Painted Fascia Adds a Lot

The latest addition to the P&LE is painted fascia, painting thanks to wife Sue. The reason for adding and painting fascia at this point in the project is the pending installation (starting Friday) of flush-mounted IntuiSwitches to operate the turnouts. More on the IntuiSwitches in a future post.

Obviously, there is a great deal of work to do, but we are making progress. We are in the process of completing a diner, named for a friend, and a retail store, also named for a friend. Hopefully, in the next couple of weeks, we'll be ready to show photos of those completed "businesses."

Another view of the fascia; I'm quite pleased with it. While far from finished, it does give the look of a real model railroad. The fascia is Masonite and five inches wide. We first applied an undercoat of Kilz grey primer, and then painted it Hemlock Green. Both coats were applied with a smooth (as opposed to the normal fuzzy) 6" roller. This scene is overlooking the Paducah Engine Facility, and the engine house is thought to be the final major project of late modeling icon Dean Freytag. It was built specifically for the P&LE.

Paducah Hotels Progress

Paducah is starting to take shape.The three hotels in these photos are (from left) Hotel Paducah, Irvin Cobb Hotel, and the Jackson House. None of the buildings are prototype, but the Cobb Hotel and Jackson House names are authentic to Paducah.

This view provides a better look at the hotels themselves, the street in front, and the stone retaining wall. Signs and lights on the hotels, the street and sidewalks, and the retaining wall which is carved into the pink foam material and painted, are all the work of John Ellenbracht. The trees in the park, which for the present is being called Paducah Park (compliments of Ken Heyl) are Scenic Express, and I think they look great. I was aware of the material, but John recommended them highly and about the same time, outstanding modeler Dave Abeles also was most enthusiastic about them on his Onondaga Cutoff. The three hotels are from the late Dean Freytag's railroad; the fourth building obviously needs some work to fit into the scene. People and vehicles are next.

Paducah coming to life

With the efforts of outstanding modeler John Ellenbracht, Paducah is starting to come to life. The first of the four photos shows the "base" upon which the hotels will be placed. The scene includes three hotels and a park in front of them. To the right in the photo are the locations for the hotels, and the area in front is the boulevard (unfinished). In the second photo, John is putting the final touches on the fence. Next, he's placing the fence that separates the park from the railroad and the Paducah Engine facility, and finally, the location on the bench work where this all fits. The hotels are not prototypical, but the names of two -- the Irvin Cobb Hotel, and the Jackson House -- are authentic to Paducah. Signage for the hotels is complete and lights are being added. There are numerous details to come in the park, including a statue of Chief Paduke, for whom the city is named.

Also happening in the progress of the P&LE is the addition of fascia, followed by the installation of Intuiswitches, flush mounted turnout controls. We are moving forward, and finally getting into areas that lend themselves to progress pictures.

It's not all modeling

As mentioned previously in this blog, not all my time is spent modeling, but rail fanning the real thing. A number of us - Ken Heyl, Allan Silverberg, Jim Martin, and Stan Swope - travel to The Horseshoe Curve area in western Pennsylvania two or three times a year to photograph the prototype. We've just returned from such a trip with several unique photos.

Showing up early one morning was this Norfolk Southern heritage unit remembering the Southern Railroad. It's one of my personal favorites. As part of its 30th anniversary celebration two or three years ago, Norfolk Southern painted one each of some 20 engines in the colors of railroads absorbed through mergers and acquisitions. Each of the heritage units is used in regular daily service, and have become highly sought "targets" by rail photographers throughout the NS territory. They even enjoy their own section as a part of the NS website.

We also spent a day "chasing" the Everett Railroad, a short line that originates in Hollidaysburg, just outside of Altoona, and travels to Martinsburg, switching several industries along the way. In the photo below, it's seen returning from Martinsburg via Roaring Spring, and passing the historic Roaring Spring station.

It was a great week, and now back to work on the P & LE.

Adding a small industry

On the Illinois side of the Mississippi River, just across from the famous St. Louis Arch, is this small oil unloading industry. It has the storage/office building of some sort, an oil unloading platform, and a series of storage tanks. It can be seen from I-70 just before the highway turns west back on to the bridge; however, this shot was taken from the St. Louis-Chicago Amtrak train about a month ago.

The second photo is my effort to replicate the facility; the building, oil unloading platform, and storage tanks are placed here simply to check space parameters and perspective. Obviously, there is a great deal of work to do in terms of adding piping, possibly more tanks, painting, detailing, and weathering. But I think when completed, it will make a nice scene in a corner at the entrance to Paducah.

The four white tanks in the foreground are from a Walthers kit; the four large tanks behind are scratch built from Plastruc materials. I may add 2-4 more; undecided right now. The unloading platform and building are from an estate sale.

Little Steps

Sometimes in model railroading, progress is measured in little steps. Such is the case with the track bumpers seen at the right.The bumpers started as a four-part Walthers kit. After they were put together, I spray painted them with Tamiya brand yellow (a bright color). Next, in a learning process, I worked for the first time with Pan Pastels, a makeup-like powder product highly recommended by well-known modeler Tony Koester. Using Burnt Sienna Extra Dark (nearly black) and Burnt Sienna (rust) from their Rust & Earth palette, I experimented with using first one and then the other first, with "wiping" and "dabbing" the colors on with makeup sponges, and finally, decided the best result -- for me, at least -- was wiping on the rust color and then dabbing on the dark color. I finished by lightly spraying with Dullcoat. Sharing the experience with Tony, he assured me that I really didn't need to use the dulling spray at the end. The thing I especially  like about the powders is the ease in wiping them off and starting over, plus the fact that I do not airbrush. These little detail items add a lot to the P&LE. It should be noted I have not yet done anything about ground cover, so this scene is far from finished.

Paducah Yard Gains Structures

I just realized it's been more than three months since my last post, but rest assured I haven't been idle during all that time. A lot of the work has been track work and wiring and not leant itself to photos, but some has been around the Paducah shop area (above). The warehouse in the foreground is an addition to the P&LE, as is the car shop farther back. The warehouse came from the late Bob Buschart's railroad; the car shop was a purchase several years ago in Ohio. The two box cars at the warehouse are models I finished in the past week, and yet to be weathered. The two tracks to the immediate right of the warehouse have to be moved, along with the warehouse, to the right about two inches to allow for more space for the tractor trailers on the other side. A corner of the Dean Freytag-built engine shop can be seen at the far right.