Bancroft

  I am planning to make all of the scenes below 18 inches deep. This will allow just enough room on either side of the right of way to capture the feel of the passing scenery, but not force me to do a great deal of additional modeling. This will also allow the modules to be reversible on my home layout. For these rural scenes that become "distance makers" to separate towns, this will be important because I do not know what the final layout configuration will be, or what side they will be viewed from.

NEWBERRY ROAD BRIDGE

  Newberry Road bridge is located just west of Durand about halfway to the town of Bancroft. This bridge scene will be situated in the middle of a six foot long, 18 inch deep module. This bridge has seen a lot of repairs through the years from both the City of Durand and the Grand Trunk Western. On many occasions the road has been closed for one reason or another from fire damage to automobile accidents. 

  The Newberry Road module is pretty basic. Here it is below with roadbed and bus wires installed waiting for track. 

  This straight section will only be for the bridge itself. I will not include the approaches because I do not know where it will find a final home in the future layout configuration. At this point everything is tentative and I do not want to get to far ahead of myself thus limiting my options and/or forcing me to redo layout sections.

BANCROFT

  Bancroft is little more than passing scenery to the Canadian National nowadays however back in the 80's the Grand Trunk Western still ran double track main through here. There were two spur tracks. On the south side of the mains was a 26 car spur, and on the north side was a 5 car spur. I am not sure how much these spurs were actually utilized, and will continue to research it.

SHIAWASSEE RIVER (Photo by Steven McKay)

  The Shiawassee River scene will be 18 feet long. The bridge crossing the river will be centered and the scene will be bracketed by Exchange Road on the east end, and Byam Road on the west end.

LOOKING EAST ALONG THE SOUTH SIDE OF BRIDGE

VIEW FROM EXCHANGE ROAD

BYAM ROAD CROSSING

  The river scene has got sub-roadbed glued in place and standing by for roadbed and then track.

Roadbed is in place and the scene is awaiting track. Other than getting legs designed and attached, I am at a stopping point here until I can get some carriers made for storing the modules. Once track is put down, I will no longer be able to stack the modules as is their current state when not being worked on.

  Legs have been attached. This is just a simple folding leg design. I am not putting wheel on the due to stability issues created by the narrow footprint.

  Using up scrap foam to create the raised fill on either side of the Shiawassee River crossing.

  Here is a look at the start of my carriers for the river crossing and Newberry Rd. Carrier construction is beginning to become a critical need in order to allow space for construction. Once a module has track and/or scenery on it, one can no longer stack modules in a corner to get them out of the way.

  Using up more scrap foam to create the raised fill, and getting the Luan fill profile glued to the end plates. The waffle bottom for Durand Yard 2 of 5 is standing against the wall while in the background, waffle bottom 3 of 5 is being cut.

  I am using foil between the Luan fill profile plates to make sure they don't accidentally get glued together. These profile plates will ensure that the scenery flows smoothly across the gap between the two modules, and also prevent the gap from widening as the foam shrinks over time.

   I spent an afternoon getting track installed on the Shiawassee River module. The bridge section will be cut out at a later date during scenery application.

   
 28 April, 2020

  After nearly a year and a half since my move back to North Carolina, I am finally back into working on the railroad.  Production is still slow at this point but moving along none the less.  I started working on the Shiawassee River crossing scene which required a great deal of effort in order to correct an oversight on my module profile in relation to the scenery.  In the huge headache that was the process of essentially redoing the entire module front I came to a realization. I had performed this task before on Trowbridge even though no mistake had been made on that module. Hmmmm??? So then the gears started spinning in the brain housing unit. How can I avoid this time consuming process in the future? The answer that I came up with has lead me to a new design concept for Z-frame and raised fill modules. They will now be constructed with full height sidewalls that can later be trimmed to the desired profile once scenery is determined. See Misc page for pictures of the new standard.

 Aside from redoing the module profile board, I have began work on the actual river crossing.  After removing the bridge track and cutting the temporary roadbed out of the gap, I began by measuring the spans of the bridge and determining abutment locations and wing wall angles. 

  Next I built the mounting sub-structure for the abutments and wing walls out of Luan and 3/4 Plywood. These will eventually get glued in place and allow me to remove the styrene abutment components from the module to work on. In the second picture below you can see my anticipated water line on the right wing wall section.

  The abutments were then constructed out of styrene to seat over the top of the mounting base.  These are foundation on which the rest of the abutments will be formed. 

  The intermediate pier sub-structure was cut from 3/4 in. Oak Plywood in two sections which are then glued back to back.   After this section had dried, the Ice-breaker bevel was cut.  This was actually much more complicated than it initially looks.  The cut is an angle at an angle to get not only the proper wedge dimension, but also the batter (slope from bottom to top) of the overall pier.  Batter according to historical MDOT standards should be around 1:12 for front slope, and 1:6 for back slope. Since the back slope is not visible on a model and therefore unnecessary, I only needed to worry about the front/face side. Without having exact measurements of the pier and abutment heights, I guestimated using all the pictures I had available to me and my bevel.  After doing a mock-up, I selected the slope that was visually closest to the prototype.  After cutting the Ice-breaker I used a wood file to achieve the final contour.  This sections was then glued to a base which brings in to the proper height. The entire assembly was then covered with two coats of varnish to prevent any warping from water, atmosphere, glue, etc...This sub-structure will get two layers of .060 sheet styrene veneered to it which have been calculated into the final dimensions.

Varnished intermediate pier ready for styrene.

  For this bridge I will be using two Micro Engineering 85' Open Deck Girder Bridge kits. This gives me four girder sections to form the outside visible portions of the bridge.  The inside sections will not be visible to the point of being able to see details even with the open deck. I will therefore construct the inside girder sections from .060 styrene. 

Test fitting the girder spans in the gap.

  The profile board now complete, I can now push forward with this scene. Here is one last look at the entire module before the first major scenic transformation. 

  And here the ground goop (see MISC tab) has been applied to cover all the land forms.

 For the base coat of primer on the track of this module, I am experimenting with a new color. Rust-oleum Camouflage, Khaki #279177

Here it is applied to the track.

  With the first of two layers of .060 styrene veneered to the intermediate pier, I did a test fit in place and centered everything up before gluing a bracket down that the pier will seat into. Like the abutments, this will allow me to remove it and continue to work on it while completing work on the riverbed. 

   Once the bracket was dry, I began applying the remaining ground goop to the abutment and riverbed area. 

  The second layer of .060 styrene brings the intermediate pier to its final dimensions. I then added the footing and began the spalling process.

First pass with spalling

  I worked from photos to try and create the desired pattern.  I worked in layers, first drawing the pattern onto the styrene with a pencil, then using X-acto knives, files, and Dremel tool to form the relief.

The pattern of spalling and cracking drawn on with pencil.

  Next I started on the first abutment follow the same process using photos for guidance to match the prototype.  These abutments and wing walls have an incredible amount of detail and character that make them interesting to look at.

  After assessing my original plan to build the inside girders out of .060 styrene, I determined that I could get a much more rigid structure if I reinforced the girder.  I wanted something lightweight that would keep everything in alignment while providing the additional support I was after.  What I came up with was 1 1/8 inch aluminum yard sticks.  I cut them both to length and then veneered the .060 styrene to them using E6000 All Purpose Adhesive.
  Below are my components organized prior to construction.

  One thing of note, in going with this technique I was required to build additional components for the bridge.  Splitting the bridge saved on cost, but left me with only half of the structural components.  Building my own bracing was not that big a deal though, and actually strengthened the design.  Ultimately, even as a open deck bridge, the tie spacing and additional details of the prototype will limit visibility of the inside of the bridge to the point of irrelevance.  
  Once the web of the two girders were cut to length, I did one last test fit to ensure they would fit as intended.

Ensuring the new girders matched the length of the kit girders.

   Once I was satisfied that all of my dimensions were correct, I began assembly of the bridges.  I periodically checked my progress by inserting the bridge into the gap checking for squareness, alignment, etc...I will install the elevation pedestals at the end to bring both bridges up to the final height.

  Several sections of the cross bracing for the second span needed to be scratch built.  After fabricating one of these bracing components, I confirmed my suspicion that they will be very difficult to see in any detail thru the bridge crossties.  With that in mind I proceeded to build these sections a little more robust than the Micro Engineering kit components.

Additional cross bracing sections being constructed.

    The second span was completed and test fitted in the gap.  Before I add the elevation pedestals, I will be finalizing my plan for the deck which will be scratch built with a combination of PC board ties, 3/32 x 3/32 basswood, and various structural components. I had originally intended to use brass, but after the Special Shapes Co. was absorbed by K&S, many of the smaller brass stock items were discontinued.  The alternative I am prepared to go with is ABS plastic components.

 

  The two grade crossings on the module, Exchange Road on the east end, and Byam Road on the west end are wood planked as seen in photos above.  I do not have any photos of what they looked like in the 80's.  Since then they have been upgraded with the prefab pressure treated hardwood grade crossing panels.  Knowing that these were most definitely hardwood planking typical of that timeframe, and knowing that I would have a number of these types of grade crossings, I decided to order some laser cut inserts to save time.  I ordered Blair Line and GLC products. Walthers and Woodland scenics were out of stock from my supplier.  I have made these in the past using scale lumber and gluing individual planks to a piece of styrene that was then glued down to the ties.  When these products arrived, I was somewhat disappointed.  I have many photos of oak plank grade crossings.  The Woodland Scenics version has 4 planks.  Both Blair Line and GLC have 7 planks.  I have never seen a single photograph of a prototype grade crossing showing any of these board counts.  I have seen the number of planks vary from 2, 3, 5 or 6 and even 8 in one case. NEVER 4, and NEVER 7.  Why this is important is to do angled crossing where the boards are offset, an even number can be split into sections of 2 or 3 and it looks prototypically correct...because it is.  The only one I did not get my hands on was the Walthers kit, but from the pictures I have scene, they may have gotten the board count right. 
  Also of note, The Blair Line product requires the modeler to notch the underside of the planking to fit over the track spikes.  GLC provides a separate piece that glues between the spikes to avoid this headache.  The modelers preference will dictate.  Here is a look at the two products.

GLC grade crossing on top, Blair Line on the bottom.

GLC on the left, Blair Line on the right.

  Regardless, I opted to make my own for this module. To do this I am using Northeastern Scale Lumber 3/32" scribed sheets.  Disregard the price on this package as it may be two decades old.

  The sheets are cut to length to allow for a 22' improved dirt road.  Below you can see the 3 board offset to compensate for the angle.

Exchange Rd.