Modelling Maine Railroads

I know that I said that this post would not be as wordy as the last post, but it will nearly be as wordy. Hopefully it will be readable and a few people will read through it. On my last post, I recieved a comment suggesting that I build modules based on my own standards rather than free-mo standards. This, I think, is a very good idea, and I will probably use this idea for the layout that I am planning. I guess that this idea should have been a fairly obvious one as I have been looking at various modular designs, but I somehow got stuck limiting myself only to free-mo, and I was unable to think abput any other options than freemo modules or a shelf layout. I think that a modular approach with standards set by myself would proabably be the best available option for what I'm generally planning at the moment. While I had previously thought that freemo would be the only modular option, I started having doubts that that approach to model railroading would work for me while writing t...

I haven't been very good at posting lately, and I don't really have any reason not to. I have been fairly active with model rqilroading in the last few weeks, but I haven't felt inclined to post much, and I'm not quite sure why. At any rate, I'll use this post to breifly describe some of the model railroading related things that I've done recently. I scratchbuilt two structures recently. One was a model of a Canadian Pacific statation closely followinng the station in Grand Falls, New Brunswick. I also scratchbuilt a feedmill that was not based of any particular prototype. I will cover these buildings more extensively in separate posts soon.  I also recently acquired a new locomotive. This locomotive is the Bachmann model of CP Rail alco S2 number 7020. I acquired this locomotive for a planned shelf layout based on CP Rail in the late 1970s, probably set in the maratime provinces. I built a small ( ten inches by 54 inches) scenery test layout. I liked how ...

This afternoon, I added, carved, and shaped foam board for the Low's Bridge  scene on my layout. I first added two roughly one by two foot foam layers, each one inch thick. I then carved the rouh shape of the riverbank into the foam. After that, I used a rasp to shape and smooth the foam. The Low's Bridge area on my layout at the beginning of the afternoon. Test fitting the first layer of foam board. The first layer of foam board attached. Note the roughed in shape of the riverbed of the Pistcataquis River on the extreme left of the picture. The top layer of foam attached, making the foam board at Low's Bridge even with the foam board of the rest of the layout. The slope of the riverbank roughed in using a small knife. After initial shaping with the rasp. I then laid track at Low's Bridge and roughed up the foam board on the inland side of the track. This is how the Low's Bridge area looked by the end of the aft...

On Monday night, I cut and attached foam board to make a basic, flat, layout surface for my new layout. I used one inch thick foam board for this. Installation was fast and simple, and I did not have any problems with the foam board. I used a combination of wood glue and screws to secure the foam board on the layout. On the layout, I used a single two by eight foot piece of foam board to make up the main layout section, while I used some decent sized peices of foam that I had on hand in order to finish adding foam board to the layout. I still have to add more foam around Low's Bridge, as that area was attached to the main layout benchwork two inches lower than the rest of the layout, in order to make it easier to model the bridge. This afternoon, I'm hoping that I can build up the foam at Low's bridge so that tracklaying on the layout can comence. This is what I started out with - A large shhet of fresh foam board. This sheet is now the base for the what will be ...

Last night I got the legs attached to the benchwork. It was a somewhat laborious project, and was made more difficult by the distinct downward slope of the floor in the room that I am building the layout in. With that complete, I can move on to adding a foam board layout surface. One end of the new benchwork. The legs at the far end of the layout had to be shortened by about half an inch to make the layout level. The other end of the layout. This contains the Low's Bridge layout section that I posted about the other day. A panoramic view of the benchwork, ready to have foam board attached.

Yetserday evening and this morning I manged to get a lot of benchwork completed. I assembled the frames for the two longest sections of benchwork for the layout that I am building. The fames are just plain open grid frames made from one by three lumber. The frames went together fairly quickly and easily. I had some difficulties with the fame of the larger section as the lumber for those section was somewhat warped. It all went together and turned out fairly square in the end, however. Assembling the first corner of the smaller benchwork section that I built. Building the first corner of the larger benchwork section. The benchwork is held rogether by two wood screws screwed in at the corners. Attaching a crossbrace piece to the center of the larger scerion of benchwork. This was fairly difficult as the two long wood pieces were warped and had to be held very firmly in order rhat they would lie flat and the joint woth the crosspiece would be square. The finish...

I thought that I would post a few pictures of my new layout space. The new space is a medium sized fourth bedroom/storage room, of wich I have a 42 inch by 11 foot six space in which to build a layout. Unfortunately, due to the shape of the room, I cannot build the Penobscot Street Spur layout. I have however, been able to plan a different layout for the space, based on the Bangor & Aroostook's Greenville branch. I will post more about this plan sometime next week. This photo shows part of the longer wall of the layout space. Note the piles of lumber in preparation for the beginning of benchwork assembly. The other end of the layout space, showing the long wall as well as the shorter, 42 inch wall. The short wall will be the location of the Low's Bridge benchwork section that I posted about yesterday. 

This afternoon, I worked on building a small becnhwork section tahy wiil eventually contain the location of Low's Bridge. Low's Bridge contained a flag stop platform and covered bridge. The location was situated on the Bangor and Aroostook's Greenville branch, and the covered bridge carried a local road over the Piscataquis river. I will be modeling this scene in a roughly one by two foot area. I had all the lumber lengths and foamboard I needed to build a basic frame and attach an initial layer of foam for this location on hand, so I decided to assemble the frame this afternoon. The frame was constructed from previously used one by threes. The dark brown patch in the center of the one board is brown paint from my last layout. Each board was connected to  another board at the corner using two small wood screws. The frame at the the end of assembly, and ready to have foam attached. I did not bother to adf any interior bracing as the frame is so small. ...

Sorry that I haven't been posting much regularly, but I' ve been really busy with other, non-model railroading, things. In fact, I haven't even managed to post wordless wednesdays on time.  This evening, though, I was finally able to get some modeling done. This evening, I assembled and painted two switchstand kits. These switchstand kits are made by Osborn Scale Models, and are laser cut wood and wire. The kit was fairly easy to assemble. I won't give an extensive written account of this - rather, the pictures will tell the story. My workbench at the start of the evening, with all the kit parts laid out and ready for assembly to begin. The switchstand bases after having holes for the posts drilled. The base on the right was rendered unusable by a drilling error on my part. Bases, posts, and a few other small pieces assembled.  The entire switchstand assembled but not yet painted. The posts were provided much longer than neccesary, so I c...