# Squirrel Creek Photos



## wvgca (Jan 21, 2013)

just a switcher working the sawmill ..


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

Nice:smilie_daumenpos:........black and white, everyone must be waiting for colored pictures.


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## tjcruiser (Jan 10, 2010)

Love these!

But where are the model train pics?!?


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## MtRR75 (Nov 27, 2013)

big ed said:


> Nice:smilie_daumenpos:........black and white, everyone must be waiting for colored pictures.


No color film in the 1890s. Makes it hard to get the colors right -- prototype photos only come in black and white.

So you solved the problem. You build a black-and-white layout -- CLEVER!


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## wvgca (Jan 21, 2013)

i just like the old time look of greyscale photos... .. this little switcher, brand unknown, never did have a tender when i got it, so i chopped up an old flatcar, added sides, and some firewood load, plus wipers on both trucks for extra power pickup points, dc only, not much room for a decoder, but this critter is kinda cute, lol


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

Looks like the one guy is hitchhiking.


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## Fire21 (Mar 9, 2014)

wvgca said:


> but this critter is kinda cute, lol


You're right, I like the looks of the whole setup!


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## wvgca (Jan 21, 2013)

had the urge to take a few more photos this evening, for some reason the gallery here shows the exact same image for all previews, so they went on google ..here's one, there are a couple dozen more new ones


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## IlliniViking (Dec 13, 2009)

Love this photo, the background blends right in, looks so natural. Great job!!


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## Patrick1544 (Apr 27, 2013)

More impressive and Old Time in black and white.


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## dsertdog56 (Oct 26, 2014)

Love the b&w shots...very lifelike!


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## mtoney (Oct 6, 2012)

Also love the period look of black and white. Along with the logging theme. I am a HUGE logging fan myself. Mike


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

wvgca said:


> had the urge to take a few more photos this evening, for some reason the gallery here shows the exact same image for all previews, so they went on google ..



That is an on going problem here. It started way back in 2012. 

http://www.modeltrainforum.com/showthread.php?t=16843&highlight=gallery+problem

I took all my pictures out as they were all over the place and I wanted to organize them.
When I went to reload them I saw that problem and started that thread.

No one here can fix it! :goofball::smilie_daumenneg:

I think it is a loss for the site, I just don't have any pictures there anymore and hardly ever even go to look.

You would think "someone" in charge could fix it.
John tried....I think the owners don't care? I think his requests went unanswered?:smokin: 
(Edit, they were answered but not fixed.):dunno:

Somehow ,I think it would be an easy fix for them, something, somewhere, is set up wrong?hwell:


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## wvgca (Jan 21, 2013)

two for today..


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## wvgca (Jan 21, 2013)

tonight's project is an old bachmann john bull display queen, it didn't run so it sat for a few years,until tonight anyways..turned out that the power transfer springs [two] were both missing, and kadee sprung truck springs fit perfectly ... and added a fireman with shovel .. .. there is no room for a dcc decoder, well maybe a real small 'n scale' one..and no lights are installed, so it will probably go on ebay ...


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## wvgca (Jan 21, 2013)

added six scratch built flat cars to the revenue roster....30 foot, frame is walmart paint stir stick, bolsters are coffee stir sticks, deck is leftover from a water tower kit .. tichy arch bar trucks, intermountain .088 semi scale metal wheelsets, kadee standard size whisker couplers... brake gear should show up in a couple of weeks ... these turned out to have a noticeable 'sway back' to them, came after I dipped them in my alcohol / india ink wash, but I'm okay with it, they look well used,


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## wvgca (Jan 21, 2013)

i added some more tichy 22 ft ore cars a while ago, and made a b&w video for youtube ..
here's the link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xk9Kb8frBqg


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## tjcruiser (Jan 10, 2010)

Nice! When you zoomed out halfway --- between 0:18 and 0:22 -- that looked incredibly realistic!


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## Fire21 (Mar 9, 2014)

That is incredibly awesome! Aside from the missing smoke, that just looks real! Straight out of the annals of history!


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## vikramgoel (Mar 2, 2015)

Hi,

Is the bridge hand made, it looks very impressive.

Regards,

Vik.


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## wvgca (Jan 21, 2013)

vikramgoel said:


> Hi,
> 
> Is the bridge hand made, it looks very impressive.
> 
> ...


the small bridges are nothing more than round bamboo skewers cut to size, both for bents and track supports, all of them ... the long trestle had square strip wood bents, and some strip wood added for the walkway, and the diagonal bracing... miniwax wood stain, india ink wash, and some fine tip permanent marker dots for bolt heads on the long trestle ...shown in post #8, 
lately I have been thinking of doing a 'half trestle' where one side of the track i supported by rock, and the other side by simple post / beam supports, might be a winter project yet...


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## vikramgoel (Mar 2, 2015)

wvgca said:


> the small bridges are nothing more than round bamboo skewers cut to size, both for bents and track supports, all of them ... the long trestle had square strip wood bents, and some strip wood added for the walkway, and the diagonal bracing... miniwax wood stain, india ink wash, and some fine tip permanent marker dots for bolt heads on the long trestle ...shown in post #8,
> lately I have been thinking of doing a 'half trestle' where one side of the track i supported by rock, and the other side by simple post / beam supports, might be a winter project yet...


It is very impressive.
Regards,

Vik


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## wvgca (Jan 21, 2013)

finally got enough ambition to do the half trestle that i had been thinking about for a while ...start to finish photos


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## wvgca (Jan 21, 2013)

forgot to turn greyscale off .. here's the last one in 'new fangled' colour


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## Fire21 (Mar 9, 2014)

Hey, that's cool! Despite the B&W, the step by step pics are neat! Good job.


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## MtRR75 (Nov 27, 2013)

Nice work. I'll bet they really did stuff like that on 1800s logging railroads -- no federal inspectors, temporary tracks which were not being used by anybody else, the drive for profit. All of that probably led to lots of short-cuts -- some of which worked and some of which didn't.


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## wvgca (Jan 21, 2013)

not just a short cut, but well within the Squirrel Creek Railroad's budget of 38 cents, lol .. I looked for prototype photos, but couldn't find anything.


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

wvgca said:


> not just a short cut, but well within the Squirrel Creek Railroad's budget of 38 cents, lol .. I looked for prototype photos, but couldn't find anything.



Yes, but then add in at least $50 bucks per hour for labor.:smilie_daumenpos:

You do nice work, and on a shoestring budget too. 
I went to your link and was looking at the pictures you have there.
First time I have noticed the link? Have you had that there from the beginning?

I look at so much stuff here on the site I may have forgotten that I looked at it already.
Do you have any somewhere of the whole layout in one shot?:smilie_daumenpos:


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## wvgca (Jan 21, 2013)

big ed ... no photos here of the whole layout, but there are some from a year ago on the SCARM website, along with the track plan .. and he also has some photos with most of the scenery done in a seperate blog entry, again on the SCARM website..
here are the two links
http://www.scarm.info/layouts/track_plans.php?ltp=48
http://www.scarm.info/blog/railroad-layouts-and-design-ideas/the-squirrel-creek-layout-in-ho/


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## MtRR75 (Nov 27, 2013)

Unique, impressive layout -- especially built in 14 months. In the last 14 months, all I have been able to do is work on track and wiring issues on my 4' x 8' layout. But I had (up until a month ago) a full time job, along with family issues, house renovation issues, and 2 other hobbies.).

By the way the text in the SCARM blog incorrectly lists your layout as 1980s Steam (instead of 1880s).


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## wvgca (Jan 21, 2013)

actual build time was fairly short, I grain farm , and when there is snow on the ground I have an abundance of spare time, so that was when the layout got some attention, pretty much nothing the rest of the time ... I probably spent more time waiting for things to set / dry than I did building, first winter was framework, plywood, foam glue down, and wiring, second winter was track, plaster and scenery... I think I only put in one hour in the morning, and one hour in the evening most days, but kept at it .


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## wvgca (Jan 21, 2013)

spent an hour on a bachmann climax this evening, added decals and matte overcoat, a coat of grimy black to lighten it and help bring out details, and a light under spray of grey for road grime, but very little .. loco is probably twenty years newer than the 1890 era that I model... but close enough..


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## Magic (Jan 28, 2014)

That looks pretty cool,:smilie_daumenpos: fits right in with the layout. :appl::appl:

Your Climax looks much better than my Shay.   

Magic


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## wvgca (Jan 21, 2013)

thanks magic...
this is my second layout, and i find it relaxing just to spend an hour on small little changes now .. no urge to change track [yet] .. only runs maybe once a week during the summer, and haven't wiped down track for probably close to a year now...still chuggin along ..


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## jwbegor (Jul 11, 2015)

That little engine in the first couple pictures looks exactly like the tyco engine I have. It's the most reliable engine I have. It's the smallest, but it pulls a lot of cars. Mine didn't have a tender either, but the one that is supposed to go to it is a slant backed tender. I have a tender on mine that's a new york central, not sure what it came from, looks just a touch too big. But does the job.


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## Torsion (Dec 25, 2013)

Very impressive, love all the confer trees and the way the background works so well with them and the rolling hills. :thumbsup:


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