In the first week of December 2023, I finished construction and scenery for the layout—all the messy work—and transported the layout downstairs to its permanent home.

The layout had been in the garage since July where I did all the messy jobs like Styrofoam cutting, wood cutting and dirty scenery work. The layout’s permanent home is on a carpet remnant in the basement of our rented home, so I did all the dirty work outside where I didn’t have to worry about messing up the floor. I use real coal and real dirt for a lot of the scenery and boy is it dirty. I think it looks great but it gets everything filthy, especially the coal dust.

The first thing I had to finish was painting and reinstalling the backdrop. I painted the backdrop with Valspar Clear Blue Sky, Eggshell, which I’ve had on hand since 2012. I used the same paint for my original Ackley layout. It’s a neutral blue color suitable as a morning sky color.

Next I painted and reinstalled most of the front fascia. The black color used is paint I bought in Germany, at OBI, the German sorta-equivalent of Home Depot. The most important part of the paint is the RAL number which is 9005. RAL is an international paint code that allows a painter to match any color at any participating outlet. However I’m sure we can find a close-enough match at any Lowes or paint store. I use satin finish by the way.

Once all that was complete and the layout was vacuumed clean, my wife and I carried it down to the basement to its new home. The staircase to the basement is a “180-degree switchback style” (yes, that’s a real term) so we had to bob-and-weave the layout all the way down. Good thing I made it with lightweight materials. If that thing weighed 150 pounds we could’ve never got it down those stairs.

Below, everything is in place now, but there’s a lot of finishing work to do, reinstalling more fascia, reinstalling lights, routing wiring, and cleaning up surfaces. The traverse table was attached and then levelled.

The lights I used are 3200 Lumen LED shop lights I got at Menards. They were inexpensive and at 3200 lumens they’re plenty bright. I bought two of them and wired them together behind the top fascia.

Below. Here’s the top fascia installed and painted. The opening looks low but there’s plenty of room to reach in to uncouple cars. In a pinch you can reach through the top as well.

My buddy Clark Propst said the top fascia makes the layout look like a fishbowl. Well…yeah, I guess it kinda does…

The traverse table is wired and levelled. All Systems Are Go.

Finally, when all the installation work was done, I cleaned the track, plugged in the NCE and got an engine running. Everything worked well. The layout is just one electrical block and wiring is simple, so things run reliably and there’s not too much crazy stuff like wyes or three-way turnouts to troubleshoot.

Lights and power on…

…and now to set up staging for ops. Loaded coal cars go to Hermitage Coal Co. Box cars go to the grocery warehouse, the team track and Alcatraz Paint & Varnish. The reefer goes to the brewery (not yet built). The tank car goes to Southern Fuel & Oil (not yet built). The covered hopper and gravel car goes to the cinder block plant. The engine is a Stewart VO-1000 leased from my friend John Moenius.

My son Jacob, 22, and youngest daughter Kirsten, 17, ran trains for a short while.

My oldest daughter Kay, 19, came down the next day to run the engine for a while. The girls seem to like running trains more than my son. They’re patient.

Below, Kirsten is using what she calls the “power stick” which is her term for the uncoupling tool. When she came down with Kay, the first thing she asked me was “Dad, where’s the power stick?” I said “The what?” I guess I still have a lot to learn about the hobby.

I celebrated our first informal ops with a good beer my son brought from London. He went to a Bao restaurant in the small London Chinatown district and brought this beer back for me. Yes, it was terrific. It has one of the best labels out there too!

I hope you all have a productive weekend. – John G

My wife and I went to Brugge, Belgium over Thanksgiving to celebrate my 60th birthday. Two of our three children were able to join us. We’ve been to Brugge many times and we love life there. It was a wonderful week and being there made us feel ready to live in Europe again.

For the railfan in me, a highlight of the trip was taking a train to Ghent for a day of sightseeing and waffle-eating. The ride was fast, clean, efficient, and of course electric. The train below was photographed at Ghent on our way back. This wasn’t our train but ours was a lot like this one.

Unlike Brugge, Ghent has a tram system throughout the city. Complex track and crossings are common in Europe. The photo below shows something extraordinary: a double-slip turnout right in the middle of the main avenue through downtown. There are several of them within a half a mile in Ghent.

Progress on Hermitage Road

Prior to leaving for Belgium, I started scenery work on the layout. I laid down some static grass and other material to make the layout more “complete”.

My friend Jeff Halloin sent a very inspiring photo from his Litchfield & Madison layout. He’s using pre-made scenic mats on either side of the tracks, and static grass in the back. It looks great. He’ll fill in some of the area in front of the backdrop with a scale cornfield. This isn’t the scenery I want for my industrial layout, but Jeff’s use of color contrast and texture contrast is second to none.

Here’s the basic scenery material used. The short list includes Silflor static grass, Woodland Scenics ground foam in various colors, Scenic Express leaves, AIM weathering powders, Elmers Glue, and a few different kinds of sifted dirt. I used a Noch GrassMaster II for static grass application and use Silflor static grass exclusively. I used Early Summer, Late Summer, and Yellow, or Autumn, in 2mm and 4mm lengths. To supplement the static grass, I also used Woodland Scenics blended green turf (green and yellow mix) and sprinkled on some Scenic Express coarse ground foam, and some Scenic Express leaf material.

Before I put down any scenery I took a long look at the layout to determine what I wanted to accomplish. I wanted ground cover around a few, but not all of the buildings, along the roads, and in a few places around and between the rails. I wanted much of that beautiful ballast work to show through, and a lot of the tie weathering to be seen.

Below. The Grocery Warehouse is supposed to be an older but still very active shipper. How much grass should I lay around the corners and edges? The photo below shows the first application.

I glued static grass down using the same mixture used for ballast: 50% Elmers Glue, 50% water, a splash of 70% rubbing alcohol and a few drops of dish soap. I thoroughly mixed this solution to a consistency of whole milk and apply it using a pipette.

Above. The first application of grass on the grocery warehouse. The end nearest the camera will be covered by the powerhouse, so the focus here is on ground cover along the track side of the building. The photo below was taken on the other side of the building after the second application. The second application is good–a little between the tracks and some good cover along the building foundation. The building itself still needs a little work…

In some cases I applied glue and scenery material to a specific place, like around roads or building foundations. In other cases I applied glue to a general area and let the liquid glue flow around ties and find low spots naturally. The glue fills in areas randomly which I think makes scenery more realistic.

Once glue is applied, I apply static grass. On this layout I am using a mix of about 40% Early Summer (bright green), 40% Late Summer (Dark Green) and 20% or so Yellow. For all applications I use a mix of 2mm and 4mm. I like the brighter early summer colors. I like to put down a medium-density application of static grass, then add a little Woodland Scenics turf on top, and then fill in with a little more static grass to taste later.

Above. In many cases the ground cover application looks heavy while the glue is drying. I wait a day for the glue to dry and then clean up the area with a vacuum. Some of the material comes up, leaving more randomness. If there are holes in the scenery that don’t look quite right, it’s easy to fill them in with a little glue and re-apply the static grass.

In some places—once the glue is dry—I like to “layer” the static grass by hitting the scenery with unscented hair spray and laying a second light coat of static grass or foam on top of the first layer.

Below. On this kind of layout, in an industrial area, randomness is a pretty good thing. The slight variation of ground cover colors, combined with the slight variation of the ties, makes a nice effect. When buildings and details and figures are added back in, the area will come to life.

Here’s another view of the same area above. The road needs a lot of work but the track and ground cover is coming along nicely.

Between the rails, I like to lay a combination of static grass and Woodland Scenics foam. I put the glue down between the ties with the pipette—never any glue on top of the ties—then add the scenery material. The next day I use a vacuum to clean up what didn’t stick. This usually leaves scenery between the ties which is what I want. Sometimes a little work is necessary to clear grass off of the tops of ties here and there. Below., the results are looking pretty good to me. The ground foam brings a little variety to the static grass.

In this shot below, I’ve added some leaf material to the ground cover, seen at the top right, and I really like it. I’ll add a little more of this in the coming weeks.

I moved around the layout, laying down grass in this manner a couple feet at a time, like along the roads, between rails, in certain spots around buildings, and so forth.

It is really easy for me to overdo static grass, so I take my time and do a little bit at a time, and come look at it again the next day and then decide if I want to add more. The scenery process below took three weeks, about a half an hour each day–and remember my layout is only eight feet long.

I think the results are pretty good.

Compare to a prototype photo on the old SAL lines in Savannah, Georgia:

Next, to finish the major scenery effort, I need to work on the ends of the layout. I have to install the overpass, add a few trees, and install photo backdrops. That’s still a lot to do. All that will come in due time.

To cap it all off…Ron Christiansen sent me this the other day. This is something he whipped up in his spare time. It’s outstanding. He called it “Broken down Oliver in the weeds”. I really like the flower buds in the foreground. Ron said he brushed on a little glue and then blew Scenic Express flowers across the scene.

I hope you all had a blessed Thanksgiving week. – John G

Hermitage Road is slowly taking shape. In my last layout post I described painting and weathering rail and ties in preparation for laying down ballast.

I use dirt dug up from a roundhouse site for ballast. In the late 2000s I lived in Indiana and drove through Richmond, Indiana frequently. On one trip past Richmond I stopped and found the site of the former Pennsylvania Railroad roundhouse. I dug up a couple of bucketfuls of dirt and cinders at the roundhouse site, brought it home, sifted it, and stored it away in a few one-gallon bins for later use.

13 years and two layouts later, I’m still using that dirt for everything from ballast to ground cover. It is a mix of dirt, cinders, and all kids of other stuff, and it looks great because it’s the real thing.

For this layout, I used the Richmond ballast for track and most other applications, at right, plus some sifted dirt at center and some darker sifted dirt on the left.

Once the rail and ties were painted, I carefully poured on a little ballast at a time and carefully spread it on the roadbed with a small makeup brush. I did my best to keep the ballast off the rail and the tops of the ties, and below the level of the ties wherever possible. I do not want buried ties on this layout.

Next, I sprayed the ballast with 70% rubbing alcohol right out of the bottle using a fine-mist sprayer. Rubbing alcohol breaks the surface tension and secures the ballast in position.

The glue mixture I use for ballast is a mix of 50% Elmer’s Glue (Not School Glue), 50% water, a splash of 70% rubbing alcohol and a few drops of dish soap. The alcohol and dish soap help the water and glue mix, and break up surface tension. The consistency I like is like 100% milk.

Above. Finally—with the ballast still wet from the alcohol mist—I use a pipette to slowly add the glue mixture to the ballast. Sometimes I lay glue down along the outside of the ties and let capillary action suck the glue between the rails. Sometimes I just coat the whole track structure and that works okay too, but ideally I don’t want to put glue on top of the ties unnecessarily. In either case I make sure the glue covers the ballast completely and then wait a full day for the glue to dry.

The dirt ballast I use changes color when it’s glued into position. When dry it appears a little darker. That’s okay. I don’t want it to be black, but a dark gray with lighter and darker bits here and there is acceptable.

Once the ballast is completely dry, the weathered ties present a nice appearance. All that time painting individual ties is worth it.

Here’s a photo with the buildings back in–a mock-up of what’s to come. In the next post I’ll cover installing some static grass. This is the fun part of building a layout.

The Crossing

Meanwhile…I may have mentioned that Jeff Otto of Oak Hill Track Supply (https://www.ohrtracksupply.com/) custom-built a 29-degree crossing for the layout.

Jeff is an old friend of mine from my St. Louis RPM days. In my little opinion Jeff’s company is on the leading edge of custom track development. We’ve had long talks about track and details and all that. Fast Tracks gets a lot of press but Jeff’s new line of frogs is out of this world, and Jeff can personally build anything. He’s ahead of Proto87 Stores in many areas. Here’s Jeff at Chicagoland RPM below.

I emailed a drawing of my crossing to Jeff and he sent me a CAD a few days later. He scratchbuilt the crossing and brought it to me at the Chicagoland RPM at the end of October.

Jeff kept the crossing over the Chicagoland RPM weekend, using it to demonstrate his custom-building capability. And who wouldn’t—a 29-degree crossing doesn’t happen every day. Here’s the crossing in place…

…and here’s the crossing glued down.

Finally–and I’m getting way ahead of myself here–here’s a photo of the crossing painted and ballasted with some scenery already in place. I’ll describe track scenery in my next post.

I have a little more messy work to complete on the layout and then plan to bring it to the basement in the first week of December to set it up in it’s permanent home. December 1st will be just about ten months since I started construction.

In closing, a few weeks ago my daughter took this photo of me turning my clothes dryer into a kit. The heating element broke, and the guy at Lowes said I’ll need to completely disassemble the thing to replace the heater. He wasn’t wrong. It took me two hours to carefully take the thing apart. Luckily I didn’t have to freeze it first (that’s an inside modeler joke…). Anyway I was able to use model railroad skills like screw-drivering, bending, swearing, and soldering among other things to make the repair. Another hour later I had it back together with a few screws to spare. The best part was that it worked!

I hope you’re all preparing for a wonderful Christmas celebration. And I hope your dryer doesn’t break anytime soon! – John G

Chicagoland RPM wrapped up last week and it was a great success and a lot of fun. The meet was hosted by Resin Car Works on Friday, 27 October and Saturday, 28 October 2023 at the Northern Illinois Conference Center in Naperville, Illinois. Around 400 modelers from around the US and Canada attended.

The NIU Conference Center, below. It was a gorgeous fall weekend.

The two-day event featured 35 clinics, 115 vendor and historical society tables, home layout tours, modular layouts in-house, a fun Friday evening social in the NIU atrium, and lots of camaraderie and fellowship. At right is Bonnie Hodina hard at work at the entry and registration table. Eric Hansmann is in the background behind the table. He did a lot of heavy lifting to make the event happen.

The image of Bonnie hard at work conjures up good memories. Here, below, Ed Hawkins is checking in with Tricia Lofton at Naperville RPM in 2004. Ed has done great work with model manufacturers over the years, and we always had a lot of fun wondering what secrets he kept in that briefcase.

Below. 20 years later, Martin’s vision is still alive at the NIU Center. This is one of two vendor rooms, both of which were busy all day. Model sales aren’t the main event at Naperville, yet they are an important part of RPM events. There were 30 model vendors and five historical societies present in 2023.

Below. Speaking of vendors, here’s Mike Gruber of Mainline Photos helping a customer with photo selection. Mike is a terrific guy. John Fuller was also at the event. Bob Liljestrand of Bob’s Photos was scheduled to attend, but he had hand surgery the week before and couldn’t make it.

Our hobby is continuously evolving and here’s proof. This is 3D Central, run by Matt Herman formerly of LokSound. Matt knows the hobby well and had some incredible 3D-printed models on display. 3D CEntral can be found online at https://3dcentraltrains.com/.

Here is Pierre Oliver, center, from Yarmouth Models. Pierre brought a lot of new models and even more stories to the event. Yarmouth’s website is http://www.yarmouthmodelworks.com/.

Below. Here is one of the two model display rooms. Incredibly, both rooms were full. Not a table went unused. I counted over 1,500 models on display. In the foreground is Loren Casey’s Monclair grain elevator, which was 3D-printed to match the prototype exactly. The elevator is located just southeast of Belleville, Illinois on the former Illinois Central lines.

Below. Clark Propst brought his fleet of nine M&StL RS-1s to the meet. Clark’s fleet includes one of every paint scheme–except the Mikan scheme–that Louie RS-1s carried in through the 1950s.

Seth Lakin brought a cool display of Big Four and Monon locomotives and cabooses for display.

My buddy Fenton Wells brough a great display of HO scale rolling stock. Fenton doesn’t model the easy stuff. Every model he builds is kitbashed or partially scratchbuilt, and every one is expertly built, painted and weathered. Fenton is a good friend and a fine man–very generous. He’s always happy to help his fellow modelers get it right.

Jim DuFour was at Naperville, and he brought and big display of beautifully-finished freight cars from his B&M layout. Jim’s is a great guy and his inspirational website site can be found on Flickr at https://www.flickr.com/photos/12504598@N04/albums/72177720312431719/with/53307077893.

I met Mr. Darrall Swift in the model room and we chatted for an hour late on Saturday afternoon. Darrall models the NP in the Pacific Northwest, and builds Northern Pacific freight cars from scratch. Here’s an example of one of his gondolas. Note the hundreds of individually-applied rivets. Unlike most of us who cut the heads off Tichy rivets and place them individually, Darrall leaves the stem in place and drills holes one by one to place the rivets. It is incredible work.

If you ever wondered “Why Naperville?” Darrall’s work is why.

The clinics are the main event at Naperville. Steve Hile put together the program which included 35 clinics, almost all of them presented twice. Here’s Jason Klocke, below, during his Modeling the Chicago Great Western clinic. Jason is a CN engineer and always gives a great show, and has one of the most inspirational layouts you’ll ever see.

Below. Here’s Clark Propst hard at work, presenting a clinic on his M&StL Story Branch layout. It was a fun clinic and as always I learned a lot from Clark. We were able to heckle him a little bit too, which makes Clark’s clinics a lot more fun.

Naperville is about the clinics, but it’s the people that make the meet what it is. Here are more modeling friends, from left to right: Lee Gustafson, Mike Schleigh, Bill Pardie, and Preston (I didn’t get his last name, sorry Preston!). Preston had that big smile on his face the whole weekend.

The Midwest Mod-U-Trak crew set up their modular layout in the NIU atrium right next to the registration tables. The layout is fantastic. Bob Koczik and crew had the layout up and operating on Thursday evening in about three hours.

Here is a meet on the HO scale layout. Trains were running from about 8:00 a.m. until 9:30 p.m. or later on Friday and Saturday. The layout operated flawlessly.

Here’s a much-earlier iteration of the HO scale ModuTrak. I took this photo at Naperville in 2005. The current layout is completely new. The Grand Master Bob Koczik can be seen in the teal shirt at center, 18 years younger.

The N scale Modu-Trak layout was set up along the walls of the larger vendor room. It is a fantastic layout as well. A crew of about eight guys had it up and running in about two hours. The operator behind the layout with the big smile is Bill Denton. He is one of the finest men you will meet in the hobby, and along with Mike Skibbe is the inspiration behind the N scale layout.

The N scale ModuTrak guys are very organized and have a website and blog available at https://www.modutrak.com/. That’s Chris Zygmunt with the friendly wave.

Below. More modelers. Right to left is Craig Wilson, Jerry Hamsmith and Ed Rethswisch. Ed is one of the best model builders I know. His work can be seen all over the RCW site.

Below. Tom Wencl (left) and Tom Klimczak (right). I spent about an hour horsing around with these guys in the model rooms.

On Friday evening we enjoyed a social hosted by the RCW crew in the NIU atrium. Attendees enjoyed food and drink and the vendors and layouts were all open for enjoyment. Here, below, is Tom Madden, the man behind many resin casting products we enjoy.

There’s plenty more about the meet online. You can find a good wrap-up on the Resin Car Works site at http://blog.resincarworks.com/2023-rpm-conference-wrap-up/ that includes links to a lot of other photos sites. Chicagoland was a good time and I hope we can all get together again next year.

Meanwhile, back on the layout…

Jeff Otto, the boss of Oak Hill model Railroad Supply, was at Naperville and delivered the last section of track for my Hermitage Road layout. I had asked Jeff back in September to build me a 30-degree crossing. He brought it to the meet and showed it off the whole weekend as a demonstration of his custom-building capabilities.

Jeff is a great guy and a lot of fun to talk to. He’s got a lot of new, cool products on the way. I talked to him a few times before the meet and sat down with him for an hour during the meet. His website can be found at https://www.ohrtracksupply.com/.

The crossing is beautiful and already in place on the layout. It looks great and is right up on the aisle where is can be seen and appreciated. More to follow soon as I get the last few tracks installed and operational.

It was good to see everyone at Naperville! – John G

In the last post I described painting track and getting it ready for ballasting. Prior to ballasting, I felt it was important to install backdrops, fascia and lighting. In this boring post I’ll describe–briefly–how I installed backdrops, fascia and lighting.

Below. In early July I rented a table saw from Home Depot, bought some 1 x 2s and 3/16-inch Masonite, and got to work. Here is the layout in the garage all set for backdrop installation. Looks like I’ve got a coffee ready too.

I decided to hang the backdrop in three sections. One small section for each end, and one long 7-1/2-foot section for the back. I ripped Masonite to a height of 14 inches and installed bracing behind it to secure it to the layout. It is easily removeable for painting and backdrop work.

Installation couldn’t be more simple. After a few hours I had both ends and the back side of the backdrops installed. I glued and screwed the 1 x 2 strips to the back of the Masonite; the clamps are holding everything in place while the glue dries.

Below. Here’s a close-up of how the 1 x 2s are installed to support the backdrop. The clamps are cheap spring clamps I’ve had around the house for 20 years. This scene reminds me somewhat of the old article in MR that had a pictures of Andy Sperandeo building a layout based on the Santa Fe lines in Oklahoma. The caption read “Here’s Andy enjoying the hobby of C-clampling.” The humor there was so subtle it took me 20 years to understand it. I think the spring clamps would’ve made his work go faster.

Below. Here’s the from behind the backdrop. You can see how each piece–the ends and the back part of the backdrop–are built to be easily removeable units. At the bottom right you can see that I drilled holes to pass cords through.

End clamps, screwed into the 1 x 2s, keep everything tight.

With the backdrops in place, I can cut and install the front fascia. I started with the foundation for the lights. I installed a long 1 x 4 L-girder and screwed it in place on the backdrop ends. Two LED tube lights will be installed behind the L-girder. You can see how low I’m installing that light bar. I want the layout to be a really tight shadowbox. I think the effect will be dramatic.

Next I installed the top and side fascia. This was easy but I took my time to try and get everything lined up and get really clean edges. The curved corners on the end fascia were something I had on the previous version of Hermitage Road, so I made sure I kept that feature on this version. I measured the curves on the ends with a paint can and drew the circle, and cut them slowly with a jig saw. Then I shaped the curves with sandpaper to clean them up.

The layout was turned upside down to install the lights. I bought two 5000-lumen LED fixtures from Menards and installed the behind the wood “sub-fascia” (if that’s a word). They were easy to install. I ran the wires through the backdrop sides and around behind the backdrop to a separate power strip.

After another hour of sanding, shaping, screwing and finally getting everything secured in place, here’s the layout at the end of the day. Electric switches are installed on the far right to control the four power turnouts, and the NCE plug-in is up front. I plan on installing a shelf along the front of the layout as well to hold uncoupling sticks, drinks and other important stuff.

I’m getting a little ahead of myself here, but here’s what the layout looks like today, with the fascia partially painted and re-installed. It’s lookin’ good!

While I was installing the fascia I dropped my old, giant, heavy power screwdriver on the most important turnout on the layout–the wye at the entrance of the yard, seen at the bottom center below.

That wye turnout was an extensively rebuilt Shinohara switch since Micro Enginering doesn’t offer a wye. It was already fragile as it was. I bashed it good. Maybe next time I’ll try a Peco Code 75 wye to speed things along.

I smashed the points and destroyed all the working mechanism, and the detail parts went flying. I had to replace just about everything below the frog. As it is scratchbuilt, I had to get out all that track stuff and completely rebuild the darn thing. First I removed all the ties, de-soldered the points and built a replacement throwbar using a copper-clad tie. In the photo below you can clearly see the 1/2-inch tube I use as a channel for the Tortoise machine point-throwing rod.

An hour later here’s how it looked, below. I installed a new throw bar, replacement ties, replacement detail parts, and a new copper tie at the extreme end of the layout where the track will enter staging. It looks pretty sloppy, but after a little more cleanup, and paint and ballast, it’ll all blend in. There will be an overpass over this turnout so it will be partially obscured.

Well, that’s it. A pretty boring post, but necessary to publish to maintain the record. Ballasting next.

Oh, one last thing. Here’s a new freight car I got in July. This is one of the nice Rapido steel-sided B-50-16 cars. Ted Culotta, on his blog Prototype Railroad Topics, did a terrific review of these cars at https://prototopics.blogspot.com/2023/07/rapido-southern-pacific-b-50-15-ho.html. It’s worth a read. I’m fond of these cars, having seen and photographed a few in California back around 2000. I’ll have to dig out the slides and post them. The Rapido model is beautiful and I’m glad to have one in the fleet.

I hope you all enjoy your week and get some good modeling done! – John G

With track laid, wired and tested on the new layout, it was time to paint the track. Painting track is a big step, as all the trackwork should be operational and perfect before painting. Painting usually introduces a few other problems, such as problems at switch points and so forth, so the more work done prior to painting, the better.

Hermitage Road is supposed to be an urban industrial layout, so weathering track appropriately is important. Here are a few motivational examples from around the U.S. that helped guide my painting.

Below. This view is in Kansas, on a Union Pacific siding just west of Salina. I find the ties interesting. Some are newere, some are old; the center tie looks rough-cut and is very old. The contrast between the rusty rail and weathered ties is stark. There’s no dirt on the rail. I also like the slight color variation in the ballast.

Below. This is in Sugar Creek, Ohio on the former PRR lines. I’m drawn to the contrast between the new and old ties, the rusty rail and weathered ties, and old ballast. Even though this is secondary main line track I’d like to replicate this on my industrial layout.

Below. Here’s another view from the UP in Kansas. The ties are closer together. There’s a definite contrast between some of the older and newer ties. Grass is encroaching on the ballast. Grass is pretty but it’s not too prototypical. The rail is clean but rusty.

Finally, one more view. This is at the old Seaboard yard in Savannah, Georgia. This is old rail, with foundry marks from 1930. The ties are newer and uniformly weathered. There’s a little ballast left but there’s a heavy layer of dirt (and probably cinder ballast) on top. One thing interesting about this photo is when there’s a layer of dirt on top–not ballast–the rail becomes dirty, not rusty as in the views above.

On my first version of Hermitage Road, I painted the ties individually and then went back and hand-painted the rail with Mr. Color No. 41. This worked fine although hand-painting the rail was a sloppy process and I put too much paint over the track details.

On this current version of Hermitage Road, I decided to paint the entire track structure first, using Testors Rubber as my color of choice. See below.

I was very surprised to find that the Testors Rubber appeared gray after painting. I didn’t want dark gray rail and ties.

I went ahead and left the rail gray for the time being and began weathering the ties individually as I did on the last layout. I used Model Master Japan Navy gray and Model Master Dark Tan, mixed in a plastic cup with Laquer Thinner, and painted various shades of the mixtures randomly on the ties. I put a few heavy drops of paint in the cup and mix them in the cup, like a palette, and mixed various shades of gray and tan in the cup. The Lacquer Thinner tends to break down the paint a little and force some variation in the finish. The overall effect is quite realistic in my opinion.

Below. Here’s the result. Again, randomly painting ties creates good contrast, which is what I want. Some ties were completely painted over with either tan or gray, or a mixture of both, and some ties were highlighted. Some ties were left unpainted in the original Testors Rubber color.

Here’s a view of the layout with tie-painting in progress. Here it can clearly be seen how ties were painted gray randomly.

Below. In a few places I went back over the rail with Mr. Color No. 41.

I waited a week and then went back over some of the ties again with the same gray, tan and rubber paint, mixed with Lacquer Thinner.

A closer view of the weathered ties. Getting some variation in the weathering is important. In many cases the weathering brings out the very subtle wood-grain detail in the Micro Engineering ties.

Yes, it takes time to paint each tie, or every other tie, but on a small layout it’s worth the time spent. I would say it took about two hours to go over most of the ties. The end result will be worth it.

Below. One last prototype view, this one on a former NYC siding near Litchfield, Illinois. The dark rail, light, weathered ties and joint bar are all important features.

Below. After painting the ties I cleaned the rail again and tested operation. Everything ran well, and looks good. You can see where the dummy crossing will be installed in the foreground. Jeff Otto at Oak Hill is building it for me. His website is https://www.ohrtracksupply.com/ and he has some really terrific stuff.

The next post will be fascia installation and after that I’ll post on ballasting track. I’m getting a little ahead of myself again, but here’s a view of some of the ballasted track below.

In closing, when looking for the Savannah Yard track photos I came across a few old scans of slides I took 40 years ago, in 1983. This view below is a southbound Onieda & Western coal train on the former Seaboard Air Line main track just south of Savannah, Georgia. The main track went under Abercorn Extension very near where I was going to college at the time at Armstrong State. I photographed this train standing on the overpass zooming south to Burroughs Junction.

I’m pretty sure I shot this on Ektachrome. I hated Ektachrome but it was cheap. It was very unforgiving.

Anyway, in those days one could see just about every Family Lines engine in Savannah. This train has an L&N SD-40, a Clinchfield SD-45-2, a Family Lines SD-40-2, and an SCL-painted engine up front, most likely a GP-40-2 or an SD-45. Those were the days!

I hope you all have a blessed week! – John

Two weeks ago I attended two modeling events back-to-back. First, on March 17th I drove up to Chicago from St. Louis to attend the annual O Scale two-rail Train Show and Meet at the Westin Lombard Yorktown Center Lombard, Ill. I was only there for three hours, but I had a nice time and ran into a lot of old friends, and met some new ones, and also bought a few hard-to-find things. You can read more about that event at http://www.marchmeet.net.

Naturally the O scale community does things a little differently. This Milwaukee 2-6-2 was entered in the model contest hosted by the organizers. It was completely scratchbuilt in brass in the 1970s.

Very big engines were everywhere! Many of the vendor tables were manned by regular fellows selling off collections.

My old friend Ted Schnepf was there, selling his full line of O scale resin freight cars and parts. There’s Ted in the orange shirt at the right, holding court and talking to a few prospective buyers.

The O Scale National was a good time and it was terrific to see a lot of old friends. For a fresh look at the hobby, I recommend you attend an O scale or a European event. There’s a whole lot to learn out there.

The following weekend–on March 24th and 25th–I attended the Savannah Railroad Prototype Modeler’s Meet, hosted by Bob Harpe and his great team from the Savannah, Georgia area. The meet was held at the Southside Assembly of God church on the city’s south side.

Below. The drive to Chicago was characterized by low temperatures (15F), high winds, and snow squalls. The drive to Savannah a week later was totally different–clear skies, warm temps and LOTS of traffic. Here’s my view of Chattanooga, dead-stopped on the north (wrong) side of town on Friday, around 3:30, just as rush hour was taking effect…

The next morning, after getting a little rest, I was at Savannah RPM before the doors opened at 9:00 a.m. Obviously, everybody else was there before 9:00 a.m. too.

Savannah RPM is a small event, hosted by Bob and team as more of a friendly get-together than a regional or blockbuster event. That’s what makes Savannah RPM so cool–it’s small, and friendly, and you get to know everybody that attends. 40 modelers attended this year and it was casual and fun. The view below shows the main room where there are about 10-12 model tables, 8-10 vendor tables, three or four historical society tables, and a few giveaway tables tucked in the back corner. Clinics were hosted in a separate room.

I finally met my longtime online pal, Fenton Wells, at Savannah RPM. Here’s Fenton with his beautiful collection of FGE models. Fenton does terrific work and is a super guy, and a very motivational modeler. We spent half the day together on Saturday. I shared the other side of the table with Fenton–those are my HO and Proto48 models on display. I brought the O scale models specifically to antagonize Bob Harpe, but he didn’t take notice. I guess I’ll have to bring more next year.

What! More O scale? Yes indeed, and this piece is special. Georgia 302 was displayed by a gentleman who acquired the model through an estate. The engine was scratchbuilt in O (“five-foot”) scale, entirely in brass by the famous railroad photographer Bill Lenoir in the early 1970s. Bill’s craftsmanship is shown here in all it’s glory.

Below. Here is Stu Thayer, an old friend and an outstanding L&N modeler and historian. One of the most pleasant guys you could ever meet in the hobby.

This is the great Bill McCoy, at left, and the great Ed Mims at right. Both are retired railroaders and are giants in the southeastern modeling and railroad historical scene. Bill and Ed’s work is in the foreground. I spent a good half an hour drooling all over Ed’s heavily kitbashed purple ACL express car, seen at the far left of this photo. It’s a Walthers model that Bill re-worked. Bill fitted a prototypically-correct streamlined roof, made of wood, on the car.

John Degnan was at Savannah this year with an ever-growing display of fine S scale models. Note the use of the term “S Scale“. John is not quiet the king of S Scale but he’s certainly the prince. He’s driven quality manufacturers to S scale for over 20 years and here is the outstanding result.

Bob Harpe is a very-well-known locomotive builder and he brought quite a selection to display. Interesting that he’s using an old St. Louis RPM introduction card for his models.

It’s awfully nice to be back in the U.S. and have the opportunity to attend modeling events and catch up with old friends. Savannah RPM is worth your time to go.

I wasn’t in the Savannah area long–only two full days. I spent Saturday at Savannah RPM and on Sunday I went to Wilmington Island to visit my lovely 93-year-old Mom.

I’m back home now, recovering from full left-knee arthroplasty (“left knee replacement”) and contemplating continued work on the new Hermitage Road layout, seen below. Track laying is almost complete and I’ll send an update soon.

RPM Meets and specialty shows are great places to inspire prototype railroad modelers and meet old and new friends. Let good work and motivational people inspire you to do great work this year! – John G

February and March have been good months of work on the new Hermitage Road layout.

Here’s a mock up of one of two track plans I’ve developed. The layout is 7-1/2 feet long and 18-inches wide. I have another arrangement that I also like, but there’s no rush to make the decision and I’m letting the plans simmer for a while. I’ll share the other plan on the next post, but it looks much like this one with a twist. The reality is there’s not much room to do too much else other than something like this.

Like the original Hermitage Road, there are three tracks that span out from a single switching lead at the right. However, I’ve added two switchbacks on this version–one of which can serve as a runaround–and I’m also adding a few “dummy switches” to simulate more industries off the layout. I’ve added a crossing as well. There weren’t any in the area I’m modeling, but I like them.

Unconventional Benchwork

I built cut lumber and built the benchwork quickly and easily last month. That’s the conventional part, shown above. Below is the unconventional part. Instead of using wood for the table top, or subroadbed, I’m using LG Project Panel (the green stuff).

Wood is heavy, and this layout can’t be heavy because it has to be moveable. Furthermore, I can’t really add ditches and terrain features below the roadbed using wood. I used instead the Project Panel material–which is quite sturdy but light–and I can carve small terrain features into it. It is firm and flat. The only drawback is it is two inches thick which creates minor problems when using under-layout switch machines.

I used something similar on the first Hermitage Road layout, which I built while living in Germany. The product used there as called Styrodur and it was even more sturdy. The LG Project Panel was as close as I could find to Styrodur here in the U.S.

I glued the Project Panel to the top of the benchwork frame with benchwork and also secured it to the frame with sheetrock screws. On top of the Project Panel I glued 4mm cork to serve as roadbed for track and a foundation for structures.

The photo below shows a mock-up of track and buildings and spaces to see how everything fits. You can see the use of the 4mm cork on top of the green panel. The track plan is linear, and boring…hence my hesitation on pulling the trigger and putting down too much track at this point.

Industries

Like the original Hermitage Road layout, seen above, the new version of the layout will have seven industries and a total of 13 car spots.

From left (where the train enters the layout) are:

1. Team Track (max two car capacity–box/refrigerator/flat/gondola/hopper/tank)
2. TBD industry on the back wall at right (one car capacity)
3. Southern Fuel & Oil (max two car capacity–tank and/or box cars)
4. Hermitage Coal Co. (max two car capacity–hoppers and/or gondolas)
5. Alcatraz Paint & Varnish (max one car capacity–tank or box car)
6. Richmond Concrete Block Co. (max three car capacity–one covered hopper and two box/gondola/flat cars)
7. Grocery Warehouse (max two cars–box or refrigerator cars)

Here’s the draft layout plan again for reference:

While there are 13 spots for cars, I don’t plan on moving a car in and out of each spot in a normal, 30-to-40 minute operating session. If I did, switching out 13 spots would require a maximum of 26 cars per session. However, I envision a typical 30 minute session I’d service 40% of the car spots, which looks more like moving 6 cars in an out–that’s 12 cars total. That’s more realistic and manageable.

Below. Mocking up the old industries on the new layout. In the foreground is a new grocery warehouse, and in the background is my old favorite, the Richmond Concrete Block Co. In front is an in-progress, scratchbuilt Code 55 wye. I’m testing how the industries, road and turnout will all fit together.

Meanwhile I’ve found a good prototype for the Alcatraz Paint & Varnish Co., which was next to the concrete block plant. No pictures of the real plant have been found, so I’m going to prototype-improvise and use the factory building on the right as the prototype for my model. The actual prototype is in Litchfield, Illinois on old Big Four (NYC) lines. You can see the Big Four main line in front of the factory.

About that “To Be Determined” space. I don’t have any plans for it yet but I could use another box car industry. Bill Michael gave me a cool photo of a grocery warehouse in Anderson, South Carolina. This is 1970, but I like the curved loading dock and the elevator house on top. I certainly don’t nee two grocery warehouses but building a customer on the layout to this design would be different and interesting.

Near the SAL main tracks on Hermitage Road was an RF&P branch that had a brewery–that was back in the 1910s. Maybe I could adapt the prototype above into one of the brewery buildings. I like beer, and modeling part of a brewery is tempting. More to follow on that later.

Meanwhile…

I dragged my wife to the National Transportation Museum in Kirkwood, Missouri (a western St. Louis suburb) a few Saturdays ago. It’s a nice museum with a pretty big collection of railroad equipment. It has changed since I was last there in 2004–and originally in 1990. In previous visits you got the feeling it was a real railroad museum. Today, it’s a lot more like a family-friendly place to take the kids to.” The gritty, blue-collar feel the place once had is gone.

Nevertheless there are still beautiful engines and things to marvel over. Here’s one of those things–a former C&IM USRA mike, nicely restored and prominently displayed. The B&O signal next to it has a control panel where you can change the aspect–that’s a cool feature.

Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, The people whom He has chosen for His own inheritance. Psalm 33:12