| Author |
 Topic  |
|
AVRR-PA
Fireman
USA
4610 Posts |
 Posted - 09/24/2010 : 06:42:46 AM
|
Wednesday was fun. John Polyak came over and showed us some castings he's working on. We made measurements and drew up a plan for the bench work extension. I'll do as much of it as possible in the shop but part of it will be done on site because of strange angles and fussy fitting.
I admire Vagel's ability to deal with the complex, three-dimensional track plan around the blast furnace (and elsewhere). I can't play that kind of three-dimensional chess. 
Don |
Edited by - AVRR-PA on 09/25/2010 05:37:40 AM |
 |
|
|
Vagel Keller
Crew Chief
USA
722 Posts |
Posted - 09/24/2010 : 11:25:36 PM
|
Trying to find a way to get two sets of track, the standard gauge main and the coke oven spur, to disappear discretely into the backdrop behind the blast furnace complex. Here are a couple CADboard profiles of possible solutions, on the right a skewed 50' deck girder bridge (MicroEngineering kit) and on the left a skewed concrete arch underpass, 35' across. MicroEngineering makes a shorter 35' deck girder, and I just happen to have kits for both lengths in HOn3. Not sure if I should mix bridge types so close together. I'll play with some other options before deciding which way to go.
Rick, who runs the Harrisburg Terminal thread on this forum, calls it "futzing." Good term.
 |
|
|
|
MarkF
Engineer
USA
9276 Posts |
Posted - 09/25/2010 : 01:31:10 AM
|
| Yup Vagel, it's called 'futzing'! He is the master at it, but it looks like your a quick learner. I'm not sure what your trying to achieve there, but my first impression is to go with the deck girder bridge. Which ever you choose, I don't think I would mix those two styles there. |
Mark
See my homepage at http://home.comcast.net/~prrndiv/
|
|
|
|
AVRR-PA
Fireman
USA
4610 Posts |
Posted - 09/25/2010 : 05:39:28 AM
|
How about a skewed timber trestle? (A trestle! Oh, boy! Oh, boy! A trestle!)
Don |
|
|
|
Frederic Testard
Engineer
France
16457 Posts |
Posted - 09/25/2010 : 05:57:39 AM
|
It's been a long time since you made your last one, Don... 
|
Frederic Testard |
|
|
|
jbvb
Fireman
USA
1866 Posts |
Posted - 09/25/2010 : 10:16:14 AM
|
| If the bridges are different ages, then mixing would be fine - concrete arches were trendy (and somehow done with extra-durable concrete, which hasn't crumbled like later concrete) in the 1910 - 1930 era. Before and after, RRs tended to use plate girders, though in this case a deck plate would be more likely, as they're cheaper and there's enough clearance. |
|
|
|
Vagel Keller
Crew Chief
USA
722 Posts |
Posted - 09/25/2010 : 2:04:55 PM
|
| Thanks for the advice, guys. I already told Don he'll have to take a trestle sabbatical on this one. And, yes, mixing styles on two spans so close together that had to be built at the same time is really out of the ordinary, if not a bad engineering decision. The 3-ft gauge East Broad Top, on which the B&SGE is loosely based, had a concrete arch skewed 45 degrees on its Shade Gap Branch, so I had to check out the feasibility here. But as the skew angles in both cases are greater than 45 degrees, skewed arches here would virtually be tunnels. My vision for this area is a high fill of furnace slag with concrete retaining walls where there's not enough space to accommodate the slope all the way down to the lower level. |
|
|
|
AVRR-PA
Fireman
USA
4610 Posts |
Posted - 09/25/2010 : 6:15:35 PM
|
quote:
Originally posted by Vagel Keller
I already told Don he'll have to take a trestle sabbatical on this one.
[:-cry] |
|
|
|
chooch.42
Section Hand
USA
61 Posts |
Posted - 09/25/2010 : 7:55:03 PM
|
| Poor Don...like a Porsche in the driveway, gassed up and ready,...motivation and sophistication galore, with nowhere to go ! Maybe the Club has something to utilize his talents 'til you find a location that needs bents and stringers, Vagel? Love the project and how it seems to be coming together. Thanks for the updates. Bob C. |
|
|
|
ebtnut
New Hire
USA
36 Posts |
Posted - 09/28/2010 : 09:56:11 AM
|
| My thoughts - Use the two girder bridges. In the area between them, Don can install timber cribbing as a retaining wall. That'll give him some good woodwork in lieu of a trestle. See the "boney" trestle at Mt. Union or the Rockhill coal dock on the EBT for inspiration. |
|
|
|
Vagel Keller
Crew Chief
USA
722 Posts |
Posted - 09/29/2010 : 5:41:22 PM
|
Timber-cribbed retaining walls are something I hadn't thought of, fixated as I've been on concrete made from all that furnace slag and some lime and water. Lot's of options to consider.
Today we got a couple of important "to do's" done. First we installed Don's pre-fabbed extensions to the edge of the benchwork in the blast furnace area to match the edge of the foam base jutting into the aisle. Here's a shot of how things look now:
Notice how bright this shot is? I took it without a flash because the other thing we did was rearrange the existing shop lights and add two more. I'm using "daylight" bulbs, which really brightens up the layout.
Here are a couple shots of the reconfigured lighting:
Right off the bat I noticed that the undercarriages of rolling stock are no longer hidden in dark shadows, even down at Tascott, where the ballast in the yard is dark cinder. Buchanan is bright enough to photograph without flash:
All for now ... |
|
|
|
chooch.42
Section Hand
USA
61 Posts |
Posted - 09/29/2010 : 6:55:25 PM
|
| Gents, the bulb and fixture modifications certainly have thrown new light on the layout - well thought out. Do you think any tone/hue changes in equipment, scenery elements or weathering may be necessitated by the change? Watching with interest. Bob C. |
|
|
|
Vagel Keller
Crew Chief
USA
722 Posts |
Posted - 09/29/2010 : 9:48:26 PM
|
quote:
Originally posted by chooch.42
Gents, the bulb and fixture modifications certainly have thrown new light on the layout - well thought out. Do you think any tone/hue changes in equipment, scenery elements or weathering may be necessitated by the change? Watching with interest. Bob C.
Thanks for the compliments, Bob. The short answer to your question is, "no." Professional photographers might disagree, but since no such personages have ever photographed the layout, that would seem to be a moot point.[:-eyebrows] |
|
|
|
Vagel Keller
Crew Chief
USA
722 Posts |
Posted - 10/23/2010 : 01:01:58 AM
|
I finally was able to get back to working on the layout for a few hours here and there over the past week ... concentrating on backdrop painting. Here are a few shots of progress -- about 5 linear feet -- as of this evening.
This is more or less the same perspective from June 2010:
The interesting thing about the real area I'm trying to depict, from a topographical perspective, is that it is on the eastern boundary of the Allegheny Mountains. To the West, as you ascend the ridge to the right, you start to see successive ridge lines, while to the East (left in these views), Path Valley is so narrow that you only see the immediately closest ridge. That is why I painted 2 - 3 successive ridges (with, in some places, 3D ridge back drops) on the right, and only a single base color for a ridge on the left in this view. There's a lot of artistic license here, because if you where actually standing at Richmond Furnace you could not see the successive ridges to the West because of the V-shape of the valley. But I wanted to give the sense of how chaotic the terrain really seems to be as you climb through Cowans Gap into what 18th-century European settlers (who probably heard it first from the Indians) called "The Endless Mountains."
There's a 3/4" foam 3D land form between the narrow gauge and the backdrop that tapers over the upper 2/3 to about 1/2" thick. In the lower 1/3 I carved shale strata using a steel file cleaning brush. The rough texture above the carved shale, caused by the sureform tool, will be covered by the puff-ball tree tops impaled on toothpicks.
By the way, the foliage in south-central Pennsylvania this mid-October was absolutely gorgeous. It was near-peak over Columbus Day weekend, and the following weekend it was absolutely glorious. These painted hillsides are, in my opinion, darned close to what I saw during the Columbus Day weekend in Path Valley. I deliberately refrained from taking too many pictures ... I will only comment that the foliage was brilliant when viewed from my prescription sunglasses, but more subdued viewed with the naked eye. These colors are from memory ... and some might have been viewed under a passing cloud, while others with the Sun unobscured at 4:00 PM ... gotta love that low October Sun! |
Edited by - Vagel Keller on 10/23/2010 01:42:35 AM |
|
|
|
MarkF
Engineer
USA
9276 Posts |
Posted - 10/23/2010 : 01:27:34 AM
|
| Glad to see some updates Vagel! I was wondering where you have been. The backdrop is looking good! |
Mark
See my homepage at http://home.comcast.net/~prrndiv/
|
|
|
|
Topic |
|
New Home for the Blacklog & Shade Gap Eastern
