I've always liked branch lines and short lines and their ramshackle trackwork. I don't belive I've ever seen anyone else try to replicate it.
I made the mistake of using grossly oversized code 100 rail on this first serious adult layout. After seeing how bad it looked, I decided to bury most of it in weeds and typically sloppy ballast work often found on these marginal railroads.
I first painted the rails rust and the ties weathered grey with track paint marker pens, after the track was on the layout. Next time will do it the easy way on the workbench before laying the track. Then , buried much of the track up to raihead level in a mixture of fine tan and fine buff ballast that replicates the pea gravel ballast formerly used in much of the Gulf South. Then, on the lightly used tracks, covered with mixtures of various "fine" turfs, mostly "burnt grass."
Care must be taken to keep flangeways clear and the treatment slightly below railhead height to avoid snagging engine pilots and coupler trip pins.
It came out better than ever expected. I am going to try some low "static grass" between and around the rails next.
(http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m296/Florynow/image.jpg1_zpsixnzsp7g.jpg) (http://s107.photobucket.com/user/Florynow/media/image.jpg1_zpsixnzsp7g.jpg.html)
Dear TM,
That looks really excellent!
Keep on Trackin'!
the Bach-man
Looks good.
Roger T.
Maybe make the weeds outside of the track a little taller so that they take away from the over-sized rails. This is pretty effective. Another little trick I'll suggest is to perhaps paint the rails a little darker "rust", and they won't call attention to them in a direct sense. The whole scene looks really good!
Rich C.
One minor nit to pick. Prior to the end of WW-II, 'Branch Lines' and 'Short Lines" were kept in operation because they produced revenue. Which meant maintenance would have been high enough to keep the trackwork from becoming "ramshackle". The places you would see tracks overgrown with weeds were mainly long spurs to businesses with sporadic deliveries, logging roads, etc.
It wasn't until they started losing money, mainly after WW-II, that Branch and Short lines started falling into major disrepair. Or even outright abandonment.
That said, looks real good.
Len
With about 177,200 miles of track in service as part of the interstate railroad system, the railroads and the FRA have their hands full monitoring the system's condition. As part of its jurisdiction, FRA categorizes all track in six classes, segregated by maximum speed limits. They are:
Class 1: 10 mph for freight, 15 mph for passenger. Much yard, branch line, short line, and industrial spur trackage falls into category.
Class 2: 25 mph for freight, 30 mph for passenger. Branch lines, secondary main lines, many regional railroads, and some tourist operations frequently fall into this class.
Class 3: 40 mph for freight, 60 mph for passenger. This commonly includes regional railroads and Class 1 secondary main lines.
Class 4: 60 mph for freight, 80 mph for passenger. This is the dominant class for main-line track used in passenger and long-haul freight service.
Class 5: 80 mph for freight, 90 mph for passenger. This is the standard for most high-speed track in the U.S..
Class 6: 110 mph for freight, 110 mph for passenger. This is found in the U.S. exclusively on Amtrak's North-east Corridor between New York and Washington, D.C.. So not on your model railroad. :)
Excepted track. In addition to the six numbered classes, FRA track standards also provide for something called "excepted" track, which carries a 10 mph speed limit for freight but cannot be used by revenue passenger trains. FRA permits excepted track under very narrowly defined conditions.
The above gives you a good idea of how your track should look depending on what you are modelling.
My GER's main line falls under class 4, 60/80 MPH but there will be, eventually, a class 2 25/30 MPH for a branch line. The ballast will be of a lower grade, crushed shale in the region I model, not nice crushed rock as seen on the main track and the main track and right of way will be a little more weedy and the yard tracks will also show that they are not as well maintained as those in the main yard.
Now keep in mind the above refers only to the main track. Sidings, yard tracks and industrial spurs can be and are maintained to much lower standards. Your main track may be class 4, good for 60/80 MPH, but your sidings may only be class 2, good for 25/30 MPH and your yard tracks and industrial spurs only class 1. good for 10/15 and some industrial spurs may be excepted track, with locomotive class limits on them and speeds not to exceed walking pace. All this is, of course, outlined in the appendices at the back of your timetables. :)
Cheers
Roger T.
Len, branch lines and shortlines began having trouble as soon as good roads, cars and trucks began to proliferate in the early 1920s. And then the depression was another blow that many never recovered from. The 50 mile short line back home I'm patricularly interested in, the New Iberia and Northern, discontinued its mixed train in 1935. The only thing that kept it alive until 1982 was a salt mine that put out 20-50 carloads of rock salt a day, and when a floating oil rig accidentlally drilled into,it and flooded it, that did the railroad of my heart in. It was a MoPac property by then, and it took them about 4 years to finally pull it up.
I dont think that even in the glory days of railroading around 1900 that all secondary lines and shortlines were immaculately maintained, like you see in some 1900s photos of big northeastern main lines with razor sharp ballast boundaries. I have a 1943 MoPac Gulf Coast Lines track profile book that shows the NI&N still as originally built with 65 pound rail with pea gravel or sand or even dirt ballast, with no tie plates. Somehow I can't picture that line as ever experiencing the polished maintenance you imply.
Roger, the Deep South shortlines I am interested in certainly had no knowledge or interest in what class track they had. They bought second hand rail, bought untreated ties locally or cut them themselves, used whatever they had on hand for ballast and never killed weeds on the ROW. My favorite such line, the Reader in Arkansas which I rode in 1963, had track you couldn't see though the grass over the track. This is the look I'm going for.
Great photo. I wish I had that scenery knack.
Regards,
Jonathan
Quote from: Trainman203 on July 30, 2015, 05:30:00 PMtenance you imply.
Roger, the Deep South shortlines I am interested in certainly had no knowledge or interest in what class track they had. They bought second hand rail, bought untreated ties locally or cut them themselves, used whatever they had on hand for ballast and never killed weeds on the ROW. My favorite such line, the Reader in Arkansas which I rode in 1963, had track you couldn't see though the grass over the track. This is the look I'm going for.
However, the track would still be categorised under one of headings I provided. All railroads in the USA fall under the jurisdiction of the FRA, shortline or not.
Your favourite, when it carried passengers, would probably have been a class two, 25/30 mph, maybe dropping to a class one, 10/15 after it ceased to run a mixed train.
Cheers
Roger T.
Here's a picture of the Thunder Grove team track. The area is paved with oyster shells that were commonly used for street and parking lot paving near the Gulf Coast.
(http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m296/Florynow/image.jpg1_zps0zvwoyvs.jpg) (http://s107.photobucket.com/user/Florynow/media/image.jpg1_zps0zvwoyvs.jpg.html)
I used fine light grey ballast for the shells. They may be a little dark but the overall effect is good. I could lighten it up with a little talcum powder but in reality they really weren't very clean anyway. Pure white would be too bright anyway.
When I was a kid, you wouldn't want to fall off your bike on a shell road.
The Midland Western general office building is in the background.
Roger, the Midland Western track is 0.1 ! :o :D
Quote from: Trainman203 on July 30, 2015, 06:40:29 PM
Roger, the Midland Western track is 0.1 ! :o :D
LOL.
Nice photo BTW. Now, just a little weathering on that single sheath boxcar?
I had a look through your Photobucket photos, nice work.
Cheers
Roger T.
I'm getting around to everything. I'm still working. It's a crime at my age. Plus I spend weekends on the actual Gulf Coast in MS. No room for a layout over there.
There is a little club over there but they want a modern layout and are not very interested in my period trains or my services for buildings and scenery.
Quote from: Trainman203 on July 30, 2015, 06:57:49 PM
I'm getting around to everything. I'm still working. It's a crime at my age. Plus I spend weekends on the actual Gulf Coast in MS. No room for a layout over there.
There is a little club over there but they want a modern layout and are not very interested in my period trains or my services for buildings and scenery.
You are doing a great job, keep up the work.
As for the club? More fools them. :)
Cheers
Roger T.
Trainman - I'm not saying branch lines were maintained to the same standards as the main. Just that they weren't essentially ignored, at least around where I grew up, until after WW-II. I suspect the standards used on branch lines varied by road and area of the country. Decent, but not great, maintenance is what I saw growing up. Elsewhere may have been different.
Len
Where'd you grow up Len? In South Louisiana where I'm from the weeds could completely take over in a season, and did on the shortlines. It was, and still is, a semi tropical climate. As a kid I had to mow the grass twice a week. Only the Class One mains really tried to wage a full battle. On the lesser lines the weeds and rotting ties were a constant battle.
The branches of the Class ones did a little better but not much. The MP branch back home, originally a Frisco sponsored shortline that ended up with the MOP, was a classic weedy lightly laid track pike. I walked many a mile over parts of it.
I've never seen anyone try to model this overgrown jungle-like setting on a layout.
I'm making mistakes as I go but eventually I'm going to get some of the track completely inundated in weeds and grass. I'm going to have vines up the telephone poles too.
Mostly I grew up in New England (Conn, Mass, VT), with a couple of years when I was real young near St. Louis, MO and Colorodo Springs, CO.
Len
Quote from: Trainman203 on July 30, 2015, 08:14:16 PM
I'm going to have vines up the telephone poles too.
That's a pretty neat effect!
Len;
My compliments; along with Jim, Roger as well. I grew up on the Old Colony Line (Quincy/Braintree) on the South Shore, and , didn't get to learn as much about the New Haven in a broad sense there. Little forays over to the North End of Boston/Somerville- where the B&M held sway, as well as South Boston, South Station, (my dad worked at Gillette) and the Dover Street engine terminal, provided many hours of fascination for me.
As such, the New Haven and the B&M were excellent places to learn about first class railroading on a relatively small scale. Most of the main line track-work was excellent and the roads reflected that, until the McGinnis era. There were a lot of bridges in the Boston Area, such as the Fort Point Channel, and the Charles River Basin.
The layout I am building, however, would reflect [an area that] the Housatonic branch operated on. On it, I have seen a lot of stuff worthy of model-work, from Danbury, Ct; on up to Pittsfield, Ma. There was a good array of power, as well as a diversification of rolling stock, such as depressed-centre cars for transformers, milk cars; and, stretching my imagination, electric power through a tunnel (Hoosac). Lots and lots of good stuff.
Rich C.
Yeah, McGinnis is the worst thing that ever happened to the New Haven. I think I'm probably one of the few people that can't stand his paint scheme. I've always thought the earlier ones were much nicer, especially the Hunter green with gold lettering and pin stripes. Even the buff and green passenger scheme was nicer.
Len
Rich you really hate that McGinnis guy! (yes, I understand why) I would swear not a month goes by where you don't mention his name with venom. Sometimes even more than once in a month, LOL!
Is your version of The Hossac Tunnel going to be haunted? ;)
Len;
In one of the books I have on the New Haven, there is a photo of a DL-109-in McGinnis colours. The text read: "The poor DL-109 deserved better". The first thing I thought of when I saw it was "Dumbo" all made up as a clown.
As do you, I liked the original colours. There was either a 600HP diesel or an early RS-1 that plied the line between South Boston, and Braintree that was in that hinter green garb. My buddy and I used to watch the commuters coming into Quincy Centre station with an I-4 on stud. This was in about 51-52. I was almost eight years of age. Then, one day;
ENTER THE RDC... And I don't mean my initials! They were quiet, almost spooky, with their muted Nathan chimes; they smelled good, though...
RIch C
Hi again everyone...it has been awhile. I was interested in the 'look' that Trainman203 is trying to achieve. I, too, would like to make the ROA of the Monks Island Railway a bit more 'un-kept'. I especially liked your photos (...and my 'weathering hand' is quivering as well RogerTRA).
Regarding the New Haven RR, I still am annoyed that the 'powers to be' of the New Haven chose to eliminate all rail lines north of Hopewell Junction, NY. After their subsidiary (the Central New England Railway) absorbed my beloved Newburgh, Dutchess & Connecticut RR in the 1920s, it was finally torn up on 1938. All scrap steel was then sent to Japan (and you know the rest).
The New Haven went through several periods of, what I call, 'railroad financial intrigue'. I highly recommend reading the book The New Haven Railroad: Its Rise and Fall by John L. Weller [Hastings House Publishers, 1969]. The author navigates the reader through this complicated (and often illegal) series of events.
All in all an interesting set of topics. I look forward to my next visit to the forum.
Regards,
Ray
Ray;
There was one published about five years before the one you mentioned; I recall reading it while on duty...
It sort of paralleled what you mention here. Yup. The New Haven was run pretty much like our government is today...
About the only sensible thing the receivers did was to buy those E-33s from the Virginian.
RIch .C
If you are going to model a shortline in the Deep South, especially one after 1930, don't forget the kudzu!
This obnoxious weed was imported from Japan as an ornamental, like ivy. It was used to stabilize stream banks.
This stuff grows at a rate that has to be witnessed to be believed. It grows two feet per day. When I worked for a shortline in Mississippi, I would cut the stuff with my locomotive wheels going south in the morning, then when I would return that afternoon, it would have grown back over the rails and I would cut it again. I have also had trains stall in the stuff on hills.
One time, I took a GP7 through a double-ended siding that had not been used in years. A huge pile of kudzu accumulated on the pilot. I tried to pick up an armful to clean it off. It was like trying to lift a washtub full of water.
Kudzu spreads through runners from a central root, like strawberries. It will completely engulf anything that stays still long enough. I have seen it overgrow freight cars that have been parked too long on side tracks.
It also takes over trees and telephone poles. It will kill a tree.
Kudzu has large. triangular leaves. It has delicate little purple flowers that smell like grapes. You can make jelly out of the blossoms.
You could model kudzu in HO by using green thread and little paper leaves. Sacrifice some surplus freight cars and abandoned buildings to it. It would be a very typical addition that I have never seen modeled.
Les
Quote from: CNE Runner on August 01, 2015, 10:51:24 AM
After their subsidiary (the Central New England Railway) absorbed my beloved Newburgh, Dutchess & Connecticut RR in the 1920s, it was finally torn up on 1938. All scrap steel was then sent to Japan (and you know the rest).
An American pilot at the
Battle of Midway was quoted as saying "here comes a chunk of 5th Avenue El !" when flying through Japanese flak...
There are places heading north from Raleigh, NC on US1 to pick up I-85 that have disappeared under the kudzu. They sprayed it with something one year that killed it, and left an awful greyish mess hanging in the trees. But the next spring it was back again.
Don't remember where I found it, but here's a "recipe" for making a couple of acres of kudzu almost as fast as nature:
"Get some old panty hose and cut them to fit the area you want to cover,
adding about 3" to the diameter for "droopage". Drape this over trees,
poles, mailboxes, sheds, etc., and shape it as best you can to get a
realistic droop. You don't want it stretched tight - just let it find its
way. (Don't forget to poke the tops of trees and power line poles through
the canopy; they haven't been completely covered by kudzu yet.) Fasten the
edges of the panty hose to the layout using the adhesive of your choice - I
prefer contact cement, but white glue, AC or rubber cement will work. Let it
dry overnight.
Next, make a green wash using el-cheapo acrylic paint & wet water - about
60/40, but this isn't rocket science. Any shade of green will work - I
prefer a darker forest green as a base coat. Using a big 'ole brush (1" or
more, depending on the area you're "kudzu-ing") slop the paint over the
(hopefully tan-colored) panty hose. If it ain't dark enough to your liking,
do it again. Keep the washes thin, though - you don't want to paint the
hose, just tint it green.
Now grab a ziplock bag and add in two or three green foams (Coarse), a
yellow (medium), and a few more greens & browns (fine). Shake it all up,
hose down the hosiery with dilute white glue and sprinkle on the "leaves".
Let it dry overnight.
Add another wash of the green paint over the top to tie all the colors
together - add a few sprinkles of a lighter green to a few areas as
highlights - add a splash of fine yellow here & there as flowers - add a
bit of brown for dead leaves - add some flocking over the whole thing for
different texture - a few tiny twigs sticking out could be dead beanches or
vines - blend the edges into the surrounding scenery with clump foliage...."
Len
Quote from: CNE Runner on August 01, 2015, 10:51:24 AM
Hi again everyone...it has been awhile. I was interested in the 'look' that Trainman203 is trying to achieve. I, too, would like to make the ROA of the Monks Island Railway a bit more 'un-kept'. I especially liked your photos (...and my 'weathering hand' is quivering as well RogerTRA).
Regarding the New Haven RR, I still am annoyed that the 'powers to be' of the New Haven chose to eliminate all rail lines north of Hopewell Junction, NY. After their subsidiary (the Central New England Railway) absorbed my beloved Newburgh, Dutchess & Connecticut RR in the 1920s, it was finally torn up on 1938. All scrap steel was then sent to Japan (and you know the rest).
The New Haven went through several periods of, what I call, 'railroad financial intrigue'. I highly recommend reading the book The New Haven Railroad: Its Rise and Fall by John L. Weller [Hastings House Publishers, 1969]. The author navigates the reader through this complicated (and often illegal) series of events.
All in all an interesting set of topics. I look forward to my next visit to the forum.
Regards,
Ray
I could never really come to like the New haven, the government forced the Pennslyvania and New York Central to take it with them if they were to get their merger approved and, since the NH was completely profitless, it hastened the fall of the Penn Central.
Not so fast, there; sonny;
I'll be the first to agree with you that the New Haven was the "ugly step-child" that the PC had to take; but before you go and stick your metatarsals into your food chute, check out the goings on in the dark chambers of the Penn Central "executive" bathrooms...Seriously, it took a dite more than the then scrawny little dwarf-like misshapen New Haven to bring the mighty Penn Central to it's knees.
RIch C.
From strictly a color scheme standpoint, I really like the last NH color scheme.
And I love that video that can be found on YouTube, of the movie Penn Central put together, way back when, begging the Feds for dough. Cracks me up :D
THIS is a proper New Haven color scheme, on the EP-3. Which is the "daddy" of the GG-1. Only differences are they moved the end trucks out 4", stuck a Loewy body on it, and moved everything the generated heat up between the cabs on the GG-1. The EP-3 could get 12 loaded heavy weight cars from 0-85mph in way less than a minute:
(http://farm9.static.flickr.com/8207/8177889595_27e6a066d5.jpg)
There's only one NH loco that rightfully belongs in the McGinnis scheme. I give it a pass, both because it came from the factory painted this way, and it used the 'simplified' scheme that was easier on the eyes. It's the hybrid that might have made a difference under better management, the FL-9:
(http://imagestorage.nerail.org/photos/2005/04/21/2005042109220419401.jpg)
Len
Quote from: Len on August 02, 2015, 10:19:06 AM
THIS is a proper New Haven color scheme...Len
...in your, most humble opinion. Which I am sure, many share as well. Just like I am sure, that many like the last scheme.
Quote from: Len on August 02, 2015, 10:19:06 AM
There's only one NH loco that rightfully belongs in the McGinnis scheme. I give it a pass...Len
How magnanimous.
Quote from: electrical whiz kid on August 02, 2015, 08:19:55 AM
Not so fast, there; sonny;
I'll be the first to agree with you that the New Haven was the "ugly step-child" that the PC had to take; but before you go and stick your metatarsals into your food chute, check out the goings on in the dark chambers of the Penn Central "executive" bathrooms...Seriously, it took a dite more than the then scrawny little dwarf-like misshapen New Haven to bring the mighty Penn Central to it's knees.
RIch C.
True, it was not by any means the only cause, I just said that it was a large factor.
Also, Metatarsals into your food chute may be one of the most glorious things I've heard in a while.
I liked the old fashioned script New York, New Haven, and Harlem that took up the whole half of a boxcar side. I never have much liked big " super- graphics" on freight car sides like a huge "NH", "BM" or "MStL", or oversized lettering like the Santa Fe did, or huge heralds like the Santa Fe did. I never liked screaming reds, blues, yellows or jade greens for freight cars. The toy train makers and buyers loved all of that for the play value, but such manifestations to me only reflect the era of railroad decline. DISCLAIMER: early 1900s freight cars had huge heralds too, but I like those.
NOW .... Off the New Haven and back to topic. Being from the Deep South, how could I not forget the kudzu? Although.... We really didn't see it in Louisiana till more recently. I do not remember it as a child.
Quote from: Trainman203 on August 02, 2015, 05:33:33 PM
...such manifestations to me only reflect the era of railroad decline.
Yep, things change, life changes. One either adapts or lets life run them over.
Trainman;
Neither I; nor nothing else...
Rich C.