Goff Brook Brook

It's a bit ironic that the more progress you make on the layout the less time you have to post about it. That's where I'm at lately - lots of blog fodder but little in the way of blog posts. Folks following the Valley Local group on Facebook have gotten a small taste of what's been up on the layout these past couple of months, so it's high time to start catching up here . . .

As I mentioned a couple weeks ago, much of October was taken up filling in the Airline and extending the Saybrook scene. Well, somewhere during the middle of the month, BillS came over and we finally got around to adding some water to the Goff Brook scene. You know - so that there'd actually be a brook at Goff Brook. I even alluded to it in a Wordless Wednesday . . .

Water poured 10/16/19 - still covered here on 10/23 to keep the warmth in during curing and to keep the dust off. The foil really didn't need to be here any longer than a day or so.

Goff Brook circa July 2017

Goff Brook had been experiencing a severe "drought" for over 2 years and I've also been wanting to finish the Mattabesset River over in the East Berlin area I've been scenicking, so I decided to try out a new (to me) product: Woodland Scenics Deep Pour Water.

Most folks - including me - have heard of using EnviroTex for water. It's certainly a lot less expensive than the WS product, but I'd heard enough horror stories about the smell and it's tendency to creep up the banks that I figured the WS price was worth paying for the relatively small pours I'd need.

Full Disclosure: I have never used EnviroTex.

The WS product comes with a pretty detailed instruction manual, but it's basically a two-part resin that you have to mix. The exact amount can be calculated by using the handy WS calculator app (which I downloaded to my phone). I could only tell a few real differences between this product and what I've heard about EnviroTex (and affirmed by BillS, who was with me for this first try - and has used EnviroTex): It's heat activated so you should warm it up a bit before using it, per the instructions (um, we didn't do that and it turned out ok - but I will definitely do it in the future); it has no smell that I could detect; and it didn't tend to creep up the banks.

The version I got was the "Murky Water" - which is essentially their clear water product with the color already mixed in. I also purchased a package of the clear water & a separate bottle of the coloring agent to try that at another time.

I don't know if it was beginner's luck, or if I've over-psyched myself out about doing scenery, but I think it came out pretty nice:

We poured it to a thickness of probably about 3/16" (the instructions recommends only 1/8" at a time), but hopefully you can see how translucent it is, despite it's overall "murky" tone.

Old abandoned dam just to the west of the Middlesex Turnpike. Yes, it's there on the prototype (though the culvert is not) and was used to create an ice pond in the winter before electric refrigeration.

It's also just a tad cloudy when you bounce the light off of it. I read elsewhere that that's one of the side effects of not warming up the product first. But it turns out, it was perfect for what I wanted - a murky (not mucky) stream with some, um, oil slick runoff from Valley Coal (yeah, that's the ticket).

I still may try my hand at adding some ripples using gloss Modge Podge - especially around the rocks. But for now, I'll call this scene, if not actually done, at least at an acceptable level of "doneness" that I can make some progress in other areas.

Let me know what you think in the comments!

The 20% Difference - Goff Brook Trouble Solved!

20% humidity, that is.

Based on a suggestion over at the Model Railroad Hobbyist blog, I got a "Breathe Easy" humidifier from WalMart on my way home from work last night, set it up under Goff Brook, and left it on for 24 hours. And Did Nothing Else. That's all I did. Behold!

  

I guess increasing the humidity from 15% to 35% (or, rather, allowing the the air to get so dry in the first place) really does make a difference. Not that I doubted any of the feedback I got, but it's amazing how profound the difference is.

Now the only downside is that I won't know whether any expansion gaps I cut will have made any difference. Looking back on it, I might have been better off cutting the gaps first and seeing if the rail would shift back into place before doing anything with the humidity.

But based on Joe Fugate's  "Chester Principle" (belt and suspenders) as well as feedback from others, I'll probably go ahead and cut the gaps anyway. That should certainly prevent anything like this from happening in the future. And, having seen how the rest of the layout copes with "worst case/humidity scenario" now, I'm pretty confident it should all be ok.

Trouble at Goff Brook

Looks like the line is going to be out-of-service for a while in the vicinity of Goff Brook . . .

I'm a little surprised I'm still getting this sort of problem since the layout (and the associated benchwork, etc.) has been in place for many years/winters now. But here you have it - apparently, the wood benchwork/subroadbed has shrunk and caused the track to lift where it isn't secured. The humidity in the basement is typically around 50-65% during most of the year, but as of today it's just below 15%. I don't want to have to get a humidifier down there, but may not be able to avoid it. . .

For now though, I guess I'll get out the Dremel and cut-off disk and gap the rails in the area - but it's mostly curved track (heh, horizontally not just vertically, as above %^) and I don't want to risk introducing any lateral kinks. And, of course, any gapping will likely require additional feeders to be installed.

And it's not only Goff Brook. Just a little north, near Valley Coal, this turnout is lifting as well. Heh - not gluing down the turnouts seemed like a smart idea at the time. Now I think - not so much.

Until I figure out how best to fix these problems, the track will continue to be OOS. That'll likely undermine the possibility of having a January ops session, but on the other hand that's one of the benefits of having a fairly large layout, made up of multiple branches: I could just operate on the other lines with a smaller number of folks.

The prototype had to deal with similar problems, so I'm not going to stress out about it too much. If you have any great suggestions on getting the track back in service asap I'd love to hear them :^)

Wordless Wednesday #178 - Goff Brook

Weekend Progress - Valley Coal, Goff Brook

This past weekend started early Friday morning, before work. I'd planned on doing a workout (really, I did!) but decided instead to do some plaster-cloth-ing at Valley Coal. Last time, I (re)did all the cork roadbed and cardboard lattice, so getting that area covered was the next logical step - and it could be drying/curing while I was at work.

After the Christmas module/layout project, doing quickie plastercloth is certainly no biggie.

And certainly looks better than cardboard lattice - or, worse, a gaping hole

With the coal hoist in place (click here for how I modeled it), it's starting to look more like the prototype scene below...

John Wallace photo - c. 1943

With what little time I had on Saturday, I actually got back to the DERS-1b a little bit. I really would like to get the detailing on this engine done so I can get it out of the shop and back into service. Hopefully soon.

On Sunday, Bill was able to come over to help out a bit just south of Valley Coal, just over the line in Rocky Hill at Goff Brook.

As you can see, Bill always dives right into whatever he's doing with unbridled enthusiasm. But I had him beat - I used a saber saw and created an even BIGGER earthquake in Rocky Hill than he did with his piddly little hand saw. But even I'm mellowing - last time I was here (over 3 years ago?! Yikes!), I used a SawzAll...

The foam stand-ins for the abutments - ably and beautifully hand-crafted by Pieter and installed by him and Roman - have been replaced by more permanent stone abutments.

RR bridge put back in place temporarily - and roadway narrowed (not to mention old wood abutments and cardboard wingwall stand-ins removed)

There's still a LONG way to go in this scene - and recent efforts have been more like 3 steps back for 1-2 steps forward. But now that we're focusing more closely on this area, I'm hoping we can finally get it finished. Who knows - maybe next time we'll be able to start pouring some water into Goff Brook . . .

More Progress

My recent productivity spurt and manic motivation continue to accrue benefits to the Valley Line!  Here are some pics of the progress...

With some encouragement/goading, I finally decided to push forward on the Goff Brook road bridge.  Here's the foamcore base in place - and cardboard strips starting to encroach...

A better view of how the road will hit the backdrop.  There will be a timber grade crossing here.

Here's a closer-to-eye-level shot, showing how the road goes uphill . . .

. . . hopefully, just like the prototype.  This is how Old Main Street (nee Middlesex Turnpike) looks today (looking south).  Grade crossing in foreground, Goff Brook road bridge in middle background.

After doing that, I decided to fill in another area.  This section just "east" of Valley Coal looked just too deep.  While it's not supposed to be flat, the mainline certainly shouldn't be on the high fill it was on.  Thankfully, you can use more than one method of terrain construction.  I just added wadded up newspapers, secured with tape, right over the cardboard webbing.  Once the plastercloth is applied, you'll never know the difference.

While I was working at the Wethersfield/Rocky Hill town line, Roman was further south in Dividend finishing up some webbing.

Back in Rocky Hill, adding a few more strips.

Rocky Hill/Dividend aisle side of the peninsula ("east" of the RR) all ready for plastercloth.

With Roman and I both working together, we were able to complete the "cloth-ing" in just a few hours.

We even got right up to Goff Brook...

Other than installing terrain, we also focused some attention on the rolling stock.  During the last ops session it became obvious that many of the couplers had "airhoses"/trip pins which were just too low - and they had a very annoying tendency to get caught on frogs & such, stopping the train and risking a serious derailment (as in - car falls 480 scale feet to concrete floor!).

So, I had two choices: adjust/bend the pins to the proper height, or remove them entirely.  Since we use skewers for uncoupling rather than magnets, I chose a full pin-dectomy.

Problem is, some coupler manufacturers must use titanium for their pins - I'm looking at you, BLI.  What a wreck they made of my pliers.  KDs didn't do that - so I promptly swapped the BLI couplers for KD #58s.

A good start

It's amazing what a difference motivation makes.  I've gone from just staring at the layout, on those rare occasions when I'd get into the basement at all, to seeing potential projects just about everywhere - projects that can be Done Right Now.  I don't know what to attribute this latest spurt to, or what exactly eliminated the roadblocks to progress I'd perceived for so long, but I'm going to ride this wave as long as possible.

Next up: finishing plastercloth wherever we have webbing, then perhaps attack East Berlin and maybe even East Haddam.  Oh, and there are more switches to add to Middletown yard, and speaking of Middletown, I want to get to that tower project, and I need to build more boxcars, and...and....

Well, you get the idea.

Hope you're able to get down in the cool basement or air-conditioned spare room this summer and, if you do, be sure to share your progress so we can all get an added dose of modeling energy!

Goff Brook road bridge (Middlesex Tpke/Old Main St)

How many times do we pass something every day and never pay it any attention? How often have we passed by a demolition site of an old factory, for example, and think "ARGH! I always meant to get a photo of that!" - and now it's too late. Hopefully, it only happens to you once or twice before you learn your lesson and get your photos when you can.  Unfortunately for many of us, we're still learning that lesson.

That's when historical research can really help fill the gaps.  I - as well as my friend John Wallace - rode/drove over the Old Main Street bridge over Goff Brook in Rocky Hill dozens, if not hundreds, of times. Unfortunately, neither of us got a photo of the bridge before it was recently rebuilt.  Here's what it looks like today (scroll to the bottom of the post), but what did it look like in 1947?  Nobody knows for sure - at least nobody I've talked to so far.

Earlier this year, I'd contacted our state DOT in hopes that they had some historical photos of the bridge (since it used to be the Middlesex Turnpike and the main road between Hartford and Old Saybrook), or at least a photo of it before it was rebuilt.  They directed me to the Town of Rocky Hill since, now downgraded to local road status, the town would have done any upgrading. So last week I finally got around to checking with the Rocky Hill Public Works Department - and got a little breakthrough.

The department head was actually on his way out for the day when I caught him, but he was intrigued with my project (after being initially concerned why I wanted such information) and - best of all - he said he'd taken a photo of the bridge before they started the repair work.  He assured me that "only from the deck up was done" and that "the deck and abutments are about 90 years old."

Yesterday, he emailed me the photo he took . . .

While all I can be sure of is that this is how the bridge looked as of April 17, 2008, unless/until I get any additional photographic evidence to the contrary, I'll assume this is how it looked in 1947 (but without those modern guardrails, natch).  JohnW, for his part, said he expects this is what it looked like - and that's good enough for me, for now.

But that won't keep me from following up on just one more lead - a fellow at the Rocky Hill Historical Society who I'm told has a "treasure trove" of Rocky Hill images.  Who knows, I may just be able to get an even older photo of this bridge after all. Of course, if you have - or know where I can get, an older photo, please let me know.

In the meantime, anybody have any ideas on what to use to model those cool railings?  Maybe some O scale steam locomotive stanchions?

Modeling Monday: Goff Brook Bridge Installation

Well, things have been happening on the Valley Line lately, the latest flurry of activity starting this past Saturday and continuing today.  But, before what turned out to be a 1.5 month hiatus, I actually got some major progress done at the south end of Wethersfield, in the Goff Brook area of the layout.  Like most progress lately, it happened "with a little help from my friends" - actually, a lot.  In fact, if it hadn't have been for Pieter and Roman, I don't know if I'd have ever made that first cut in the mainline track.  I'll let the photos do the heavy lifting of telling the story, but you may want to refresh your memory of the prototype as you follow along (and, as always, you can click on the pic for a larger image)...

Here's the area we're working on, with prototype guidance on the backdrop.  The plywood riverbed is already in and the fascia has been cut further to follow the riverbed contour.  The bridge I plan to install is there too, but as you can see, I have lots of track & roadbed to remove/modify to recreate the prototype scene.

And heeeere's the first cut in the track - the first step in installing a bridge on a railroad that's already in.  I made the cut a few inches beyond/outside where the bridge is going to go, in order to offset the track joints, bridge joints, and joints in the subroadbed.

South end cut is made to the track and I'm using a putty knife to pry up the track.  It had been glued to the cork roadbed with Aileen's Tacky Glue, so the track came up fairly easily.

Once the track was up, it was time to remove the cork roadbed and plywood subroadbed to make a gap for the bridge.  I figured my SawzAll would be quicker than my saber saw.  It certainly was quicker, but I wouldn't recommend using it - the reciprocating action caused a general earthquake from Dividend to Wethersfield.  YIKES!  Glad there wasn't any rolling stock in the area (though my cardboard building mockups ended up on the floor).

I removed the temporary riverbed to figure out where to place the permanent riverbed supports (one seen clamped here), and you can also see here the gap I've created for the bridge.

You may recall that one of the distinctive features of the Goff Brook Bridge is the abutments - they actually start out as stone walls before turning into abutments.  Consequently, I had to narrow the plywood subroadbed to accommodate the walls.  Yeah, as you can hopefully see, this is delicate work, done with a light/small saber saw.  This is the south end.

And here I am cutting the north end.

Similar view to a couple pics ago, but now notice the cut-away subroadbed.

Next, I installed the riverbed permanently on the risers noted in the pics above.  As you can see, I countersunk the screws and ran a bead of hotglue between the plywood riverbed and the masonite fascia.  All this will be skimcoated (and hopefully sealed) with a layer of plaster before painting and adding gloss medium or other "water" material.

In order to accommodate the thicker ties of the bridge track, I removed the original HO cork roadbed and replaced it with N-scale cork shimmed with cut-down business cards.  This took a little time and patience, but results in a nice, smooth transition between regular track and bridge track.  Here, Roman is working on the north end while I work on the south end.  BTW, another plug for Aileen's Tacky Glue - it works like white glue, but is thicker ("tacky", naturally), sets up without clamping (usually), and dries perfectly clear.

Here's a shot of the overall scene so far...

And the bridge track mocked up in place.  It's starting look like something finally!  Tip about the track: Since I'm installing a bridge in an "existing" area (i.e. where I'd already had finished benchwork/roadbed/track), I used the track that I removed as a template for forming/curving the bridge track.  Worked pretty well.

While Roman and I were working on the subroadbed, river support, etc., Pieter was in the other room with this photo:

And trying to recreate the distinctive abutments with some scrap stone wall castings and - wait for it - pink styrofoam.  Here's what he came up with:

All I could say was "Wow!"  Considering all he had to work with was one color photo, some scrap castings and some foam, I was pretty impressed at how well he captured the look and feel of the prototype.  As you can see, I had to add some scrap 3/4" plywood under the stone wall scraps to raise them to the right height, but the overall effect is just what I was looking for.

Here's the bridge from the other side, looking "northeast," with my helpers of the day looking on.  In all honesty, they were much more than mere "helpers" - I really don't think I could have gotten this far without them.

So, with the Goff Brook railroad bridge done - or at least "ready to be 'done'" - I had to figure out how to complete the scene, the terrain, etc.  But, mainly, I had - and have still - to turn my attention to the Goff Brook road bridge.  I still don't have a photo of what it looked like in the late 1940s (see previous post), but I may just end up using something that looks "right" for the area until a photo turns up - if one ever does. And, at the Springfield show, Pieter talked me into buying suggested I consider a bridge kit from Sylvan Scale Models.  It looks pretty good to me.  Unfortunately, as much as it is a blessing to have John Wallace around to consult, with all his vast knowledge of the area, if there's a "curse" to having him around it's that he has a vast knowledge of the area.  "That bridge doesn't look at all like what was there," he told me when he saw it.  Oh well.  I'll keep looking for a photo.

In the meantime, at least one of the two Goff Brook Bridges have been installed - and, thanks to Roman & Pieter, I think it looks pretty great.