UP Excellence in Miniature

Warehouse Parking Lot Weathering and Fence

2012-02-10T06:53:00.000-06:00

I took a piece of 220 grit sand paper to the parking lot to give it a faded look and installed fencing between the parking lot and the yard tracks. Sanding the parking lot brought out the seams between the styrene sheets, so I used a fine point permanent marker to simulate regular tar seams. The fencing is from Gold Metal Products. I reused fencing from the Rochelle Sub.

New Blog Name

2012-02-07T08:48:00.000-06:00

As you can see, the blog has a new name as suggested by John Claudino of Aztec Engineering; UP Excellence in Miniature. Congratulations John, the locomotive will be on its way soon. Thank you to everyone who voted and to everyone that submitted names. Thanks also for supporting our advertisers.

Painted Parking Lot and Weathered Warehouses

2012-02-05T14:24:00.000-06:00

Painted the parking lot grey and also used a grey wash to weather the warehouses. The white and brown OWD Logistics warehouse came out a bit darker than I like, but I will try to rub some off later this week once it dries. I will also need to rough up the parking lot a bit with sand paper and add a chin link fence. Its definitely getting there. Once I get the scene complete, I will move on to ballasting Proviso yard; a huge task to which I'm not really looking forward.

Warehouse Parking Lot

2012-02-05T11:37:00.000-06:00

Styrene or Smooth-it? I went back and forth on what material to use for the warehouse parking lot in Proviso. I really like the results of the lots and roads I have done so far with Smooth-it from Woodland Scenics. But with the parking lot needing to go right up to the backdrop, I did not think it was really workable. I also did not feel like dealing with the messiness of plaster more than a foot from the edge of the layout. So, styrene it is! I used 7"X12" .040 styrene sheets from Plastruct for the project.
The first thing I did was layout the sheets so that I could mark them for cutting.

Once cut, I glued the sheets down with liquid nails. Once the sheets were glued down, I noticed that the OWD Logistics warehouse was very close to the yard tracks. In fact, the warehouse was too close.

At first, I was going to let it go and maybe change it later. But then I realized that it was going to bother me every time a locomotive used the track; which would be often as the track is used by consists moving to and from the locomotive facilities and the head end of eastbound trains. To resolve the issue, I used a scissors to cut the warehouse and make it 3/4" narrower at the parking lot end. I also cut back the parking lot to match. The result is a big improvement.

With the parking lot down, next up will be painting.

Paint and Roof Detail for Millwood, Inc Warehouse

2012-02-02T21:23:00.000-06:00

The Millwood, Inc. warehouse has been painted and roof detailed added. Over the weekend I'll be adding a thinned wash of paint for brick mortar detail, doing a bit of weathering and maybe even putting in a parking lot between the warehouses.

Millwood, Inc Warehouse Contruction Begins

2012-01-29T21:13:00.005-06:00

I have begun work on the Millwood, Inc warehouse with the main walls fabricated and glued together. Two of the walls are made with .030 sheet styrene laminated with JTT 1/125 brick sheets and Evergreen .030 spaced metal siding. The third wall has just the .030 sheet styrene and brick without the metal siding. As you can see from the prototype pictures the lower third of the building is brick while the upper two thirds is metal siding. The sheets have been laminated to simulate this. Its a bit hard to tell from the pictures since everything is white now. It will be more evident once I get it painted. I also placed a Rix Products kit in between the two warehouses to match the shop separating the building on the prototype. Once I finish the two warehouses, I will put in parking lots, a number of trucks and other vehicles, and a chain link fence.

Plexiglas Protection

2012-01-29T20:56:00.000-06:00

During operating sessions there's been a hazard of the yard crew's arms (or sleeves) coming in contact with passing trains on the mainline. This, of course, happens when the yard crew is reaching to uncoupling cars in the yard. Its not a very long reach, but when crews are concentrating on getting the cars uncoupled it easy to forget there may be a train passing through. We've had a couple of close calls with a few cars being knocked off the track and even one case of an engine hitting the floor Miraculously, the engine was unscathed by the fall with only a few parts needing to be reattached. Anyway, to prevent future mishaps, I installed a Plexiglas shield in front of the Proviso yard. It doesn't look too bad, but it will only be in place during op sessions or open houses. I took the glass down right after I took the pictures below. I like the open look much better.

Trim and Roof Detail for Proviso Warehouse

2012-01-28T10:47:00.000-06:00

Added trim and roof detail to the ODW Logistics warehouse.

Name that Blog voting Begins

2012-01-22T18:19:00.000-06:00

Okay. Here's the entries for the "Name that Blog" contest.

UPRR Geneva Subdivision N Scale Model Railroad
Mess-N-about on the Mississippi
It's a small world after all
Good things come in small packages
UPRRGSN aka The Awesome Blog
Better than HO
Bigger isn't always better
Strength and Muscle; N Scale Strengths applied to Union Pacific Muscle
little trains, big world
Geneva Subdivision -- Un Petite chemin de fer
Kruse'N' Daryl's Way - UP Geneva Sub: Chicago to Clinton
Prairie Diamonds
Illinois Diamonds
Rochelle Diamonds
Diamonds and Corn Fields
The Great Miniature Rolling Railroad
UP Excellence in Miniature

My five picks are listed in the voting gadget. Votes will be tallied for two weeks ending Super Bowl Sunday, February 5 at the kick off. You may vote multiple times but ONLY ONCE PER DAY. Anyone breaking voting more than once for there own entry or having someone else do so will be disqualified. Since N scalers are honest by nature, I don't expect there will be a problem.

Good luck to the five entries and I encourage everyone to come back everyday to vote for your favorite. And. of course, don't forget to support our advertisers. Thanks!

Continued Progress on Proviso Warehouse

2012-01-21T14:44:00.000-06:00

I airbrushed the warehouse reefer white. After giving it a full 24 hours to dry I masked it for the brown trim along the top of the wall which I also airbrushed. I painted the foundation a light grey with a brush and then installed the frieght doors for both the truck docks and the railroad docks. Still left to do is bringing out the brick grout lines, roof detail and sidewall trim.

Proviso Warehouses

2012-01-19T20:46:00.000-06:00

Work has begun on one of the two warehouses that will built in Proviso. The prototype Proviso Yard is pretty much surrounded by multiple warehouses. Two will be modeled on the layout with a parking lot full of trailers in between the structures. The first once seen here is built out of 5 sheets of Evergreen .040 sheet styrene. The walls of the warehouse have been laminated with JTT 1/125 brick sheets. This weekend I will paint the structure reefer white and railroad tie brown. The first photos are of a couple of prototype warehouses just south of the Proviso yard.

Deadline for Name that Blog

2012-01-19T10:43:00.000-06:00

The deadline for submitting a name for the blog is this Saturday, January 21 at midnight (central time).

Operating Session Video

2012-01-08T22:44:00.000-06:00

Bill Pistello shot this short video during our op session today. My favorite parts are Charlie Vlk's comment on the BLMA spine cars and the shot of operators with their backs to the trains talking while the double stacks cross the bridge. For the first part of the video, the camera was set right on the layout. Gives an interesting view of the op session.

Layout Overview Video

2011-12-30T07:48:00.002-06:00

Here's the layout overview video I promised that I hope gives everyone an idea of the entire layout. Its not my best cinematography. Try not to get too dizzy watching. :) But, I think it does accomplish its goal of giving the viewer a good idea of what the complete layout entails. I'm also posting a track plan that you can follow. I hope this will inspire you to come up with some good blog names. Thanks also for supporting our advertisers!!!

Email Subscribers also Eligible / First Contest Entry

2011-12-30T07:29:00.000-06:00

I realize that a number of you follow the blog through email subscription (see widget on lower left side) rather than being an official follower. I just wanted to clarify that email subscribers are also eligible to submit a blog name for the B23-7 Giveaway. Also, we have our first official blog name entry, "Excellence in Miniature."

Name that Blog - Atlas B23-7 Giveaway

2011-12-28T08:48:00.002-06:00

Let's ring in the New Year with another locomotive giveaway! This time its an Atlas GE B23-7. While the loco is 10+ years old, it still runs well. However, the new owner may want to give it a thorough cleaning, new brushes, etc.
You can win this loco by helping me rename this blog. My sister-in-law (Thanks Kate!!) mentioned to me over the holidays that I needed to give my blog a catchy, more descriptive name in order to drive more visits to the blog and, of course, generate more revenue through ad clicks (support of the blog advertisers is appreciated). While "UPRR Geneva Subdivision" means something to me and to some model railroad enthusiast, the casual blog surfer has no idea what the blog is about. So, I am looking for a catchy blog name that will generate interest and will communicate that the blog is about a high quality n scale model train layout.
The contest will have two parts. The first part will be submission of new blog names. Only blog names submitted by blog followers will be considered. So, to be in the contest, you will need to be registered as a follower of my blog and then submit your blog name through a comment to this post or any subsequent post. You are not limited in the number of blog names you can submit.
The second part will be voting for the new blog name. I will select my favorite five submitted blog names and then everyone will be able to vote for their favorite name. You will not have to be a follower to vote and you can vote multiple times, but no more than once per day.
Of course, the winner of the Atlas GE B23-7 will be whoever submitted the winning blog name. They will also win the satisfaction that they named the best N scale blog on the web, which we all know is worth much more than a locomotive :)
I'm not sure how long each part will last, but I am thinking a couple of weeks for each. I will post when each part will end a couple of days beforehand so any last minute submissions or votes can be made.
I will be posting a video of the overall layout to inform and inspire you. I hope this contest is a lot of fun for everyone and helps give the blog a great name. Please feel feel to let others on the web know about the contest, the more participants the better!
Here's the loco. The contest starts now!

Shore Detail, UP Bridge Shop & Thomas & Betts

2011-12-23T22:49:00.001-06:00

I'm almost much done with the Mississippi River/Clinton area of the layout. I added ladders to the shore area, added a paved road across the tracks for access to Thomas & Betts, put in a gravel road, weathered the roadways & parking lots, put in some background buildings, planted some telephone poles and added a few people. The background buildings are from an old Heljan slaughterhouse kit that is now on its fourth layout. I've gotten my money's worth out of that one! Only thing left to do is add some static grass and put a background picture where the road ends at the backdrop. I will hopefully get to the static grass next week but won't get to the background picture until things get green again in the spring and I can take an appropriate picture somewhere.
The next areas of the layout I am going to tackle are the Proviso warehouses and ballasting the Proviso Yard. I may try to get to the prototype Proviso Yard next week and get some pictures but I won't be able to begin construction until after Christmas break. If I have time I may also try to weather some engines and the BLMA spine cars during break; maybe even one more video. Stay tuned.

I'm Getting in the Christmas Spirit!!!

2011-12-20T10:11:00.001-06:00

Being an educator in a Christian school, I never find it hard to get into the Christmas spirit each year. With Christmas programs, decorations, faculty devotions, religion class lessons, etc. its hard not to feel the Christmas cheer. Today is our last school day before Christmas break and we just sang Christmas songs as part of the chapel service I led. The children are now watching movies and having parties between lessons the teacher's are trying to still fit into the day (this is school after all!). This afternoon I'll be at the bowling alley with the 5th through 8th grade students and then Christmas break officially begins at 3:00 p.m.

I thought I would share a little Christmas spirit with all of you by uploading a short video I shot last night. I'll probably post a few more items over the next couple of weeks as I'll have some time to work on the layout.

I hope all of you have a great Christmas and a wonderful new year.

More Progress on Thomas & Betts

2011-12-18T21:53:00.001-06:00

I used my airbrush to apply Floquil reefer white and Floquil earth to the Thomas and Betts plant in Clinton, IA. Also added doors windows, vents and roof detail. I am in search of a good source of a large rooftop air conditioner to complete the project. I got a bunch of nice details a while back from a company that only sold via their website, but I can't remember their name. They had air conditioners, dumpsters, air vents, wood crates, pallets and more. If you have any ideas, let me know. I also put in the parking lot, gravel lot and put ballast on the spur track. A few vehicles and other details were also added.

While I was putting in the parking lot, I decided to put in a road to the bridge shops that are right next to the western exit of the rotating bridge. The shops are for maintaining and operating the bridge. The two buildings do not match the prototype structures, but they will do for now. In fact, I probably won't get back to scratch building the correct prototypes until after a whole lot of other project s are completed on the layout. I also did some work on the riverbank area. I included below some prototype pics for reference.
Sometime during Christmas break I plan to weather the road and add static grass around the area.

Thomas & Betts ready for Painting

2011-12-12T14:17:00.000-06:00

I'm ready to paint the Thomas & Betts plant. Since the last post, I completed the roofing on all three structures, added the vertical storage storage tanks, added the passageway between the two tall towers and built the small roof access structure to one of the roofs. I will still need to add the large air conditioner as well as other assorted details. I made the storage tanks out of 1" PVC pipe. Once the building are painted, I will install the windows and doors.

Thomas & Betts

2011-12-08T07:13:00.000-06:00

While I may still come back to the Mississippi River for some tweaking, I have decided to move on and tackle the Thomas & Betts plant right next to the bridge. On Black Friday, while Patti was shopping, I took a trip to Clinton IA to snap some pictures of the plant and, of course, some more of the bridge. Below is a couple of pictures of the facility. My favorite, by the way, is the third one taken while standing under the bridge.

It appears that the taller white buildings are the original structures while the Morton style structure was added on later. While the Morton building occupies much more square footage than the original structures, the original are much more visible due to their height. I do not have near enough space for the entire facility, so I opted to include the original white structures only somewhat downsized, but greatly reducing the size of the Morton style structure. I used Evergreen styrene .060 sheet and .020X.100 strips for the main structure along with Grant Line windows. For the Morton building I used a modified Pikestuff engine facility kit. I'll post more pictures as I complete the plant.

Mississippi River Bridge - Finishing Touch

2011-10-30T16:53:00.001-05:00

Final piece of the Mississippi River bridge is the stairway up to the control house which I did this afternoon. I've been putting together an article about the contruction of the bridge. Which magazine should I submit it to; Model Railroader, N Scale Railroading or N Scale? I'm leaning toward N scale Model Railroading, have not decided for sure.

FIRE!!! (almost)

2011-10-16T07:03:00.000-05:00

Last week there was burning odor in the basement that I could not identify. It had an electrical burn smell that was pretty strong. When I went into the Franklin Grove / Rochelle room the smell was even stronger. I checked the entire layout, especially the underside, but could not find the source. I even had my wife, who has a very strong sense of smell, come down and check, but she could not find it either. I finally concluded that it must be one of the florescent light ballast burning out so I turned off the lights and the layout to see if the smell would go away. After a couple of hours the smell did decline and then eventually went away altogether. I still used the layout over the past few days, but never more than an hour or so and the smell stayed away. I figured the lights needed to be on for a few hours before the burning would begin again. Yesterday, I was running the BNSF switcher in Rochelle when I needed to move some auto-racks from the BNSF tracks that I had hastily put there when the BLMA spine cars came in and I needed a train to put them on. This is what I found under one of the auto-racks. Looks like I did not put the auto-racks on the track correctly and one of the wheels shorted out the turnout. You can't see this from the picture, but the insulated wheel closest to the short was melted off the axle. What I can't figure out is why the short did not trip the PM42 power manager which was set to trip at @ 3.5 amps. Even with all the soot, the turnout frog passes the "quarter" test. Anyway, I set the PM42's to trip @ 1.5 amps. This new setting may cause a problem during operating sessions. We'll see. The auto-rack actually looks kinda cool. Might just keep it that way.

Newest Model Railroad

2011-10-14T14:49:00.000-05:00

Our daughter Kelly and her husband Dan are proad parents of Patti and my third gradechild and the newest model railroader Zayden Daniel Avicola. He's quite adorable as you can see!

One More Mississippi River Video

2011-10-13T12:59:00.000-05:00

Okay, this is the last Mississippi River post for a while. I need to move on to other areas of the layout. I think I am obsessing on this project!