Construction Update #6 - Fences, Changes to Exeter & 2 Month Review

 

Corrugated Metal Fencing for the Scrap Yard

December 12, 2024

There are several locations on the layout that will require some fencing.  For the scrap yard at Exeter, I decided to use the "Cornerstone" corrugated fence kit from Walthers.  The fence comes molded in gray plastic that needs to be painted and weathered.  The fence panels were left attached to the sprue and then  painted three colors of craft paint to achieve the desired weathered appearance.  The gray was applied first followed by the brown and rust colors that were blended into the gray while it was still wet. 

Here is the end result.  The three Folk-Art colors used were Classic French Gray, Burnt Sienna and Raw Sienna.  After the paint had cured, the parts were given a thin coat of  Tamiya TS-80 flat spray to protect the finish.

 

 

Gates

For the scrap yard, I wanted to include gates that could be open or closed.  The gates pivot on a piece of .032 bronze wire inserted into a piece of syrene tubing.  Putting a slight bend on the lower end of the bronze wire provides just enough tension to keep the gates in the open or closed positions.

 

 

A hole was drilled in the cork/foam and Aleene's Tacky Glue was used to hold the styrene tubing in  place.  The doors can be moved between the open and closed positions.  Coming up with enough "scrap" is going to be a challenge.

 

Wood Fencing

The same technique was used to paint and weather the Walthers wood fencing south of the Redbanks depot and behind the small MOW storage area.  For the wood, Folk Art-Black was used instead of Raw Sienna (Rust).

 

Here is a section of fencing installed south of the depot.

Chain Link Fencing

December 16, 2024

I've been operating the layout for several weeks and it became obvious that, in the layout's current configuration, there wasn't enough space in Exeter for interchange.  (An operating session with my grandson operating as the engineer and me as the conductor takes about an hour.)  In order to improve operations the engine house was removed and the small two track interchange was added. 

Of course, removing the engine house and service track left the railroad without a place for the locomotive and caboose to layover between operating sessions.  Fortunately, the solution was right here in Woodinville on the now abandoned East Side Freight short-line here in Woodinville.  The East Side Freight built the small chain link fence enclosed service/storage area next to its small yard office on one stub end of a out of use wye.  In order to include a yard office, a small "clamp on" extension will have to be added to the front of the module.

                                                                                 Elizabeth Guenzler Photograph

Woodland Scenics (A2083) chain link fencing was used to enclosure on the stub end of the main track between the small yard and edge of the module.  The Woodland Scenic fence in my kit was warped and difficult to work with.  It is also a bit oversize.  Gluing the sections together proved to be a challenge.  I finally settled on the method shown below.  The two sections were suspended between two pieces of styrene, held in place with squares and glued together with gap filling ACC.  The same method used for making the corrugated metal gates movable was used for the chain link fencing.

Here is SD-9 sitting within the partially completed fence.  Unfortunately, one package of fencing wasn't enough to complete the project.  I also managed to damage, beyond repair, several fence panels.  On a scale of 1-10 I would rate this fencing about a 5.  It is fragile and difficult to work with.  I ended up mounting the fence to a section of styrene to add some stability.  Eventually, styrene strip will be hidden by ground cover.

 

 

2 Month Review

December 20, 2024

Construction on the Visalia Electric shelf layout started around the middle of October, 2024.   The original time frame for construction (90-95% level) was about 4-5 months.  So after a little more than 2 months, here is a overview of progress to date.  All of the track is installed and operational.  All of the background murals are on hand but have yet to be installed.

Exeter Module

The capacity for interchange with parent Southern Pacific has been increased by replacing the single stall engine house and service track with a small 2-track yard.  Eventually, this module on the East wall will be moved to the South wall and be extended another 4 feet to increase the length of the interchange tracks, add a depot, the engine house and service tracks.  This module will be replaced with a new module.  It will include the town of Lemon Cove, the rock spur and the Kaweah River crossing.

The future scrap yard at Exeter.  The interchange, shown in the previous photo, is just out of view to the right.  The Exter module ends about 3 inches to the left of the fence.

East Redbanks Module

The white building in the background is Kilburn Packing.  The green building on the left is Redbanks Fruit Company and the team track is on the right.  The scrap yard shown above is just to the right and beyond the lamp shade.

Redbanks Module

The Redbanks depot and small yard on the North wall.  Redbanks Fruit Company, Kilburn Packing and the East Redbanks team track are to the right.

Barr Packing is on the far track against the wall.  The house track (loading dock) is in front of Barr Packing and The Redbanks fertilizer dealer is on the far end.  The Milwaukee Road box car is siting on the mainline.

Merry Christmas

As always, your comments, suggestions and questions are welcome

sdepolo@outlook.com

Construction Update #5 - Roads, Grade Crossings, Scenery & Details

 

Grade Crossings

 November 26, 2024

There are three roads that cross the tracks on the module.  All three include multiple crossings; one with two, one with three and one with four.  For the VE, I bought two types.  Part # 118 includes 12 two lane crossings for 90 degree crossings and part #132 that includes two angled crossings.  These are really nice laser cut wood crossings that work perfectly with Code 83 rail.  They are a little thick for Code 70 and probably a bit thin for Code 100.

In order to get the outer boards to snuggle up to outside of the rails, one of the back side corners needs to be shaved down to clear the spike heads molded into the flex track.  As shown below, I used an X-acto knife followed by a bit of sanding to even things out.

The grade crossing were stained with Builders-In=Scale "Silverwood" and glued in place with Aleene's Tacky Glue.

Roads

I spent a lot of time looking a road building tutorials on YouTube. Ultimately, I used a combination of several how-to videos to create my asphalt roadways.  In the past, I have always used sheet styrene to create roads.  While it is easy to work with, it is difficult to achieve anything but manicured roadways with going through several steps to achieve some texture, cracking and erosion.  My era and location dictated that most of the roads in the rural area I am modeling would suffer from poor maintenance.

1/8" cork was used to make the roads.  It was cut 22 scale feet wide and tapered with sandpaper were the asphalt meets the grade crossings.  A X-acto knife was used to chip away along the sides of the cork to show signs of erosion and deterioration along the shoulders.  It was also glued in place with tacky cement.  The deterioration is exaggerated at this point but once the shoulder is blended in the surrounding scenery the effect will be much more subtle.

Coloring the road way can be a challenge.  My paint preference, with the exception of locomotives and rolling stock, is craft paint.  I tested out several colors to come up with a base color.  I decided upon the Apple Barrel brand #21490E "Pavement" shown in the middle of the photograph.  Later, Apple Barrel #20536E "Country Gray" applied with a dry sponge will be used to lighten (age) the asphalt and add more texture.  Additional weathering will be done with more craft paint and powdered pigments.

The road painted with the Apple Barrel "Pavement" along with some gray applied with a sponge.  More weathering will be applied once the shoulder is in place.

Fascia

December 2, 2024

I finally managed to finish off the fascia.  I added some molding along the top and had the paint mixed to match Woodland Scenics "Burnt Grass".

 

Details

December 9, 2024

The layout is getting to the point where scenery and details can be added.  Here is a little MOW storage area that is accross the street, to the East, of the depot.

Another little detail is the car puller located next to the Redbanks fertilizer dealer.  I still need to add a shelter to protect the puller from the weather.

Finding vehicles to fit the era can be difficult.  This 1979 Chevy pick-up fits right in.  I owned a 1976 version of this same 4-wheel drive pick-up with a 4-speed transmission and the optional 350 V-8.  It is still one on my all time favorite vehicles.

Rolling Stock Additions

I keep an eye out for rolling stock that is appropriate for the layout.  I found this Atlas Agrico 3-Bay cylindrical hopper on ebay.

As always your comments, suggestions & questions are welcome

sdepolo@outlook.com

Construction Update #4 - Redbanks Fertilizer, Barr Packing Company & The Foreman's House

Redbanks Fertilizer

 Novermber 14, 2025

Here is the final product sitting on the layout.  It should be noted that this Blair Line kit is a pretty basic and unlike my previous build I didn't make any changes with the exception of adding some stiffeners to the back side of the wall to prevent warping.  The elevator and conveyor are built from laser cut parts and are probably a little crude for some modelers.  This goes for the roofing too, it is nothing more than a photograph...  But, the build from start to finish took less than two days which is consistent with my goal to have all the structures done by the end of the year and the layout finished (90%) by the end of February.

 

 

I like to mount my structures on a piece of .080" styrene.  While scenery will glued to the top and around the styrene base, the base itself will not be glued down.  This will make the structure easy to remove, without any damage, should need be.  The tanks for liquid fertilizer are from a Walthers kit.  They still need paint and details.

The Barr Packing Company (Redbanks)

November 16, 2024

To date, I haven't found a good picture of the Barr Packing Company in Redbanks so I decided to use the San Fernando Orange Association kit from Showcase Miniatures as a starting point.  The original styrene mock-up for the Barr Packing Company is shown below.

After studying the available photos, I decided to make some changes,  A lot of packing houses were a combination of eclectic sheds and warehouses built over a relatively long period of time.  Here is a great example.

One of my favorites is located at Hillmeade, CA. on the Santa Fe.  About 5 or 6 years ago, I built a model of the Hillmeade packing house in S-Scale.  It is pretty obvious that several additions were made over the years.  While I was tempted to build an HO version for the layout, there isn't enough time or room as it would require a total rebuild of the layout/track plan.

I started out by trying out several concepts on paper.   

Once a couple of ideas are settled upon, they are redrawn to scale and cut out to get a better idea on how the actual model with look.  All 3 versions are 26" wide.  Note that the right hand side of the structure is the same since the plan is start out with the Showcase Miniatures San Fernando Packers Association kit.  I eliminated the 1st version shown below because I think the roof line is to "busy".

The Showcase Miniatures kit.

Let's Get Started

November 17, 2024

I started with the Showcase Miniatures kit. First off, I was surprised to find that the material used for this kit is very thin (3 or 4 mm) what I believe to be tempered hardboard.  Based upon a previous post by another modeler, I expected plywood.  The hardboard is OK, but it is flimsy/brittle and requires stiffening.  The instructions, if you want to call them that, don't mention a thing about stiffening nor does the kit provide any materials to do so.  The single sheet of minimal instructions includes a parts identification sheet on one side and a isometric drawing on the other.  Here is a link for a 3-part article on building the Showcase Miniatures kit.

http://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2013/02/a-packing-shed-for-shumala-part-3.html

I used some 3/16" square Northeastern scale lumber for the stiffening (light strip wood) as shown below.  Aleen's tacky glue was used to attach the scale lumber to the hardboard and clothespins were used to hold things in place until the glue set.

November 18, 2024

Here is the assembly ready for paint.  Along with a LOT of stiffeners some other changes (light strip wood) were made to improve the appearance of the structure.  These included replacing the corner trim, fascia, and pilaster bracing on the dock. 

 

November 23, 2024

We had a big wind storm here in Western Washington so the power was out for a little over 3 days.  Luckily we have a generator so life went on with some limitations and I did get a lot of modeling done.  Here is the second half of Barr Packing ready for paint. A few changes in the design were made along the way to include the office on the far left.  The tall section on the right has clapboard siding, the section on the left board & batten. 

Here is the Barr Packing Company complex sitting in place on the layout.  Barr Packing will be painted a weathered white which is typical of packing houses in the region.

 

 

The Section Foreman's House

About 5 years ago, I built a series of SP structure including series of Coast Line depots and other line side structures.  I gave away or sold all of them including a partially built section foreman's house built from a ALW Lines kit.  The foreman's house, along with the forementioned Paso Robles depot recently found their way back to me.  Unfortunately, somewhere along the line, the roof for the foreman's house was lost and had to be replaced.  I'm no engineer, so the roof replacement was a measure, cut and fit operation.  It took 4 or 5 tries before I could get a reasonably good result.

As always, your comments, suggestions & question are welcome

sdepolo@outlook.com 

Construction Update #3 - Changes to the Plan, Track, Structures, a Reefer and a Caboose

 

Changes to the Plan

October 28, 2024

Some changes have been made to the original plan.  The original module over the desk was about 15 inches wide.  Not only did it intrude upon my work space, it also tended to block out the natural light that was coming through the window behind it.  It was replaced with one about 10 inches wide.  As a result, Lemon Cove, which wouldn't fit on the replacement module was replaced with Exeter.  On the prototype, the car barn and SP interchange were located at Exeter.  While a scrap yard didn't exist on the prototype, it was added for operating interest.  Now instead of staging inbound traffic at Rebanks it can be exchanged at Exeter.  Ultimately, I would like to move the desk and Exeter to the south wall and place Lemon Cove back on the east wall in front of the window. 

Changes were also made in Redbanks mainly due to my underestimating the size of the SP Depot and the Blair Line kit I wanted to use for the fertilizer dealer. 

Here is a picture of the room with the replacement 10 inch wide module in place over the desk.  If your significant other resists the idea of you taking over a spare bedroom for a layout/modeling room, you might want to show her this photo.

A Car Barn for Exeter

The Visalia Electric referred to its engine house at Exeter as "The Car Barn"  No doubt, the label goes back to the time when the VE had a small fleet of Interurban cars.  I guess the label just stuck.  While I would love to kit or scratch build a model of the car barn for the layout, it was just to big.  Instead, for the time being, I settled for a Walthers model of a single stall engine house.  It was painted with rattle cans.  Due to the large open engine house door, I decided to add a few interior details from my parts box.  The parts were painted in the evening and assembled as shown the next morning.  I'll probably add a few lights too.

 

The Track Gang Arrives in Exeter

October 31, 2024

The scrap yard spur. 

The car barn at Exeter.  I came up a turnout short for this end of the Exeter siding/SP interchange track.  That's a Walthers Proto SD-9 sitting on the service tracks.  A removable backdrop is planned for this area since I don't want to permanently block the window.  Mounting the backdrop photo on foam core should do the trick; it is relatively sturdy and light weight.

 

Redbanks Fruit Company

In keeping with my plan to have the layout near complete in about 4 months, I decided to kit bash an old out of production Valley Citrus Growers to represent the Redbanks Fruit Company.  My reasoning here is pretty simple; I can always build a better model at some point in the future.  I bought this kit for $20 on ebay.  The box was a mess and there were no instructions but the kit was complete.  The purchase also included a $10 coupon for a future purchase from a large internet reseller.  Kind of a no brainer...

The kit, built per the instructions, turns out to be about 9 inches by 6 inches.  I turned it into a 19 inch by 2.5 inch packing house front.  Here are the two sections that make up the main buildings.  Both sides and portions of the ends were used. 

Here is the resulting structure on the layout.  It was painted with rattle cans purchased at the hardware store. 

The left over parts from the ends were used to build this small addition.  The concrete loading dock was made using a Rix Products kit.  Later, it was determined that there wasn't enough room to include this structure.

 

Kilburn Packing

Two attempts were made at creating a structure to represent Kilburn Packing.  A Pike Stuff kit was used to start with.  As usual, I started by laying out all the components on my desk and then developed a concept for the structure.

And here is what I came up with.  Unfortunately it didn't look like any of the packing houses I had seen in photos.

After looking at additional photos, I decided to change gears and use one of the Walthers modern warehouse style kits as a starting point.  I think the end result is a better representation of a relatively modern packing house.

PFE Reefers

As mentioned in a previous post, 8 Athearn and Con-Cor 57' reefers were purchased for use until I can come up with Intermountain and Red Caboose replacements.  This Athearn example was weathered with a powdered pigments/alcohol wash.  The wash was allowed to sit for several minutes before cotton swabs were used to wipe away the excess.  It was then given a coat of Tamiya Flat.

 

Southern Pacific Caboose/Coach #997

Every once in awhile something comes along that you just can't resist.  Such was the case with SP Caboose #997.  The #997 is a PSC brass import that I bought on ebay.  According to my research, the Southern Pacific converted several 60-CC-1 chair cars to cabooses in December of 1952.  I'm pretty sure that one of these NEVER set foot on the Visalia Electric but...

As always, your comments, suggestions & questions are welcome

sdepolo@outlook.com