Owensville Terminal Railroad: A Freelanced Model Railroad in HO Scale.
Not a lot of activity on the H0 layout over the last eight months, but I recently added a shelf for the Digitrax DCC system and did a little switching/shunting. I still need to add scenery details on the extensions to the layout, and paint the fascia. With hot and humid weather outside, I think I'll stay inside and work on the layout this month.
The revised track work on the right side of the layout has been installed and is ready for ballast, but first I need to test it out by running a train over it.
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| Owensville Terminal Grocery Warehouse Layout 8 x 120 inches (960 sq inches) |
Scenery development on the grocery warehouse layout. I'm repurposing the old yard office from the Fourth Street Yard layout onto the shelf layout. Testing out a farm supply scene.
On or about July 7, 1980, Owensville Terminal Railroad Company has filed for abandonment of 3.8 miles of track in the city of Owensville, Missouri. This includes all of the track designated as Fourth Street Yard and the industrial lead track to the connection at Southeast Junction.
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The north end of Fourth Street Yard sits idle after recent abandonment by the railroad. Rail salvage crews are expected in the near future. The Owensville Terminal Railroad in 1980Back in 1978, Schmidt Mfg announced the closure of its furniture manufacturing facility located along the former mainline of the Owensville Terminal Railroad. With its closing and the previous closing of the Gasconade Canning plant in 1976, the Fourth Street Yard tracks went dormant with only a few cars a week operating from the Rock Island Junction to the wye connection located a few miles south of the South Owensville Classification Yard. The Rock Island's bankruptcy on March 31, 1980 ended interchange service between the Rock Island and OTRR. The Cotton Belt/SP, which took control of the Rock Island in Owensville, didn't seek to re-establish interchange service. On July 7, 1980, the OTRR officially filed for abandonment of the 3.8 miles of track from Rock Island Junction to Southeast Junction. This abandonment included all of the Fourth Street Yard tracks. The tracks of the OASIS District were eventually removed by early December of 1985. |
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| The shelf layout featuring the grocery warehouse will continue for the foreseeable future! |
Due to life changes and a potential move in the future, I have decided to downsize my model railroad layout. The original 1' x 8' Fourth Street Yard portion of the layout is in the process of being dismantled. The grocery warehouse extension will be kept in operation and moved when I relocate in the future. I'm planning to finish scenery work in the near future which will allow me to focus on running trains on the layout today and in the future after the move. I'm also going to be scaling back my model railroad hobby activities and projects as I concentrate on my growing art business. I no longer have the time, space, or funds for model train layouts or equipment.
I plan to maintain this blog for the foreseeable future with updates about the grocery warehouse shelf layout as they become available.
To all who have followed the blog, thank you for your support!
Tom
I had the opportunity to run a couple of trains on the new extension the other day.
I will be adding additional scenery materials to the original baseboard of the WFS Micro layout along with an additional structure representing a business not served by the railroad. I will also be replacing the original tail track on the WFS with something different. More on that in the near future.
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| original tail track section underlined in red |
I finally got around to painting the backdrop on the OASIS District extension. I used oil paints on the hardboard backdrop panels. The oils will take a couple of weeks to dry, and then I might tweak the painting a little, but for the most part it is completed. I will add tree armatures from Scenic Express (SuperTrees) in front of the backdrop to create additional depth in the scene. Scenery work will go quickly since most of the Wetterau Food Services micro layout already has scenery. I am also thinking about adding an additional structure to the left of the grocery warehouse to round out the scene.
Backdrop Painting Photos
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| South end of layout extension |
Finally got around to installing the backdrop and fascia boards on the OASIS District extension. Picked up some hardboard from my local building supply store, and after a couple of hours I had the backdrop and fascia boards installed. Time to break out the paints and start creating some sky and background scenes.
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| Grocery warehouse and staging area |
I recently purchased a Broadway Limited Paragon 4 switcher for use on the OASIS District layout as well as my other model railway layouts. I am really excited about this loco, and I'm impressed with its performance. The capacitor-equipped loco works great on the layout and helps to navigate those glitchy track sections that creep up from time to time. I tested out the loco without cleaning the track and it worked amazingly well, although a couple of stalls occurred where the dirt buildup was a bit to large for the capacitor to carry the locomotive through the dirty section. A quick polish of the rails with a Brightboy did the trick and the loco runs beautifully on the entire layout, including the new shelf extension. This is definitely a game-changer for operating the layout. I will be acquiring more capacitor-equipped locos in the future.
I look forward to working on the new extension coming up in September with a new backdrop and fascia board panels on the "to-do" list first.
Until next time,
Tom
I have completed construction of the new lift-out section and have connected the WFS with the OASIS District layout. Everything tested out perfectly.
The OASIS District Layout is now completed, although a model railroad is never truly finished. I do plan to add extra details and tweak a few things on the layout in the future.
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I plan to post additional layout photos in the future and of course, I will be operating the layout quite often.
A sincere "thank you" to everyone who has followed along over the last 5 years!
Tom
Lighting System Ordered
The lighting fixtures I want to use for the layout are back in stock! I placed an order, and they should be here by Saturday.
My layout room uses daylight LEDs, but as you can see in the photo below the valance produces a cast shadow at the top of the backdrop. I'll be using 6500k cool white fixtures behind the valance,and they'll be mounted to the top portion of the backdrop brackets. This should be a super easy install.
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| Valance produces a strong cast shadow |
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| Backdrop brackets at top will hold mounting clips for light fixtures. |
The layout will be completed after the installation of the light fixtures. Well, as finished as a model railroad gets!
Until next time,
Tom
I painted the car card and waybill boxes to match the fascia color. I also attached labels to magnetic tape for the car card boxes to coincide with track/industry locations.
I also attached a track schematic diagram to assist the operator while using the car cards and waybill system. A simple but effective system to simulate railroad operations.
The crossbucks that were broken by the cat have been replaced. I went with an older style of crossbuck this time around. I like the look. The crossbuck signs were not glued in place this time around so they are easily removed. The cat no longer has access to the layout room, so that problem has been fixed.
I'm still waiting for my preferred lighting fixtures to get back in stock. That's the last step to go.
Not a lot going on with the layout this summer, except for one of my wife's cats who decided to jump onto the layout and do his best impersonation of Godzilla. My crossbuck signs were completely obliterated, and some of my rolling stock took a fall to the floor (fortunately no damage to them). I am going to have to make the new crossbucks removeable so they can be taken down when the layout is not in use. I also rigged up a couple of black tablecloths on the layout valance to discourage the cat from jumping onto the layout. So far it works, and the good thing is it's easy to take down when I want to operate the layout.
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| Tablecloth clipped to valance. |
I have also started weathering my fleet of freight cars. My first attempt at weathering cars was back in 2007 with a couple of my Athearn Blue Box and Accurail cars. I was never really happy with my weathering attempts, so I neglected to weather the bulk of my rolling stock. Over the years, I have watched several videos on freight car weathering as well as reading several old model railroad books on the subject. I still have a bit of a mental block when it comes to weathering. I think it stems from the fear of ruining a model, especially my more expensive locomotives. I feel my techniques are improving, but I want to continue to learn how to improve.
I weathered these two Athearn cars using Monroe Models (AIM) weathering powders. I really like working with the powders more so than using pastel chalks. Pan Pastels are a medium I may use in the future.
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| Athearn Gondola |
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| Athearn/Bev-Bel 40' Boxcar |
I was able to attend the National Train Show in Collinsville, Illinois (St. Louis Area) this past Saturday and picked up a copy (only $20 at the show) of Mike Confalone's freight car weathering DVD (5+ hours; $29.99 USD). I really like how realistic Mike's layout looks, and his scenery and weathering work is outstanding. I am hoping to improve my weathering techniques through the lessons learned in this video and a whole lot of practice.
Layout lighting has not yet been installed due to supply issues. I am waiting for a couple of light fixtures that are on backorder. Hopefully they will be back in stock soon. I still need to paint my car card/waybill boxes black to blend into the fascia. Looking to have these last installations finished by Christmas at the latest. I hope!
Until next time,
Tom
I finished blending the photo backdrop trees into the sky. Nothing fancy.
I'm at the final stage of layout construction. All that's left to install is layout lighting. I'm almost finished with the layout!
Until next time,
Tom
