Grain Shed at Stoneman's Station

Prototype photo showing freight platforms under construction.
Note the big logs in the foreground.

I added the shed structure for the grain wharf at Stoneman's Station. The prototype photo shows the inspiration for the model. I used laser cut basswood for the frames and cooking parchment paper for the cloth roofing. I also nearly finished the small shed next to the grain wharf.

The tree next to the sheds is supposed to be a pine. I need to figue out the best way to simulate that small tree. This tree is a stand-in for now. It will go in a different spot later.

The rafters are laser cut basswood. By using the laser, the miter joints are exact and repeatable.

I have two photos of this shed from opposite directions, thus I know they only partially sided the back. Note
also the vertical siding on the gable and horizontal siding on the rear wall.

I like how the roof overhangs the tracks slightly.  Since the interior of the gable wall will be visible, I scribed
wood seam lines on the plain back of the Mt Albert siding using a 0.5mm pencil.

Still lots of details to add including stairs, grain sacks, telegraph lines, crates, hard tack boxes, tents, and people.

A view of the sidings being worked by the engine Haupt.

The devil made me do it

Diablo 3: One of my many distractions

Work on the layout has been slow lately thanks to many other distractions. But Gerry emailed me about a work session and thanks to this motivating kick start, we had a mini work session on Saturday. Gerry continued to spike rail at Accokeek Creek, while I started the cargo platforms at Stonemans. Here are some photos of the WIP.

Later Sunday evening, I continued work on the platforms.

After dinner on Saturday, Gerry and I discussed some ideas for an ACW Roadshow. Nothing is definite, but I would like to start working on it in October to be ready for the Atlanta NMRA National show in 2013. We spent a good amount of time looking at Alexandria, especially the waterfront as a potential prototype inspiration. But trying to do it in O Scale will probably be impractical. The area of interest, from the Wilkes St Tunnel to the Hay Wharf to the north  is 1200 yards long. That works out to 75 feet in O scale. I'll post more about this later as the planning proceeds. In the meantime, work will continue on the Aquia line as we will be hosting an open house for the ACWRRHS in September.  I would like to have the main room pretty much done by then.

The mess before the storm

Laying out the posts and beams for the platforms. The prototype photos show several
different methods of construction, so I mixed them up.

The foreground platform is about 30 inches long.  Both the back and front platforms curve
to follow the track.I fretted about how to deal with that curve, but in the end it just worked out.

This is about as far as I got when I ran out of decking boards. I'll cut some more and finish the planking job.

2nd Annual Civil War Train

Tour Group Planners is running a Civil War Train from Chicago around the country and back with stops at Vicksburg, New Orleans, Atlanta, Richmond and Washington. This 2nd Annual Trip is a wonderful opportunity to visit Civil War battle sites while riding on restored train cars from the 1950s.

The rail cars are privately owned, restored Pullmans, Lounges and Diners such as the Royal Street see here. The cars will be pulled by AMTRAK on the trains City of New Orleans, The Crescent and The Cardinal. There will be several side trips via bus to visit battlefields and museums.

I along with Anthony Pitch will be the on-board historians. I will ride from Chicago to Washington to provide several talks on subjects ranging from Grant's Vicksburg Campaign, The Great Locomotive Chase, and the Campaigns for Chattanooga and Atlanta, and Virginia all with an emphasis on the role of railroads.

There are still some slots available on the tour as of this date. If you are interested see this link.  CivilWarTrain.com