Main Line: Completed

After three ballasting sessions the main line in Villeneuve is now entirely done. Nothing beat the satisfaction of seeing tracks turning from mere toys to the real thing during that process.

While doing the mainline was a piece of cake, the siding will be much more complex to do due to subtle variation in texture and color due to less frequent maintenance. I can clearly see some experiment ahead though we have sufficient photographic data to succeed.

Weathering Intermountain CN Procor Pressure Cars

A while ago, I repainted and relettered a group of 3 Intermountain Procor Pressure Cars and started to weather them according to prototype pictures. Cement is a nasty ladding and these cars generally weather quite badly, which is an effect I wanted to replicate. It meant the weathering process would be long and more complex than usual, but at the end of the day, what's the problem with waiting if the result is there?

Hard to believe I started working on this project about a month ago. The reason is quite simple: thick oil paint coats require a longer drying time. It was also an exercise in patience and instead of rushing the project in a day as I usually do, I took time to do each step at a leisure pace, leaving the models on my office shelf and adding details as I went on.

Once again, the trick is always to break down a complex project in multiple parts that can be done in a reasonable amount of time. Such steps can be fading the paint, altering the lettering, adding patches, rust streak or simply weathering the trucks. I feel this make the weathering process less intimidating and reduce greatly the risk of doing something wrong.

As for the weathering process, nothing new under the sun, I simply applied the usual techniques: weathering powder, PanPastel, oil paint, washes and drybrushing.

Some Due Updates

First, I've been working on a redesign of Hedley Junction blog over the last few weeks. I've been busy with other jobs too, but I don't think the update will happen soon. I first flirted with the idea to move to Blogger's Dynamic Views template which would have enabled the blog to be easier to navigate, unfortunately, many useful gadgets can't be implemented without serious customizing and coding and, as we speak, I don't have time for this.

Second, I'm actually working on achieveable layout ideas yet again based on Southern Quebec intricate railway network. While the track plan and basic operation scheme is done, a few additional material needs to be gathered to make it useful to others. Once again, it's not a matter of quantity but about quality.

Third, the move toward a depiction of Murray Bay Subdivision under Chemin de fer du Québec as Chemin de fer Charlevoix (CFC) is steadily becoming a real thing. Most people following the blog must ask themselves when this never ending time shifting toward the future will end... Are we trying to escape our responsabilities? Not really. But as Rene Gourley explained on his blog, we all try to create "our railway" and as much as CN is attractive, I must admit I have a better knowledge about the CFQ since I grew up with it for 25 years now. Many people model CN, but nobody never tried to model the Charlevoix vibe and I feel it's our club duty to to this railway justice.

Finally, while speaking of Rene Gourley, I found out while working on the blog I forgot to add his blog to my recommended website. Rene has been a regular reader of this blog for a long time and certainly an encouraging voice among a few ones that pushed me to reshape my vision of railway modelling. As always, his blog is always a nice read full of thoughtful hindsights.

More Ballasting Experimentation

Is this the real life, is this just fantasy?

I’m glad to report only 6 feet of main line and passing track remain to be ballasted in Villeneuve. Things go smoothly because sifted a lot of material to not run short on supplies.

I’m seriously really impressed by that ballast mix. The color is good. As for the habitual darkening caused by the gluing process, I’ll take care of that at a later step when fine tuning and weathering the roadbed. Once again, it's not a matter on simply gluing rocks, other steps are required to bring them to life.

This is why I ordered some DAP Weldwood Plastic Resin Glue has advocated by Lance Mindheim. According to Lance - which is generally a reliable source - this type of glue works particularly well powdery material and reduce greatly discoloration which is my main concern. As a matter of fact, I also find applying diluted glue with a spray bottle is always prone to produce a lot of mess and keeping the nozzle from clogging is a waste of time and efficiency. I'm curious to try it and see how it works.

You can see in these pictures a better look at the new tie colors. They really look like wood and they blend nicely with the ballast color. To be honest, if I were modelling an old time track, I would certainly use the same recipe but with more powdery ballast.

Oh, I’ve said it more than enough, but let me say it again: primer + oil paint is the way to go when painting tracks. Taking shortcuts don’t pay off and the additional masking is worth the effort. My professional career is all about keeping the balance between effort and effect. In this case, I see no reason to not do it. If you find the task too overwhelming, maybe it’s time to ask yourself if your layout is too big for your own sake!

With that said, I expect all tracks in Villeneuve to be ballasted by the end of September and, possibly, Avenue du Sous-bois pavement.

By the way, I'm seriously thinking about moving the modelled season in late fall. The reason is simple,  at that moment of year, a big deal of trees have lost their leaves but not all which can be useful when you need to hide stuff with vegetation. Also, most weeds are full grown and dead at that time of year which makes embankments and ditches look great. Once thing is sure, I'm not into the vibrant fall foliage and I prefer the subdued tones so trains can stand out. And, to be clear, many refenrece pictures I have of the area are from that specific time of the year, making it easy to replicate the details as they should be.

Edit: Of interest, Mike Cougill from OST Publishing, just released a very interesting article about track work, earth fill and ballast in what will be a series of two blog posts. Once again, Mike knows how to remind us how we often overlook what should be basic knowledge when planning and building a layout.

September and A New Modelling Season

It's well known modellers go back to their basement when summer decline and Hedley Junction is no exception to this rule. Last Friday meeting was short but productive and about 9 feet of double track were ballasted in Villeneuve. I don't yet have pictures with me, but the dried result of the new ballast mix and tie oil coloring really paid off. Would I go back to the dark brown chocolate ties? No, except if doing well-maintained mainline.

Meanwhile, Jérôme and I evaluated the possibility to add another siding in Clermont. The prototype, as explained earlier, would require two sidings which would require custom turnouts and a lot of space. One thing is sure, Jérôme once again confirmed Clermont siding capacity was to low for our regular operation. He is able to work is way around, but he stressed out it isn't optimal at all and make operating train there a very convoluted experience. I'm not into switching nightmare thus it could be improved in a foreseeable future.

As for Wieland, we decided to keep the status quo though the idea to have a real location where locomotives can start from and go to when beginning and ending an operation session has a lot of merit. I definitely believe this idea will need much more refinement to be a credible proposition.

We also started to gather plastic parts from various kits (windows, doors, brick walls, etc.) with the intended goal of building the Donohue office building. This project has been delayed for years and it's time to bring it to life.

Among other revived long overdue projects are four CN Procor Pressure Cement cars I repainted earlier this year. I'm in the last stages of weathering and hope to have them in revenue service soon.

Finally, the collection cleaning up is slowly but certainly gaining momentum with a lot of material to soon be sold off. I certainly could sell every pieces on Ebay and make more money, but it's a lot of logistic and time I  don't have. As George Dutka said, you've got to brace yourself about selling your stuff on the cheap when going taking such a drastic decision. Oh well, live and learn they say!