PoLA Op Session 2.5

Sunday Gerry Fitzgerald took a break from writing books about WWI and biological weapons to visit the Aquia line and PoLA.  I put him to work doing a test op session on PoLA.

I set him up with a mixed train in staging. He brought the train out of the staging in the closet (no, I did not say Gerry came out of the closet). He worked the sidings. He must have been having a good time  because he didn't bother me for at least an hour and I did not hear any cars hit the floor.

Afterwards, he said, "that was fun. I can't think of anything to change." But that was not true, his experience as the LSIG editor came through, and he thought of something. Later in the evening he started lobbying for an extension of the layout at the Borax factory to allow better operator access to the siding there. I had actually contemplated that myself, that is why I never added a fascia piece to the layout at that end.  We shall see how the time line goes, but the change is not needed for the book.

He also gently nagged me to get the Aquia Line in operation. All in good time, young grasshopper. All in good time.

While he was playing, I mean testing, I worked on the Pier 181 shed. It is nearly completed. Next is the monitor roof, and then the signs, lights and details. This building has a lot of clutter and detail around it, so it should make an interesting structure.

A Capital Idea

I was wondering how to make the capitals on the decorative trim for the pier shed. I tried a couple ideas using laser cut paper and laserboard. But they didn't work out as the side walls of the capitals are too small, and folding the parts was not possible.

So in the end, I used small bits of 0.060 by 0.060 styrene  glued to 0.30 inch wide 0.020 inch thick styrene. I used wood putty to fill-in the small gaps on the sides.

The roof edge trim is 0.060 triangular stryene rod.

This afternoon Jack Brown, from Williamsburg, and his friend, John Carrol, from Arlington, VA visited the layout. John is a real estate developer that is interested in the civil war. Jack has a HO layout based on the Western Maryland.  You can see images of his layout here.  He also wrote one of the Western Maryland Color Guides.  Western Maryland Color Guide to Freight & Passenger Equipment 

Test run on PoLA

Work in progress. Here an Athearn SD40 with a TCS Wowsound decoder and  keep-alive  circuit pulls some Atlas and Fox Valley freight cars past the under-construction pier shed on the PoLA.  This is a quick hand-held iPhone video as I was wrapping up for the night.

Curb Your Enthusiasm

Work in progress before adding the curbs

Work progresses on PoLA with the addition of curbs, RR crossings and the start of the pier shed.

The curbs were trickier  than I expected. I ended up making them with laser cut 1/16th inch acrylic. I am trying to depict the grade crossing shown in the photo below.

I have run into two problems in developing this scene. First is that the scene has been changed quite a bit since 2005. None of the photos on Google Earth, Bing Maps, nor  my own shots show the same details in the scene. Secondly, the prototype road is 4 lanes, but my model road is only 2. So I needed to pick and choose elements to include in the scene.  I think the end result is coming along nicely. Next I need to select a electric circuit to control the flashers. Not sure how I am going to do that aspect yet.

In the meantime, I drew and then laser cut the basic structure for the Pier Shed. I used 1/8 inch plywood with a foam core roof and bass wood stiffeners. I used a can of off-white latex house paint to paint the basic walls. That worked surprising well.  There will be another layer of contrasting color architecture trim, as well as a central cupola on the roof.

Like how the ship in the background rises above the walls of the shed.

PoLA Paving Proceeds Per Plan

Finished section of San Clemente Ave

I finished base coat painting PoLA pavement today. Then I started detailing the San Clemente Ave section of the pavement. I followed the prototype photos available on Google and Bing Street views.

Prototype area modeled. I am omitting the fence as it is on the edge of the fascia.

The avenue in this area has a single lane of jointed concrete and another lane of asphalt, which in many places is in poor condition.

Laser-cut stencil

I used masking tape and acrylics to paint the stripes. I used a laser-cut mask to cut the "STOP" sign painted on the road surface.

Typical pavement section

I used a colored pencil to draw the joint lines and cracks. I applied  Sandstone colored acrylic wash to the concrete area, and a medium gray acrylic wash to the asphalt lane.

Next I added small tufts of Silfor grass in the cracks and along the shoulder.

Finally, I laser cut some manhole covers and storm drains, again following prototype photos as a guide. I trimmed away sections of the task board pavement and countersunk the manholes and drains into the pavement. Thanks to using task board it was easy to remove the areas below the drains. Looking into a 3D drain is kind a cool.

This weekend, I also installed a TCS Wow Sound decoder with the RTG-MB1 motherboard into a Athearn SD40. This board has a keep alive capacitor and associated circuitry. It works great and the SD40 runs smoothly across the layout.

Next, I need to learn how to adjust the sound parameters to get that set up for an SD40.

Countersinking the manholes and drains