Eastern Tn logging on the DG CC & W RR 1928

Am playing around with posting from my I phone, which is where the recent photos are.

One major project I undertook was a Campbell's cigar store kit I bought in the 70's, started, and then put up, because I did not like the materials. I took it to the lake for a number of weekends, used the kit's cardboard walls as templates, and reproduced them in bass wood. I covered the bass wood on the outside with diagonal sheathing done from cedar veneer, and on the inside with vertical planking.

I did not like the kits paper shingles, so I made my own. I also replaced the kits floor, and roof, so the only actual kit parts used are the corner posts, windows, and some trim . I will probably do an interior, so I will need to scratch some open doors to show it off.

I sawed out a rock formation to allow better building placement in the Gizzard proper, as opposed to Biscuit rock, which would be on the wrong side of the tracks, were the RR not so convoluted in the Gizzard that the entire vicinity is on the wrong side of the tracks. I'm having a lot of fun with the Gizzard .

The school year is almost over. My RR plan is to work like crazy on the messiest part of the scenery on the top level of the central peninsula, hoping to get it to where trains could run there. Then I could clean up the mid level , and have a large operating RR again, even before the Southern staging, and lower level are done. I should be able to build them without disrupting operations on the upper reaches of the RR.

Carving some rocks along the Gizzard Road

I got the cliff painted above the Gizzard road before the end of the school year, and a quick trip to Houston to visit family.

Working on the old transfer area. Thought I was almost out of Hydrocal, found another 5 gallon bucket.

The plan is to work around the central peninsula 's upper level, working to the right, so I can start to uncover the mid level. Right now, that puts me at the log reload @ Sunburst TN.

I had this little ravine planned near the front of the layout, to add some scenic interest, and do what I could to. Give this a mountain feel

Got some spots of white showing through, so I need to go back and touch up those areas, and then hit them with a squirt bottle, so the paint spreads to the crevasses.



I am very pleased with the way this area came out. I kind of threw this in at the last, to try to make the whole scene more interesting, and to make this area look more a part of my mountains, without being able to have the deeper valley like I did in Terrapin, due to downtown Harlow below. Wish I had the space below grade for a tall waterfall, but I don't.






Next I'm working on the land forms above this area, and to the right, rounding the corner to the end of the central peninsula. Hopefully within a week or so , I can get the plastic off of the near side of Harlow, and see if I remember what it looks like

Spent some time going the loader deck at the log transfer. The rail joints between the new track. (Code 83). And the hand laid salvaged loader deck recycled from Terrapin (code 70) needed some tweaking, And I needed to add a spike or two where the gauge was slightly wide. Odd it newer caused a problem in Terrapin.





I also painted the basic creek color, and began the long process of adding too many coats of acrylic gloss medium.

Began playing with building locations. So far having a cook house, store house, and some overnight quarters for engine crews overnighting on the mountain. This will be a semi permanent camp, so the loader crews, and other camp personnel will have some little cabins, made from spare parts of the Crooked Creek Company houses.

Did some more gloss medium on the stream by the log reload, and added some white water Got to come up with a name for this creek.



Started working on the SW corner of the central peninsula near the log reload area. This scene is being built around a log trestle and some cribbing salvaged from my old central peninsula.



With the cribbing and lg bridge cornered up to keep hot glue off of it, I went to town with hot glue and cardboard. Looks like I have a new rock formation. I think this one is castle rock. Might be the name of the whole area.



The plywood support for the walk under is wrapped with Saran Wrap ( autocorrect sugested Satan wrap), the upper deck is cobbled together from five different pieces of bench work, in case this ever has to be removed. That support bridges two sections, so it would have to be removed to separate the two sections. I'm not going to try to keep the scenery separate there, so there would be some scenic breakage involved, but not the kind of wholesale destruction I saw taking out the old Gizzard.

Adding some uprights to the log bents under the track to hold empies behind the skidder loader

Love the crepe myrtle logs. Need to trim those bushes down to the stumps next winter, so it will grow new shoots the right size for logs.

At the log transfer I worked in the loader tail track. Only empty log cars will be on this, so it doesn't have to be stout. Some of the bents from Terrapin could be used, some are newly built. The hookbill tool was made for pruning, and is good for log cribbing etc.



I'm playing with building locations, and kind of like this. There is a company store, post office, , and some cabins. An old combine and coach, on the tracks, but with out couplers, will serve as warehouse space for the near by store, and crew quarters for road crews overnighting on the mountain I have more similar cabins under construction. The caboose body needs repainting , it is on the loader platform.


On cribbed platform, partly salvaged from Terrapin I have an old narrow gauge coach body, that will serve as the narrow gauge station, and a narrow gauge boxcar body that will serve as the narrow gauge freight station.

Likely one of my many barnhardts will unload the narrow gauge cars.



Also did some work on the land forms. I noticed I did not make a gap in the land forms At one of the bench work joints so I'm doing some retro fitting, but some areas are already covered , and that scenery will have to be cut to separate the two sections.

I uploaded pictures from my phone, and then got stuck in editing land, so I posted this, and am on my desktop now have been working attaching handi wipes to the cardboard land forms, in advance of the first round of plaster. I have the land forms on the mountain behind the log reload, as far as the center line of the central peninsula, once I have the plaster down, carved and painted in this area, and in the creek in the front half of the Gizzard, I can proceed to working on the back side of the top of the central peninsula, and get downtown Harlow out from under the plastic, and get to where I can run trains there, on the helix, and too the front of the gizzard.

when the scenery is done on the back side of the Gizzard, I can uncover the back side of Harlow, and open up the main to Crooked Creek

Sure you can, just read up, and do it. When it's not right try again. Nobody is born knowing how to do this stuff.

I have been having fun getting ready to work on the front half of the South Fork of Crooked Creek. When this is done I will be able to remove the plastic that protects the station in Harlow below; making a tiny step towards getting back to being able to run trains



Above I have placed some hydrocal debris from carving rocks along the bangs of the stream.


Then using a sawed off infant's ear suction thingamabob. , I flood the hydrocal chips with soupy Hydrocal, which fixes them in place, and spreads out to give me what will become the water in the stream, once painted with acrylic paint and too many coats of Acrylic gloss medium. Acrylic modeling compound will be used on the water falls.

Don't need no stinking village! I'm my own idiot!

Have had a lot of fun. Off for the summer, and the Hockey season finally over, the only brake on progress is time spent at the lake, which is restorative, and I can take projects.


I'm going to post some photos, the temporal order may be messed up, as I'm doing this on my phone, at the lake. The internet here isn't the fastest, but it is faster than the satellite service I used to have at the farm , and that is good, as there is barely any cellphone signal out here.




In this view the trestle is removed to start painting the water.




More up close and personal .





Putting cross bracing on the back side of the trestle at the lake last weekend. It would have been impossible to do this with the trestle inplace.



With the cross bracing done @ the lake last weekend.
This gives you a good idea of the size of this bridge.



After the cross bracing on the back side was done, I dusted the trestle with light gray and tan spray paint. This covered the raw wood where the cross bracing was cut, and lightened the exterior pieces, while leaving the inside timbers darker, suggesting shadows.




I have a base coat of house plaster on the land forms along the back of the central peninsula. The white things are waxed cardboard from milk cartons, inserted in between benchwork sections to keep secnery from fusing two sections together. I have missed some spots, but had I don't something similar on my old central peninsula, I'd have been able to salvage a lot more of the scenery.

Basic plaster forms at the outside corner of the top level of the central peninsula.