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David Yadock’s Dry Gulch & Western Railroad – Part 7

Written by Anton Faulk
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Article & Photos By David Yadock

Dry Gulch & Western, A Photo Series Part 7

I’m sure many of you have been wondering about my freight car fleet. In the early years I had just about every siding and all the yards full of cars, but I learned!  Now I keep around 100 or so cars on the layout.  Since I have become involved with operations I try keep the yards about 1/3 full of cars.  This helps or sometimes hinders car sorting for yard operators.  I do have around 250-300 cars in total with most being stored on specially constructed shelves.  All my cars have had metal Walthers Proto wheelsets installed on them along with standard Kadee #5 couplers.  I did test Kadee “scale” couplers on some of my cars but found they did not couple well with the standard #5 couplers in certain situations, they have since been removed from those cars.  My fleet of cars come from many various manufacturers and most are older non-superdetailed cars.  I still can’t believe that some of my early cars that I have on the layout were purchased for 50 cents each!  On my layout you can find a mix of AHM, Roco, Atlas, Athearn, MDC, Tichy, Varney, Ertl, Life-Like Proto, Ulrich, Tangent, and Accurail models all working on the layout.  I still have the three original AHM freight cars from my very first train set, yes are on the layout!  Regarding freight cars, I have found the key is to have them all run and perform well.  If they do not, then they get pulled from the layout, tagged to identify the problem, and replaced with another car.  There are plenty of replacement cars waiting in the wings to go onto the layout.  Also, if you have been noticing, there are a lot of east coast railroads represented in my freight car fleet.  Originally, I was thinking of creating a layout that would be based on the prototype Pennsylvania RR.  That didn’t happen.  I still kept the cars for the Dry Gulch & Western and used whatever road name that I liked.  I admit, if the car has eye-catching graphics that is a plus.  Another issue, the cars do not fit any specific era.  Yes, I have billboard reefers that ride on arch bar trucks.  I even have some ancient wooden passenger cars.  I do try to have freight cars that are generally from the steam era.  One thing I still do not have are some home road freight cars.  I have a few but there are still a lot of freight cars in boxes that need to be built and lettered specifically for my railroad.  Like with all model railroads there is always something that needs to be done.

Photo 31 shows a closer view of the tunnels and the right abutment of my version of the Canyon Diablo Bridge.  This view shows how I attach some rock plaster castings.  I use expanding spray foam.  The surrounding areas behind the casing will be filled with joint compound.  The joint compound will be carved and then painted.  Ground cover will be added later.

Photo 31

Photo 32 shows a full view of the bridge.  In the bottom corner of the photo you will see a silver SP gondola, one of my original “trainset” cars!  Note how the mirror in the corner allows the room to expand.  The mountain to the left is completely hollow along the backside.  That gives me plenty of access to the track in that area.

Photo 32

Photo 33 shows a closer view of the bridge.  The bottom steel work does not support the bridge.  There is a one-inch aluminum channel that runs the length of the bridge, it carries all of the weight.  The channel is supported in both ends by solid wood abutments attached to the benchwork.

Photo 33

Photo 34 shows the central mountain.  The mainline curves around to a second large bridge.  Just like John Allen’s Gorre & Daphetid layout I have a spiral at the base of this mountain.

Photo 35 shows the second arch bridge.  This is a close replica of the Vance Creek bridge located just out of Shelton WA.  It is made from styrene with brass inserts for structural support.  This bridge was constructed on a saddle shaped jig.  Construction of this bridge was several months long.  My model bridge towers over the town of Hayes River.  To the extreme left you can see some of the snow-covered mountains and even more bridges.  My freight trains are constantly gliding over bridges, blasting through tunnels or snow sheds, and battling tough grades with tight curves to move freight over the mainline through the mountains.  Next time we will check out more of the bridges on the layout and give you a peek at the valley that is on the left.

Photo 35

That is it for this week. 

David

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September 2020 Eastside Virtual Get Together Clinic

Written by Anton Faulk
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By Alex Brikoff

I’m happy to announce our next Eastside Clinic will be held virtually on ZOOM on Thursday, 09/17, starting at 7:00 PM with our virtual lobby opening at 6:45 PM.  We have switched back to Thursdays by popular demand!  Since our clinics are virtual these days, I would like to extend an invitation to all the 4th Division to attend next Thursday.  So be sure and save the date for the September Eastside Clinic next Thursday, 09/17 at 6:45 PM!  The log in info for the clinic is below. 

Topic: September Eastside Virtual Get Together Clinic

Time: Sep 17, 2020 06:45 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting

https://zoom.us/j/96569499645?pwd=TDc0Nk5ubVArUTEvYVZEQXo4cFBqQT09

Meeting ID: 965 6949 9645
Passcode: 613377

Our Clinic this month is titled “The Everett & Monte Cristo Ry in Trainz” and will be presented by Didrik Voss.  Didrik is a very talented local modeler and a NMRA MMR.  He has prototype modeled the Everett & Monte Cristo Ry, circa 1900, in his basement. However, he was only able to model 2 miles of the 68-mile route. As a result, he began modeling the remaining 66 miles on the computer using Trainz. This clinic will be a walkthrough on what has been accomplished so far. Please realize, this is 68 real miles, plus all of Everett with the GN and NP lines overlapping. If the interest is there, he would be happy to get into more detail on how to create the Everett & Monte Cristo Ry in Trainz.

After the Clinic, we will have some time for other folks to show off their latest model work in our “Show and Brag” segment.  The Clinic will wrap up with some administrative comments.

Alex

Eastside Get-Together (Redmond) Clinic

Saturday’s 4DPNR Zoom Layout Tours!

Written by Anton Faulk
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By Burr Stewart

Join the 4th Division this Saturday, Sept. 12, at 10:00am, on another pair of exciting Zoom virtual layout tours, by Brian Ferris and then Janice and Barry Dupler. Brian is from Olympia and has an HO layout to show us that features south sound scenery and structures, with an emphasis on realistic Timetable and Train Order operations made accessible even for first time operators. Janice and Barry Dupler have an HO/HOn3 layout in Bellevue that features some wonderful bridges, complex track work, towns, and soaring rock faces that only a narrow gauge line could conquer. Here are the details for joining the Zoom meeting:
Time: Sep 12, 2020 10:00 AM Pacific Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting using this link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88513613667?pwd=RDR4dGNJaU9vbkI3ckUzT09KREUzQT09

Meeting ID: 885 1361 3667
Passcode: 786815

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BRIDGE-BUILDING BASS-ACKWARDS

Written by Rich Blake
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Article and Photos by Rich Thom

Readers who have crewed on my HO-scale Coldwater Creek & Cascade RR during the past eight years have been greeted when entering the layout room by the scene in Figure 1—a granite defile spanned not by proper bridges but two pieces of ½” plywood subroadbed.  When I started my layout in 2008 (having been away from the hobby since 1962) I sought the advice of local experts about the construction sequence for a layout designed for operations, which was entirely new to me.  All advised laying track and beginning op sessions as soon as possible, leaving scenery and time-intensive structures such as bridges until later, so that the operation scheme and track plan were debugged first.  It was good advice, but I didn’t quite follow it.  Unhappy with my bare plywood empire I charged ahead and completed the scenery next, leaving the plywood spans in place where bridges would be, well, “someday.”  That left the conundrum shown in Fig 1: scenery 90-percent finished—but no bridges.  I had two choices here.  I could cut away the temporary spans, removing the track, cork roadbed and subroadbed entirely, then build the bridges the usual way, from the ground up.  However, I had seen an article in Railroad Model Craftsman (“Building Trestle at North Crags” by John Olson, Dec 1978) in which the author described cutting the subroadbed away, but keeping the rails in place, then building the bridge and abutments underneath them.  More or less bass-ackwards!  The advantage, especially for a bridge or trestle on a curve, is the preservation of smooth curvature as well as precise level across the span.  That seemed appealing so I have built most of my bridges in this manner.

Fig 1 – Project Start

I’ll use the example of my Silver Falls Bridge, the upper span in Fig 1, to describe the construction sequence.  The 1:87 pile driver crew came out to the site to have a look at the sheer granite walls on each side and, after a few unkind words about the railroad’s surveyor, announced that no piles could be driven there.  Some sort of single span was needed rather than a pile trestle.  My modeled year is 1928 so I could have prototypically selected a steel girder span—I have them elsewhere on the layout and it would have been far easier—but since this was a foreground model I chose a timber deck truss bridge, with its fussy tension rods and nbw’s.  I used a Kalmbach publication plan, shortened by one panel to fit my 50-foot span.

Building the deck truss bridge used standard methods at the workbench (Fig 2).  Stripwood and bridge ties are from Mt. Albert Scale Lumber (now distributed by Fast Tracks), pre-stained with Micromark Bridge and Tie Stain.  Having tried several glues, I use Aleene’s Tacky Glue, either standard or fast-grab variants depending on whether the workpiece is held tightly in a jig, or needs the fast-grab action.  Nbw’s are from Tichy Train Group.  Tension rods are 0.028” brass wire or 2.4” in HO, just slightly oversize but easier to see.

Fig 2 – Silver Falls Span Built at the Bench

Now for the fun part!  First the plywood subroadbed and cork roadbed were cut away (Fig 3) using a Zona 5” saber saw blade.  The granite rock faces by the way are Cripplebush rubber rocks, which though more time-consuming to paint than plaster or resin alternatives, I am very pleased with.  I presented a Skagit Valley & Whidbey NMRA clinic on their use in 2016.  Next the flextrack plastic ties were removed.  The blue painter’s tape marks ties that are to remain in place; these will be set in ballast on the concrete abutments. 

Fig 3 – Subroadbed and Cork Cut Away and Flextrack Ties Removed

The next step, Fig 4, was to carefully clamp the pre-fabricated span to the rails.  None of the clamps in my toolbox was quite right for the job, so I jury-rigged the pair seen here.  Alignment is important; to get it right I drew pencil lines on the bridge ties for locating the rails. 

Fig 4 – Span Clamped to Rails

The next step was to build the abutments below the suspended bridge span.  I used basswood and artist’s mat board to simulate concrete abutments, sealing the mat board well so that it didn’t warp with subsequent applications of acrylic paint.  This is the most tedious step in the sequence, requiring a number of height measurements from tie level to the pre-existing terrain.  In Fig 5, the abutments are completed and ready for painting.  They were blended into the existing rock terrain with Sculptamold, which was then carved with striations to match the features of the rubber rocks.  All was then given a coat of white acrylic gesso.  I used gesso liberally in my scenery coloring as an undercoat, to even everything out over varying materials and increase reflectance and brightness, a trick I learned from my artist son.  The white stream below the span is a coat of gloss mod podge which will dry clear; this was unrelated to the bridge work and just done at the same time.

Fig 5 – Abutments Ready for Painting

The bridge span was repositioned into place and rails spiked to the bridge ties.  Guard timbers and their nbw’s were added as a final step.  The completed Silver Falls Bridge is shown in Fig 6, with the CC&CRR’s heaviest loco—a 2-4-4-2—giving the bridge an axle-load test; it passed.  I sized timbers and other features for an E-55 rating, or slightly lower.  The abutments were weathered with India ink washes and Bragdon powders, and some simulated foliage and moss added.

Fig 6 – Bridge Installation Complete

I’m not recommending that you build your bridges this way, but having boxed myself in by largely completing my scenery before tackling the bridges, it worked satisfactorily for me.  There are several better ways, only one of which is illustrated in Fig 7.  The idea here is, when you build your basic layout framework—stringers, risers, subroadbed—instead of keeping the subroadbed continuous across your future bridge locations as I did, construct a removable “bridge frame,” highlighted in yellow in the figure.  It’s built of 1 x 3’s or 1 x 4’s or whatever your chosen lumber size is, and includes abutment and pier supports as shown.  Lay your track and begin op sessions and run for years this way if you want to—but don’t complete the scenery around the bridge frame.  When you’re ready to build your bridge or trestle, remove the frame, the top piece of subroadbed, and build the bridge on the frame at the bench.  Reinstall the bridge frame with its completed bridge and fill in the scenery around it.  Maybe on my next layout! 

Fig 7 – One Better Way

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Learn about LCC at the North Seattle Virtual Clinic this coming Thursday, September 3rd

Written by Lisa Murray
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The Seattle North End Clinic will once again meet virtually for September. There will be no in person meeting.

This month’s presentation will be on Layout Command Control (LCC) by Brian Pickering. Brian will be providing an overview of what LCC is and then demonstrate how you can implement it on your home layout.

These meetings are for NMRA members and guests. It’s a great way to introduce your friends to the hobby. Also, with our meetings being virtual, you don’t have to drive to North Seattle. A win-win all around.

Below is the information for the Zoom meeting. The lobby will open at 6:45pm and the meeting will start promptly at 7:00pm. PLEASE NOTE: We are starting a bit earlier than we did over the summer months.

Thursday, September 3, at 7:00pm (lobby opens at 6:45pm) — all times PDT

Zoom Meeting link:
https://zoom.us/j/96056774153?pwd=ZjdnaUlvc3R0YUwwTTg1TG0rV0VtZz09

Meeting ID: 960 5677 4153
Passcode: 621667

Looking forward to seeing you on Thursday!

Lisa Murray
northseattle_organizer@4dpnr.com
communications@4dpnr.com

News, Seattle-North Clinic

David Yadock’s Dry Gulch & Western Railroad – Part 6

Written by Anton Faulk
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By David Yadock

Dry Gulch & Western, A Photo Series Part 6

The Dry Gulch & Western has a varied list of motive power.  I currently use quite a variety of different brands and wheel arrangements.  There are Broadway Limited, Bachmann, Con-Cor, Proto 2000, modified Kato, Trix, and modified Athearn locomotives on the roster.  The vast majority of the locomotives are sound equipped.  I have begun (finally) lettering the locomotives for my railroad.  Yes, this took a while, but it is slowly progressing.  I have also begun the task of re-motoring some of my brass locomotives.  I plan to add quite a few of them to the layout since I have been collecting them for years.  They really should not be in cardboard boxes all of their life!  Unlike John Allen, I have several diesels on the layout.  Several Kato NW2’s usually “play” in the yards at Ellison and Newport.  They are painted in the early SP tiger stripe configuration.  I have two cow and calf sets for that purpose.  There is a rather large fleet of Santa Fe F7 diesels on the layout.  I originally started with a vintage Athearn F7 A and B powered set that I did a sound decoder installation.  Since then I have added some Proto 2000 F7s also in the Santa Fe Warbonnet paint scheme.  Did I also mention I have a couple of BLI Pennsy Sharknose diesels that run freights on the layout?  Yes, I am a Pennsy fan, so those locomotives are allowed to run on my layout.  So, let’s get back to the layout photos.

In photo 26 you are still looking back at Ellison, Taylor Junction, and all points beyond.  This gives you a good view of both large control panels.  These panels house most of the turnout controls for layout.  Since they are only a couple of feet apart from each other it makes one-person operation of the layout’s mainline fairly easy.  Continuous running of trains can be accomplished by changing direction of just two turnouts.

Photo 26

Photo 27 is a view of the very first bridge I built for the Dry Gulch & Western.  It is located directly behind the tall gray mountain spire in photos 22 and 23 of part 4 of this series.  It is a tall curved wooden trestle that carries the mainline.  If it looks familiar this is my attempt to create the Ryan Gulch scene from the famous Gorre & Daphetid.  This photo also shows the aisle in the floor to ceiling area of the layout.  The blue colored carpeting mimics the color of a river.

Photo 27

Photo 28 shows the view looking down the canyon.  At the center top of the photo is the town of Alpine.  Just around the bend from the wooden trestle is the hamlet of Raade Springs.  Further around from the wooden trestle is the town of Potter Flats.

Photo 28

Photo 29 gives you the first view of Potter Flats.  There is a mine and an oil drilling operation at that location.  The little building above the rock outcropping in the foreground is Raade Springs station.  (Please note that there is a lot of the scenery in this area that isn’t quite finished yet.  That has significantly changed since Covid-19 and those pesky “stay at home” orders.  At the end of this photo series I will try to post updated photos of this area.)  On the left of this photo is my version of French Gulch, another borrowed or should I say “liberated” scene from the Gorre & Daphetid.  Can you spot the large access hatch in this photo?  It is almost in the dead center of the photograph.

Photo 29

Photo 30 gives you a really good view of how things fit on the layout.  It also shows the advantage of correctly placed view blocks.  Let’s go across this photo from left to right.  On the extreme upper left is the town of Alpine.  As you go down into the valley you encounter Potter Flats.  The rail line running straight up the photo travels to Gornitzka Crossing and beyond.  The switch that sends the rail line off into the tunnel in the foreground is a sort of “backdoor entrance” to the town of Dry Gulch.   Notice how the view blocks hide Gornitzka Crossing!  In this photo to the right is Raade Springs with its small station.  Even further to the right is Dry Gulch.

Photo 30

That is it for this week.  Next time we will look at some more scenery under construction along with some of the bridges that hop from mountain to mountain.  Did you folks ever find that access hatch in photo 29?  Keep looking!

David

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