Bill and Tom's EXCELLENT ADVENTURE in Logging and Mining

Bill Nelson

Well-Known Member
light through the cracks.

Here at the Clarksville model RR club , we had two of the ancient and honorable AHM old time coal mines, that had been built (poorly) and donated to us @ one time or another. These kits are pretty cool, although the wood grain textures are way over scale, and so are the gaps between the boards. This is one of those I kitbased, since it had been re-kitted, and I couldn't find all of the pieces.

That mine is Cumberland #1 John Patterson laid out the siding before he passed away, and I kit-bashed the structure to fit. I'm wanting to add another sidding on the other side of the main, as I have some bins I can fit over there. It would be fun to add in some HON3 tracks on a bridge over the main to tie the two structures together.


Some of these old European kits are a lot of fun to work with. in may cases the texture is grossly over scale, but that can make it fun and easy to get lots of interesting effects with paint and weathering.

the other kit, which is pretty much stock, I painted with spray paint, and it is the Cumberland #2 mine, which will be reached off of the stub end of the sawmill trackage @ Patterson, once I get around to hand laying it. I'm getting close, and am studying the needed benchwork alterations

Bill Nelson
 

Doctor G

Well-Known Member
Shay and another coal mine.

Hi

Here is Shay #32 in front of the Altamont Coal Mine operation. The sepia tone reminds me of old "builders pictures" of locomotives.

The coal mine was done by Bill Nelson and maybe he can fill in the details as to its construction.

We had another interesting operating session today and more pics to follow.

Doc Tom:wave:
 

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Bill Nelson

Well-Known Member
The Altimont Mine is built pretty much straight up from a Walther's New River Mining Co coal mine kit. As I do with any plastic kit I started out painting it flat black with spray paint, after that was dry I got spayed with flat black, red auto body primer, and some light and dark grey, pretty much simultaniously, so the paint mixed on the model while wet. In this case the flat black was the dominant color.

After the building was assembled it got the lettering painted on it, and then got drybrused with black, rust red and grey to further bring out the corrugations, and then it got the india ink in rubbing alcahol wash treatment, which brough out the window mullions, which were just bumps in the clear glazing, and resisted all other attempts to paint them. I really like the way the mine came out. I sets smack dab against the back drop on the top level, so it will be necessary to paint behind it. as some fake retaining walls, and cut tree balls in half and glue them directly to the backdrop, in order to bring the mountain feel to this big mine, which right now, if you judge soly by car capacity of the siddings available, is the largest industrial building on the railroad.


@ our operating session this morning I got to run #32 to switch out the mine, taking over for dave, who was trying to run a wayfreight with a locomotive with a dummy couler on it's pilot beam

Dummy couplers of a frieght pilot beam= BAD.


Getting home I got one of dave's Broadway limited locomotives in the work shop. it had a short in the front tender truck, looks like the front axle was in backwards, I'll know if that was it after Monday night's meeting.


Bill Nelson
 

Bill Nelson

Well-Known Member
without sepia!

here is a photo of the Altimont mine shoing some of it's colors. This photo was taken after assembly, but brfor the last washes were put on, so it is a little dirtier than this now, but that doesn't show well in the sepia.

Bill Nelson
 

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Doctor G

Well-Known Member
More without that sepia stuff

here is a photo of the Altimont mine shoing some of it's colors. This photo was taken after assembly, but brfor the last washes were put on, so it is a little dirtier than this now, but that doesn't show well in the sepia.

Bill Nelson

Yeah, I was getting a bit carried away with that artsy crafty sepia stuff. Here's a couple more shots of the mine in modern full digital color.

Dr Tom:wave:
 

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Doctor G

Well-Known Member
Speedy Shay

As "the dispatcher" at the operating session I did have some time away from the desk (no one crashed in to each other) and become "rail fan" with a camera.

Here is Shay #32 speeding along at 15 MPH. And then a "runby" at 0 MPH for the long shutter speeds low light necessitate.

Doc Tom:wave:
 

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Bill Nelson

Well-Known Member
doing my homework for track building, and hunting for better spikes (found them) I came across this awesome site. A lot of this is proto87 but some of it is useful for us mere mortals.

Bill Nelson
 

sumpter250

multiscale modelbuilder
This is a modified, and re-rigged IHC Barnhart loader, on modified IHC log flats.
 

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Bill Nelson

Well-Known Member
Nice Job. Got to lower them booms to get them to go under bridges and through tunnels. Nice looking flats I'd have guessed they were the Bachman flats modeled after log cars from Cass. Have you mounted rails to the deck for the barnhardt to travel on. I glue the rails (code 55 I think) on to the cars with walthers goo. some of the goo oozes out, but I have found that a Q-tip soaked in rubbing alcahol will clean up the excess goo very well.

I have put rails on most of my flats (MDC shortys from the old 3 in one kits that made log trains affordable). on some of them I have added bark debris (peat moss run through a blender). eventualy I'd like to put binder chains on the deck between the rails also. That way you couldn't see them when a log load was in place, but when they were on the empty leg of the round trip they would be there for use when the car was loaded again.

I have about six more MDC shorty flats I haven't built yet and close to ten old AHM old time truss rod flat cars that I am in the process of rebuilding. If I ever get done with those I will have so many log cars I'll have to start getting some from the Southern Railway interchange, which will be fun, as it would put log trains through downtown Harlow Tn.


Bill Nelson
 

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Sawdust

Member
Hey Sumpter250, Great job on the loader. I have a couple of these myself. I wouldn't worry too much about the boom hitting the tunnels if the roof & smoke stack make it the boom will. I like the bridge as well. I like to play around with the rigging & gears on some of these loaders. If you take an old VCR or Fax machine apart they have some very realistic gears in them for modeling.:thumb:
 

Doctor G

Well-Known Member
This is a modified, and re-rigged IHC Barnhart loader, on modified IHC log flats.
That is a really nice model!! I really like the modifications

Here is my "stock" Barnhart with boom lowered moving some camp cars on the old C&S RR.
DR Tom:wave:
 

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Doctor G

Well-Known Member
All steamed up and no place to go.

Well here's Bill's #43 filling up with coal and ready to move some logs. But the Spittenchoo mainline was all tied up with the trains of the operating session. Bill couldn't get out and I was stuck working the dispatcher's desk trying to get this mess unravelled. Sorry Bill.

Well as #43 simmered and simmered Bill and I began to scheme how we can move more logs in the future. More negotiations with the parent RR are in order.

Doc Tom:wave:
 

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Bill Nelson

Well-Known Member
Hey Sumpter250, Great job on the loader. I have a couple of these myself. I wouldn't worry too much about the boom hitting the tunnels if the roof & smoke stack make it the boom will. . . . . . . . ..:thumb:


The boom will clear tunnels because it has been lowered. Un modified they will not. Here is an unmodified unit , on a MDC shorty flat, next to a clearance gauge. It can't go up the mountain division where there are tunnels. we have one @ the club that belonged to John Patterson, it hasn't been modified yet, and it can't go through tunnels. Tunnels were very expensive, and very seldom used on the temporary trackage used by logging outfits, so the height wasn't an issue on the real thing, and is only an issue on my RR due to the very unprototypical use of tunnels on my mountain division.




The booms on the prototypes were fixed, so we are cheating when we lower them. These things were cobbled up from steam shovel parts by the manufacturer, whose main business was steam shovels. The Idea though came from a logger.


Bill Nelson
 

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Bill Nelson

Well-Known Member
Train Club work report.

I arrived @ the new schedule Monday night meeting with plywood a circular and jig saw, a cordless screwdriver and screws ready to get to work on the subroadbed for the sawmill area.

One of Dave's Broadway limited L&N locomotives had a short. I had taken it home and worked on it . but was unable to test it with no DCC system there. a short (literally) test showed it still had a problem, but fiddling with the tender axles got that issue resolved, but on test runs the locomotive would run six feet or so and bind up. Eventually I found one of the pieces of valve gear was out of place, and after an adjustment (Never say bend) the problem seemed to be resolved Dave's job is to run the dog out of that locomotive to test it.

After that considerable delay I got to work on the subroadbed. I didn't get anything cut or in place, but there was a piece of old roadbed in the area, that had to come out, cause it sloped down, and we want everything here to be dead flat, with no vertical curves to mess us up, as it s our plan to make the sawmill area the best operating piece of track on the entire outfit. so next work session I can srart cutting sub roadbed and getting the track locations finalized.

I will have to be diverted some as there are some track issues that need to be dealt with @ the switching location on the near side of the first peninsula. some of the guys are trying to rehabilitate that area, and it has some handlayed track that has some issues, and so they come and get me to try to fix it.


Bill Nelson
 

Bill Nelson

Well-Known Member
Yes it is a huge sucker, and we have three tracks serving it, each one of them is close to four feet long, we need more hopper cars.

Bill
 

Doctor G

Well-Known Member
Another "grab shot" from the operating session

Here is another "grab shot" from the recent operating session on the Clarksville RR club.

A Class A Climax trundles down the high line with no Dieselization in sight. She is reliving the glory days of steam.
Doc Tom:wave:
 

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Sawdust

Member
Tom can't can't help it, he's just being himself, very poetic in what he say's. It makes one want to know what happen's after it crosses the bridge.
 
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