Humboldt River rapids

In the Harney section of the layout the Humboldt River runs between the two tracks for about 4-1/2 feet.  The river is relatively straight and I felt it was not very interesting.  Also, at the end of this section near the high bridge the river bed needed to climb up about 1/2 inch.

So I recently created a little rapids area over the spot where the level changes.  I don't know if there is anything like this on the prototype Humboldt River but it seems like a fun thing to have on a layout.

Woodland Scenics water effects was used to give the water some texture in the right places and some of the ridges were highlighted with white paint applied with a toothpick.  All of the water was then given a final coat of gloss medium.

A belated happy new year

We are already half way through January and I have yet to make a post.  We were in Arizona visiting family and got back a couple days ago.  Time for an update.

Before leaving for Arizona I had ballasted both lines where they connected between the Battle Mountain and Harney sections and started to blend the scenery in the area.  After giving the track a good cleaning the main line has now re-opened.

Again this year I am taking part in the Trainboard.com winter layout party.  Besides presenting a few projects on the home layout I am also giving one of my Ntrak modules a tune up with the goal of displaying it in a layout at a show in late February.

Creating a place for the DCC system

Up to this point in the layouts life the DCC system has been sitting on the floor under the staging yard.  The command station and power supply are attached to a piece of plywood with a small section of track with the output being being at a jack that the layout can be connected to.  I have often taken this setup with me to Ntrak layout setups to use as a programming station.

What I decided on was a similar setup that is mounted in a drawer that is directly under the bridge on the Harney section.  This is right next to the work bench so a test / programming track can be on the bench where I wanted it.  I actually reused the same drawer hardware salvaged from the last layouts control panel.

There is room underneath to set up a spare computer to use as a JMRI programmer.

So now with the old setup gone and not available to take to shows I think I better get going on building the long promised programming station for the Ntrak club.

The latest layout expansion

The Harney section has been installed into the layout and the end of it was close enough to the old test layout to connect to it rather than use the turn around loop again.   Bridges were made from scraps and tracks laid across connecting the layouts.

The test layout is Kato Unitrack on a shelf that has been changed many times in the last 5 years. This latest configuration is a combination of return loop for the main layout while still being an operating layout by itself.  More about that in a future post.

Trying my hand at sky board painting

In preparation for installing the Harney section into the layout the plastic sky board needed to be extended and as only the first few inches above the mountains would show I thought I would paint a sky backdrop to match the sky that is on the photo backdrops.

The test layout that has been along the end wall was taken down for access and another 16 inch wide sheet of fiberglass reinforced plastic panel was installed.  Seams and nail holes were patched with Spackle and then the panel was painted the wall color.

I have been using Artist Acrylic paints for my river bottoms and happy with those results picked up what I thought was a light blue and some white to add to my collection for working on sky boards.

I read somewhere that the higher sky is slightly darker than close to the horizon and that can be seen in the photo backdrops.

Even with lightening the blue, it dries a bit darker so I kept lightening.  Getting closer with each application.  I think when all is right I may need to spray some flat to get rid of the reflections from the lights.

The Winnemucca area also has a small sky board that I am painting.  This one also needs some lightening.

It's fun working with these Acrylic paints to get the results I want.  I may also try adding some clouds as I go along.

Installing the BLMA bridge

One of the first things I purchased when planning this layout was one of the BLMA brass thru truss bridges.  The time has finally come to install in on the layout.

This bridge comes with nicely detailed bridge shoes so I did not need to add any like I did with the Central Valley bridge I have in another area of the layout.

The vertical girders on the bridge are spaced at 25 foot intervals, the same as the Central Valley bridges so length wise the Central Valley bridge ties fit perfectly.  I did find that with the walkways on the BLMA bridge the ends of the ties would not fit so I trimmed them off as shown in this photo.

After removing the ties on a section of Micro Engineering flex track I applied a coat of Plyobond adhesive to the bottom of the rails and set the rails into the the slots on the Central Valley bridge ties.

 After the adhesive has set overnight, I painted the entire assembly rail tie brown.  Before the paint fully set I removed the paint from the tops of the rails with a razor blade.

The bridge comes with nicely detailed stainless steel walkways.  The decks are left unpainted and the handrails and support structure are painted a semi-gloss oxide red.  I felt these things were too shiny so I removed them and air brushed them a flat oxide red.

Here is one of the walkway assemblies after painting.   These were attached to the bridge with CA so I will re-attach them the same was.

The bridge itself got an overall weathering using acrylic black weathering wash to bring out all the great details in this model.  Then some rust highlights were added with weathering powders. In this photo it is temporarily set in place.

The walkways were glued back into place.  A bit of adhesive was spread along the runners that support the track and the painted section of bridge track was set in place and weighted until the adhesive set.

The bridge shoes were then attached to the bridge abutments with adhesive and the track on the line connected to the smaller section of bridge track.





I am quite happy with the way this came out and seeing the 200 ft camel back version of this bridge still available on ebay I am tempted to get one for another crossing down the line.

Progress on the Harney section

I started the month of October by beginning to create the land forms on the Harney section of the layout.   I thought it would be good to make an update post to see what has been accomplished in the month.  All of the land forms were completed using the cardboard webbing and insulation board covered with plaster cloth.  The Rock outcropping for the tops of the canyon walls were done using aluminum foil molds for Hydrocal castings.

The white of the plaster cloth was painted with the same paint that I have been using under the scenery on the rest of the layout.

In this view the rock casting have been stained with Woodland Scenics raw umber with touches of gray stone and burnt umber here and there.

In this photo I have set some track and some rolling stock on the right of way to get an impression of how it will look.  What I am happiest about is that to my eye it has a sense of greater depth than what is really is.  There is only about 3 inches between the track and the face of the rocks.

Over the past couple of weeks more scenery has been added, the river is starting to take shape, and the rear track has been installed and painted.  To work with the track I moved the section onto the saw horses for a lower working height.




Still plenty more to do but I have been quite happy with the progress and have been having a good time with it.

Creating the canyon walls

The Palisade Canyon part of the layout will be represented by building up a canyon wall as a backdrop beginning where the photo backdrop ends.   This transition will occur in the Harney section of the layout which the the section I am working on now.

This photo of part of the Palisade Canyon that I found on the Internet shows how the top of the canyon walls are near vertical while the lower part near the track in angled.   The bottom part is most likely rock debris that has fallen from above over the ages.  I am using this photo as an reference of what I am trying to create on this part of the layout.

To create the canyon walls I built up a structure along the back with scraps from the bench work and some pegboard.  Then I am gluing cardboard strips and covering them with plaster cloth.  This will be the lower sloping part of the canyon wall.   The upper part will have insulation board attached to it that can then be shaped to represent the more vertical top parts of the canyon walls.

I am continuing this method in the area between the track and the river.  The river itself will be the flat bottom of the bench work.

As creating this type of scenery is a bit new to me I consider this to be a bit of an experiment and if it does not come out the way I want I could still rip it out and start over but so far I am encouraged.

Bench work for the Harney section

Bench work for the Harney section is now underway.   It seems this is the time of year that I try to get some of the woodworking part of the hobby done so I have the winter to do track, electrical, and scenery.

The Harney section will have the Humboldt River re-enter the layout and continue down the length of this section between the two railroad lines.  The SP / eastbound line will be carried over the river with my BLMA brass bridge.

On the Battle Mountain section both lines were almost level but on the Harney section the upgrade will continue with the rear track being the SP / Westbound line being slightly steeper.

The temporary turn around section has been temporarily removed to allow the new bench work to installed and removed (quite a few times ! ) to get the fit just right.  It will go back in and the layout be fully operational again while I continue on the other phases of this new section away from the layout.

Next 5 feet of the layout is on the way.

 As I have been doing for the past several summers now, I am starting the bench work for another section of the layout.  This one is going to be 5 feet long and is called the Harney section.

Harney is the name of the area in the Palisade Canyon where in 1939 the Southern Pacific's City of San Francisco passenger train derailed at a spot where the track had been sabotaged.   After the derailment which destroyed a bridge, the SP diverted the Humboldt River eliminating the need for that bridge and another bridge.

A temporary shoo-fly was built while the work was going on.  From today's satellite photos the old alignment of the river, the path of the shoo-fly, and even some old bridge abutments can be seen.  I have pointed these out in these first two photos.

This is another spot several miles east of the derailment location viewed upside down to match the orientation of my layout.   This more closely matches my plan for this new section of the layout.


With this being a shelf type of layout with the depth being about 18 inches I don't think I could represent the old river path or the shoo-fly path very well.  What I may do is to have the SP line built up on a levy then through the realignment area. 
 
My plan for this section which will be 5 feet long is to bring the river back in from the front and progress between the SP and WP tracks as it does in many places along this line.  The WP line will be carried across the river by a BLMA brass thru truss bridge I purchased several years ago.  This section will also begin a transition from a photo back drop to a modeled canyon wall back drop.