Sunday, April 30, 2017

Creating Cinder Ballast

Catcott Burtle station, Chris Nevard photo.

I have to share this post from the excellent United Kingdom (UK) modeler, Chris Nevard (he describes himself as: "Pro photographer, writer, beer, train fancier, urban pirate, wannabe musician, and nerd"), from his blog "The Model Railways of Chris Nevard."

This one has to do with "Creating the effect of cinder ballast," from 21 August 2011 (I do love the military use & the rest of the world's order displaying dates).

The PRR's Cambridge Secondary was not only built on cinders (READ: subgrade), but the ballast consisted of cinders (like all branch lines on the Delmarva Peninsula).

One thing I never considered in my plans for using cinder ballast was the fact that just simply spreading cinder ballast & then putting diluted white glue on it to attach it to the layout ends up producing a mess. I'll quote Mr. Nevard here regarding this, "Those who have tried this will know that all that happens is that we end up with a mess as the glue forms dusty balls that refuse to sink in however much or expensive the washing up liquid is used to help break the surface tension."

Another method would be to use plaster, but Mr. Nevard points out, "Plaster can be used for big wide flat areas, but as soon as it goes anywhere near rails, sleepers and chairs (READ: ties & the method the rail is attached to the ties), it will cling like molten ice cream does to a clean shirt better than barnacles do to a sunken wreck off the Needles." (For those wondering where the "Needles" are located, you can find it off of the west side of the Isle of Wight in the UK).

So what does Mr. Nevard suggest? Clay.

He mentions that you do have to take your time, but it is very forgiving, & mistakes & cracks in the dried clay can be corrected.

I'm going to investigate this method before doing anything with cinder ballast on the PRR's Cambridge Secondary.

You can read Mr. Nevard's blog post here:


Friday, April 21, 2017

February and March 2017 Multiple Updates


"Hey, wha' happened?" (from "A Mighty Wind" movie, Warner Brothers, 2003).

Does this look familiar (see my December 2016 post):

OK, wait what happened to February & March 2017? No posts?

This time, I left my job at a Eastern Class I railroad & went to work in management in a large Eastern shortline in the end of January/beginning of February, 2017.

Unfortunately, my free time right now is null & void.

I'm trying to figure-out my next post, but I do want everyone to know that I'm alive & well & I am going to pursue building my Cambridge Secondary Track in HO Scale.

I did, recently, purchase a Broadway Limited Imports HO Scale PRR Class H10 Consolidation (2-8-0). I'm looking at having the ability to “turn back the clock” during operations where I can run operating sessions both in the 1940s & the 1950s (depending on my mood during any given session). The good thing is that fact that I wouldn't have to change either the right-of-way or adjacent structures (making life a lot easier).

I know that from Phillips Packaging stand-point, they used the PRR much more in the 1940's than the 1950's (they were winding-down operations in Cambridge at that time). Photos of the plant pretty much confirmed this from the 1950's (let alone the fact that they were sold to Consolidated Foods in 1957 & then the plant was sold again in 1960 to Coastal Foods Company, but by this time, the place was a shell of its former self).

So that being said, as I said back in December 2016, stay tuned for my next update. I'm not too sure if I can stay with my original ambitious schedule to post each week. Right now, I think I'd be happy if I can post each month (& in the last 2 months, I haven't been too successful following my new plan).

Stay tuned.