Finishing up the L&T Branch...

So over the last two days I have been doing some work to the staging entrance area on the L&T Branch.  I want to finish this area completely before moving onto the Paper Mill as I know this will consume a huge amount of time once I get going on it.

So one of the last things to do on the L&T Branch was to figure out how to hide the entrance in the backdrop to the staging area, from the centre peninsula.  I decided to go with a series of storage tanks (can spot tank cars in this industry now) and a cement distribution plant.

It has worked quite well as the hole is visually blocked from all angle.

I wanted to install another small industry in this section just to fill up the space as it needed something to break up the backdrop.  I decided to throw in the Walthers - Medusa Cement kit to see how it would fit, and well it's staying.  Has a nice size for the area, fits well, and offers even more switching for the end of the L&T Branch.

The remaining structures are not rail served but form part of the area.  The interlocking tower will be located at the end of a service road that feed the industrial area and will still be very much active for the series of turnouts that feed into the staging yard and back out onto the centre peninsula and north side of the layout.

Behind the cement plant is a manufacturing warehouse that serves as a background building for the backdrop, it will have a loading door at the rear that will load trucks.  In all the scene has worked out quite well and should help finish off the end of the L&T Branch.

Once this area is finished it will be time to ballast the staging yard, install the dwarf signals on the turnouts for the staging yard (these will be operating off the tortoise motors for now), finish off the fascia, paint the fascia & upper valance, then drywall/plaster the lower under deck walls, finish off some more bench space for the workbench area, then finally onto the painting of the walls and installing the carpet......  Then finished and ready for operating sessions!

More soon,

Jas...

Paper Mill Progress from today...

Well today I decided to flip the orientation of the buildings and try a different approach, the reason behind this was I wasn't really keen on adding another building to the existing Paper Mill building to service the loading of empty boxcars with finished product.

I'm happy with this configuration now, the only trade off was that I have lost the ability to pull through the pulpwood flats as they are unloaded.  They are now unloaded via two stub ended sidings, (which will be extended too) to counter this I have added my Mi-Jack Container crane that will be fitted out with opening hooks (like the log unloader kit) to unload more flats.

Overview shot looking towards the east of the complex...

I've also removed the two extra turnouts that didn't really do anything (again I don't know hwy I did it in the first place?) The sidings will be used for storage of empty or full boxcars, and empty or full pulpwood flats.  This will make for some really intense switching at times, which is what I wanted seeing the layout has gone more towards a switching layout since the decision to not build any other decks apart from staging.

I also had the chance to add another couple of turnouts to service the sidings associated with the unloading/loading of chemicals and by-products from the milling process.

The first track (after the Paper Mill) will service unloading of chemicals for Kraft Mill, Bleaching Plant, and other various chemical processes throughout the plant.  The next track along will be for unloading of more chemicals for the Recovery/Boiler House and also for the loading of chemical by-products from the mill process like Kaolin.

Next step will be to finish off the remaining track work that has been altered, install the turnout and siding that services the paper mill loading track.  Then it will be onto kitbashing the three or four other kits that will be required to add to the major structures in the mill.

If I get time and the people to visit, I'll also run a few test ops sessions to see how the switching will run on the mill and test out the track work.

More soon...

Jas.

Paper Mill Complex...

Hi All,

Well this week all the structure kits arrived from MB Klein in the USA.

This marks the official beginning of the build, this is a mammoth task and will take up some considerable time to build and complete.  There is going to be some serious detail added to this along with a lot of scratch building & kit bashing.

Tonight I actually completed the last of the building shells (I've been building them over the last couple of nights) and they are now on the layout.  I'll be test fitting the structures and seeing how it all flows over the weekend.

The track work above is actually the original Intermodal Terminal track, it should only require a few minor changes.  The Paper Mill kit will require the addition of a loading dock to the left of the structure (as can be seen its on the opposite side now) and this will be scratch built or kit bashed from another kit or Evergreen styrene.

The overall placement seems to be working well, I just have to check the processes and ensure that the structures flow and mimic the real thing.  There will be a few more smaller buildings/sheds added, a lot more details, storage tanks, piping and associated equipment to the entire complex...

More soon...

Jas.

Track Maintenance on the L&T Branch...

Today some maintenance was needed on a switch machine & relay box.  Luckily the works didn't upset the local traffic on the L&T branch...

Cheers,

Jas...

Paper Mill Complex...

Well I have officially started the new Paper Mill Complex, after a quite a few design changes bouncing of ideas between fellow modellers, and some long hours on AnyRail I've come up with the following design.

The design almost follows the original north side of the layout and the old Intermodal Terminal.  This has been quite a good little win as I don't have to change any bench work, can leave most of the existing track in place and only have to add a few turnouts and track here and there.

I've ordered the main building kits from MB Klein in the USA and they are on the way to me now,  once here it will be a matter of placing the base plates down to check the final positioning of the building within the complex.

Paper Mill building...

I

Kraft Mill building...

Recovery Boiler House & Pulp Tanks...

I have already made a start by using cardboard cut outs of the dimensions of the buildings.

More to follow shortly...

Jas.

Finishing up the fascia edges...

Over the last week I have been finishing up the fascia edges and completing the ground dirt.  This has been a process of filling in the gaps with old newspaper and then filling this with ground goo, this is a mixture of Portland Cement, Plaster of Paris & Fine Vermiculite.

This substance when mixed with water sets up like concrete (thanks to the Portland Cement) and is great for forming the ground.  You have about 15 - 20 minutes to work the mixture into its rough form, then you just have to spray it with water to smooth out the top surface to the required terrain.

After this has completely dried (usually a day or two) its time to add the zip texturing which is the final dirt like layer.  This is just a mixture of Plaster of Paris (finely sieved) and tempera powdered paint to the required dirt colour.

Again a light spray of water on the dried ground goop, and then using a fine sieve you cover (lightly) the ground goop with the zip texturing, then another light spray of water to set up the layers.

I also added some more static grass to some of the completed fascia areas, added some more bushes, and also finished off the raised ground area on the JL&T module.

I've also added the Tortoise Switch Machines to the staging area entrance so that I can finish off the fascia's in the L&T area.

Cheers,

Jas...