Been forever since I posted...holidays with my family is an endurance match trying to coral everyone. Made it through safely and have been working on a few out buildings for the field near the turn past the spur. These are not proto, but I needed to just flex my creative muscles a bit and whether or not they make it on the final layout is still up for discussion. Did get the Walthers S2 switcher and got a decoder set up for it. I was able to pull a lot of heavy GS gons at the show last month so in my book it's a winner. These are all scratchbuilt out of 1/32 ply, card stock and Grandt Line Windows and Doors. The Feed Store and the Yardmaster's office came photo's I saw on line...I think the Yardmaster's may have been in an old MR as well. The old pump house is based on a still from my favorite movie, East of Eden. (die hard Steinbeck Fan) I did it without the water tanks and in stead turned it into a Hollywood deck and add a little tongue and cheek to the scene. I also broke down and spent the Christmas money I gave myself :) and picked up a couple of 36x80 Hollow Core Doors so I could start modeling scenes properly. The spur I showed earlier was too abrupt and was missing what I felt were essential details and space to execute them. I have been working under the idea that I could compress things and get away with it, but the two spurs and the SP interchange are a wealth of interesting and area specific details that were too important to miss. Plans now are to take over one of the garages here where I live and start setting things up with more room so I can begin operations in the Spring. Point to point I can have almost 50' of track to run on between three detailed modules. If I pull this off...

New Project, New Distraction

I'll admit it, I model in several scales which owes to the number of stuff closets in my house. I try not to get too worked up about it and knowing that I am in good company hardly give it a thought, until I go looking for something. As some may know, I work for Micro-Trains Line as the Design Engineer and have access to way too much cool stuff. I used to think HO was the distraction...but now N scale is. I've come to appreciate what both scales have to offer and I think building in more than one, has it's advantages. HO is for my detailing mood, and N is for my "get it done and running" mood. It also helps living in reduced quarters as I am at the moment, to enjoy the best of both without any more frustration than necessary. So my Distraction at the moment is developing a N Scale layout for publication and to use at shows for MTL. Modeling PE is my focus, so reverting to a smaller scale is not that much of an issue. Motive power, the kind I want, is not as easy to find without some degree of conversion or modeling. So far, no one has done a Baldwin 616 which would be the main hauler in my 160 world, but I can get Atlas Vo1000's and now, really nice Bachmann/Atlas Alco S Switchers and Bachman 44 tonners so all is not lost. I still harbor dreams of the ultimate Orphin Spur layout, but the that will happen when I have the space to do it right...and some help!

Back on the job

I seem to be spending more time thinking about additions to Bruce Petty's layout and the local HO club than pushing along my own.  I think it's avoidance behavior oweing to the fact that I can't seem to settle on what direction to go in. Here is the latest for the Burbank Branch.

Bruce is all about old boilers and from time to time is called in to repair some spooky antiques still providing hot water and power around the Mt Shasta area.  So I thought, while not an LA proto, would be a nice flat to add and also to thank him for all his support and help. 

I also took some time to work on a scenic element...love these old stationary engines.  This is a Fairbanks Morse unit and could be found in factories or in fields pumping water.  Made the patterns, molds and castings so I could use a few here and there to take up some space.  I gave Bruce one and some extra parts to include with the Petty Boiler Works.  I thought about taking some down to the HO club here but they are pretty tight about what can or cannot go on it...if it wasn't in the Rogue Valley in 1987, it ain't going on the layout. :o)

Color in a black and white era.

Well, color has always been there of course, but color photography was not as common in publications in the era I model.  Figuring out what color things are using black and white photographs is a fine art that escapes me, so I tend to rely on other's who have better resources or have salvaged things and just now bringing them to lite.  Case in point..there's no shortage of color reference for Sunkist on the web, but to find a shot of a period piece, preserved is a rare treat.  A company local to the original packing house saved the marque portion of the front of the structure and incorporated it into their office space.  When I worked with Disney some of the projects required doing faux details like this and getting them to look weather worn was always a difficult task.  Here, mother nature did the hard work for them.  Anyway, photo's  like this are great resources and inspiration to dig a bit deeper into your project.

I have to admit, if I owned my own house, I would do my model room just like this.  cool.  Here is a shot of the original building being dismantled.

And a iconic shot of the building with a Santa Fe CF-7 diesel drifting through the scene.  This shot is one of the images that got me interested in doing a citrus based layout.  While I live in Oregon now, I still have great memories of living in Ventura when I was younger and remember the Eucalyptus trees and endless days of fog and cool breezes.  How you get that into HO scale, I don't know, but recreating scenes that inspire memories is what most of us strive for.

As with any plan, be prepared to accept that it will never work out the way you have it imagined.  Low expectations maybe, but I keep this in mind so that I'm not too overly disappointed when things don't quite go the way I want it to.  Case in point was all the work I had planned for my time off last week.  I have a number of z scale repaints I am working on but waiting for the decals to show up.  I normally pull this off with my Alps, but cannot get the stupid thing to do overlays for color.  Thankfully PE is all white and black and those functions work very well. 

So, I painted the shells and started working on my module some...and then life got in the way....or lets just say, the weather got real nice and I needed to be outside to soak up some vitamin D after a long sunless winter.  I did follow through with some research, went north to attend the SP in Oregon meeting in Eugene, went to the beach (no easy task in Oregon) and paid a visit to my great friend and favorite layout in Dunsmuir...that would be Bruce Petty and his Burbank Junction Layout in that order.

It was a nice visit and got to run a few trains around the layout.  I dropped of some weathering work I did for Bruce and added to his tank car fleet.  A chance to run on his layout is worth the self imposed price of admission. :o)

I did stop at a small hobby shop in Roseburg Oregon on my way back from the show in Eugene and scored a few new additions to my modest fleet.  The prize was a pair of Accurail 40' Gondola's that will go along well with the three PE drop bottom gons I got last year.  Those 5 cars should be all I need going forward as there's not much need for gons on the Mission Spur in real life.  But they do offer some variety and I can pack them with all sorts of loads to break up the routine.  I also picked up an Athearn flat with a pair of SP short trailers in Daylight Scheme...important splash of color here and there on the line. 

This is a raw shot, mine are weathered now and once the weather clears (yes, got cold and cloudy again) I'll shoot them.

Another score thanks to Bruce was the loan of the new PE book on the San Fernando Valley which solves three major research projects:  one, what does the rest of the structures at the Chatsworth Spur look like, What's at Mission Spur and what does the front of the PE Plymouth Switcher look like.  Ample info on all of these issues is provided and I can move forward.  As noted in the intro, I don't get too worked up when plans fall short, but in this happy instance, stuff is coming together.  I though much of this would be "fly by the seat" modeling, but armed with reader submissions and this new book, I have a handle on what's going to happen.

 

R&R

Finally got some time off and at the Oregon Coast a few miles from here.  I was going through my camera and had some more images of the work so far on the Chatsworth Spur.  I extended the pavement around to what will be the front of the building for parking and loading.  Again, taped off the area, smoothed on some plaster tinted with concrete dye, sanded and distressed.  I sealed the plaster with flat lacquer spray and then airbrushed a medium tan to blend.  Once dry I did some washes and oversprays to highlight everything.  Next, the Sunkist Building when I get back home and work on the 6' extension on the with the runaround as shown in the drawings.  I ordered a few Walther's switches for the rest of the layout before I left since Atlas won't be able to restock theirs till the end of the year it looks like. 
\

Jim Lancaster, who created the definitive Southern California Citrus Industry website sent along this link of some overhead shots of the general area being modeled. Thanks Jim!! Area photos of Chatsworth Spur

Today I let the base settle and work on the buildings...The plan is to cut the end of the Sunkist building to match the back edge of the module and finish out with paint and detail.  The wood structure across the tracks will be removable so I can get access to photograph.  I am using my camera to construct the scenes here so I don't have to do digital gymnastics to get shots going forward.  Read any John Olson article in the railroad press and you can see how effective displaying modeling in a compressed area can be achieved when you do the work up front.  John's seminal work on the Mescal Lines and the Jerome and Southwestern are inspirational.

Also...thanks to Jim I have a better overall view of the Sunkist building and will be redoing it this morning.  Too many windows and I think a bit too tall.  You can't underestimate the value of distance shots of an area to model.  Another challenge will be getting that huge tree in the front corner of the building modeled...that will need to be removable as well.