Today I spent some time terra-forming, fancy speak for making more plaster rocks using the various molds I have accumulated.  I am beginning to realize how many pieces it will take to complete this section of the layout, and it is quite a lot.  My preference is to model the scenery of the Pacific Northwest down into Northern California.  Along the coast it can be quite steep.  I am also creating a waterfall scene that winds down the mountain, so will need even more rock.  So far I have several rubber molds from Woodland Scenics, which work pretty well, and a silicone mold from Bragdon.  The silicone mold creates incredible detail, which on the other hand makes it a much more delicate job to remove the casting from the mold.  I think that I have only created one complete cast using the mold.  For all of the rest I poured thinner pieces which I broke to fit the scene.  This technique works pretty well to allow you to re-use a rock mold many times over.

I found out the hard way that it is extremely important to seal the area completely when using the Woodland Scenics realistic water.  It found many small holes and drained out after a period of time.  I still haven’t figured out how I will seal the pond areas before filling them.  I am thinking that I can use the Woodland Scenics water effects as a sealing coat before adding more realistic water.  I will post the results when I do figure it out.

During a recent trip to Spartanburg, SC I viseted the Hub City Railroad Museum.  While there I had the opportunity to see two different trains from two different companies at the same time.

This first picture was a CSX coal drag on one side of the depot which the museum is located in.  The train is running on the left leg of the wye, with a switch to the left of this photograph and another leg running right below.

A view of the patched out cars, you can see the lower leg of the wye in the foreground.

One of the museum docents and some of her friends watching the rear helper come into view.

The rear helper being photograhed by another docent from the museum.

While the CSX coal drag was passing slowly on one side of the depot a Norfolk Southern auto and intermodal train pass quickly on the other side.

The motive power.

A view between the NS mainline on the right (just out of the picture) and the CSX on the left.  This is the other two legs of the wye that the coal drag was running along in the previous pictures.  An abandoned rail bridge is in the left of this picture, covered in kudzu.  Also of interest was that directly behind me in this shot the CSX ducks into a tunnel (unfortunately did not get a pic) which crosses under the NS mainline.

After seeing the number of different lines that come together in this particular spot, it is easy to understand why they call Spartanburg the hub city of the South.

I went down to the San Leandro Historical Railway Society last night for our normal Tuesday open hours.  I was able to run my new Genesis GP9 after I set it up using Decoder Pro (much easier to set all the variables and I still don’t have it set up at home).  I pulled two reefers and a caboose around the entire layout and switched in Colfax.  Overall it ran really well, no major hiccups other than the caboose kept derailing (need to check the weight I think).

Overall an excellent model for the price.

I hope that everyone had a good Christmas, I certainly did. The major gift that I received from my wife was a table saw.  She got it at a really good price through Lowes, it is a Skil 15amp with a 10″ blade.  It has a stand to bring it up to the correct height.   One of the best things about it is that it stores all of the guards and accessories under the main table so they don’t get lost.  Thanks also to my father in law for the help in picking it out.

I also received a small rechargeable drill, which will come in handy when I start on the scenery and need to drill a bunch of small holes.

Today I purchased a new locomotive, an Athearn Genesis Gp9 with the Tsunami sound in the Southern Pacific with the Black Widow paint scheme.  It will be nice to have a diesel with a sound decoder, and even better is to have a road switcher than I can use during the ops sessions (correct horn signals, etc.).

Recently my wife and I visited South Carolina on a visit to her dads house.  While we were there I got the opportunity to visit the local railroad museum, located in the Spartanburg, SC depot.

This picture shows a hole punch that was made at the local shop, which repaired a wide variety of equipment.

A display, including a REA sign, showing the importance of peaches to the local economy, and how they were carried by the railroads.

A tool box and other artifacts from the local railroad shop.

Notice the early copy machine (the blue drum in the center of the picture) and the telegraph key with the prince albert can, used as an amplifier.

A very rare artifact, the template used for painting the logo onto cabooses at the shop.

A very early telegraph switch-board.  By inserting pins it was possible to connect to several different telegraph lines.

Above the telephone is a later model switch board for the telegraph.

We really enjoyed our visit to this wonderful collection, showing a portion of the history of the Southern railroad and its impact on the local economy.