Making a New Start

That extra building really does make a difference. Hope that Beckenham Show goes well for you with the new extension. I was hoping to be able to be present but wont be able to make it.
JonD

That does look better

Well, Zeke Howard, our master mechanic down in the Cattewater shops finally decided he'd never be able to make anything out of the old Baldwin, so she was towed down to Bonneyville yesterday and sent off on a standard gauge flatcar, bound for another line further north, but before she went they posed her on the Hogwood trestle. 

With traffic levels as they are there didn't seem much need for a bigger locomotive than the little Porters we've been using all these years. Pity; she sure would have looked pretty if she'd been put back into use.

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 Made a start on the engine house at Cattewater.............
 

 
 
The uneven tops of the coffee-stirrer internal cladding will be invisible once the roof goes on. I've had those large windows for years; this is the first structure on the line that they are not too big for.

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Engine house looks great.   This has been a fun thread to watch  cant wait to see more.

Been thinking about the floor inside the new engine house.  What would it have been - brick, cement, planks, earth?? Anyone got a suggestion. I'm inclined towards brick, only because I have a couple of slightly oversized sheets that would look OK on the floor - I'm assuming a surface that could be washed down and be unaffected by spilled oil. Also I could put a cover-plate between the rails to look as if there's an inspection pit.
 
I have a small workbench and tool-rack to put against the internal wall, just inside the door, and a clay figure (from a friend) of a bald-headed old guy tinkering with something. Probably Zeke working on a minor repair for one of the Porters.

I think wood floors for the engine house would be more fitting with the layout.   It would fit the time period better and blend in nice. Then you can add some nice effects to the wood like spilt oil etc.... 

Looks like it'll be out with the coffee stirrers, again. I'd hoped to use them for the decking for the tank car, with a non-matching chassis, that's awaiting restoration.

Brick or stone on the floor if its 19th century, concrete if its 20th century, you could use wood, but historically wood engine houses, albiet wood floored, walled, etc. tended not to last long around steam locomotives, thats why most that still survive today were steel, brick or concrete.

IMHO use whatever material you have on hand that your most comfortable working with.

Home alone tonight and rubbish TV, so the engine house has moved on quite a bit. Walls clad with lapped planks, internal floor done and dirty - can't really tell what it is, after all my worrying. In fact it's planks along the rear wall that can be seen through the door, and plain card (concrete or just filth) between the rails and on the nearside, which is all but invisible. Had some fun adding detail parts - gas cylinders, a compressor, cans and a jack, and made two tool cabinets out of a cardboard outer box from a glue tube.
 
Should be able to do a little more tomorrow, and so perhaps pictures by tomorrow evening.

More junk needed under the workbench, I think................
 

............although not a great deal is visible through the doorway.
 
 

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Suerb detail work in the Shed, with home made Metal cabinets too. Impresive.
JonD

Wow that looks great, you can always add more clutter as time and appropriate materials finds allow.

 Painted and weathered the engine house yesterday, and topped out the basic roof today. Tiles and detailed louvres tomorrow, with luck. Then the water tank needs a small repair and settting upright.
Interesting how this group of structures really balances the industrial buildings at the other end of the yard; it seems to have made the picture more complete than before with the previous card mock-up.

  
 
Looking again at this picture, I really like it. The way the main line curves around behind the gondola and the building on the right seems to invite one to look round the corner to see where the line goes next.  I've recently acquired a miniature camera tripod, which I should have used for this shot. Must try it out as pictures from this low angle are much more realistic. 

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Nice layout. I have Casey from Lake George set )

Dylanlewis2000
 
I have Casey from Lake George set )

Yes they're good little locos - perfect for a minimum space American-style layout. I only wish I had the length in the fiddle yards to be able to make at least one of mine a tender loco. Alas, no room unless I drop a car or the caboose from the standard train formation. Meanwhile I must work out what to do with Rusty who is at present in original condition - I'm thinking perhaps a variation for the cab panelling and perhaps a green paint scheme. 

Wow that looks great.  Better and better each time you add something.  I love junk and clutter on a layout.  Really adds to the details.

Shawn
 

  Better and better each time you add something.  I love junk and clutter on a layout. 

I've added the shingles/slates over the past week-end but will wait until they're painted before taking another picture.  As far as junk and clutter is concerned I've got some more to add, but am waiting until the basic areas of the layout are complete. 

Having acquired six locomotives (now reduced to five) I found that I'd not numbered them consecutively. To make sense of the numbering as it exisits I came up with a potted history of the line's motive power. Something like this (locomotives used on the layout shown in heavy type)
 
1     0-4-0ST     Porter        1892
2     0-4-0ST           "             1892   -  scrapped after accident 1915
3     0-4-0ST           "             1899   -  re-numbered 8 following rebuild in 1929
4     0-4-0ST         "             1899  -  rebuilt 1929 using parts from first #5
5     20t diesel  Plymouth    1940    (original Porter loco of 1899 laid aside 1928)
6     2-4-2T         Baldwin       1910  -  laid aside 1928, sold 1940  
7     0-4-0T       Porter         1920
8     0-4-0ST         "             1929     formerly #3, rebuilt as coal burning locomotive
 
From this we see that the line opened with two locomotives, and that three more were acquired to handle the mining and timber trains when the extension to Clydes Creek opened. The hoped-for extra traffic on the extension to Bonneyville caused the acquisition of a larger Baldwin but the traffic never really warranted the purchase, as the loco was expensive to run and tended to damage the track. It was therefore laid aside in 1928, along with one of the later Porters, as the financial climate worsened at the end of this decade. To replace them, one of the 1899 machines was rebuilt locally to burn coal as the bunker could hold enough fuel to reach Bonneyville without refuelling en-route - something the wood-burners often needed. As the financial climate improved at the end of the 1930s the Baldwin was sold, allowing the purchase of a new Plymouth diesel - needed to help the now rather elderly collection of steam locomotives keep the traffic moving (the layout is set in 1941).
 
Perhaps not entirely convincing, but it does try and explain why the locomotive are numbered the way they are.

 
Got the tiles onto the engine house roof over the week-end, but then had trouble matching the paintwork on the smoke vents to the walls - first two attempts came out too yellow, then to lemony. Third time lucky. I also put a cap on the chimney which is supposedly for a forge inside the building.  Since these photos were taken I've also put down some fine ballast and grass/shrubs along the foundataion line, preparatory to re-installing the water tank, after the spout has been repaired.
 

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