The Prosperity Red Special II arrives from Warwick, NY

CRI&P Management was pleased with the arrival of the Prosperity Red Special II from Peconic Shops in Warwick, NY.  The newly painted locomotives look awesome! 

 

No progress to report over the last two days as I have been busy taking care of things around the house.  I need to start cleaning the track in final preparation for the op session Saturday.

.

Progress Report 11.03.11

Crews removed the temporary wood supports for the Mississippi River bridge and replaced with stone supports. 

 

I used the Chooch flexible wall material which can be wrapped around a block of wood.  The glue is still drying which explains the rubberbands holding the material secure.

A second ballast train was ordered of Smith & Sons #50 dark gray ballast for the yards and industrial tracks.  Both ballast trains are expected to arrive sometime in December.

 

I finished the driveway for the American Can Company.  I think the project is coming along well.

Progress Report 11.02.11

Worked on the basic cardboard stripping around the tunnel portal being add down by the Mississippi River.

New bridge piers were added at Joliet.

I haven't officially made my mind up, but I believe I will be going with the dark gray (left) ballast for the yard and industrial trackage.  The mainline and sidings will have the #50 Penn-Ohio blend (right).

Progress Report 11.01.11

I haven't done too much over the past few days other than work on cleaning up the layout room for the upcoming op session. 

This morning, I did start on the American Can Co. building in Joliet.  I kitbashed two DPM Goodnight Mattress Co. kits to create the structure.  I have to fill the gaps with putty, paint and add a roof, but the building is in place.  I also went back after the photos were taken and started making the driveway for the truck unloading area with wall putty.

Progress Report 10.28.11

I have been fairly quiet this week, but some progress is being made. I managed to weather an additional 17 cars.  The fleet is looking really good!

I received notice that the Atlas GP7 is on its return trip from New Jersey from warranty repair.

Ballast update:  I had a conversation with Harley Smith at Smith & Sons Ballast last night regarding my order.  It was discussed to use a different color ballast for sidings and industrial tracks.  After conferring with my friends Marcus and Larry, it was decided to keep the same color for main and sidings, but use a darker color for the yards and industrial tracks.  I will most likely mix in a small of amount of the darker ballast on the sidings.  From this conversation, I needed to measure the track on my layout.  Doing so this morning, I have 227 feet of mainline/sidings and roughly 230 feet of industrial/yard tracks.

The road and sidewalk project on SW Washington Street in Peoria is completed.

Traffic has begun using the new road.  

I added some dirt to the Peoria Cordage lot.  Additional scenery will be added very soon.

Ballast Order Placed!

I have a correction to make from my previous post.  The ballast labeled as Scenic Express is actually Smith & Sons ballast.  I talked with Harley Smith yesterday regarding his ballast and placed an order this morning.

I'm looking forward to the ballast train arriving from Chardon, Ohio.  :-)

In other news, productivity has been low the last few days.  This morning, I did manage to install a few more sections of sidewalk on SW Washington Street in Peoria.  Peoria is looking real good.

I need to get back on weathering freight cars.  When looking around the layout, I absolutely love seeing the weathered cars vs the shiny new plastic.  Overall, the layout is progressing nicely.  I'm quite pleased.  This next op session is the one year anniversary of my first op session last November (six months after construction began).

.

Ballast

I have been researching various types of ballast.  I liked the texture of the Woodland Scenics cinders (had in stock to use for comparison) which appears to be different than their ballast line.  I wasn't pleased with either the fine or medium ballast by Woodland Scenics.  The ballast looked too big and didn't seem to spread to well.  My friend Larry brought me a sample of Smith & Son #50 Light Gray ballast.  This ballast spreads nicely and looks great. I definitely feel its the clear winner, but now what color to go with.  The light gray is viewed below.  My wife has cast a vote for the blended.  I'm curious as to how the dark gray would look. 

 

Left is #50 Smith & Sons Penn-Ohio Blend, right is Woodland Scenics fine

 

I prefer the Smith & Sons ballast as it doesn't sit up on the ties as with the Woodland Scenics.

 

A detail shot of the Smith & Sons ballast.