Work continues on Potomac Creek and Stonemans Switch

My brother stopped by tonight and we worked on the layout. He got the roadbed from North Stoneman's to Potomac Creek finished, while I finished painting the backdrop behind Potomac Creek. Then we started adding the land forms for the ravine and the flat area near Stoneman's. I should be able to start laying track at Stoneman's by this weekend. If all goes well, the I can start on the big bridge in a week or so.

More Photos of Potomac Creek Bridge

Here are some photos of the prototype Potomac Creek bridge. The top two are probably of the original bean pole and cornstalk bridge.











One interesting thing about this bridge is that it uses different types of bents. Three of the center bents use the "w" configuration, while most of the other bents are more traditional three posts with diagonal braces.













This is a good view of the surrounding countryside. Note the cut in the hill leading to the bridge site. In the background it looks like several units drawn up in formation in front of their camps. Note how neat and regular the ties are in this photo. Not your usual USMRR tree trunks and bark that you see elsewhere.












The pencil drawing dated April 1863 at the left shows scaffolding under the trusses, perhaps providing a hint on how it was built, but it's hard to tell for sure.

Potomac Creek Backdrop

I skipped ahead of track laying to paint the backdrop behind the Potomac Creek. The scene is too deep to reach from the aisle, so this section of the backdrop must be painted before the terrain forms are installed.

I used some prototype photos to get an idea of what to paint. I made a quick sketch to layout the overall scene based on prototype photos of the area. The four trees in the painting were actually shown in a prototype photo. The wood piece visible in the photo is the stand-in for the Potomac Creek bridge. The track will be about 12 inches off the river bed in this scene, about 60 per cent of actual height.

Next I adjusted some of the clouds on the backdrop, actually getting rid of some I had painted earlier.

Then I started painting the trees and ground with acrylics. I painted a lot of tree stumps and brush on the ground, as the troops and construction crews heavily logged this area for lumber and firewood. In the foreground I used some brighter yellow toned down with earth color to add grass detail. In general I painted the backdrop trees a little bigger than before as I didn't want this scene to look like a deep mountain valley. It's really just a sharp ravine in some rolling hills.

Next I need to paint the creek and the hill on the southern side of the creek. The creek will flow from the right to left on the backdrop, appearing from behind a ridge on the southern side (south is to the right on my layout.) When it transitions from the backdrop to 3D scenery it will meander back to the right, under the bridge. The complexity of this scene is really what lead me to hand paint, as I was not confident that I could achieve this level of perspective and view control with the printed backdrops. However, I plan to try the printed backdrops again on other projects.

Etched Switchstands, "W" Trestles & The General

I just finished the drawings for etched O Scale switch stands and link and pin couplers. Several folks have asked for these, so hopefully they will work out. Once I get the test shots back and checked out, they will become new products for my company, Alkem Scale Models. The kit is based on the type of switch stand shown in these photos.

The switch stand kits include four different style targets, bridles, rub plates, two and three way possible positions and even some scale spikes. If it works as designed, the switch stand kit will allow turnout control with all components "to scale." There should be no need for out of scale turnout bridles. All parts will be above grade for easy maintenance and scale appearance. They will work for On3 & On30 too with a simple modification to the bridles. Combined with autoreverse units on the frog, building and wiring a stub turnout will get a lot easier.

Secondly, I finally found a photo showing the "W" trestle bents mentioned in Haupt's book used in an USMRR bridge. It was in Racoon Gorge Bridge in Tenn shown here in a photo. The inset shows a close up of the bents.

This bridge was designed by E. C. Smeed, who was one of Haupt's engineers in Virginia. He transferred to the western theater in 1864. Haupt in his memoirs claims that Smeed was the single person most responsible for the Union winning the war. Smeed never published his own memoirs, but Haupt includes a long letter from Smeed that Smeed's daughter found after he died. The letter describes some of Smeed's bridge building and other engineering activities in the western theater. He was too modest to have them published himself.

The last big development this week was that we took delivery of our fourth engine from SMR Trains.

This is a two rail W&A General. It is probably the most attractive of all the SMR engines. The triple domes, outside frame and dark brown/olive green paint is stunning. This photo is from SMR's website. I haven't had a chance to photograph the model on my layout yet.

More Clairborne Run Trestle Photos

Here are some more photos showing close-ups of the Clairborne Run Trestle.

I had a question about how I color the wood. Here is the process I used.

I stained the wood parts after cutting them to size. When staining wood in a model kit, you must stain the parts before gluing. Any glue that gets in the wood grain will be too obvious if you stain after gluing.

I used two different kinds of stains. Using different stain gives the wood the mottled look that I find pleasing, especially in a planked structure or railroad ties. The first kind of stain was a alcohol - dye blend sold by Albert Scale Lumber, out of Canada. I used three colors: black, light gray and barnyard red (but the latter only sparingly as it is very intense.)

The second was a stain I mixed at home using a combination of household oil based white semi- transparent stain, tinted with burnt umber from a tube of stain tints and Minwax Golden Pecan. I thinned the mixture with acetone to make it more fluid. This stain created a real weathered gray color, but must be wiped off or it leaves a glossy buildup. So you can't apply it to assembled parts as it collects in the nooks and crannies where it is hard to wipe off. The Mt Albert stains can be added to a built model as they dry flat.

Once the model was built and installed I drybrushed it with a light gray acrylic color called mushroom. It has a touch of green in it. It works well as a highlight color, better than plain white, which I find causes too much contrast.

My experience in building military models taught me to weather everything via washes and dry brushing. This includes the trains, structures, carved rocks, ground cover, and even trees. However, I am very careful in drybrushing figures as the effect is easily over done. One must paint figures more carefully, but that is a topic for another day.