Wisconsin Central - Heritage Division

[GaryHinshaw]

The bleaching on the wood looks great.  From what I can tell, these seem to be mostly empty inside:

http://bridgehunter.com/photos/19/56/195683-M.jpg

[MichaelWinicki]

Barge looks great W.!


On the road that disappears into the back-drop, I think I would "pinch" it very tightly with foliage on both sides.

[M.C. Fujiwara]

Now, what else does it need? Are there piles of rocks on the inside?

Love the shape and texture.
To me the color of the barge and whitish weathering on the bottom are too even.
Like a new two-tone caddy in the 50's.
Seems like if it's been there for awhile there's be more variation of discolor in both the browns and whites.

And there'd definitely be whitish splatterings of guano on top, yes 

But definitely an unusual structure that adds more interest to the bridge scene.

[Philip H]

Actually, MC, these kind of pile and board structures are fairly common around bridges in many parts of the country, especially where barge traffic is frequent.  They essentially act as fenders for the bridge piles.

The color split is also common, but usually not seen unless there's low water induced by a drought.  The formerly underwater part weathers differently both due to reaction with the water itself, and surface scouring from sediment in the water.

Ok, taking off the science geek hat now and backing into the corner.

[svedblen]

Looks great! Agree on the guano. And a bird. An osprey maybe?

The bleaching on the wood looks great.  From what I can tell, these seem to be mostly empty inside:

http://bridgehunter.com/photos/19/56/195683-M.jpg

I think you should put some rocks in there. If you look carefully in Gary's picture I think you can spot rocks way down at the water level.

/Lennart

[M.C. Fujiwara]

Thanks Phil.
I do know why it's colored like that, just thought it looked a bit too "new" for something that's been in the water for years and probably banged by a couple of barges over the course of its service.

Some bird doodoo and maybe even a nest would add a bit of age.

[Philip H]

Guano = 's sea salt masking technique.

[mcjaco]

I can tell you I wouldn't insure that house on the banks!

[w neal]

I am basing it on this picture. Granted, the picture is a bit faded...

No barge traffic. Only pleasurecraft. (Ooh, new band name!)

(Oh crap, now you guys will see how far off the prototype I am!)

[Philip H]

Actually, that photo affirms your color separation as fairly stark.  You could hit the top part with a 5% White wash to tone it down, but no more.

[w neal]

Wow! Good Eyes!  You noticed the "low water" modeling.

I would "guano" it, but the real one did not seem to show a lot of evidence of that. More weathering may be in order. What struck me was how "new" (or is that creosoted?) the lumber looked on the real one. The contrast between the low water mark and the lumber was striking - at least it was at the time.

I might have to re - "visit" the place this spring to investigate. It seems pilings and rocks might make sense to place on the inside indeed. Thanks fellas!

[w neal]

I did not get much done over the holiday week. But here are some minor things:

I had been searching for some Z scale vehicles to put into my forced perspective scene. A "junk box" at a train store revealed these metal castings that appeared closer to Z scale to my eye, although they were labeled as being N scale. I painted them up and placed them near the farm.
My apologies; my pictures here are a bit fuzzy, just like my modeling.









This car seemed more 1930s so I decided to rust it up and place it in a more "discarded" location (ala Lombard Montana).









Here is the scene so far. More work to be done:











Also started to add loads to the ore train hoppers. Weathering on them to be done next...

[Rabidchipmoose]

Loads....       

[w neal]

Here are some really bad pictures of the "concrete chunks" I added:

[w neal]

"Grassed in" around Torborg's Lumber:








A bit more work at Shakey Lake road: (The road lines are not as "bright" on my model)











Added some lines to get to the instrument houses. Made sure they would clear any double stacks that might pass by. (sorry about the fuzziness):











More "taconite" loads for one train: