East Norwood, OH in Z Scale

[Scottl]

Maybe square the rip up a bit with darker gray.  More like a patch that way.

[Jesse6669]

Maybe square the rip up a bit with darker gray.  More like a patch that way.

Yep, I agree.  There's even a prototype on the real Wesley Ave:

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[Jesse6669]

I started messing around with different configurations for the gas station so you see the front of the station.  I do need to relocate the sign, but I think this looks ok.


I also determined Wesley Ave needs a stop light..an opportunity for an LED-lit traffic light.. cool!  Only problem is, I didn't think about this before doing the backdrop.  One thing I like about modeling is you learn a lot about subjects you never really thought about before.  For example:  Traffic lights in the US are on the far side of the intersection (in contrast with much of the rest of the world).  My backdrop includes the far side of the intersection of Wesley Ave and Norwood Ave.  I thought I could try to "implant" the light in the backdrop, but that'll look hokey.  The alternative--just plant the pole on the near side and hope nobody notices?  I'll probably do the latter, it's just a minor quibble.  I could always say the City Traffic Engineer in Norwood is a native German and preferred this style.. 

Here's a mock-up of the intersection with the light suspended on wire between two poles: 


Here's a close-up of the 3D printed light.  It still needs to be painted traffic yellow.
 

   

[Jesse6669]

I decided to plant utility poles with the traffic light strung between on the near side of the Wesley Rd/Norwood Ave intersection. 

So then came the task of mounting the poles.  I couldn't drill down through the layout surface since the holes would be too close to the backdrop.   So I went from the bottom-up, which was also pretty difficult since I had to carefully measure the bottom drilling site to correspond to the surface holes.  I made the bottom holes larger--around 3/8 inch, then poked down through the layout surface down with a long 1.5 mm steel rod that (thankfully) lined up close enough with the bottom holes to poke through. 


The utility poles for the light are made of 1mm OD brass tube and would serve as the power leads for the LED.  I soldered wire leads to the bottom of these and pressed them up from the bottom of the layout to approximately the correct height (should be around 30 prototype ft).  They were somewhat loose fitting, so I put some acrylic paste (this is becoming one of my favorite new tools...) in the hole and dusted on some dirt, and gave the area a couple drops of thinned matte medium as well.   I checked height and alignment and let them dry overnight.


The next day everything had set up, and I connected the traffic light hanging on it's split wire leads to it hung facing the right lane.  I did have a short segment above the traffic light that I put a bit of ACC on to make a "drop".  Then I basically just ran the leads with + to one side, - to the other, and soldered them to the brass pole.  Pro tip:  Make sure you strip the lacquer coating from the leads... I learned the hard way that soldering them does not burn off the lacquer, so I had to un-solder and scrape the wires clean then re-solder.

I then tested everything.  I painted the wire black and the pole gray, as the prototype was done. 

I wired the lead to a facia switch and connected it to my 3V accessory power bus.  It lights up nicely.  In a strange way it ties the backdrop nicely to the foreground.

[Jesse6669]

I'm moving north!  On the I&O that is... or is it railroad West? East?  Well it's North on the old Cincinnati, Lebanon, and Northern. 
I added the backdrop flats for Perry & Derrick Paints, and printed (but not yet attached) the Highland Ave crossing backdrop. 





I used Gemini to help create and edit these--for example, the Google Maps Street View of Highland Ave has a bunch of telephone poles, and obviously the RR crossing signals--I used it to remove that.  The brick structure is mostly just made up by Gemini using my prompts---I know there's a brick factory structure back in there buried in trees but have no pics;  the white warehouse section I have limited 3/4 view pics but this is a good general impression of the complex from broadside. 

Unfortunately P&D is no longer rail served (it wasn't in the I&O era anyway, and now the whole place is defunct) --although I am now wondering if I can cram in a turnout to service it.. maybe later.  There is a truck dock on the far right near Highland Ave.  This is prototypically correct.

I wish I had a better way to hide the seams between the backdrop panels.  They are inkjet printed "presentation" paper;  I have tried adding putty to the seams and it's slightly better but seems to just bloat/wrinkle the paper.  It's still ok but the seams can be a little distracting.  I'm pondering using chalk to at least blend the color.   

It has also become painfully obvious there is no room for the Weir Frog company in that area between the siding and main.  Well, maybe just some "negative space"?   On the facia side, I have an Archistories REA Transfer kit to model the Rumpke/Dana (old Dalton Adding Machine) building which is similar in feeling.  Here's the prototype.   The I&O serves Cohen Scrap which is in the old Weir building--hence the gondolas.  There's been no rail service to Rumpke.  I guess I can foobie some service to it.. hmmm a modern day Dalton Adding Machine?  Or a timeline where Weir took over the Dalton Buiding and uses it now?  Or Cohen?



Once this section is going, I'll need to ballast McCullough Yard-- that's the last section needing ballast!

[Chris333]

You ever see Joey Brownfield's Z scale layout on FB?

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=27506020505671691&set=g.1073658332802559

[Jesse6669]

You ever see Joey Brownfield's Z scale layout on FB?

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=27506020505671691&set=g.1073658332802559

Nope.  I don't do Facebook. 

[Jesse6669]

I printed the rest of the backdrop and temporarily taped it into place to test how it looks. 

Here's the prototype of the Highland Ave crossing on Google Street View.

And the scene (obviously early stages); 



Here's an overview of the yard/engine facility. 



I'm going to have to paint the yard track next, which raises a bit of a question: Should yard track be a different color than the mainlines--more greyish than the red-brown rust/brake shoe dust? 

[robert3985]

I'm going to have to paint the yard track next, which raises a bit of a question: Should yard track be a different color than the mainlines--more greyish than the red-brown rust/brake shoe dust?

Here's what I'm doing with mine in my Echo and Park City Branch Yards (UP-1947 thru 1956).  UP mainlines were well-maintained, but even then because of the heavy traffic and heavy engines, the mainlines ties and ballast deteriorated pretty quickly...so, this means that old, faded & broken ties were replaced quite often as well as stretches being re-ballasted quite often too.  This resulted in mainlines that mostly appeared pretty fresh, with mixed-medium gray/black/dark grey/tan mixed color ballast for an overall mildly salt-pepper appearance that was medium gray when viewed from a distance.

Mainline rails were a brownish dark grey mostly on the mainlines with the ties being mostly a mix between brownish-black (rail-tie brown) to a medium weathered tan (few) and shades of brown in-between.

Yard trackage, in both heavily used and branchline yards was less well maintained, and were mostly buried in cinders from the steam traffic...which, in some more remote yards was replaced by dirt and dust from the surrounding desert.

Yard rails were also distinctly more of a light brownish color with at hint of a rusty color, and visible ties were also noticeably lighter and in worse condition than the mainline ties, with at distinct difference in the appearance of the mainlines going through a yard over the yard trackage.

Also, the mainline trackage was elevated from the yard trackage, which I unfortunately didn't do in my yards...and I'm not going to pull up all my yard trackage to do it.

So, the mainlines (UP Double Mainlines) were distinct from yard trackage in color, degree of repair, and also ballast color.

I'm sure your track and ballast colors will be quite different than mine, your layout being set in OH and mine in arid UT, but I am pretty sure the overall differences between mainline color and yard colors of rails, ties, and types of weathering would prototypically be quite visible.

Maybe a quick trip to actually look at and photograph yard and mainline colors in your area would be in order.  That's what I did 30 years ago when I started my modular layout.

Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore

 

[Jesse6669]

Found some reference; 

Here's an aerial photo from 2010 (Google Earth screen shot):
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And a pic I took in 2004
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I think what I'll probably do is just paint the rail/track the "standard" color (Vallejo flat earth) but weather according to the photos. More spilled diesel and sand, more crankcase oil especially near the engine house.  More old/gray ties.

[Jesse6669]

McCullough Yard in "prime time"..

[Ed Kapuscinski]

It just keeps getting better and better.

[Jesse6669]

I'm getting my plan together for remaining structures.

I started work on an Architstories REA Express building which will represent the (current) Rumpke building.  This was at one time Dana (not sure if Dana the tank truck line or??  And further back Dalton Adding Machine.  I might need to dig into property records;  Rumpke is a local sanitation and recyling company, so the yard would have stuff like porta-potties, garbage trucks parked etc--not recently rail served afaik. 

In reality, the current siding serves Cohen Recycling which loads gons of scrap metal, and is located just across the track--but there is no room for a building there on the layout.  I think I might creatively adapt the layout a bit and just call the REA building Cohen, and put a pile of scrap metal across the tracks which would be transferred to cars in with front-end loaders.  Close enough and gives the right feeling for the area.

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Here's a mock-up of the REA building in place:

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Further along the line, I have a small garage-size building that was leftover from the Archistories Engine House kit--this will become Queen City Clay which is the white building along Highland Ave.  And in McCullough Yard, I ordered a 3D printed sand tower by Whistle Stop Models.  This is a small shop that 3D prints a bunch in larger scales and I'm basically testing it out, with hopes it looks good.  I did create a blueprint for the I&O's actual sand tower but this will (again) be close enough I think.