Welcome

This blog presents my thoughts, information and activities in my model railroading world.

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Scrap wood piles - modeling idea

I do a lot of structure modeling which includes use of and cutting to length stripwood.  Some time ago I realized that all of the small cut off pieces I was throwing away were actually useful to represent wood scrap piles on my layout.  So now I put all of these scraps of various sizes and thicknesses in a small box for later use.  When I need them I usually first douse them with an eye-dropper of one of my india ink and alcohol mixtures to weather them, then make a pile on the layout where I need it.  It is simple and costs nothing since the scraps are essentially throw-aways.  I keep several bottles of india ink and alcohol mixture in various shades of blackness to suit the situation.  I always use the 91% isopropyl alcohol as it contains less water and thus results in less warpage of the wood I use it on.  The scene shows a pile behind a small mill on my layout.


Saturday, March 26, 2011

Brick Works Clay Bin

This is the clay bin at the brick works.  The aerial tram bucket on the left rides from the clay pit via the aerial tram cable to dump into the bin.  The two chutes are used to dump the clay into a small dump car for transport through the brick works.  The bin is wood with a corrugated iron roof.

Friday, March 25, 2011

Clay dump car

The early brick works used small rail operated dump cars to move the clay to the pug mill and/or brick presses.  I will be using the SS Ltd side dump mine cars for this.  The photo shows a simila rocker clay dump car circa 1910.

Introduction

I have been a model railroader longer than I care to say.  I am currently building a 17' x 25' model railroad based on the 1939 era.  It is about 90% sceniced and operational. The layout is HO and uses DCC.