ODave's Saginaw Valley & Western

[odave]

Another separate building! Nice... is it heated?

I have an electric heater that does a pretty good job of keeping it comfortable in the winter. Not the most economical solution but it's OK for now. The environment was one driving factor behind my using extruded foam for the base. My benchwork wood has been out there through a summer and winter, and none of it has turned into hockey sticks, so I think I'll be OK. I would rather have the layout inside, but there's just not enough space that I have rights to

I've often looked at the outbuildings in the parking lot of Home Depot...

That's where it came from, 9 years ago. IIRC it comes with all the necessary lumber and a set of plans, so you could put it up yourself. You can also have one of the 'Depot's local crews build it for you, which is what I did. They had it up in a day, which is much quicker than I could manage, so the extra $$$ for labor was worth it to me. After they put it up, I added a loft & a bank of shelves on the interior, added electrical, lights, insulation, and put masonite on the walls.

A couple of regrets are that the studs are on 24" centers, which makes the masonite a little bendy when you lean on it (solution:don't lean on it), and the floor is OSB. I should have went with plywood. I should have also went 12x20 (or larger), but that was before I'd gotten back in the hobby.

[Gary S]

The new sky color is way better than the old. I also like the lighter part near the bottom - gives the hazy effect seen in real life.

Do the doors of the room seal pretty well? No holes for the bugs to get in?

You mentioned the OSB floor - does it bend when you walk on it? I see you already have tile down, but there is nothing stopping you from going over all of it with a layer of plywood and then re-tile - money allowing of course.

[odave]

Hmmmm...good point about the bugs. I'm not overrun but I do get the occasional visitor - I'll have to do some more work on those doors.

The floor is a little bendy but not too bad. I'll put a plywood replacement on the list of stuff to do. Most of my finish work has been of the "good enough for me" variety (as evidenced by the lack of countersunk screws outside of the backdrop), but I suppose as I start spending more of my time out there, I'll make more improvements.

Thanks guys!

[Gary S]

The bugs are what ran me out of the hobby for a couple years. Spiders and dirt daubbers in the layout! But now that I have a new climate controlled building, all is well! Perhaps you can put some foam weather seal around the doors? As for the floor, you mentioned "replacement" which implies removing the old and adding the new. I would just put the new right over the old.

[odave]

OK, just because I haven't posted an update since JULY doesn't mean I haven't been doing anything. Having three young children and being involved in all of their activities means layout progress is slooooooow but things have been happening. Here's an update:

1. Building the Bad River through truss bridge

This is a minor kitbash of a Plastruct kit. The directions call for a 123' brige - I don't have room for one that long, so mine will be 100', which is about the minimum span you would see for a through truss. So instead of the bridge having 5 panels, mine will have 4 with the diagonal braces in the center being crossed. Here are some Saginaw Valley prototype examples this freelance is supposed to lresemble:

Pere Marquette bridge in Sanford, MI
GTW bridge near Bridgeport, MI

The Plastruct kit lends itself well for this kind of modification, since all you are supplied with are long lengths of plastic girders and flat "plate" stock. All members must be cut to length and every rivet plate cut from the stock (something I found to be very tedious).

One handy side effect of this kit is that I have lots of lovely scrap - look for it in a gondola load in the future!



I'm currently down to the detail work. Here's a shot with some of my old brass track laid on it for testing purposes:



Not a 100% prototype match with either of the above (especially with the oversize bottom rivet plates - ooops), but good enough for me.

I plan to have this guy finished for painting in the spring.

2. Lakefield benchwork back on the walls, foam glued down

I took the benchwork down for some re-work last summer, namely re-painting my backdrop sky and placing 1/4" lauan under the foam on the Lakefield side of the layout. The benchwork is now back up, the lauan in place, and the foam glued to the top of it with latex caulk.

Here's a view of the future home of Lakefield.



And a view down Lakefield to the future engine service area at Carson City yard, along with the stub benchwork that will eventually support the Carson City yard throat.



3. Lakefield & Carson City Yard Lead trackplan transferred

My track plan was drawn in 3rd PlanIt. The package's print feature allows you to print out your track plan at 1:1 scale for transferring it to the real world. Some folks have printed theirs out on large sheets of paper at copy places like Kinkos, or on plotters if they are lucky enough to have access. That can be pretty expensive, so I decided to save some money and go the many-many-many 8.5" X 11" sheet route. In this mode, the individual sheets of paper have little registration marks which make up the corner of a square.



Each sheet has a row,column number that identifies where it goes on the plan. So, if you carefully line up the registration marks in each corner of the correct row,column sheets and tape them, you're good to go.



In practice, this was a pain in the rear, and I kinda wish I would have spent the money on larger single sheets. But using T-pins and being very patient, I got pretty good results. I was only off by 1/4" in some areas. Luckily my track plan has plenty of wiggle room built in to account for errors like this. So far, so good.

Next up was tracing the track lines with a pounce wheel, a handy tool with a serrated wheel on one end. I got mine at WalMart for $1.



You run the wheel along the lines of the track plan, pushing down a little bit. The points of the wheel punch through the paper and leave an impression in the foam.



When you take the paper off, you can run a sharpie marker along the dots, and the track plan is drawn!



One of the concerns I had was my Peco #7 curved turnout, which did not have a standard model in my version of 3rdPlanIt. The package allows you to define your own turnouts if you know the critical dimensions. Looks like I got a pretty good fit:



That's it for now. I'm currently working on contouring the foam around the hole where the Bad River will go. Once I have the river area roughed in, I'll proabably move on to tracklaying (at last!)

[MountainMan]

Nice...

Here in the Colorado mountains, critters are going to be a bigger problem than insects. :?

[iis612]

O'Dave,

It is great to see another person modeling a line in MI.
I grew up in Mt. Morris, and worked for CSX on the Saginaw sub. I am modeling the PM during WWII. Primarily McGrew yard in Flint, with a heavy emphasis on war time manufacturing out of Buick City and Grand Blanc.

The level of thought and planning that went into your design is breath taking!! I will definately have this one bookmarked, so I can keep up with it.
Have you created a history for your Saginaw Valley? If so, how far back does it go?

Matt

[iis612]

Disregard my previous question. I guess it pays to read a bit closer.
I assume, with the history going back to the late 1800's that it originated as a lumber line, transporting rough cut to furniture makers? Somehow surviving the lumber market crash with local Sand, coal, and limestone mining?

Matt

[Ralph]

O'Dave, great to see updates! Lookin' GOOD! I like the serrated wheel idea. Very clever!
Ralph

[Harry]

Dave, very good

I like your track plan

[odave]

Thanks for the feedback, guys.

...critters are going to be a bigger problem than insects.

I have a some rabbits living under the floor but they pretty much keep to themselves. I suppose you'll have some bigger neighbors

The level of thought and planning that went into your design is breath taking!!

Thanks. I attribute that to spending almost 2 years in the armchair while I worked on finishing the shed or was otherwise distracted. Unfortunately I'm doing this layout on a shoestring in both money and time which leaves a lot of opportunity for "brain work" and reading the excellent advice of posters on this and other forums, along with John Armstrong & Tony Koester's desgin books.

...it originated as a lumber line, transporting rough cut to furniture makers?

Pretty much. I grew up in Merrill, which is a town on the line originally laid by the Saginaw Valley & St. Louis in 1873. This the prototype I'm freelancing from. It was a fairly successful line until it got folded into the Pere Marquette in 1901. The entire SV&StL is still operating today as the Mid-Michigan Railroad. I think this line and the rest of the Pere Marquette "Turkey Trail" would be a great subject for a prototype model, but I basically chickened out Maybe when I've got a few more years (decades?) under my belt, and have more room, I'll give a proto layout a shot

I like the serrated wheel idea. Very clever! Ralph

I can't take credit for it, though. I found the idea somewhere online. Like everything else, the internet model railroading community is propping me up!

Dave, very good I like your track plan

Thanks! Hopefully the time to the next update will be less than 6 months!

[conrailmike]

Dave,

Looks good! Nice to see someone modeling rail traffic here in Michigan while the real stuff continues to dwindle. Looking forward to see your progress.

[odave]

Thanks Mike! The current traffic situation here in MI is pretty sad. Seeing all those CN re-routes through town the other day made it seem like old times.

I finally finished assembling my through truss bridge, just waiting for warmer weather to paint it.

I think I'll work my way through my backlog of rolling stock kits next - will post pictures as they roll off the "line".

[tsby_fan]

Hey, O'Dave--

I'll be watching your progress closely, as I live in the area you're modeling, in Saginaw. Great history and operations plan, it mirrors my layout plans closely! My layout will feature the Tuscola & Saginaw Bay RR, which acquired the trackage from Bay City up to Alpena (fictitiously, of course!) Keep up the great work!

Al

[odave]

Thanks Al. One of my alternates was a scenario in which TSBY got the PC trackage from Paines to Chesaning, which would let me model Durand to Saginaw. If I had more space I might have gone for it. Nothing new to report, unfortunately...