The world is unfolding as it should.  But is unfolding late.  We are behind schedule by about a month.  The final piece of the puzzle is in my garage so I can putts away very early in the morning or late into the evening.

We made a pattern for “the hole” behind Summerland and the saw mill so I could cut it out of a sheet of plywood and then build the hill on that.  We had a small store of 2 inch pink insulation at the museum and that was quickly put to good use.

It doesn’t look like much here but the plywood fits the hole and it will be high enough once the scenery is added.  It was cut so that the canyon road would be narrow and well hidden while there would be a high meadow behind the mill.

We cut new trees for this ‘out front’ section of the layout.  Cedar shingles were cut in 1/4 inch strips and then rounded off using course sand paper.  Accidental breaking of parts insured trees of varying height.  Furnace filter material is hard to find now as they have all gone to using paper but if you look around…….

It was cut in small pieces, sprayed with various old rattle cans of brown, green and yellow paint and then they were tossed into a sack of fine Woodland Scenics material.  They were set to dry over night.  After the ground cover was applied they were planted in place for effect.

Ready for the layout.  This is the sawmill side of the hill with the meadow rising up from the valley at the right.  I will try mightily to keep cows and ATVs off the property but I will loose that fight.

The same side of the hill as seen from the mill.  The logging road winds away out of sight at the top center just as planned.  Buildings are already missing from the mill  because scenery people are never allowed to finish.  New lights are being installed.

This is the remote, almost impassable, logging road through the canyon.

The road to the saw mill curves off to the left and is hidden from view as intended.  This was built to give the scene some drama because nothing else was going on in this corner.  Apart from:  Two family cars, an old station wagon, a wrecker called to a stopped car, a guy and his kid flying a model airplane, A semi without a trailer, two flashing RR crossing signals and a large sawdust carrier.  All with headlights, tail lights and rooftop beacons as required by law.

Six mountain sheep are on order but they will find a much quieter hillside to graze and raise a family.

Summerland Project 8A.  Fixing the public “go” button.

Problem:  When the public pressed the GO button on the layout they started three trains moving from station A to B, B to C and C to A.  That was good.  If they pressed it again while the trains were running the whole program of DC/DCC got screwed up and crashes occurred with some regularity.  That ws bad.

Solution:  Create a cct that would start the DC/DCC program AND turn itself off.

We found something we could work with on EBay.  These programable timer/relays could be tied together to provide a start trigger for the DC/DCC realy timer (20 seconds on and then off) and 4 seconds later, break the line to the start button for 180 seconds.  That insured that the trains had time to get to the next station – and stop – before being set in motion again.

Investment $22.00 and a whole bunch of time.

Hi to everyone in the Okanagan area.  Penticton and south to Vernon and the north.

        For a long time nothing seemed to be happening.  Now it’s starting to take shape and I can see the end picture.

       The water fall is finished and so is the bridge over the canyon and it looks fine.  People notice right away that there is a guy with a wire guided model airplane up on a hill overlooking the canyon and his little plane skims right through the trees.  Close call.

       The new mountain side is finished where the track diverts from the main line into the new sawmill.  Wiring had already been done do it will be a simple matter to add an LED to light up the tool shed.  Operating signals protect the single track into Penticton.

       The sawmill itself is finished.  We’ll hook up the building lights tomorrow and install and hook up the area lights so workers can move around at night.  The fires will be burning in the beehive burner but there will only be smoke if I can find a USAT smoke generator with a timer and overheat shutoff.

       There is a passing/shipping siding off the main line as well as a longer term spur where workers can load and unload over a longer period.

       Okanagan Lumber Ltd.  ships out finished lumber in a number of standard sizes, large apple boxes and some finished specialty work.  They import all the of the tools and supplies that keep an operation like this going 27/7.

       Seen front to real, left to right:  The office is under the water tower and next to the parking lot.  They can watch shipping in and out from there as well as monitor the raw lumber as it arrives in the back yard.   Next door, under the big Oak, is the machine shop.  The stuff they can do there.  Wow!

       Behind them on the left is the shipping crew quarters and company first aid station On the right is the main saw that can take care of common sizes pretty much automatically.   Behind that building is the specialty shop.  They so special orders using special wood in odd sizes.

        Farther back is waste control.  They feed the burner and pick out any lumber that might have a use in the box shop.  Behind that is te boxshop making apple boxes for stores and orchards.

        This is a busy place.  It was also pointed out to me today that after it was all finished there are people who cannot reach the tracks with their hands.  Too far away.  That was not expected to matter but there are solutions in the works.  As Matlock used to say, “Ain’t nothin easy.”

        Back when things are running again.

       Week 6 has been one of those weeks that seem like two.  In fact it has been two.   Side jobs, wiring etc, were taking up time and resources so now it’s back to rebuilding the Summerland peninsula.  All the material is together so…

        It took about three days of mixing and setting plaster casts to get the side of the hills prepared in and around the sawmill. In reality this is a wall that visually separates the sawmill operating space with the Summerland space so it has to look appropriate from both sides.  

       Not many details can be seen from here except that we go through a great deal of Hydrocal and make extensive use of one foot square molds.  Smaller molds and it would have taken forever and well, I wouldn’t have tried to do it this way at all.  

       Trains have been running for the public for a week.  This keeps them coming and it keeps the track clean so when we finally get finished doing scenery we won’t be trying to sort through problems.  That great hole in the center foreground will be finished on my garage floor and set in place.  Not a fan of this because it’s a great deal of extra work, can more often than not look awful, and is of no advantage in this location apart from gaining initial access to scenery building.  After that….?

       My primary concern over the past week has been the canyon at the end of the layout.  It’s a new feature and in a business class location so much effort has gone into it already and it’s only 1/2 finished.

       The plan is to create a tea coloured stream and a late summer waterfall under the curved trestle between Summerland and the sawmill. The rockwork was time consuming and these water features take many small steps to get right but it’s taking shape.   The finishing touches on the trestle are on my workbench at home and the stream will soon be painted and the final coat of gloss will be applied.

       When I get back here the mountain sides will be done and I’ll be thinking about the sawmill scene.

       The canyon is almost finished.  The waterfall is in place and the high walls of the canyon disappear in the treas far to the back.  Almost no sunlight reaches down into the water below.

       So what is this water anyway?

       Out club got this 2 part epoxy from an estate and we have no idea what type it is and of course, out of the box, we have no idea what the instructions are.  Apart from being advised that we should not induce vomiting and the volume of the containers only suggests a 2 to 1 ratio we have nothing.

        If anyone can identify these containers and give us a clue about their use we would be grateful because I’m sure as the devil not going to spoil hours of work by pouring the unknown stuff on our river.

       You can leave comments here or contact us at wvrr@shaw.ca

       It’s been one of those weeks where you work every day and there doesn’t seem to be anything to show for it.  We’ve all had those.

       In this case w have finished the scenery all the way to the end of the Summerland area and a little around the corner in order to have a nice scene when the public is back upstairs.  I think they will like what we have done to date.

       This small shed is home to the signal protecting the single track between Summerland and the siding at Okanagan Lumber Ltd.  John will detail this are when we are ready to reinstall the glass but already he has put lights in the building and installed a fellow with a bright green lantern.  So bright we had to tone it down as it blinded some members.

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       Best news is we finally received our orchard and it looks as if we’ll have a great crop of Ambrosia Apples if the weather holds up.  We really lucked in there by putting in what would become the most popular apple in Canada if not the world.  Yeah for us!  

       We’re still fixing up the old farm house.  When the mice move out we will get in there and at least paint the place.  Right now it’s being used to store last fall’s small crop.

5-2

       Another quick look at all the wiring that’s going on under Summerland.  It has been a great success and so we are expanding the program to include a complex section of wiring under Penticton.  That will ental adding an entire new terminal panel and a series of small regulated power supplies.  In the end it will be much better for all of us. 

       Thanks John.  Great job.

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       So your not going to see many pretty pictures for a week or so.  I’m going to be working my way through 60 pounds of Hydrocal.  Ugly work.  Nothing to see here.  Talk soon though.

This is the 25th February 2014 copy of our Annual Swap Meet poster.  I will keep it current and date any new information.  It would be great if you passed it around for all to see.  Make copies.  See you there.

2014 Swap meet poster

….and don’t be afraid to give us a call if you have any further questions.  

          Things move along slowly.  I can usually get 14 to 20 inches of this ‘shelf’ part of the layout sceniced in a basic way every couple of days then I just move on down the line.  Things are pretty much predetermined as to what it will kook like so no surprises.

           At the tunnel entrance we opted for a short spur and maintenance workers shack.  John Green reinstalled the track signal light used to protect the single track over the bridge and one of his lighted pickups.  I put in the simple overhead light.

            It was a challenge blending in the new hillside scenery with the old, scene here, because it was produced using a completely different method.  No one will notice. 

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          The Summerland station has been lighted up, completely reconditioned and given a place of honour now rather than being lost and unused near a curve on a hillside.  It even has it’s own station track now as well as a lengthy passing siding.

          This lovely little wood and paper model was built for us by a modeller in Summerland.  A copy can be seen at the Summerland museum. 

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          This 9 foot long display has been divided into four small vignettes offering different scenes that have undefined borders blending into one.  This forest scene, is something on it’s own but it simply divides the busier station scene from the quiet orchard at the end of the siding.

          Nearly all of the trees are made in-house by our members.  We have a busy night once a year cutting up cider shingles, furnace filters and spraying them with cheap rattle cans.  Dropped wet in a box of ground foam and they’re done.

          This year, for variety, we added smaller trees from on-line China and some higher end Woodland Scenics products.

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          We have finished the loading platform for the orchard.  No.  There are no mainline tracks running through and stopping in orchards around here but it’s our railway so…..

          Also, it gives us an opportunity to add more lights and these will look very nice as guests reach the top of the stairs. That, besides our operating needs, is the reason we do all this.

4-4 

          Here is a bit of an overview showing the first leg of the rebuild.  This section has to be finished by the end of February.  Not done yet but the farm house and the orchard at the lower left will finish it off nicely.  I expect to have the glass back in place just after the weekend of the 22/23^rd.  Then we can move at a gentler pace inside the horseshoe.

4-5

         I must mention the hours and hours of work that has gone on unseen under this whole section.  Old wiring removed; new colour coded wires are in place and properly identified on electrical panels and terminal boards.   Various power supply buss is simplified and easy to find.  As it always should be.  

         The new track has undergone a serious test period while we have been making progress with the scenery.  This will keep the track nice and clean because we sure don’t want to be cleaning 700 feet of track when we welcome in the public in March. 

          So we completed shaping the landscape in the Summerland and new sawmill area so we could find out what worked and what did not.  The Summerland station had to be visually isolated from the rest of the layout.  That was easy.  There was going to be a new curved trestle over a mountain stream.  Fun but not easy.  A completely new sawmill.  Not easy again.

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          Back in Summerland the station was rebuilt and connected to a platform that would serve two RDC’s and a small spur was created to store track maintenance equipment.  Remote turnouts were installed and tested because they would be located behind glass.

        All of the hills were completed except the one large ‘hole’ in the center that we would use to gain access with the construction of the mill and other scenery.  That would be finished last. 

        Holes were drilled where there would be street and platform lighting and John Green was under the layout removing many layers of old wiring so all the new wires would be neat and easily identified.  This is the 3^rd resurrection in this area so you can just imagine the mess under there.

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        There was also room made for a sizable orchard and a farmhouse.  This was served by a short spur that would accommodate a pair of 8 hatch refers.  I think we can get 12 – 16 fruit trees in that area so it will be quite impressive. 

        Also planned is a typical viaduct water system that was used 80 years ago and now lies derelict but plainly visible as a sort of Summerland signature.

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        One of the slow-motion switch machines could not be located below track level so it was mounted beside the track.  John Green installed it and built a great little building that would cover it.

        This area is going to be quite difficult to finish.  Too much dramatic scenery in too short a space.  Waterfalls and bridges and all.

3-4 

          Once the shapes were finalized (Glue soaked paper towel over chicken wire) we started the application of rock faces placed over the most vertical surfaces.  We use 50 Lb bags of Hydrocal that we pick up at a local building supply company.  It acts as quickly as plaster of Paris at 1/5^th the price with our cost being about $25.00 a bag.

          A little trouble reared its head on day one.  Our ½ bag of Hydrocal had been left open for some time and the powder refused to work.  Add water and it just got wet.  The chemical work had already been completed in the bag.  Out she goes.

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         Fill for the scenery is hard to come by in the winter because I just use beach sand or well washed and strained road gravel.  This fills in the rough shapes in the scenery and gives the overall landscape a smoother more natural rolling look. 

        Wayne to the rescue.  There was some fine clean sand in his barn.  This was applied to the hillside and covered with Woodland Scenics material and given a good soaking.  I can install the beginnings of a forest tomorrow.