u/Fredjocko

My second module is based on the first picture. This is The Pineapple Fountain in Charleston, SC.

I originally built the fountain for my layout; but, it was too big so I thought why not a T-Trak Module…

It has been awhile. I have started working on two single modules; hoping for something easier than my first one, “The Charleston, SC Coal Tipple”.

My next is based upon the movie, “A Bad Day at Black Rock”. Awesome movie if you haven’t seen it; if you already have, enjoy it again…

Most of the buildings I found were 3D printed or wood kits; Blair Line and Wildwest Models. Three of the buildings need scratch-building and one is almost done and I’m well on my way with the train station buildings.

I just watched Rio Lobo and thought what a cool looking locomotive and train. After doing some research I found that the loco was a highly “decorated/modified” Mexican locomotive made to look like an 1800’s locomotive.

Also, the rail cars, the flat car with load is simple. The caboose/box car is another story.

Are there any locomotives of that time frame in N scale? I’d rather get an actual 1860’s locomotive than a fabricated one (I know it’s a movie)…

Are there any that are reliable and made with DCC? Enquiring minds want to know…or maybe it’s just me…

This will be my last update until I’m ready to pour the resin.

The coal tipple is weathered and glued in place. The tipple piers are white in the pictures (at least to me) I did paint them an ivory whiteish color. I’ll had some weathering to them when the Modge Podge is dry. I used the Modge Podge to seal any openings the silicone sealant missed.

I have put in four of the six approach trestle pilings. I ran out of balsa wood finish…

The Ops Building concrete is weathered. I glued piano wire to nine of the 21 pilings and then glued the building into place.

I placed my little boat that needs to be painted to see how it would look and I added the bridges to see if they interfered with the boat.

I assembled BLMA’s segmented bridge abutment set 590. I had to shim them some to reach the bridge.

And lastly, I need to make the pilings for the bridges. Apparently, the BLMA segmented bridge sets are as rare as hens teeth, so I will make what I need from wood or plastic, not sure which yet; whatever is easier. coal tipple is weathered and glued in place.

I finished the little trestle. Laid out the wooden trestle part of the coal tipple trestle. I painted the riverbed and landform. I airbrushed squiggles to imply moving water and beige to represent the “beach” that is seen in a lot of the pictures.

I only have six more trestles to make with two of them being severely burn for the coal tipple trestle.

I need to finish the Ops Building’s concrete base and piers and weather the concrete and the rusted steel beams on the tipple.

The bridge abutments and supports need to done before pouring water.

I was reading how it is hard to establish see without people. In a couple of pictures I found there was a boat near the structure. So I found a little boat with the driver and a person taking pictures to show the size.

After letting the paint dry overnight, I sealed all of the corners, cracks, and plexiglass front with silicone adhesive sealant. I boxed in the right front corner and drilled a hole for the power wiring for the track and sealed that as well.

I started “officially” placing stuff and boring holes and trimming pieces to fit. The big trestle is pretty much placed where I want it. I have some pier footings coming that will help hide the piers in the ground.

I also built the little train trestle. I need to figure this one…it doesn’t look right if I put it where is is in the pictures… I even burned some of the wood and left a nice char I couldn’t replicate with paint.

Disclaimer: do not try this at home, I am a trained professional, retired fire captain/fire marshal, and no out of control fires occurred…

After letting everything dry overnight, I painted my module to seal the foam before I start pouring the resin.

I used Sherwin Williams”Rock Bottom” for the River Bed base coat. It is a very close match to the muck or pluff mud color when the river is at low tide.

After the paint dries, I will install the plexiglass front and seal that with clear silicone and I’ll go around the foam/side edges one last time to make sure there are no leaks.

Started the construction for the Charleston, SC Coal Tipple inside the module today. Installed the riverbed by gluing down 1/2” styrofoam with Gator Glue construction adhesive; built in the area around the power outlet with scraps of Gator Board; shaped the landform and glued it into place; sealed all the gaps with bathroom caulking; and using the template graciously sent to me by Kevin Avery I aligned the mainlines and screwed in one of the double track pieces and drilled the holes for the other piece.

I also test fitted the 1/8” plexiglass inset in the fascia and it fit perfectly. Letting everything dry for tomorrow’s adventure!!!

I’m starting to construct inside my module. My scenery is basically water and my mainline four pairs of deck girder bridges.

I decided to power my module so in preparation I was going to run my Kato feeder joiners between the deck girder joiner and the double track.

The problem is the bridge joiner is only half. The outside prongs are missing. I’m thinking of cutting the outer prongs off of the feeder joiner so they could mate up with the bridge.

Has anyone done this and if so is it okay or is there another option. As always I appreciate any advice or suggestions.

I have attached some pictures to hopefully show what I’m mean. Thank you

Busy day with work today so not much time spent on my coal tipple. I did cut up the balsa wood for the decking for the coal tipple trestle.

I was dreading gluing the strips down; but it was quite easy and fast. Used a shim to maintain spacing and varied the length and left wood out.

I used various washes of Citadel wargaming paint to darken and age the wood. The whole process from chopping to cleaning my brushes took less than two hours.

I’ll let everything dry overnight and then I’ll take my charcoal lighter and see if I can singe the wood, since the real one was devastated by fire.

I was using Central Valley’s HO bridge girder set. The pieces matches the structure almost perfectly. CV even sent me extra lattice braces. Unfortunately, the completed trestle is a little over five inches wide and ten inches long. With a working area of 24” x 6” the tipple trestle (say that three times) was too big and wouldn’t allow the elements to fit.

The new bridge is 2.75” wide and 7.75” long. It’s still tight but fits. The Ops building fits and I still have room for the other abandoned track to put in.

The Charleston Coal Tipple saga continues. Laid out the 1/2” foam in the bottom of the module for the Cooper River bed and built up another layer of 1/2” foam for the “island” the operations building sits on.

I also boxed in the hole where the power plug is located. I’m going to top it with a piece .040 plastic sheet painted black and build the coal tipple line over the box to hide it.

Then gluing the styrofoam down and seal all of the edges and gaps in preparation for painting.

There is an 1/8” dovetail (think that’s what it is called) for a piece of 1/8” x 1.5” x 20.5” acrylic glass to fit into the facade so you can see the water.

That should be here later this week. Once that is installed and sealed, I’ll be ready for water.

I started placing the major pieces on my module. I see I am going to have to rethink some stuff (probably should have built the coal tipple trestle and ops building in Z scale…

I definitely need to decrease the length and width of the trestle…

I even measured twice and confirmed my measurements…

I have been on the road traveling for work the past two weeks and I got home last night and the first package I opened was my double T-Trak by Denniston!!!

I amazed by the quality and thought that went into building it!!! Being this is my first module and I’m making it complicated to start with, my mainline is deck girder bridges, and the scenery is “water” I didn’t want to worry about the dimensions being off.

And seeing that quite a few modules at the National T-Trak layout were made by Stuart, I figured he was the best.

I don’t have a financial interest with him, except for sending him money to build at least one module; I’m just impressed with the quality and construction.

The saga of the Charleston Coal Tipple conveyor building continues…I started the rusted out framing at the entrance of the building. I used different sized Evergreen stock pieces and cut some of the pieces into thinner strips.

I used Folkart craft paint’s burnt umber, wrought iron black, terra cotta, toasted terra cotta, raw sienna, and bark brown to make the pieces look rusted. I know orange rust is fresh; but I think the shades of terra cotta and raw sienna help with the highlights and give some contrast to the browns and black.

Need to make some rusted panels and debris to finish out the building. Then I need to add the piers and start the weathering.

Still trying to figure out the piers. Any suggestions are appreciated.

Before I got into model railroading I built 1/32 scale WWI airplanes and I would completely paint, decal, and weather the sub assemblies. It helped me to finish projects instead of shelving them.

I carried that over to my model railroading. I started painting the coal tipple building to see how it would look. I am really liking this. The DPM walls definitely made the build easier; so far, the rest hasn’t been that hard. Of course, I need to figure out the piers… Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!!!

The saga continues. I didn’t like the look of the front and back parapets. I added the width of the column when I built it instead of just doing the column so I redid the parapets and I added about 1.5mm strip stock to the side walls’ height for the roof slope to match the parapets’ slope.

I also started working on the concrete foundation/pier. Using .030 sheet I fashioned the floor and the pier sides. I used some rectangular tubing to give the pier depth and to add surface to attach the footers.

I found some HO scale pier footings to use for the building and trestle footings; unfortunately when I started placing them I found that they are not the same height and they are not level either. They will be perfect for the Central Valley bridge supports I ordered (which is their intended use).

Back to the drawing board…

My module was shipped today, so I thought I should get busy working on the stuff going in the module.

I started with the machine/conveyor house of the Charleston, SC Coal Tipple. I started cobbling the building together with DPM’s brick wall sections and scratch-building and kit bashing pieces.

I’m building it before the rear wall collapsed. The rough structure is done and then onto the foundation. I included a couple of pics of the real building.