Harlow block will provide power so I can start wiring Harlow, and the other two will provide for the next two possible expansion routes from Harlow. In the control pannel I am using rotary switches, most of them salvaged from my last control pannel. each rotaty switch has input wires for six throttles. I only have three set up now, but I have two more I can add. they have bases designed to be fashia mounted, and I have not yet deternined the right location for them. adding stuff to the control pannel is a mess, as there are two many wires. provisions for six throttles and fourteen bolcks mean a lot of wires!

I have also pre wired a blue point switch throw, with a set up that will reverse polarity. I will use it to control the switch on the back side of harlow, where the Southen RR leaves my main line; the reverser will control the polarity of the crossings, so when the switch is thrown for the Southern, the crossings will be powered for the Southern.

I repainted on of the buildings from Old Harlow. it is the corner building in the photo. If you scroll up throught the thread a post or two, you can see what it looked like before repainting. back up stairs to try to hook up some wires; hoping not to go crosseyed.


Nelson

 

[Bill Nelson]

When I installed the Harlow engine facilities on to the window seat nook under the skylight in my RR rooms east facing wall/ceiling, solving many design issues with Harlow, I left a hole in the sub roadbed to allow an ashpit to be installed on the approach to the turntable.


before I started work on my center peninsula, the Harlow yard block, the Crooked Creek TN. block, and the Murray TN. block were operable. Nothing has rolled on them for some three months though, because construction had the aisles, and most horizontal surfaces covered up with lumber, displaced models, sawdust and other debris. as I am getting the middle level of the center peninsula close to operable, I am cleaning off as much as possible of the rest of the RR, hoping to run some trains soon. Harlow will be a big operations center when the R's track is all in; and it will be an even bigger operations center untill that time, So I am going to try to woirk on the approach to the turntable, and engine facility wiring at the same time as working on the wiring for the Harlow block.

getting the rails hooked up to the turnatable becomes a priority, as I will need to park a lot of locomotives in Harlow yard if I do any operationg, so I went to make an ashpit. I used some yellow styrafoam trays, that came form the grocerystore under some Jhonsonvill Brats. I cut the pieces to size with a scalpel, and hen used a heat knife from Micro-mark with an exacto #11 blade in it ti carve stone detail into the walls and floor pieces. I them painted the pieces with acylic craft paint, and installed it in the hole in the subroadbed. I supose I'll glue it in later, but it is a press fit now. It will need ties glued down aproaching the pit, and then some big beams, flush with the top of the ties that I can spike the rail to. the switches that turn power off to the many segments of track in the engine facility area got messed up in the teardown , and re use process, so there will be considerable work getting it all working. also I have a tricky spot on the approach, where I will have two sections of track that have a seperate off switch, and an uncoupler between them, so I can try to build up and break down double headed power pairs without cheating; but that is going to be tricky to set up. I have done it before, that is how I know it is tricky.

 

[Bill Nelson]

Wanting very much to be wiring Harlow, instead ended up working on the Helex down one turn to Southern Staging, and up toward the upper level, where there will be a wye with one leg leading down to the helix, one leg going to the narow shelf on the east wall, and eventually the dual gauge @ State Line, and one leg going up to a short loggoing branch to a log reload from the narrow gauge. While I want to be wiring Harlow and getting things rolling there; I'm wanting to get some progress made on the Helixes, as as soon as things can roll in Harlow, I will be wanting to get at least some of the Southern staging capability in, which will make operations in Harlow very interesting. With only southern staging, Harlow Harlow Yard, Crooked Creek, and Murray blocks operable, I will be able to do some prety interesting operations.


With the helix going in, you can see how much it crowds the left side of Harlow. this is why the senery tapers off as it gets over there. I'm using a level with a bubble tube that can be rotated. I have it set to level when it is on the 3.3% grade that is my new ruling grade everywhere except possibly the logging branch up on the mountain. As the helix starts up, that is the beginning of the Mountain division.. After a quarter of a circle at the valey division minimum mainline radius of 21 inches, the radius is reduced to 20 inches, which will be the Mountain division's mainline radius. I was not able to make the wye fit elegantly at 21 inches, so I reduced the radious for the mountain. as the helix goes up from Harlow, it will move two to three inches toward the aisle each full circle, to provide clearance for the sloped ceiling , which will look really odd. at the top of the helix, it will get out pretty close to the dispatcher's desk.

The S curve piece of plywood goes on to the helix down to Southern Staging, which will be located just underneith Harlow. The exacct height has not been determined. the lower it is the easier it will be to manipulate cars and delivery location tabs, but the more it will impinge on the head room of the lower level. A bad compromise will be needed. I have not been able to make that desision on paper, so I will probably need to build a little on the lower level, and then play around to determine the ideal height of Southern staging, ballancing the sceanic needs of the lowwer leavel, and ease of access. with the Southern Staging, there will efectively be four levels on the center aisle , which will be at least one too many.

 

[Bill Nelson]

I have been putting roadbed on the sections of helix sub raodbed thar are already in place. It is trickey getting the road bed in place directly under another section of roadbed, and getting the track down right in those tight places will be doubly difficult; so I will install the track on the first circle up, before I add the next. I already have the second circle up drawn out on plywood. Like the first circle up, I have added a two inch straight section agaist the left ( North) wall. this wil skew the helix forward toward the aisle as it goes up. the back wall of the helix nook is a sloped ceiling, like that in most of the room except for several feet farther out. this is an artifact of the construction of our addition. the archetect wanted to match the look of the gable and bay window on the other side of the house, my Son's old room, to the left of the RR room a split level down, is not as wide as our master bed room , (originally the parlor), on the other side of the house, The roof line was messed with to hide that asemetry , creeating the helix nook. In the first incarnation of my RR room, I envisioned the helix nook as a little dispater's office, and equped it as such, but it quickly filled with stuff, and became a poorly utilized storage space. My current RR will be short of storage space, and that will be a problem. I have not even found a good place to put my sterio yet, but the helix nook buys me a lot longer run, with wider curves and gentler grades.

I have drawn out the next loop of helix, and will add it once the track is in on the first loop. on the first loop in places the jaged edges of the outside cuts have caused me a problem, so when drawing the next circuit, I drilled tiny holes through the plywood at my radius points. On the top side I drew the track centerlines, and then I flipped the plywood over to draw the cut lines on the in side and outside of the subroadbed. this way when I cut on those lines, the jagged top edge, will actually be on the bottom, away from any possible interfearance with the instalation of the roadbed.

As I worm my way into the helix nook, I'm wearing knee pads. my left knee is still a little sore after the last round of helix work almost a month ago..

Nelson

 

[Bill Nelson]

View attachment 129822

I have been putting roadbed on the sections of helix sub raodbed thar are already in place. It is trickey getting the road bed in place directly under another section of roadbed, and getting the track down right in those tight places will be doubly difficult; so I will install the track on the first circle up, before I add the next. I already have the second circle up drawn out on plywood. Like the first circle up, I have added a two inch straight section agaist the left ( North) wall. this wil skew the helix forward toward the aisle as it goes up. the back wall of the helix nook is a sloped ceiling, like that in most of the room except for several feet farther out. this is an artifact of the construction of our addition. the archetect wanted to match the look of the gable and bay window on the other side of the house, my Son's old room, to the left of the RR room a split level down, is not as wide as our master bed room , (originally the parlor), on the other side of the house, The roof line was messed with to hide that asemetry , creeating the helix nook. In the first incarnation of my RR room, I envisioned the helix nook as a little dispater's office, and equped it as such, but it quickly filled with stuff, and became a poorly utilized storage space. My current RR will be short of storage space, and that will be a problem. I have not even found a good place to put my sterio yet, but the helix nook buys me a lot longer run, with wider curves and gentler grades.

I have drawn out the next loop of helix, and will add it once the track is in on the first loop. on the first loop in places the jaged edges of the outside cuts have caused me a problem, so when drawing the next circuit, I drilled tiny holes through the plywood at my radius points. On the top side I drew the track centerlines, and then I flipped the plywood over to draw the cut lines on the in side and outside of the subroadbed. this way when I cut on those lines, the jagged top edge, will actually be on the bottom, away from any possible interfearance with the instalation of the roadbed.

As I worm my way into the helix nook, I'm wearing knee pads. my left knee is still a little sore after the last round of helix work almost a month ago..

Nelson

 

[Bill Nelson]

I got 3 feet of track down on the helix down to the southern staging, and twelve feet of track up on the helix to Iron Mountain, hoping to extend each some today, and do some work toward wiring up Harlow proper, the helix, and Southern Staging.



Also extended the buildings on South main, with two more fa

lats make drom pieces in the scrap drawer.