Layout Update |
AUGUST 2001
One of the pleasures associated with writing a series of hardcover books describing the CNR railway operations in Southern Ontario during the 1950s is the steady stream of letters from readers, many of which speak of efforts to recreate part of that scene in miniature. We all have our favourite prototypes, era and locale; this month I will bring you up to date on my own project, an HO scale layout depicting a portion of the CNR Allandale Division featured in my first book. Please refer to the October 2000 topic for the general description of the towns, operations and design considerations.
Shortly after the last discussion of the layout, we constructed the benchwork over Thanksgiving Weekend--in five hours. Credit carpenter Pierre Oliver for the efficiency of that operation; Dad, Roger Winchester and I installed open-grid sections in the layout room almost as fast as Pierre single-handedly constructed them in the garage. We used 1x3 finger-joint pine, with the sections screwed into the wall studs at the back, and supported by L-section 1x3 legs at the front. I had previously been a fan of L-girder benchwork; after this experience I will only use open-grid. Fascia board on the layout is 1/8 inch hardboard, painted CNR dark green (I took a CN SIG paint chip to WalMart: they computer-matched the colour and mixed a quart of latex paint).
Later in the month of October 2000, Greg Stubbings visited for a couple of days, during which time we laid in the roadbed for the town of Bradford. For me, Homasote has gone the route of L-girder benchwork. I am now using 1/2 inch poplar plywood (again, the recommendation of carpenter friend Pierre Oliver) for all roadbed and level surfaces. Supported by risers every 12-inches, there is no need for anything thicker. Micro Engineering short spikes are tough enough to drive into the plywood, so there is only a single level of roadbed. As I write this, the roadbed for Bradford, Allandale and the staging yard is in place, with Collingwood and Meaford to follow this week. In all cases, I am using the cookie cutter method to achieve relief in the towns. Meaford will also feature some styrofoam scenery forms in the residential section beyond the railway yard.
I have been handlaying all track to date. All Bradford and half of the Allandale trackage is installed and in service. My method has been to lay Mount Albert or Micro Engineering unstained wooden ties with the aid of a homemade tie jig. Ties are stained with leather dye (diluted in rubbing alcohol). Several colours of Woodland Scenics ballast are applied with spice shakers (dollar store item). I lay a combination of light grey and buff ballast first, followed by a light line of cinder ballast down the centre (to represent the oil, grease and clinkers falling from locomotives and trains), then some earth coloured fine ground foam along the alignment of the rails (representing rust stains). After a misting with water & dish soap, the scenic texture is affixed in place with diluted white glue (1:1) applied with an eye dropper. A gentle sanding after the glue dries give the ties a slightly distressed look. A very thin (20:1 or so) mix of water and earth-coloured latex paint is sprayed over the whole right-of-way to blend everything together. Finally, code 70 Micro Engineering weathered rail is spiked in place.
So far, I have been powering my handlaid turnouts with a choke cable mechanism described by Rich Chrysler in a back issue of Railroad Model Craftsman. While this method is about half the cost of Tortoise switch machines, I am not sure I would do it if starting over. The knobs tend to get in the way, and easily grab loose sleeves of operators. There is a lot of hardware involved under the layout. However, they work well and my son Spencer gets a kick out of pushing and pulling the turnout controls upon request (or often of his own free will).
When my Atlas code 100 flex track and Custom Line turnouts arrive, they will be nailed down in the staging yard and hidden areas. To be quite honest, this experience may draw me away from handlaying the rest of the visible trackage. I am eager to get operations underway on the whole layout, and I have proven I can handlay track on the first half, so why bother on the second half? While the results are favourable, I do not find a lot of joy in hunching myself over the benchwork, spiking a few inches of track at a time. There is no cost saving in handlaying regular track--the economies only apply on turnouts. However, with several hours of time invested in each one, the cost saving becomes a lot less attractive. My opinion is that with careful airbrushing, flex track can be made to look as realistic as handlaid track.
Structures are already in place in Bradford. The large Bradford Co-operative Storage building was constructed of foam core board (another suggestion from Pierre) with styrene trim. In this experience, I discovered the benefits of using water-based contact cement. Since that time, I have employed the cement on wood structures (in place of yellow carpenters' glue), and I have been pleased with the results. This is a throwback to the late Jack Work's methods, although in the 1950s and 1960s he was restricted to solvent-based Pliobond, diluted with lacquer thinner (No Thanks). Bradford station is in place, along with a coal shed and feed mill.
My layout will feature a couple of view blocks, which will be added shortly. Based upon the experiences of Iain Rice and Marty McGuirk, I will use 60-thou styrene, on a framework of 1x2s and/or 2x2s. The view dividers will be painted the same sky blue as the walls of the layout room.
Four locomotives have already been equipped with Digitrax decoders, and are operating on the section of track between Bradford and Allandale. While I am utilizing a plug-in throttle at the moment, I will use the infrared units as operations expand. In my L-shaped room, there is no need for radio control, as the lesser-expensive alternative will do just as well. It did not take me long to discover that plugging and unplugging a throttle is a nuisance.
As you may infer, I am anxious to get on with operating this layout. I have decided that a card-order system is too cumbersome. I will employ switchlists, either computer- or hand-generated. It goes without saying that freight car forwarding has to be a lot more than merely moving each car to a new spot every session. I will use drawers below the staging yard to accommodate cars added to and taken off the layout. My expectation is that between operating sessions, I will make up switchlists to accommodate the shipping needs of railway customers, both on and off the layout. These shipping patterns will have been assessed on a siding-by-siding basis, keeping in mind the time of year (September). Freight car movement will also reflect the traffic to and from towns and industries off the layout, namely over the Newmarket and Huntsville Subdivisions from Toronto to North Bay.
Passenger train equipment has been discussed in previous topics. I have begun to address my needs in that regard by undertaking the scratchbuilding of a wooden mail & express car (in styrene). It will be a slow process to amass between 15 and 20 quality pieces of authentic passenger cars... another reason not to handlay all that track!
Ian Wilson
August 2, 2001
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