Model Railroading, April 28,2012
Bayou City and Gulf Railroad
Tom Marsh took this picture of Tom Wayburn’s Bayou City and Gulf Stone and Gravel Company from ground level in such a way that with just a little editing Terry Hooks’ sky made it look like an out-of-doors photo. Tom (Marsh) tried to copy Charlie Aselin’s earlier photo that was made before one or two flaws in the model were corrected.
Amy took some pictures of the N’ Crowd club layout in the back of Papa Ben’s Train Place just last October and a few of the best are posted at http://modrr.net/bayoucity.htm. For people who really like layout photos, I made an MS PowerPoint slide show with about 20 photos of the Bayou City and Gulf N Scale layout that takes about a minute to download from http://modrr.net/bcg.ppt with broadband. The Houston N’ Crowd website is hosted by Tom Marsh at http://houstonncrowd.org. Here is the tentative BC&G track plan drawn approximately by Winrail 10.0. The blue tracks are on the lower level and, with the exception of the gravel pit tracks, are hidden.
The procurement phase of the N-scale petroleum refinery model construction is nearly complete, the paint scheme has been established, and most of the materiel inherited from previous efforts has been brought into conformity with the latest plans. A consistent approach to building perfect lattices for the steel structure is not yet established; but, work on the lattice proceeds apace with a trial and error approach. For inspiration and a hint of what the designer is searching for download an MS PowerPoint file from http://modrr.net/petref.ppt. A free PowerPoint reader is available from Microsoft. These and other photos of the prototype can be found on the N’ Crowd bulletin board..
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Above we see the vacant plot site for the petroleum refinery under construction. Below we catch a look at the model out of doors. This is a tentative placement of most of the major pieces of equipment. About ten heat exchangers that will be on the platforms are missing. Stairs, ladders, railings, and gates are almost all missing. Finally, the most important task of all has barely begun. I refer to the piping, which in a real refinery represents about half of the expense. I expect to take at least as long with the piping as I have put in so far. Some of the piping will run in racks, in particular the feed and return lines to the cooling towers, the fresh crude from ships and on-shore tanks, the product lines to the tank farm, and the waste streams to the incinerator. The columns are close together in keeping with a modest amount of selective compression. The columns on the left are the crude tower and a vessel that was in place when I started on this project that will turn out to be either a cat cracker or a vacuum still. The next few columns represent a gasoline stabilizer and other liquid processing whereas the five towers on the right represent the gas plant. The three columns in a single cell will be piped up as a double Petyuk system of interlinked columns such as the system that was modeled in my PhD thesis. I expect the stacks on the two fired heaters will be encased in oil-derrick-like scaffolds such as the small scaffold on the incinerator sitting on the extreme right of the refinery plot on the BC&G. On Saturday Allyn presented the club with three very fine oil tanks that have to find a place on the layout.
Today, December 3, 2011, the N’ Crowd had an open house in connection with a program of layout tours in Houston. I didn’t want to leave the space for the refinery empty, so I elected to model a scene wherein a refinery is under construction. The construction workers are helping to unload pipe from two gondolas and ancillary equipment from another gondola and a flat car. The crane car is on loan for that purpose.
And, a week later …
While we sort out our mutual obligations, the club’s and mine, I have posted at http://modrr.net/petref.htm some pictures of prototypes some impressions of which I should like to capture along with seven views of the crude unit under construction.
Rock Springs and Lancaster County Railroad
Lately I have been working on the model railroad the development of which is recorded in a series of MS PowerPoints that are linked to http://modrr.net/railroad.htm, which clearly has nothing to do with dematerialism or energy except insofar as the Union Pacific coal mining operation in Southern Wyoming was one of the most egregious examples of the violation of both humanity and Nature. (I placed a few private links here for the edification of my friends.) Also, for later pictures, see http://modrr.net/screensaver.htm. Also, I have some pictures with captions on my Houston Chronicle blog at http://www.chron.com/commons/persona.html?newspaperUserId=TomWayburn or http://tinyurl.com/9bkzv7 and a larger collection on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/friends/?ref=tn#/home.php?ref=home but without captions. I will post a few new pictures soon. Finally, my first article for the Houston N’ Crowd Orderboard is posted at http://modrr.net/rocksprings.htm. The most recent photos of this layout have been excised from this file and placed in a new file called http://modrr.net/clouds.htm because of my recent interest in painting clouds.
The track plan of the RS and LC Railroad drawn approximately by WinRail 10.0:
Rather than carry around samples of my latest project, namely, to weather my freight cars according to the five techniques described by Cody Grivno in the April, 2011, issue of Model Railroading, I give you this photo of a few of the hoppers with which I initiated my efforts.
The above photo also shows my most recent effort to disguise the seam between two of the three modules with a sand bar in Sweetwater Creek that is covered by vegetation. Now, if I could just manage to get a good photo …
And now for something completely different, here is a layout plan with a lot of track and not much scenery. I expect to alter the yards until they conform to John Armstrong’s criteria for good operation.
And, for my own amusement, here is Winrail’s 3D rendering of a much cheaper version of the above:
While we are looking at speculative layouts, here is a later version of the Winrail drawing I made for Ted Davis’s benchwork – actual and proposed. The rail is not adjusted to the benchwork borders exactly and many of the structures are dragged to the empty space while the track work is in the early planning stages. Also the water in the harbor area is only approximate. The idea of placing the warehouses and docks at an angle to permit more sidings is Ted’s. This is a big layout with two decks and a helix.
Jason Smith’s Layout
See http://modrr.net/jason.htm.
Eddie Aycock’s Layout
The second draft of the short article I wrote for the Houston N’ Crowd Orderboard is at http://modrr.net/aycock1.htm. The photos in this study can be found at http://modrr.net/aycock1_files/image001.jpg through http://modrr.net/aycock1_files/image006.jpg if you want them each in its own file.
Hugh Boyd’s Layout
My article for The Orderboard, the club monthly newsletter, capably edited by Tom Marsh, is posted at http://modrr.net/visitinghugh.htm.
London (Ontario) O Scale Club
Richard Wakefield sent me some nice photos. To see his letter and the photos click on http://modrr.net/london.htm.
Hyperlinks to other Model Railroads
This is where I will put some nice hyperlinks beginning with http://home.cogeco.ca/~trains/rrlayout.htm. I use a free version of WinSCP with the following log-in page: WinScpInit.htm. Please send me a link to pictures of your layout if you would permit me put the link here. My email address is twayburn@att.net.
Tom Wayburn
Houston, Texas