Building a Grade Crossing using Styrene Sheet...

Well over the last two days I decided to tackle a concrete grade crossing that forms part of the scenery on the L&T.  This grade crossing is formed in a crossover formed by two #6 PECO turnouts.  I have used styrene with great success with the JL&T module and decided to use again for this grade crossing.

The difficult part that was concerning me was trying to form the styrene strips so that they would fit in between the rails, form naturally around the guard rails and would look prototypical.  Also I wanted to make this as painless as possible and not be tweaking them for hours to get them to fit, the plan was to make templates once and then use them over again when needed.

This is were a little planning and thinking before doing has paid off in spades.  When I was looking at how to achieve the templates my initial idea was to stencil the tracks onto some tracing paper, then transfer this onto the styrene to form the template.  Then it occurred to me and I had one of those great moments, PECO have on their website some very accurate stencils that can be used when laying track work or designing track arrangements.

My idea was to cut out the sections of the template and then glue these onto the styrene and use these as master templates.  I had to mark the PECO template with enough clearance in between the inner rail and the styrene/concrete form so that the truck wheels ran through without grabbing.  The styrene crossing was formed using two thicknesses of sheet.

The first series of strips is 0.75mm these are cut to a width of 12mm and are placed in between the inner rails, and in between the tie plate details.  Then another sheet of 1.0mm thickness is added on top, this then places the crossing just under the top of the rail.  This allows the track to be cleaned with a track cleaning block and not take any of the paint or weathering off the crossing itself.

The 0.75mm packing strip installed & the 1.0mm Top Strip ready to be installed...

Once the packing strip was installed I test fitted the top strip to ensure that there was clearance for the wheel flanges passing between the strips and the inner rail edge.  Once this was all good I then glued down the top strip to the packing strip, care has to be taken that you get perfect alignment before the two pieces of styrene touch.  Once the two pieces contact each other with the CA there is no time to re-align things if needed.

First piece installed and ready to be tested with a piece of rolling stock...

Checking the flange clearance through the grade crossing...

The next series of pieces to be installed were the diverging route, straight section of unloading siding and the small section in between the two turnouts.  These sections went really well and I suspect that this was because the templates were a better fit than first one, they only required minimal trimming and the clearances were much better.

Straight siding installed, packing strips installed in between turnouts ready for the top piece...

All rail top pieces installed and cork road bed installed and ready for styrene road surface...

All installed and ready for painting and weathering...

Showing the finished level of the grade crossing finishing just below the top of the rail...

Overall this has been a great and fulfilling project to complete, not only because I found a workable solution and fairly easy method of cutting and installing the section.  But because it also marks the start of more scenery for the L&T albeit the current crop of structure.

The next stage will involve finishing off the remaining loading dock area and the metal fabrication siding to the right of the grade crossover.  When this is finished it will be time to paint and weather the crossing and rails, I will do another blog post for this.

Hope you all enjoyed this and get something out of it, and as always look forward to your comments and questions.

Cheers,

Jas...

Another structure nearly completed for the L&T...

Couple of quick photos of the progress made tonight, will do a more detailed run down later (it's early hours in the morning)...

The overall background building...

Building roofs and how they are transitioned against the backdrop...

New curved turnout installed, and another building ready to be rail served...

More to follow shortly as I detail the build.

Jas...

Next Structure for the L&T begins Construction...

Well I had another good couple of hours the other day to make a start on the third structure for the L&T.  This structure needs to be completed so that I can begin and complete all of the scenery in the corner that is at the start of the L&T and tot he right of the JL&T module.

To be able to progress with the scenery I need to complete this section.  This structure also forms part of the "hiding" of the entrance hole through the backdrop from the JL&T centre peninsula to the JL&T module.  The structure itself will form part of the Appliance Manufacturing Plant.

I have decided to add a single car siding to this structure as well, after getting the bulk of the structure in place the area supports it quite well.  And I did want to have a siding here too, there will only be single 50' boxcar unloading into this siding.

The entrance from the west side of the centre peninsula onto the L&T branch, the switch will be operated via a Tortoise...

The building will have a truck loading dock to the left...

Shot showing the entrance from the centre peninsula into the JL&T module...

Cheers,

Jas...

Cladding Finished, Details to go...

Hi All,

Well today I had a little time to finish the cladding for the metal fabrication plant.  The last remaining cladding has been installed along with the roof sheets, capping and side corner capping.

Roof sheeting & ridge capping installed...

Ridge line and roof sheet profile...

​Overall shot of the plant with cladding & roof complete...

​Cheers,

Jas...

Metal Fabrication & Stamping Plant

Hi all,

Well today as part of broadcasting the JL&T via webcam streaming I decided to make a start on building the Metal Fabrication Plant for the Appliance Manufacturing Company.

This building is just a background relief building, that serves the small siding that will unload gondola's containing raw sheet metal in coils.  Due to the tight space I decided to build this out of Evergreen Styrene, however I needed some way of making the structure rigid enough and not prone to breaking easily if removed.

So the idea came to use a piece of plywood for the internal part of the structure and skin it with styrene, this allows the structure to be removed at anytime, and it would also be quite sturdy.

The base is a piece of 19mm (3/4") plywood...

The next step was to cut out an opening that would allow the travelling crane to traverse back into the structure from the outside unloading siding.  I also had to cut it out so that any of the plywood cannot be seen when looking through the opening.

Showing the entrance & opening for the traveling crane...

Once this was cut it was time to measure and install the metal siding, the siding in Evergreen "Metal Siding" and is glued onto the plywood with latex caulk, the same I use to install the roadbed for the track work.

The sheets of Metal Siding cut to fit the opening for the traveling crane...

The siding covers each side of the plywood so that you cannot see the plywood through the opening.  Depending on the effectiveness of the whole scene and depth, I may actually cut into the backdrop and frame to increase the depth of the internal scene.

Taken from an angle to show how the styrene covers the internal plywood base...

Front and right side siding installed, roof and left side siding to go...

Shot showing the corner flashing detail, and the plywood base before the roof is installed...

The building to date...

More to follow of the next week...

Jas...

Short local spotted on new siding...

For all of those following along with this build, here is a short local consisting of 2 x 54' Gondolas, 2 x Covered Hoppers, 2 x Tank Cars and 2 x 50' Box Cars.  This has been spotted in the new siding.

The local including GP35 & Caboose just reach outside this siding on both ends, but this is fixed by performing a run around with locomotive & caboose and reversing the entire local backwards towards the west and removing the two gondolas and spotting them into the sheet metal siding.

The next shot shows the remaining local (with two gondolas removed) in the next track in which is the L&T main presently, this could also be used to store the local until it is broken down.  This also allows the new siding to be used as the main and gives that buffer to the fron of the fascia.

The little ops session I ran just then testing it all out was great, really adds another level by bringing the local in, and still allows operations on other sections to continue.

Cheers,

Jas...

Switchers Everywhere...

Well folks here is the next locomotive that will grace the JL&T, a Athearn RTR - Conrail SW1500 Switcher, #9528.

This little beauty has been weathered by Chris Thompson.  I found Chris after he had two other Conrail locomotives on eBay for sale (which I missed out on) that were absolutely a must have.

I approached Chris to see if he would do some commissioned work for us, and he accepted.  So this is the first test to see what Chris could do and I am amazed at the detail Chris has achieved absolutely outstanding.  Chris does have one little advantage though he is a current engineer for one of the major eastern railroads!

Anyway enjoy the photos, which have been posted with Chris's permission...

Cheers,

Jas... 

New L&T siding added...

Well tonight I laid the rest of the cork roadbed to finish, and have temporarily added the track in its position.

Photo showing the start of the additional siding at the RH #5 Turnout...

The entire siding will hold 8 to 10 - 50' cars, there is still about the same amount of space left to the fascia as previous...

Looking back towards the west of the L&T...

And the eastern end of where the siding connects back into the existing...

Looking back towards the first industry and the new siding on the far left...

Cheers,

Jas...

A little addition to the L&T...

Well yesterday I decided to add a little more storage to the L&T branch.  I had enough room to add about 2" of real estate to the front of the bench work, so I have added another track to the front.

This will be either the main of a storage/passing siding of the main, it will be able to hold a significant length train that could then be broken down into the various industries on the L&T.

The first stage has been to add the 45mm strip of pine framing timber, then the 17mm plywood, 10mm drywall/plaster and finally to finisih I have to add the 3mm cork roadbed.

Cheers,

Jas...

Layout Update #11 Part 1 & 2

Latest layout update from the JL&T Railroad, Part 1 & 2...

Cheers,

Jas...

The Reading Lines Trio...

Photo of three of the Reading Lines locomotives working the JL&T...

GP35, GP40-2 & SD45...

Cheers,

Jas...

Basic Structure Finished, more Detail Parts to come...

Well today I had a very productive session building the first structure to grace the JL&T, so much so that I managed to complete the remaining portions of the roof.  This means that I have finished the major portions of the structure.

The roof is now installed and tied into the commissary building and modular kit, the left hand modular section is glued and attached to the commissary building too.  This required a small section of 1.0mm sheet styrene to be cut and shaped to fit the shape of the modular kit were it tied into the commissary building.

I had to make some small sheet shims to fit under the modular roof, these were glued to the top of the commissary parapet, then the whole modular section roof was glued to the styrene attached to the parapet, there is also a series of 90 degree angle pieces of styrene down the vertical join between the modular wall & commissary wall.

Showing the roof from the modular section, attached to the commissary parapet...

The next step was to make the extension piece of styrene roof for the Commissary roof, this was again another piece of 1.0mm sheet styrene cut to fit the commissary kit and extend back to backdrop.  The existing roof that is provided with the kit was used to help support the extension piece.

Showing the right side of the commissary building roof tied into the right side modular section...

Right side commissary building join to right side modular section...

Completed building ready for detail parts, paint & weathering...

More to come once I start adding the detail parts, and begin painting and weathering...

Jas...

Concrete Columns & Lots of Supports...

Well last night I was on a roll and burnt the midnight oil (literally speaking too) and made some good progress on finishing up the details on the L&T's first structure.

The majority of this work is slow and requires some forward thinking when trying to get everything to join together properly and look right too.  The first task was to get the styrene strips onto the corner of the left side modular wall, this required some filing & sanding to get the join hidden as much as possible.

The styrene sheet will represent a concrete column when finished...

Next step required the addition of some support within the Commissary kit, the entire middle front of the kit was bowing in, to remedy this I added some "H" beam styrene to the top between the external walls at the back and an upright support to stop the bowing.  The roof was supported by small shims.

Styrene supports added to help the structure from bowing & twisting, also providing roof support...

The next step was to extend the parapet on the the Commissary Building kit back to the backdrop, I needed this to extend as the structure would just finish in mid air if I left it as is.  The roof from the left hand side modular kit extends over this so it needed the addition, I added a small cut down section of modular wall with a shim behind it to lock it in.

Parapet wall extended to join the upto the backdrop, and support the modular roof...

I also added a small piece of styrene to the end of the parapet on the modular section this will hide the end of the parapet and also help both wall sections tie in better.

Showing the overall complex coming together...

Cheers,

Jas...