78 Miles to Yosemite

Category: Proto:48

Emerging from a Funk

Posted on by jkdummler

Along the way, I’ve lost my way, and have been trying to fight, claw, and adjust my way back to a mindset that will get me back at the workbench and get some projects finished or moved forward.

I think it’s only natural in the times we live in at the moment to have some stagnation in projects.  Due to the fact that some items we use in our hobby have become difficult to acquire, and the general uncertainty we all face, I’m sure I’m not the only one who has had trouble getting to the workbench.  It’s also Summer, the general “low ebb” of model railroading, so that likely plays a part.

As I hit a wall with planning and looking at what to do in the future, I found myself struggling to build models or finish models.  The energy and wind went right out of my sails, and the desire to sit down and work omg a project I found hard to come by.  

Model railroading is not an immediate gratification hobby.  In reality, it’s long-term and slow paced.  That’s not bad.  Maybe that’s why when you read all the surveys in the hobby press it points to a demographic that is older than I currently am.  There’s more time to do things.  I don’t necessarily buy into the idea that the hobby is aging.  We all are.  However, I know quite a few young model railroaders who are in the hobby and enjoy it.

For me at the moment, it’s not a lack of interest, it’s that roadblock of a layout.  We all want to know where our trains are going to operate.  That’s part of the joy of planning a model railroad.  The pieces of rolling stock, the structures, the locomotives, are all smaller parts of a larger whole.

I’ve writing so many times about the starts and stops of my modeling.  How do I get myself to the point where I can just, even slowly, make progress without getting stuck?  

While traveling recently to care for an older family member who was ill, I had a chance to read the August, 2020 Model Railroader.  MR has become a read and recycle magazine for me the last few years, but there was an article in this issue that I found to be quite interesting.  The article, “All You Need to Know In Four Square Feet” by Lance Mindheim.  The article revolves around a learning layout in minimum space.  The line, right at the beginning of the article, that really gets my attention is: “A layout on a board can teach you vital skills before “the day” comes”.  Ok, that’s interesting to me because I have come to the realization that I am not at “the day” but I still want to build something.

As I read this article and got to thinking about layout planning, I stared to really separate items and tasks of modeling into groups for myself.  One group, we’ll just call “Group A” are the tasks I can do, have space for, have the skills for, have the materials for, and the other, “Group B”, are the sills where I need to spend some time learning, trying things, experimenting, and find out what works for me and what I like. Changing scale from HO to Proto48 isn’t a 1:1 change, and there are things I need to experiment with and relearn.  Group A tasks consist mostly of rolling stock construction items.  I can do that, I enjoy doing that, and I would like to do more of that.  Group B items include finding a way to manage benchwork, track laying, scratch building structures, and scenery.  

Suddenly, I found myself separating things into individual models, which the completion of a pice of rolling stock of a structure being the whole, instead of just a piece.  I can focus on the Group A tasks, and if I am careful with what I’m doing, I can experiment with a really simple and manageable ‘layout’ based on the idea shared in the MR article, sort out everything I need from the learning there, not feel bad about tearing stuff down or starting over if something doesn’t work because I’m not working on a final layout, I’m working on a learning project, moving skills and tasks from Group B to a Group C where thins are practiced and learned and ready for “that day” when I am in the spot for a layout.  Along the way, the Group A tasks, building the rolling stock mostly, will get done, and when it’s time, those things will just be ready to roll and I won’t have a layout without something to run on it.

This week I’ll get the workshop cleaned up and sorted, started projects organized into an order that makes sense, likely with the ones closest to being done up first, and I’ll settle a spot for a practice “board”, and get to practicing both the things I know I enjoy as complete projects unto themselves, and learning the skills I need and want to practice for when that “some day” comes.  

That idea gives me the calm from the storm of trying to layout plan in a vacuum that I’ve been battling, and I think now I will have some projects in P48 to really share as we close the Summer out and head into the Fall.

-Jeremy

Scaling Expectations: A fresh look at what I’m modeling on the YV

Posted on by jkdummler
El Portal yard on the Yosemite Valley Railroad, modeled by Jack Burgess

If you’ve read any of my past posts on track planning for the Yosemite Valley, you might have noticed that I have been struggling with the idea of coming to grips with planning a layout that is not only in Proto48, but in reality the struggle is in planning a layout not in HO scale.  The break with trying to plan a whole railroad to fit in a space, or in my case, to fit on storable and manageable sections, is a mental hurdle that has caused some of my stagnation and inaction.

To give you some idea of the changes involved in scale-switching and learning to track plan in a new scale, check out this first deck track plan from a version of the YV that I started working on many years ago.  Designed to fit in a space slightly larger than a 2 car garage, this plan that I had assistance with from my friend Dennis, shows the area on the railroad from the SP interchange at Merced through Merced Falls on a single deck.  There is a lot of railroad on that deck, but in HO, this is possible.  

Now check out a plan I worked up for just Merced in O scale.  There are elements of the prototype that I’ve left out by choice and as you can see from the 6’ x 18” boxes I’ve drawn on this plan, I was working out how to build this as a portable layout, but the size of this end of the railroad, spread out in the valley, is somewhat daunting in O scale, and in reality is not, for me, a good location to start from to spite my thinking that starting “at the origination point” would be a good idea.

Jack Burgess has on his website a full page devoted to his track plan.  That can be found here: http://yosemitevalleyrr.com/modeling/layout-plans One thing you’ll see on this page is the wide-angle photo of the entrance to Jack’s layout space.  As you enter his layout, the first scene that you are met with is his rendition of the YV yard at the other end of the line from Merced, the yard at El Portal.

On one of my visits with Jack, I took the photo at the top of this post of his El Portal yard.  For anyone interested in the story of Jack’s rendition, the article “A More Prototypical Yard at El Portal” appeared in the 1998 edition of Model Railroad Planning.  Having stumbled back onto this article recently in reorganizing some magazines, I decided to give El Portal of the 1920’s another look to see if maybe it would be a better modeling solution.  This quote from Jack’s article got me really thinking about this:  

“The Yosemite Valley faced physical constrains similar to the ones that I – like most modelers – confronted during the design of my model railroad.  At El Portal, the eastern terminus of the railroad at the boundary of Yosemite National Park, the otherwise narrow Merced River canyon widened only slightly leaving little space or the yard and station.  Despite these limitations, the railroad managed to build a yard that served the like very well until it’s abandonment in 1945” – Jack Burgess, MRP 1998

I dug into two sources immediately.  Jack’s “Trains to Yosemite” and “Memories of El Portal” by James Law.  As I read parts of both of these sources, I began to realize that modeling El Portal solves some of my issues greatly.  The yard at El Portal in the 1920’s included lots of sports to switch, including the YV station for freight, the Government warehouse that may have been hosting a company making orange juice, a small ice house, Standard Oil, until the mid 1920’s, a logging incline, and the barium mines just to the west that were served by the railroad at a small ore bin.  That’s a really good amount of “work” to model and lots of “play value” in one spot.

Energized to do more research, and track plan, and build models, I’m getting going this weekend on finishing projects and starting to put together paper templates for turnouts to draw out my idea of what an El Portal in Proto48 might look like.

-Jeremy

Workshop and Model Builds Update

Posted on by jkdummler

It’s been a while since my last post.  Almost a year on from changing scale, I ran out of steam suddenly and got bogged down by a few projects.   I’ve been working on an ATSF Bx2 boxcar, and the end ladders have given me no end of grief.  There isn’t a casting or kit available, and I’ve been learning to assemble Chooch ladders by failing and breaking at least 4 sets, but I think I now have a way to adjust to this so we’ll see when the car comes out again.  

ATSF Bx2 with brake detail in place and grab irons finished. (Car from Rails Unlimited)

The other task bogging me down is finishing a pair of really finicky tank car rebuilds.  These cars started last San Juan cars that were stripped of details and had everything replaced.  The fact is, however, there isn’t really a good spot to grip these things that doesn’t have railings or other parts, and even though the decals have been here for over a month, and the cars have been on my to-do list almost daily, I haven’t gotten around to sitting down and putting lettering on the cars. 

I think I kind of locked myself up by starting too many projects, trying to have something to do, and then got overwhelmed by having too may open-ended ongoing builds.  

Getting out of the funk there takes some doing, but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel now.

For starters, the Bx2 ladders have been frustrating because I have been trying to build them off the car and then add them to the ends.  In reality, the easy way as suggested by a friend, and the way to fix some of those issues, is to build them on the car end.  The issue with doing that is my Bissey vacuum vise that I have used for years when building in HO scale does not open wide enough to properly hold an O scale boxcar vertically for me to work on the ends.  I had not replaced it, and now I’ve hit a frustration by not replacing it, so I’ve taken care of that.  A new, and surprising smaller, vacuum vise was delivered this week.  The new tool will replace the old one, and I should be able to get the end ladders on my boxcar projects without trying to figure out how to balance a car and work at the same time one handed.

The tool pictured below is a PanaVise 209 Vacuum Base Jr. The link is here: Amazon
One other new tool. A bright green (so I can find it more easily) ergonomic hobby knife. Spotting things on the table is frustrating sometimes, so the bright colors can help.

To address the stoppage with the tank cars, I’ve decided to power on and have all the materials ready.  I’ve set a date, and a reminder on my phone.  I also would kind of like to get things on track here, and as I feel the energy returning, I’m sure that the tank car lettering project will get done.

Today is the day…. 3/6/2020. I had to get up early before work, but the first side of these cars is now setting with setting solution.

Beyond those blocks, I’ve acquitted the tools to try and fix the warped R40-2 kit, and have tested the height ideas I have for the layout by setting the section I built last year up on a table and having not only me, but my wife, sit at it and reach in.  The height and leg debate is ongoing in my head.  We’ll see where that leads this year when it’s warm enough to set things back up in the garage to build the next layout section.

Layout height test. More on this soon.

I’ve also taken a step back from some things that have been taking little bits of time here and there that I can’t control.  A couple of volunteer positions that I have enjoyed, but that with the way life changes from time to time I don’t have the energy or time as a resource to fully commit to them at the moment, either have or will be ending soon.  Unblocking my small amounts of availability to work on projects feels like a good idea.

So, here we are, not much progress has been made, but the energy and time are now returning, and hopefully I will have more to share with you soon.

-Jeremy

The Ice House – Part 4

Posted on by jkdummler

I have made a couple of adjustments to plans for 2020 that will affect which projects that are started, and planned, so it’s important to document those changes and plans.

First, I’m not changing what is being built first.  I still plan to work from the furthest West on the YV and head to the East.  That plan I’ve been comfortable with for a long time, and it makes the most sense to me, starting with where the railroad connects to the outside world.  That means the first structure is still the Merced Ice & Cold Storage facility.  I had hoped to be well into building that by this point, but illness intervened and I was out of commission for almost two months and am just now getting the energy back to return to modeling work.  

What is changing is the positioning of the facility on the layout.  It’s been bothering me that in my plan the Ice House was directly across from the YV Merced station and freight house.  I understand compression for modeling, but I’m also coming to grips still with planning for Proto48, and when it feels wrong, it’s wrong, and if I’m unhappy with things, I’ll always be unhappy and I do this kind of thing to have fun and enjoy the results, so a change is necessary.

Looking at the maps of the YV in Merced and the area around the SP interchange and the Ice House (my friend Jack Burgess has drawn fantastic maps of the area that can be found here: http://yosemitevalleyrr.com/prototype/tracing  or the maps are also in his book, “Trains to Yosemite” on pages 96 and 97) the general track arrangement shows what I have roughly redrawn roughly here.

The YV / SP interchange is slightly North of the SP station.  The interchange track leads to a YV track that somewhat parallels the SP North/South direction.  To the North, the YV track curves to the East and enters the main yard facilities.  To the South, the YV line takes a switch that again parallels the SP, and then there is a second switch that diverts to the East and reaches the Ice House.

I pondered what the track between the Ice House and the SP station was for.  Not being able to sort that out myself, I asked Jack.  At one time that track was used for YV passengers to board trains headed for the National Park, but the spur was out of service and removed by 1935.  

I made the decision to move the Ice House from across the tracks from the YV station to a more prototypical location, and also to create more of the right location for the SP Interchange.  I am still going to keep the same slim 18” deep by 6’ layout section for the interchange area, which means I’ll have to compromise and locate the ice House on the wrong side of its spur.  That compromise is less offensive to me than having it directly opposite from the YV station, and is just part of layout planning and space considerations when compressing real world locations to the confines of benchwork.

I will be omitting the unused passenger track and it’s connection to the YV line.  It’s fortunate for me that it would mostly have been unused in 1928 so I feel justified in compressing it out to fit the space.  If it had been in regular use, I would have wanted to include it on the layout.

Here is the track plan for the Ice House and Interchange section.  This plan feels right to me.  When it’s right, put it on paper, stop working on replanning that, and move to the next item.

With the plan now ready, what you’re looking at in this track plan is my layout construction goal for 2020.  Finish the interchange and the Ice House.  I still plan to build the freight equipment associated with the ice and cold storage going on here, and now that I’m feeling better and have resolved my planning problem and visual problem with location for things, it’s time to get building.

I did learn an important lesson from this exercise.  Put the things on the layout where they belong as close to the prototype as possible and it will feel right.  Overly compressing things, especially in Proto48, does not feel right.  That lesson will help when it comes to the next steps.

-Jeremy

Thinking Things Out

Posted on by jkdummler

Tony Koester’s recent first installment in Model Railroader about his Proto48 layout has inspired some interesting review and rethinking of my layout plans.  I find this kind of thing to be important in the Fall and Winter allowing me to improve my plans for “construction season” when the weather improves.

In March, I made the decision to change scale because of my vision.  I hope you can tell from what I have been building how much I’ve enjoyed that change.  Now, closing in on a year later, with the experience of building the section of layout that I worked on last summer under my belt, I’m evaluating and making sure that my plans are solid and that I’ll be able to enjoy this layout plan for years to come.

My plans last summer set the layout height at 56” high.  That’s roughly shoulder height for me, and puts the trains right at eye level when viewing them.  That’s not uncommon in model railroading these days.  This height implies that the operator or viewer of the layout needs to be standing, and likely needs to be about my height (roughly in the 5’6-5’8” range) to be comfortable viewing the layout.  Not really a terrible issue, but I’ll come to why I’m rethinking this.

Last summer I designed a leg system that provided strength, light weight, and stability.  The catch was I hadn’t sorted completely out how to get the layout section onto the legs without assistance.  Setting up without the help of our oldest son was difficult to impossible.  It brought back not so fond memories of the rolling layout section of the N&W I had built the summer before that required 4 people to get upright, and even then, needed some adjusting.  On a good note, the triangle formed when the legs were attached provided stability.

As the winter set in here (and it was winter early, we barely had a fall), I moved the layout section into the house and into the closet where the layout will live.  Moving the layout section alines not easy.  The 3/4” plywood of the supports and deck mean that instead of being the sturdy and light weight layout I had hoped to be creating, I find that I’ve created a sturdy, but heavy layout section.  The overall weight for 6’ by 18” of this section is close to 70 lbs.  Maneuvering that by myself is not super easy as the section can be awkward (it’s bigger than I am).  

I had figured out late in the summer that the section of layout was heavy as I was moving it around the garage for painting and testing the mud.  To address that, I ordered a layout section of the same rough dimensions from Model Railway Solutions Ltd in England.  (https://modelrailwaysolutions.co.uk).  The layout section is much lighter, and I’m looking forward to test-building this section soon.  It arrived just as my preparations for RPM were really ramping up and I didn’t get a chance to do the construction before that event.  

This brings me to the whole reason I’m thinking about these things.  Tony Koester’s article about his P48 layout includes some really interesting tidbits of information .  He discusses how he planned to build his layout to be light, which will be discussed in a future article (looks like the MR that arrives at the end of December) and built out of foam and aluminum channel.  That would create a very light weight layout section indeed.  Those sections would be manageable by one person for sure.  Additionally, near the end of the article, there is some discussion about layout height.  Tony had planned to make pieces of PVC to increase the layout height because his plan was to display it on folding tables at train shows and events that he attends, and getting the layout higher was, he thought desirable.  Then he had an experience with a differently able individual who appreciated the fact that the PVC had not been made and the layout was at table height.

Funny how things percolate up at opportune times.  We have recently been discussing in our house the fact that standing for long periods is not desirable for some ongoing medical issues, and that the ability to sit next to a layout is something that might be an improvement, either in a rolling task chair or on a rolling stool.  That would make it easier to have longer operating sessions without causing pain and discomfort.  It also would be good for displaying a layout at RPM’s and elsewhere.  In reality, displaying this layout at those kinds of venues is going to be important. 

About the same time, I was moving some modeling books around and chanced again on Lance Mindheim’s “How To Build A Switching Layout”.  In the opening chapters there is a discussion about using hollow core doors as the benchwork for smaller layouts.  This got me thinking about my plans and materials.

There is a lot swirling above, so let me try and coalesce a coherent line of thinking from that.

  1. My testbed layout section is perfect for using as a photography or static display, but the weight of the construction, the difficulty in moving it and setting it up with one person, makes it less desireable to me because my layout is going to nave to be able to move often and be set up by one person most of the time.
  2. My chosen layout height of 56” from the ground, while providing excellent viewing for the equipment, does not provide comfort for some operators and viewers who may need to sit through an operating session due to joint or back issues.
  3. Resolving the height issue and the setup issue is easily accomplished if folding tables are used to set the layout on, which also solves one person setup issue.
  4. Resolving the weight issue can be done by using lighter, imported, model railroad “baseboards” or by using hollow core door benchwork.

The fact that I’m likely to have to move this layout around often, take it to train shows and set it up, and do that with little assistance is weighing heavily on me at the moment.  Getting that sorted out this winter will make achieving progress in layout building come Spring and better weather much easier and faster.

-Jeremy

Patience Pays Off

Posted on by jkdummler

Hunting for materials and models is part of the fun of prototype modeling.  While we’re now entering the early winter “holiday dead zone” for work in my workshop as family and other events surrounding the Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year holidays transpire and take time and energy, I am using this time to hunt for and plan for projects that will start once the Christmas tree retreats to storage again and the cold winter sets in and I once again begin construction projects.

One of the most exciting finds from recent hunting includes a kit I have been seeking since last March.  A Mullet River Model Works kit for Yosemite Valley Railroad caboose 15 was recently put up for auction and I was fortunate enough to be able to acquire the kit.  This will get slotted in early next year for construction.  It’s definitely time to have a YV piece of O scale equipment built.

My ongoing project to create car routings for industries on the layout and beyond the layout on the YV has lead me to some choice points in my hunting for kits and rolling stock in general.  I’ve been collecting information about kits that have been made in O scale that would be appropriate for the pre-depression era modeler.  My rough starting list will be a future post here.  I’m working through identifying cars that would be appropriate for me to hunt for, as the holidays usually bring listings online for cars, and the March Meet in Lombard, IL, will be taking place in the next few months.  Knowing what I’m looking for there will be important.

Hunting for a San Juan Car Co kit of this WP car is higher on my list than a SOO line saw tooth boxcar, even though the SOO car is a fantastic model, making choices in rolling stock that are plausible and justifiable in my modeling date and location is important to me.

The rest of the projects are waiting for parts.  I’m hunting for brick to use for the Merced Ice & Cold Storage project, brake wheels and grab iron bolt castings for car projects, and other details are in the process of being sourced, so come January (or maybe later this month) I’ll be ready to get going on the ongoing projects.  The punch list of things I want to do is long.  I’ll be looking forward to sharing projects with you as I get progress made.

In the mean time, there is an exciting (to me) new series starting in Model Railroader magazine with the January, 2020 issue.  Tony Koester’s P48 layout is being featured as the new MR Project Layout for the year.  It’s going to be really interesting to read these articles.  If you read MR, or if you might think about changing scales, or model in P48 or O scale, these will be worth reading.

-Jeremy

The Ice House – Part 3

Posted on by jkdummler

In part 2 of this series, I said it was now time to get building.  So, let’s get a start!

My first step with the Merced Ice & Cold Storage facility was to determine the footprint.  Using the foam core mockup, I placed it on the drawing of the layout track plan, and adjusted it so that a freight car can just peek out from the side, like in the photo snippet seen in part 2.  Then I marked points on the drawing, and drew in the footprint of the main building.  If you look back to part 1, you’ll see that this rear portion of the facility is ice storage.  However, also looking at my rendition of the plant, we see that the cold storage space is attached to the ice storage, and to the loading platform, but that section of the facility will make the rear of the building larger than the drawing I have, by about a third.

I then drew in what I think is a representative size tor the cold storage area of the facility, and then connected the sections to the edge of the layout.

The overall drawing then gives me an idea of how much styrene I need to order, and logically, I think there would be a door into the ice storage and a separate door into the cold storage, so I need to sort out two sets of dock doors.

I don’t think the facility needs windows on the rear of the building.  The one photo of the side of the building that I know of shows what might be faux window openings on the sides of the building for aesthetic purposes, but the rear wouldn’t likely even have those.  This is the “all business” side, and just plain brick is what I would imagine we would see.  

With graph paper, I now started drawing the building sections.  The main section of the building as taken from the drawings by Jack Burgess works out to 16 1/8” long on paper.  The front of the building has some ornamental brickwork at the top of the walls, but being the back of the building, facing the company property, I decided to dispense with that ornamentation on this side and save the company some money during construction.  The height of the building I set at 7”.  Essentially, my giant graph paper had a big rectangle on it that needed additional details.

I then looked at the photos of the building, and it appears to have a foundation sill of formed concrete that the brickwork is standing on.  This makes some sense to me as the ice storage room is noted in the Sanborn drawings as having a concrete floor.  The drawings show a curb about 2’ hight at the front.  I thought about wrapping that to the rear, but that left me with a problem in look, and a problem for, I assume, the people constructing the original building as well.

Standing next to a freight car, the door height winds up being about 4’ from the ground.  Most loading docks and platforms are aiming to be right about that same height to roll on and roll off.  If anything, the dock can be slitty lower than the door, but not half the height.  I also figured that the doors into the facility would not be super high, so I wanted to set the door sills at about 3’.

That kind of setting would put the building sill, and the dock, somewhat out of wack.  I decided to set the sill at 3’ tall on the rear of the building, as it will form a lip for the brick and a location to rest the loading platform.  This may be a compromise for building, but I have no drawings or photos of the back of the building, and I’m comfortable with the decision as it’s likely to be unseen under the platform.

With that decided, I then located an opening for a double door, using the dimensions of a set of Tichy doors for the dimensions.  This still leaves the building very plain on the rear, but I highly doubt there would have been big windows into the ice storage room at the rear here, and photos of the building show this area had false windows that were bricked in along the public street.

The full size mockup of the building front at the top, and my drawings for the rear at the bottom.

 I then moved on and drew another rectangle, this one 5 1/2” wide and 6” high, to begin to flesh in the cold storage space for food products.  While this isn’t a huge space, and with doors that match the doors on the main ice building, it’s even a little smaller than one might think, judging from the Sanborm map drawings of the facility, the measurements work out to be about right.  I made the structure lower, 6” instead of 7”, as it’s what I imagine being an addition, added to keep food cold, and the buildings like this that I have seen usually are slightly smaller than the building they are attached to.  This will also provide some visual interest as the roofline will drop and change instead of having one giant brick rectangle on the layout.

From here, it was time to place a materials order for at least the core of the building.  I’ve ordered some black Evergreen styrene sheets, .080” thick, that will form the core of the structure.  When those arrive, it’ll be time to get cutting and gluing.

Next time we’ll look at the detail changes to a stock Red Caboose R-30-12-9 PFE reefer, and get the first car started.

-JD

The Ice House – Part 2

Posted on by jkdummler

In Part one of “The Ice House” we looked at some of the history associated with the small ice plant at N and 17th street in Merced, CA. In the early 1900’s.  

History in hand (and I’m still occasionally digging into some of the information about the plant and National Ice & Cold Storage), it’s time to look at what I can model of this important location on the YV, and the equipment to operate it on the layout.

I know of only two photos of the Merced Ice & Cold Storage plant.  One is a “corner on” shot, likely a company photo, taken of the front of the building, and a second front view, that shows more of the grounds of the facility.  Both photos are available in a PDF along with drawings of the two visible sides of the building from Jack Burgess on the information CD’s that can be purchased through his shop on yosemitevalleyrr.com.  Those photos are helpful, but do not inform on the rear of the building that faces the tracks…. Much.

A freight car peaks out from behind Merced Ice & Cold Storage.

One little snippet that informs what I should model is visible on the company photo of the rear of the building.  Just the very end of a freight car, poking out from the rear of the building, can be seen.  This car is nearly impossible to identify.  It could be a boxcar or a reefer, though no ice hatches appear to be open on the visible “B” end of the car.  With that said, it’s interesting to note that the car does not appear to be positioned to be iced.  As seen in my drawing that I included in Part 1, the facility has a platform around the rear of the building, but I don’t see any evidence of a high platform that would access the ice bunkers.

This fits with my belief that the facility is not prepared to ice any bunkers, but is simply a consumers ice facility, equipped to provide ice as the loaded commodity, in the car for shipping.  The size of the facility doesn’t much indicate that it would be receiving much ice either via “ICE SERVICE’ reefers that PFE was operating in the period.  I suppose that’s possible occasionally though.

On the layout, there really isn’t a huge amount of space for any industry, even though I believe this industry is important enough to include in the plan for Merced.  In Proto:48, the freight cars are the majority of the “scenery” on the layout, however, I do want as much of an indication of this shipper as possible.

In the plan, there is a spur that comes off the mainline, and serves the plant.  That spur is 32” long, with room for just about 3 of 40’ cars to be spotted on the siding.  The space for a structure and dock is somewhat limited by the “as drawn” configuration.  The space is really indicated to be a triangle shaped structure with the platform.  While there is room for just one car really at the platform, the original map indicates that there was an oil tank, and a coal pile, on the property as well.  Equipment for those commodities is something I’ll deal with later.  Right now the focus is the building and the ice and food related equipment.

I used the drawing from Jack and enlarged it to O scale, printed it, glued it to foamcoare, and cut it out to make a stand-up to see what fits.  This gives some idea of what size the structure will wind up being.

My plan for the construction of this first building is to combine a couple of tips I’ve seen recently on, and over the years, from Model Railroader Video Plus.  In one video on Perry Squire’s Shawmut line, he talks about painting the styrene he uses as the building core for his structures black.  I like that idea, but painting the structures cores black can be eliminated if I use black styrene as the core to build with.  The other series that I plan to do some emulation of is a recent one with Mrs. Renee Grosser.  She’s shown some excellent tips on structure building in O scale, including building the cores out of .080” styrene.  As the structure takes shape, we’ll see how some of these ideas and techniques work for me.

Now we come to the rolling stock, the freight cars that I plan to build to service the plant.  It seems reasonable to me to work on those at the same time I am working on the structure.  That way when the structure is done and ready for photographs, it has some appropriate rolling stock to be photographed with.  At the very least I’d like to make a dent in the cars.

My plan is to have a number of reefers that will come onto the YV, iced, and ready to be loaded with block ice to take up the railroad toward El Portal.  When the day comes and I build Merced Falls, it’ll be interesting to include the ice storage building that I noted in Part 1, so there will be a spot to send cars online there.  

To build this small fleet, I plan to backdate a pair of Red Caboose R-30-12-9 cars/kits to R-30-12 appearance (prior to rebuilding).  The most notable items will be the replacement of the brake details, the removal of one of the grabs on the left end of the car sides, and proper paint for 1928, more yellow than Daylight Orange in the body color.  These cars will then get Protcraft trucks and couplers.  The cars are plastic, so the changes should be relatively easy.  

To bring in fruits and vegetables to Merced, I can use the same R-30-12’s, or I can also add some ventilated boxcars.  I have a Mullet River ACL ventilated car that would be fun to deliver watermelons in for sale in Merced and for transport to the hotels at the National Park.  That car could be captured by the YV and sent to Merced Falls for loading of lumber.  I have a number of photos of ventilated cars being used for lumber hauling.  I might also use that ACL car for carrying live bees as I have seen in photos.  The short, 36’, car should be an interesting addition.

Two reefers likely won’t cut the fleet, though.  I have a Chooch R40-2 kit that I would like to build.  This is an older kit, and the resin has warped.  My plan is to try and rescue this car, as I have a number of other, older, Chooch kits to build.  I can’t really hurt it.  If I can rescue it, so much the better.  The R40-2’s were brand new in July of 1928, so one occasionally bringing fresh produce would be a good addition.

I will need to sort out at least one meat reefer as well.  There are several options, but I haven’t yet decided which direction to head there.

Ice wasn’t only carried by rail car into Merced. The facility there at N and 17th appears to have been servicing the local area with ice for refrigeration, and likely making some food deliveries too on occasion.

One of the photos of the plant shows some vehicles on the property, and I am going to try and replicate the delivery vehicle with another kit.

I believe his is a delivery vehicle for ice from the plant into Merced.

I believe that I can build something similar to the vehicle in the above photo by using a High Wheel delivery vehicle kit from Berkshire Valley Models.

This kit from Berkshire Valley Models should make a nice ice delivery vehicle at the model of the facility.

So, the construction list is:

  • Merced Ice & Cold Storage building
  • R-30-12 for PFE
  • R-30-12 for PFE
  • R-40-2 for PFE
  • Undecided Reefer kit
  • ACL Ventilated Boxcar
  • High wheel delivery truck

There we go, that’s what I’m aiming to build at a minimum.  It’s likely that there will eventually be a meat reefer and possibly some ATSF equipment as well down the road.

Now the fun starts.  It’s time to actually build something.

-Jeremy

NP Boxcar – 6

Posted on by jkdummler
Finished!

It took a while, but the NP Boxcar from Rails Unlimited is finished, and as a bonus, another 36′ boxcar of a different style, lettered for the P&LE is also done, just in time for RPM Chicagoland this week.

The last steps for both cars involved what is for me, a light weathering. Because the effects that add age to a freight car carry depending on where the car is, what the material is that the car is made of, and a number of other environmental factors, I use a variety of products and media to weather with. This year I decided to weather everything we either a pencil, which I covered previously in part 5, the airbrush, paint, or some kind of solution or weathering agent. I’ve done pastels and powders before, and while they produce some nice effects, I find that for me, they cause more issues than they solve. I have to wear lots of protective equipment when using them, so I decided to veer in a different direction for these cars, and I’m quite happy with eh results.

A couple of my new tools and tricks include these two fantastic products. A Lead Weathering Set from AK and a bottle of Quick Age Scenery Solution from Monroe Models. The leads were fantastic for adding wear on metal parts, with some of the chipping color applied to grabs and ladders, door hardware, and anywhere it looked like something might be routinely rubbed or scuffed by a hand or foot. The Quick Age solution gave me a few different effects depending on where I applied it. When applied on the underside of the cars and allowed to pool, it gave me a fantastic grit and grime effect. When applied to the roof panels…..

The underside of the P&LE car shows the weathering effects of the Quick Age and some additional rust after the solutions have dried.

Ever had one of those “WOAH, WHAT HAPPENED THERE?” moments in your modeling? I applied the Quick Age before going to bed one night, and arrived downstairs the next morning to find that the roof panels of both cars looked like they were turning silver. Not exactly what I was aiming for, but I then read the bottle. Being a solution suspended in isopropyl alcohol, the chemical reaction between the Quick Age and the dull coat was what was silvering. I had read before that to fix this, you spray dull coat again, which I did to the P&LE car, and like magic, the silvering vanished. On the NP car, however, I decided to play with it a little and see if I could create an effect there by adding more Quick Age so the roof would look like the paint was starting to fail. I like the way it turned out in the end, and the contrast between the two roof appearances on the cars is appealing.

The NP car as it appeared after the first Quick Age application. I eventually did this process three times to get the final effect, knowing that I could restore the car color by using an overspray of dull coat if I chose.

Final assembly included adding the Protocraft couplers that were weathered carefully with two other rust solutions from Monroe Models, the air hoses from Hi-Tech details, and the couplers (Protocraft for the NP car and Rich Yoder Models for the PL&LE).

I’m excited to tell you that the roster shots for these cars were taken on the layout module. That was one of my goals for the year, and to spite the fact that the track isn’t yet finished being weathered and the California Golden Grass is not in, the module made for a fantastic spot to take those. They’re taken at eye-height (at least the side views are) which means that is what someone operating the layout will see, and the cars are really up there, in your face, easy to read, and a nice height for using the uncoupling tool.

The last photo there is a test shot. The station is an O scale paper printout of the YV station at Merced, CA. The two cars are “parked” at the YV freight house, allowing me to display that another part of my design plan, getting two cars at the freight house, is possible as additional layout sections are prepared for construction in 2020.

I’m very pleased with how these cars turned out. They’ll be on display at RPM Chicagoland, October 24-26, 2019.

The next projects are starting to line up, so there will be more to see.

-Jeremy

Merced – Track Plan and Arts & Crafts

Posted on by jkdummler

Part of my RPM Chicagoland presentation this year is showing off the track plan for Merced.  Part of getting ready to show the plan, talk to people about it, and demonstrate my design ideas has been to get a 1:1 drawing made the plan.  

Standing at the West end of the layout plan looking to the East. In the middle of the plan is the mainline. To the left, a track to serve the Ice House. On the right, the track leads to the Yosemite Valley freight house and station.

Those of you who have read my track planning posts before know I greatly prefer to plan in full size.  It’s visually easier for me to stand next to a set of turnout templates and visualize what I want the plan to look like.  One of the biggest challenges in changing scale, or in planning a layout in general, is knowing the scale of structures to layout, and making all of that approximate the visual appearance of photographs, especially when prototype modeling.

This is a mosaic of the track plan, stitched together as best I could at the moment. It features the sidings described in the top photo in the West on the left hand side. To the middle of the plan we see a yard track at the top and the YV house track along the bottom. To the East end, I’ve included a lead that will go toward the currently un-modeled roundhouse.
Drawings by Jack Burgess, which are available on yosemitevalleyrr.com from his shop, have been scaled to O scale, printed, and are now glued to foam core board. I’ll cut these out and place them on the track plan to give much more “real” view of my ideas. The feeling of size will be evident once these are sitting on the plan drawing and it’s a little more 3D.

As part of my own visual planning, and to illustrate the layout to others, I have printed drawings (or pmts of them) for structures from Merced, and a couple of pieces of YV equipment, YV26 and YV15 locomotive and caboose, to help with demonstrating locations and sizes.  I glued the drawings to sheets of foam board that will be cut out and have stands attached to allow the drawings to stand on the track plan.

One of the challenges with this plan is that it’s BIG.  It’s big enough that I have been having a challenge photographing the whole thing to share here.  When I get to the RPM, my hope is that as I post this plan on the walls to give presentations, or unroll it to share with others, I can get some better photos.  

There’s lots to do, but the visual assistance provided by these drawings for planning is immensely helpful.  I can show others what scenes will look like, and get some idea of the vision I have in my head is and see if it is coming together in 3D as I build.

-Jeremy