Twin Pines RailRoad

@Tranquil Hollow RR posted:

That gives the impression of being larger than 24’x12’ John. It looks vast.

Trick photography.

Laid in more Scenic Express Ballast. I was surprised by the color variation between sizes. Also shown is chicken grit for comparison. 

Which are you leaning towards Jeff? To my eye the chicken grit is too light but the #16 looks more natural.

Finished the Plastruct storage towers and placed them in the fuel depot.  Still have to decide which decals should be on the depot. The asphalt is the mix of fine cinders and white glue described by Ericstrains - I think it came out well - thanks Eric !

Yes I know we do not put petroleum products into carbon dioxide or liquid nitrogen tanks. 

@Tranquil Hollow RR posted:

Which are you leaning towards Jeff? To my eye the chicken grit is too light but the #16 looks more natural.

Jay, I am not a fan of light ballast, but its is used all over the Midwest by the railroads - limestone is pretty cheap.  This layout will likely be coming down in a year or so (due to a planned move), so I wanted to try a few ideas for the next layout.  The grit is decomposed granite so it has all kinds of colors so its not bad. I think I would tumble it for a while to knock off the sharp edges if I were to use it again, but I think buying commercial ballast is probably a better idea. (But - grit is super inexpensive) 

The #20 is supposed to be O scale size. I ended up with the #16 because it was super cheap from Trainz and I needed more ballast to finish the tracks. I think I like the #20 better color wise. The photo angle is giving a slight change to the Ross track above and below - ignoring the brown ties of the Gargraves flex top right. The #16 is more uniform in color, with the #20 having the lighter grey pieces sprinkled in.

TPRR took official possession of a delayed delivery of its second Illinois Central Gulf diesel. The GP40 and GP38 are waiting assignment on a spur track. Looks like we are in for some rain. So much for a new pristine paint job!

I hope the shop did an inspection before assigning them. You have been very busy Jeff and that’s a lot of detail for a layout that will be dismantled . But it looks great.

Working on the detail is therapy in these days of Covid.  Anyway just building up skills so I know about what I can do when planning the next layout.

Saw a layout plan where there was no lift-ups or lift-outs, but used helixes to turn around (and up). Pretty interesting but it was an HO layout.   by mpeterll  I will run a couple of ideas on Scarm to see how much room that would need for O and 72 and 88 curves (double mainline).

That sounds intriguing and challenging Jeff. So when you are house hunting, your reaction may be, the house is nice but LOOK at that room.

I think you all may be getting the idea I cannot leave things alone. Picked up a couple of MTH corner buildings and the MTH station and started figuring out where to put them on my layout. The station did not look that good in its intended spot as a station, so reconfigured the town a bit.

The station is now the Twin Pines Inn - signage since added.

The bar and new corner buildings are on the extended area of the town.

I pulled all the incandescent lights from the MTH buildings and replaced them with 12v led strip lighting. 1st and 2nd floors are independently controlled and on dimmers.

The rest of the photos show how this area can come apart. All the lighting has M/F disconnects which makes pulling sections completely off without unscrewing wire terminals simple. 

The hole in the center shows how "c" sections were used to support the upper structures but also allow just enough room to stand up in this area. Now if only the entire layout was only 12 inches higher it would be much easier to get up through the hole.  I made it at 32 inches to make it easier for the grand kids. Good thing they are now much taller, next layout will be at least 42 off the floor.

Even the landscaping on the right is removable - its just cotton batting over pink foam.

Ingenious Jeff!

Excellent planning and execution!

Here is a link to trains running on Twin Pines RR. Should give you a better idea of what the layout now looks like.  The yellowish tone is due to a halogen lamp adding needed light to the bridge area. The background has 2 10,000 lumen LED garage lamps adding needed video lighting - they are quite bright.

Hope you enjoy ... Jeff

TPRR May 2021 Trains Running

Here is a cab view of the Twin Pines Rail Road. Sure looks different running down the rails.

I may try putting the camera at the very front of the car to see if it catches the turns any better. Otherwise I can set a wider camera angle.  The 40,000 lumens of 6000K LED garage lighting does make a difference in the video capture. Far less grainy and better color.

I can think of a couple of things I would do different next time. Like leaving the station slower and sounding the bell.  I did miss a switch which caused the camera car to derail. Did it again but it re-railed itself on the next turnout.

Total video is about 5 minutes - its probably a bit long but it covers all my interconnecting track. Running about 25 scale mph.

Hope you enjoy.  Twin Pines Cab View May 2021

Very nice, Jeff!

Very cool!

George

Ongoing Saga - finished redoing my backdrop behind the town of Twin Pines. I like it much better than the undersized "mountain" previously in the background. Stitched together 2 layers of 1/2 inch pink foam, carved it a bit and glued down a layer of cotton batting. Painted a brown dirt color and added ground foam and leaves to add texture. Repositioned the mountain where I think it makes more sense.

Rough foam placement - I hardly ever throw anything away - never know when you can use pieces of this and that. This is a one piece section nearly 8 feet long.

Finished section

A before photo - mountain barely visible behind the corner building and the Twin Pines Inn on the left foreground.

That's all for now. 

Jeff, the new background hills look much better than before!

Thanks Mark,  didn't take all that much time. I started too tall and kept trimming to get a reasonable height. Time for glue to dry and paint to dry was 90% of the time. Next time I'll have to get some better lighting.  I have so little space to maneuver its difficult to get certain camera angles.

Still thinking about re-doing the town. I think I'll move the Inn back where I originally had it and put in a couple of woodland scenic buildings I am working on in its place.

How is the back surgery recovery going?

Jeff, I agree with Mark; very well done.

Well I went ahead and moved things around in the town. Ended up doing more re-wiring than anything else. I now have different connectors for my Miller 5v signs and for the building LEDs  and street lights 12v.  Not quite done with the Woodland Scenics store - lost momentum doing all the little detail painting and thinking about how to put LED chips into the goose neck lights that will illuminate the sign.

Also added a K-Line Interurban which arrived today from Stout.  1 day UPS delivery - the stars were aligned. These can be modified to run off the power poles. Next layout I have a plan for a 2 rail city line running off overhead wires. Really wanted a couple of the brass trolleys from a past auction but the hammer prices were more than I was willing to part with. One of these days. Considering they have been in a box for who know how long, once the contacts were cleaned, they run pretty nice. Interior lighting is good, interior details decent and the green/red running lights mostly switch in tandem forward and reverse.

The only Twin Pines buildings I did not move were the MTH corner buildings toward the back of the layout.

Not super visible, but I added 5 LEDs under the theater marquee and one above to light the building medallion. These are on a dimmer to adjust to lighting needs.

When I build the next layout the backdrops are going to the ceiling. Have to laugh, I have been watching the old painting shows on PBS and Create to pick up some techniques on scene painting. Besides the amazing way they add a little of this and a little of that and a touch of another to get the color they want - yet never mixing it uniform to have color gradation - its they way they build depth to a flat 2D canvas by painting layers back to front.     

Have a great rest of the week everyone.  !!!

Looks amazing! If you get bored you can come and do mine! Summertime hit and we are too busy with water sports and race cars to even look at the layout. Luckily we knew going in that it would be a wintertime project so for now it sits dormant. Great work though, love it.

Thanks David,  Next is to get out to the train shows and begin to pick up more little people and vehicles. No more room on this layout for more buildings except for a spot for a switch tower.  Still thinking about how to build a facade for a bowling alley. Already have part of a name "Tank's Pins and ???" or something like that. My dad was a semi-pro bowler in the late 40s and 50s and Tank was his nickname.  Next time I plan a visit to Nebraska ... - well you know how that goes.  ; )

Jeff, the town looks nice!!  The interurban does also!!

Wow, I can't believe its been 6 months since my last update on TPRR.

But first, in that time Sue and I signed contracts on 2 homes in Michigan. Both deals fell apart due to inspection problems. One the owners refused to do $30,000+ in needed repairs and the other had soil erosion problems so bad the soils engineer told me he could not recommend buying at any price. This one had a dream layout room above the garage - 12  by 35 feet of finished and heated/cooled space just calling out for a railroad. Bummer - the home needed work but was otherwise solid. 6 acres with a meandering creek running through the middle, nicely wooded, of course that was what was creating the problem.

So on to the layout, when I built the layout I used 1/2 nominal plywood using 2x4 spacers to provide support. Over time some sections warped and other sections I goofed up during rebuilds. One section in particular was temperamental with my longer engines. There is a grade transition here where its down hill going to the right.  You might be able to see the hump above the hinge going back to the second support. There is also a turnout in this spot which none of my scale steamers liked.

So after a bit to touchy surgery, I was able to take out the hump. My level shows no gaps so I expect this little challenge has been addressed. Still have to add a couple of supports to stiffen the road bed. 

While this was going on, I found a "reworked" section where I had goofed once again. I use Ross turnouts and use a feature where they provide a natural place for blocks. In this case I used an insulated pin to join the lead track to the turnout. This created a 6 inch unpowered section. If the trains were going fast enough (around 30 Smph) the only thing that happened was an occasional spurious toot from the engine.  However slower speeds and shorter spacing between the pick ups resulted in a dead engine. Of course it was at the other end of the layout where it is just inconvenient enough not to want to put up with. Next project on the docket. I will also improve the level there and try to take out a slight dip.

So here are a couple of pics of the TPRR with my recent purchases scattered about.

Its socializing time at the Camaraderie Bar. No one minds the trains, they know they are important and what the heck, they all enjoy watching them go by.

Jeff, house hunting has to be one of the most frustrating life experiences. But, it’s far better not to pay for someone else’s problems. You don’t need that heartache at this stage of life. Your train empire, I mean house, is out there.

I just found this post yesterday....what a great layout in such a short time. I really like the lift out sections. I'm looking forward seeing what you do on your next layout.

Got around to addressing the "dip" at the back end of the layout.  I tried to use a framing level, but that was not working across the 072 curve.  So I trimmed a 6 foot piece of masonite to give me an idea on how off "flat" the track was. [Recall most of my layout is on some kind of grade so there is almost no "level" anywhere. So I use the term "flat" to describe track sections the otherwise may be level but at a grade up to 3%.] The masonite was sitting on the outer ties clipped to the outer rail. This allowed me to see the height differences as I moved from left to right. As a temporary measure I inserted shims on the back side where I have a pop up and better track access. Way off.

Since I really could not tear out that section of the layout, I had to figure out a way to provide a solid surface under the track but also be thin enough to be able to shim along a 10 foot section.

On the foreground track, I was able to use 1/4 plywood with shims. Placed the track down, then the long level set on the track to check for gaps. Shimmed where necessary. Being frugal and not having 1/2 ply, I cut homosote for the background track roadbed. Shims are glued in place with the road bed ready to go down for another final check for any track gap against the level.  Of course neither 1/4 ply or 1/2 homosote is any good for structural stiffness.  Skipping a couple of steps along the way but you get the idea.

The solution was to lay a bed of setting mortar on the layout deck, so the roadbed would be fully supported underneath. And that is why the shims were glued in place prior to mortar going down.

In the photo above, you can see a gap between the 1/4 ply and layout deck. This was taken off, mortar applied and the 1/4 ply reset.

Foreground and background roadbeds are down. Now its time to let the mortar set before screwing down the track and doing a test run.  There was a lot of back and forth trying to get both track sections flat. I found I could get a better idea on flatness using the level on top of the rails instead of on the road bed.

Jeff, I agree that the level worked best for me on top of the rails instead of the roadbed.  Your solution looks like it should work out.  I had one  sag and one high spot.  Shimming one and shaving off the other finally worked as we have discussed.  Thank you for the photographs!

After a bunch of fiddling around,  got the track section repaired, ballasted and somewhat scenic'd. I almost never pop up in this location of TPRR but decided to takes a few images of the track work looking "West". Rails are still not perfectly flat, but pretty close. The track had a few slight bends which I could not completely straighten. The 2 right tracks were completely removed along with the roadbed. The furthest right track was added last year by sliding the entire layout "south" (to the left) a few inches. For me the extra track made a huge difference in operation and "look". Yep - a track heavy layout. From right to left - track 1 and 2 form loop 1 (either can be the main); track 3 is the interconnecting section for loop 1 and loop 2;  track 4 is middle loop 2;  track 5 is inner loop 3; the rest of the track form the "yard". Each loop can be separately run convention or DCS or TMCC.

While I was working on the section, I finally figured out what to do with the Twin Pines Inn and where to place the magnificent twin pine (as yet grown).  This is the pop up at the Nor'eastern corner of the layout. I previously has a little mesa and a feeder track coming from off the layout.  [Gosh I wish I had made the table height more than 33 inches from the deck - have to be a contortionist to stand up.]

Here is the Inn in its most likely final position.  The twin pine will be off to the left. I am considering a large oak behind the Inn so its branches overhang the Inn.  The track to the right will be rail service to the Inn.  A low brick or stone wall will separate the Inn and track.

What really gave me this idea was looking at timetables of the Milwaukee Road Hiawatha which used to serve Minoqua, Wisconsin - an annual vacation location for my family. Rather amazing to me to see the vacation spots people trained into prior to the advent of the interstate highway system. Next time I am up there I am going to find out where the line terminated. I think I know where it did but never registered. 

Jeff, Your repaired track looks great.  I like the Twin Pines Inn placed in the corner.  It will look great with the twin pine and large oak!  That is great you gained inspiration from where you visited years ago.

...The Twin Pines "Milkman" used to deliver milk in glass bottles to our milk chute daily...

The layout is looking exceptional!

@ScoutingDad posted:

After a bunch of fiddling around,  got the track section repaired, ballasted and somewhat scenic'd. I almost never pop up in this location of TPRR but decided to takes a few images of the track work looking "West". Rails are still not perfectly flat, but pretty close. The track had a few slight bends which I could not completely straighten. The 2 right tracks were completely removed along with the roadbed. The furthest right track was added last year by sliding the entire layout "south" (to the left) a few inches. For me the extra track made a huge difference in operation and "look". Yep - a track heavy layout. From right to left - track 1 and 2 form loop 1 (either can be the main); track 3 is the interconnecting section for loop 1 and loop 2;  track 4 is middle loop 2;  track 5 is inner loop 3; the rest of the track form the "yard". Each loop can be separately run convention or DCS or TMCC.

While I was working on the section, I finally figured out what to do with the Twin Pines Inn and where to place the magnificent twin pine (as yet grown).  This is the pop up at the Nor'eastern corner of the layout. I previously has a little mesa and a feeder track coming from off the layout.  [Gosh I wish I had made the table height more than 33 inches from the deck - have to be a contortionist to stand up.]

Here is the Inn in its most likely final position.  The twin pine will be off to the left. I am considering a large oak behind the Inn so its branches overhang the Inn.  The track to the right will be rail service to the Inn.  A low brick or stone wall will separate the Inn and track.

What really gave me this idea was looking at timetables of the Milwaukee Road Hiawatha which used to serve Minoqua, Wisconsin - an annual vacation location for my family. Rather amazing to me to see the vacation spots people trained into prior to the advent of the interstate highway system. Next time I am up there I am going to find out where the line terminated. I think I know where it did but never registered.

The Line went to  Star Lake.   The north woods HI  actually went from New Lisbon  to Star lake, where it was turned on a Y.    A  Regular Hiawatha  would have  had several cars   that were switched out in New Lisbon and taken North o the North Woods Hiawatha, up to the resorts in Northern Wisconsin, I havent been over there since November ,  The Log Station , in Woodruff and the bridge over the  lake in Minocqua    , nothing much in Star Lake, most everything is Built over or grown shut still a beautiful  area

Got a little distracted with the paying job, and selling a few items here and on the bay.

After reading forum discussions on track planning I picked up John Armstrong's book "Track Planning for Realistic Operations".  I do not think it would have helped when I first started my layout iterations, but now I understand the wealth of information contained therein. Well worth the $12 bucks from a used book seller. Thanks to whomever cited that book.

Toying with how I want the Twin Pines Inn area to look. I've got an idea for the lone twin pine, but went ahead and started the build of a burr oak tree. As usual watched a lot of how-to videos and @Sarah 's build of her trees.  Link to Burr Oak image

Here is a bunch of 19 and 20 gauge wire roughly 20 inches long. The intent was to build a 60 scale foot oak.  Burr oaks are gnarly and usually wider than tall. I also wanted sturdy roots coming out at the bottom.

Then it is a matter of twisting bundles of wire together around the core. A wrap of wire around the trunk helps stabilize the wire. I've seen some of these with 6 foot diameter trunks, so the wrap works fine to thicken the trunk.

For the branches it more twisting and folding and more twisting. Wear safety glasses on something this big, hard not to poke yourself with the sharp wire edges. Bottom photo is with the first coat of heavy modeling latex over everything. I'll apply 2 or 3 more coats and cover everything with fine coffee grounds. I dump the used stuff in a sheet pan and cook off the water.

The plan is to use sedum at the ends of  the branches coated with several layers of dilute PVA to give a little strength. They are quite brittle. The war gaming folks don't use glycerin as it makes things too floppy, so they coat with PVA to enable handling. After that I'll start with Scenic Express Super Leaves. If too sparse I'll try either Woodland Scenics Fine Leaf Foliage or do the fiber followed with ground foam and leaves method.  This is sedum before I knock off the spiky flower buds with a sturdy brush. 

these were off my logging On30, the one on the left is about  80 scale feet about a 7' trunk  . I used the wire armature , with a air dry clay coating, then carved in the Bark

Just caught up on the past month's work Jeff. The updated track work looks good. The hotel looks right at home on that corner. Can't wait to see the finished product.

Bob

I think this burr oak build is going to work!

These are the sedum tips, dipped/immersed into 4:1 water/glue, allowed to drain for a minute or two, then sprinkled with super leaf.   Trying to decide to spray with hair spray to get the extra fix or spray with a thinned modge podge or the modge podge canned spray.  I have Krylon matte but not sure it has any holding power.

I like the effect of the brownish red  color peeking through the leaves.

Here is the wire tree armature with a second coat of latex then dusted with coffee grounds while still wet. I worked in sections as the latex skins quickly. I left the ends bare so as not to interfere with gluing the leaves on.  I think I will need 80 to 100 of the leaf bunches. Making the bunches goes pretty fast, gluing them to the tree is going to take time. I am leaning toward making all the leaf bunches and then applying, as opposed to gluing the stems on and then applying the leaves.

Wow Jeff that is quite an undertaking. Looks good and I don’t know if I would have your level of skill patience.

@ScoutingDad posted:

I think this burr oak build is going to work!

These are the sedum tips, dipped/immersed into 4:1 water/glue, allowed to drain for a minute or two, then sprinkled with super leaf.   Trying to decide to spray with hair spray to get the extra fix or spray with a thinned modge podge or the modge podge canned spray.  I have Krylon matte but not sure it has any holding power.

I like the effect of the brownish red  color peeking through the leaves.

Here is the wire tree armature with a second coat of latex then dusted with coffee grounds while still wet. I worked in sections as the latex skins quickly. I left the ends bare so as not to interfere with gluing the leaves on.  I think I will need 80 to 100 of the leaf bunches. Making the bunches goes pretty fast, gluing them to the tree is going to take time. I am leaning toward making all the leaf bunches and then applying, as opposed to gluing the stems on and then applying the leaves.

Coffee grounds , is brilliant, after I carved my park in the clay It always looked too smooth to me. I also like you leaf material

I am going to take @Dave Koehler 's advice and use modeling clay around the base. Otherwise it will take several more coats of latex to hide the wires.  Bought a bit of oven fired clay, 15 min at 275.  We will see how that turns out. Hopefully the latex won't break down at that temp. [Supposedly it will take 325 and in the process will vulcanize.] 

I think I got the coffee grounds idea from Sarah.  The dirt around here is either clay or has a lot of organics - neither of which are helpful for simulating dirt.