The Carolina Sandhills Lines in HO Scale

[Dave V]

Just make sure you trim your azalea bushes after they bloom. You're modeling project can wait a few weeks.    And on the subject of real wood, is there a good way to take sawdust outside so that it naturally ages gray but doesn't get infested with critters?  You'll need a bunch of old wood chips around that industry.

Baking it below its flash point should kill critters and age it.

[davefoxx]

And now, here’s something completely different.  When I saw this Rapido E8 decorated as Amtrak No. 498 and realized its prototype’s lineage, I couldn’t resist!  First, it’s perfect for my mid-1970s Seaboard Coast Line era, and I get to run Amtrak’s Phase II livery, which is becoming a favorite of mine.



Second, this locomotive eventually went to Conrail as No. 4020 and eventually became Juniata Terminal No. 5809, which I’ve ridden behind twice (as a car host). 



PRR 5809 > PC 4309 > AMTK 315 > AMTK 498 > CR 4020 > JTCX 5809

DFF

[davefoxx]

I “loaded” wood chips into a few hoppers by painting a liberal coat of white glue over the plastic factory load and sprinkling sawdust over the wet glue.  After it dried, I used a sanding block to clean up the edges, so the load would fit back in the hopper.  Here’s before and after (I don’t imagine that I need to tell you which is which ):



I like it.  This will really help improve the Bowser hoppers I own (not pictured here), because their loads look like bread cooking in the pan.

DFF

[muktown128]

Dave,

To make your sawdust turn gray, you should expose to UV light.

A quick internet search for “why does wood turn gray” came back with:

Wood turns gray due to the following reasons:
1. Exposure to sunlight and rain: Ultraviolet rays from the sun break down lignin, a component of wood that gives it its natural color. As the lignin degrades, the wood gradually loses its original hue, taking on a silver-grey patina.

2. Oxidation: Over time, exposure to oxygen in the air causes oxidation, altering the molecular structure of the wood’s surface layers and contributing to the change in color.

3. Chemical degradation: UV rays from the sun break down cellulose, leading to the wood changing from its original raw color to a grey, silvery sheen.

4. Lack of protection: Clear finishes break down rapidly from sun exposure, leaving wood unprotected and exposed to damaging UV rays, resulting in the natural graying of bare wood fibers.

Regards,
Scott

[davefoxx]

Scott:

Thanks for the reply and suggestion.  I was thinking of just hitting it with a diluted India ink weathering mix, but I wonder if the application of diluted white glue sealed the wood fibers enough to prevent the gray effect.  UV might penetrate that glue.

Thanks,
DFF

[muktown128]

Dave,
UV light should penetrate the glue. It is essentially a clear resin or binder and shouldn’t contain anything that would block UV light.

[muktown128]

If I was still working, I could have set up an experiment exposing sawdust or wood blocks to UV lamps in a QUV accelerated weathering cabinet. 

[wazzou]

Given that it is real sawdust, I’d imagine it will weather itself over time.

[Angus Shops]

Am I missing something here? Assuming these are freshly chipped logs, shouldn’t they be ‘new wood’ colour? Even if they came from a storage pile, only the surface chips would be sun exposed…

[davefoxx]

I haven’t posted on this thread for a few weeks, because I’ve been busy reprogramming and even upgrading decoders.  I’ve finally figured out how to get a functioning independent brake on LokSound decoders that's not solely throwing the train into emergency.  This, however, requires me to upgrade the fleet to V5.0 decoders, because my V4.0 and Select decoders do not have the brake settings that the V5.0 decoders have.  I also figured out where the Coast feature in V5.0 decoders is, so I can program the non-dynamic brake engines in the fleet to go to idle, if a consist is placed into dynamics.

This also gave me the motivation to organize the fleet, according to current plans for the layout.  Over the past two weeks, I have sold seventeen locomotives (almost 25% of the fleet) and might sell another three to get to an even twenty-locomotive reduction of the fleet.  Part of the impetus was to sell off the locomotives that I just don’t run much and that have become surplus.  Quite a few were power that no longer fit the plan or have been supplanted by more recent purchases.  I’ve actually sold a few, despite creating a hole or two in the fleet, to make room for a future purchase that is or may be placed on pre-order.  These sales allowed me to harvest a few more V5.0 decoders that I had put into older locomotives, swapping them out for V4.0 or Select decoders.  Any locomotive that was purchased with a V5.0 decoder kept its original decoder when sold, though.

DFF

[davefoxx]

As noted, I have sold off a chunk of the fleet, consisting of anachronisms and impulse purchases.  As I have described in this thread, I run multiple eras, but I still had accumulated locomotives that just didn’t fit. Up on eBay they went.  At present, I have sold twenty locomotives (~28% of the fleet).  It feels good to have focus.

With a little bit of that cash, I coincidentally found and purchased two pieces that I have been seeking for years.  And, they were at the same vendor!  For my pre-1974 era, when the original Norfolk Southern owned the branch modeled on my layout, I needed the NS’s gray scheme.  I finally located the Atlas GP38 below.  For my eras up to the Seaboard System era (1980s), I found this Atlas Extended Vision Seaboard Air Line caboose (they didn’t repaint all of the cabooses so quickly).  Both of these models are used, but both were in excellent condition.

The Geep is circa August 2001 (almost 24 years old), and the caboose is circa August 2007 (almost 18 years old)!



I’ll try to document where the fleet is and plans in another post soon.

DFF

[John]

You still have more locos than I do 😳

[davefoxx]

You still have more locos than I do 😳

“My name is Dave, and I’m a model locomotive shopaholic . . . “ 

DFF

[Iain]

As noted, I have sold off a chunk of the fleet, consisting of anachronisms and impulse purchases.  As I have described in this thread, I run multiple eras, but I still had accumulated locomotives that just didn’t fit. Up on eBay they went.  At present, I have sold twenty locomotives (~28% of the fleet).  It feels good to have focus.

With a little bit of that cash, I coincidentally found and purchased two pieces that I have been seeking for years.  And, they were at the same vendor!  For my pre-1974 era, when the original Norfolk Southern owned the branch modeled on my layout, I needed the NS’s gray scheme.  I finally located the Atlas GP38 below.  For my eras up to the Seaboard System era (1980s), I found this Atlas Extended Vision Seaboard Air Line caboose (they didn’t repaint all of the cabooses so quickly).  Both of these models are used, but both were in excellent condition.

The Geep is circa August 2001 (almost 24 years old), and the caboose is circa August 2007 (almost 18 years old)!



I’ll try to document where the fleet is and plans in another post soon.

DFF

gonna need to clean up after that photo.

[davefoxx]

I’m still really enjoying this modest, original Norfolk Southern Ry. GP38 and am so glad I finally found one in good condition.  It’s literally been years that I’ve been hunting for any piece of NS motive power in the gray scheme for eras between 1967 and 1974.



DFF