to all.. here the video clips from the second part of my rail fanning day. the battery in my camera was going low so these clips are cut short. it seems like all the are doing is going back & forth but there are several moves going on. we were not allowed on "Cal gases" property so i couldn't' get the spotting of the cars in the complex.
by the end of the day the crew moved more than 100 cars
enjoy the vid

vinny

A DAY AT MOBEST YARD..PHX. AZ.

this was a special rail fanning trip. a friend of mine came down from toronto canada to visit his family. he also models the "Peavine Sub" so i took him around rail fanning the Peavine
our first stop was Mobest yard in phx. az

vinny
www.bnsf6951.blogspot.com

 

Tue, 2012-12-18 23:02 — bnsf6951

to every one..this is a short slide show of what i have been up to in the past 2 weeks. i have started this section about 7 months ago & i am finally getting to it.
Smith Pipe & Steel was one on BNSF's biggest customers up to about 3-4 years ago.when i went down to this industry, i asked the ladies at the front desk, why don't they have rail service anymore. they weren't' quit sure who made the decision , but it was ruled that, rail service crossing n.19 ave at this location was dangerous. ???????. they also told me that it cost alot more to ship & receive by truck. i have decided to go back a few years and give them back their rail service
enjoy the slide show & as always comment & questions are welcome
vinny



 

this was a test run to see how much power it would take to negotiate the various grades (2%-2.5%) on my layout pulling a 30 car manifest. all the motive power i am using are katos equipped with digitrax decoders. the first test was with just the 2 SD40-2's with no success. i was surprised that the 2 SD40's couldn't pull the first grade out of the yard which is a 2.2% grade. i don't have any of my rolling stock wieghted to offical standards & some cars are equipped with metal wheels & others with plastic wheels. these could be factors of why the SD40-s couldn't do the job.  i added a dash 9 to the consist.& it made a big difference. i used speed step 8 from the 128 scale. i'm not sure why it stalled near the end of the vid because it stalled right over the feeder wires for that section
  your comments & input are welcome
thanks for watching
vinny...aka..bnsf6951
www.bnsf6951.blogspot.com 

down hill test run

testing my new samsung galaxy III phones video feature. i thought since all my vids are of trains going up the hill, i would video one going down hill.

UPDATE & YESY RUN ON MY PEAVINE SUB

after 7 months of construction , i finally decided to cover up the plywood prarie. arizonas landscape comsist of cactus, palm trees, palos verde trees & bushes.the palm trees i bought through ebay from a chinese company called "we honest", the cactus were also another ebay find. they are made by pegasus models. both the palm trees & cactus looked very toy like so i repainted them to a more prototypical color. the palos verde trees where made by a friend of mine. his name is bob lacey & he lve in tehachapi, ca. i sent him pics of the trees & he made a very close representation of  them for me. i am vertically challanged so i made the left & right mountains removeble so that could work on the to add more color, ground cover, trees & vegitation
  the motive power in the video are a pair of kato SD40-2 snoots. both are equippied with digitrax decoders

enjoy the vid & if you are in the need for trees, give bob a shout at trains56@yahoo.com
 
vinny

SOME NEW STUFF FOR MY PEAVINE SUB

here are some more scratch builds for my layout
first up is the check in & check out conopy for my intermodal yard.
vertical stantion are evergreen "I" beams. they are way out of scale but, it's what i had laying aroundso thats what i used  so thats what i used.

i used a method i saw posted on you tube by Eric Hall. it's simple but very nice results.first i painted the roof with beige paint then i sprinkled woodland scenic fine buff ballast on. after i dries, shake off the access ballast.

next up are the bridge piers & abutments for the "Hassyampa River" i started with evergreen sheet styrene .020"measured and cut my pieces out


next i painted them with aged concrete. because there will be lots of concrete on this layout, i brought a sample of the color to home depot & had them color match the aged concrete

test fitting the bridges on the bench


test fit on the layout

different views




next the mountains will get there plaster covering....to be continued !!!


painting has begun, my friend Beth Conlin, volunteered her services





starting to look better





ground cover added


when completed this scene will represent the Hassyampa river near Wikenburg AZ

another view...water is next on the list

 

overall view of this area...vegetation will be added at a later date.
my friend bob lacey is building prototypical trees for me....to be continued

   this is a short slide show of the progress i am making on my peavine sub. this past week i got on the scenic kick, so i added ground cover & a few trees. alll the roads are painted on the sub roadbed..this is temporary. eventually i will be doing .020" styrene....enjoy the pics
  all structure on my layout are prototypical & are scratch built by me

 

 

 

 

 

landscaping comes to my layout

   this past week, while waiting for stuff i won on ebay, i decided to put some ground cover on one section of my layout. Arizona's landscaping consist mainly of palm tree, cactus & some trees. so i started with the palm trees. i received these palm trees from a company called (wehonest  a Chinese company). the price was right @ less than $12.00 including shipping  for 50 trees. when i received the trees they looked very toy like, so i made some mods on the trunk & foliage using floquil rail brown for the trunks & rustolium "moss green" for the foliage. here are the pics...

after painting the foliage with the moss green



after painting the trunks with floquil rail brown

 

i took a piece of masonite, drill a few holes so i could paint the tops & not worry about the trunks

 

 

ground cover added

 

this is the industry that got it's landacapeing

 

another view

 

 

another view. the road is temporary until i can get to the plastic wholesaler

 

i am hppy with the way the palms turned out. now i need to find cactus

 

 

 

 

PROTOTYPE & MODEL OF GLENDALE AZ DEPOT FOR MY PEAVINE SUB

The modern Glendale, AZ depot was boarded up but still standing when this photo was taken in 1998. The structure's build date has not been researched, but John Sayre's The Santa Fe Prescott & Phoenix Railway: The Scenic Line of Arizona indicates that its predecessor, a brick depot built in 1910, was retired in 1967. The depot's architecture is very similar to the one constructed at Williams Junction, AZ in 1959. Since this photo was taken, the building has been repainted and is in use by BNSF maintenance of way crews. these are pice of the prototype

these are the pics of the model. this started out as a plasticville depot that i repainted to match the prototype,  built & added the loading dock, built & added the electrical cabinets behind the structure. i am waiting for the radio antenna to arrive. i was going to scratch build this structure, but the plasticville kit came very close to the prototype. any way here are a couple of pics

 

                                                                                                                                                     

             

 

NEW INDUSTRY COMES TO MY LAYOUT

new industry comes to my peavine sub. "N" scale layout 

this industry is actually on a sub. off the peavine called the "ennis" sub. it is a 9 mile stretch of track that serves a few industries, 2 of which i will be modeling. the first is called "fertizona"  the pics in this post is my rendition of the plant.

THE PROTOTYPE

 

 



 

these are the parts cut out of .030 thick by .030 spacing evergreen styrene

 

 

 

 

all opennings cut out

 

 

the sub assemblies

 

 

sub assemblies fitted & secured

 

roof assemblies. hole in the roof is for the elevator to pass through. i use one sheet cut to size & then scribe it down the center & crease it.

 

ladders & cat walks go on the elevator

 

floor & roof support added 

 

 

the finished model.. all tanks are by "layout concepts"

 

 

another view of the model placed in the spot where it will be on the layout

 

this industry manufactures fertilizer. they receive materials "chemicals" via hoppers & tankers. trackage is located behind the structure.

 

INTERMODAL TEST RUN #1

  today i decided to take a break from building stuff & do another test run. a pair of kato dash 9's have the assignment of hauling a tank train ( MDC & Atlas tank cars ) up the grade. this run takes you through the towns of No. Phoenix, So. Glendale, central Glendale (intermodal yard) No. Glendale, Peoria & over the Aqua Frea bridge ( a dry river bed). my daughter was the engineer for this run. she totally freaked out when the train hit a dead spot & came to a screeching halt.

 this a video on the new additions to my layout...& a short test run with a pair of kato sd40-2's. i am pulling a short train for test run purposes.. still have a great deal of work to do..anyway thanks for watching

new structure for my peavine sub layout

overall pic of builders express/ liberty lumber on my bnsf peavine sub located at the intersection of grand ave & n 35 ave glendale az. note: all structures on my layout are scratch built by me

the office & work/ storage shed, large lumber shed

looking from the north on grand ave.

STRUCTURES FOR MY PEAVINE SUB. LAYOUT

hello every one & welcome to my blog..it's been a while since i have posted anything so i thought i would do a pic update of structures i have been scratch building for the industries along the Peavine sub. all the structure are of existing & working industries

my peavine sub layout

i am in the building process of  my bnsf's peavine subdivision. this sub. runs from phoenix az to ash fork az. the line is about 190 miles long. building this layout will be a challenge because of the space available. to accommodate this layout, it will be built in several levels. my focus will be on industries along the route. with emphasis on the towns closest to phoenix. these towns would be glendale, peoria, sun city/surprize. heading north out of surprize, the line enters open desert with a steady grade to 5000 ft at ash fork.my final destination.

 this will be one of the scenes i will be modeling

  peavine subdivision route

the beginning of my mobest yard

 the photos are of the progress i have made to this point

mobest engine facility