Early June Update

June is here and with it comes some fantastic scenery completion along Grays Siding between Gerhard and Grays Lake. This post we will take a look at scenery progress, CWE shoutout, and look at future posts planned.

SCENERY PROGRESS

Over the weekend I jumped right into thick of the scenery process. For some time this scene has bee developing, but until I had the ballast down I did not want to start the "green" scenic process. In my last post we discussed the gluing in ballast and the base layer of dirt. Now it was time to add static grass mats, tufts, and flock-turf materials.

The north side of the tracks really sprouted to life!

Like all good projects I needed the right materials. In this case whitr glue, floxk-turf, various coarse turfs, pipette, isopropyl alcohol, and reference photos.

     Material staging at Gerhard

  Google street view reference photos of the area of Michigan I am representing.

While flock-turf from Scenic Express was used, other materials were used to help bring out the texture. Heki 1573 WildGrass was used as the primary static type grass. For more info on using this material I recommend viewing Thomas Klimoski's video on his Youtube Channel. He walks through step by step using this material to cover a hillside on his HO scale Georgia Northeastern. Search "Thomas Klimoski" it should come right up.

So over three nights the ballast, groundcover, and grasses were added. The area between the corn field and high overpass embankment will need to be filled in with SuperTrees which I plan to make this weekend. Enjoy a few more pictures, my goal is to have this scene mostly 95% complete by the NMRA Lone Star Region Convention. 

Rough fitting the highway overpass in. I picked up Plastruct components at Angelos Hobbies yesterday so this scene will be next to complete.

Ballast work complete in the curve. The local siding (closest) is less groomed than the concrete tie main and passing siding. The embankment between corn field and right of way will receive WildGRASS and flock-turf tonight.

Overall view looking east - the results were exactly what I was hoping to achieve.

Closeup of highway embankment showing the scenic texture added.

CWE SHOUTOUT

Wanted to congratulate Tom Patterson on being published in this months RMC. Not only was he published in, but he railroad is featured on the cover.

    Cover preview - article is fantastic

While I have not met Tom personally we do support each other's Blogs with links that you will find on our pages. Helping establish our railroad franchises both in the 70s (CWE) and 2016 (MCIS) one of my customers (Michigan Sugar) at Upper Huron recieves coke from Follansbee, WV which is served by the modern day CWE and WLE. Could there be a MCIS predecessor railroad car on the CWE someday....? Could be... Be sure to check out each or blogs often for updates. 

CWE cars fresh from shop work on Virginia Midland before going back into revenue service.

CWE 125360 and 125379 on M-PHBA-28 heading through Upper Huron towards Bay Yard. Once switched to the L-BAPB they will be back to Upper Huron for spotting at Michigan Sugar.

FUTURE POST PLANNING

One exciting part of writing this blog beyond just providing monthly updates is creating content from reader suggestions. Between feedback from the blog and Facebook Freelance Model Railroad comments here are a few topics for future writing.

- HIWIDE Handling on the MCIS

- Consist Power Planning

- Layout Map / Diagram

- Engineers View of the St. Clair Sub

- Behind the Scenes (Benchwork, Lighting, Wiring, Control Systems)

- MCIS Predecessor Roads

These topics will keep me busy through the summer but if there is something you want to see or understand more about let me know via comments. The input by you the reader is important and greatly appreciated. Well this wraps up the Early June Update, ha great weekend!

GM

Foreign Model RR Equipment - Part 2

Some time ago I had posted part 1 of 2 in my foreign railroad equipment series. The time between each of the posts was longer than originally expected, but none the less here we are. In Part Two we are going to explore MCIS railcars at home on other model railroads.

If you haven't had a chance to review part 1, provided is the link to get caught up before reading part two.

Foreign Model RR Equipment - Part 1

But before we look at MCIS on other freelance railroads, there is one newly added freelance model railroad railcar that I want to showcase.

Chesapeake, Wheeling, and Erie - CWE

Alot of modeling license was used to accelerate Tom Patterson's CWE from the 1970s to 2015. This goes to show that not only have cars been back dated for other railroads that we will see below, but they also have been moved forward into the future.

CWE125379 at Michigan Sugar awaiting unload. An important lifeblood commodity on the St. Clair Sub is the processed products from sugar beets. To extract this product coke is needed to be burned with limestone. Michigan has plenty of limestone locally that is trucked in but the coke is sourced from the Appalachians. The CWE, WLE, and MCIS formed a coke railcar pool transporting product from Mountain State Carbon at Follansbee, West Virginia to Michigan Sugar at Upper Huron, Michigan. 

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Now we are going to look at MCIS railcars on two other freelance model railroads. 

Virginia Midland Railroad - VMID

Out east there are quite a few Michigan Interstate cars roaming around on the VMID. Since this railroad is set in the 1990s the equipment seen here is different than what you find on home railcars set in current day.

VMID GP39-2 #274 spots MCIS7282 at Mid-Atlantic Feeds for unloading. This PS 4427 cubic hopper is carrying corn for use in making animal / livestock feeds. These cars date back to the late 1970s and would be off roster around 2008 being replaced by larger capacity cars such as the PS 4750 and Trinity 5161 cubic hoppers. 

VMID GP11 #280 pulls MCIS8347 empty from Klotz Distributors. Wood paneling products from Michigans northern lower peninsula criss-cross the country to distributors or finishers which in this case happens to be Klotz. These ACF 70 ton boxcars while much more weathered are still active on the general fleet in 2015. 

Here we see 9800 series 2 bay covered hoppers in Sand service at Rappahannock Aggregate. The majority of these are in cement service within the great lakes serving numerous cement plants, but a small subfleet of the cars were in service hauling sand from Michigan Dunes to states along the Atlantic and Canadian Maritimes. In 2014 the fleet was beginning to show its age and by October the last of the cars were retired from service. In their place customers opted to obtain their own lease fleets of newer higher capacity cars. 

In reality when these cars were "retired in 2014" they were physically shipped to Shannon's VMID where they "returned to service" in the 1990s era. Provided is a link to a post showcasing this change. 
2 Bay Hopper Attrition

Washington Northern Railroad - WN

With cars in the east there we cars bound to be in the west as well. Kevin Kletkke, owner of the WN snapped two shots of Michigan Interstate equipment out in Washington state. Like the VMID the WN is set in the 1990s era.

Provided is a link to view his published WN Bulletin featuring the MCIS railcars.
Washington Northern Railroad - Bulletin #7

MCIS2930 is in processed aggregate service hauling lime, cement products, or foundry sand to name a few. LDM materials and St. Marys cement have both transitioned to their own lease fleets of Trinity 3281 Cubic hoppers. 

MCIS72829 is apart of a nationwide boxcar pool handling various types of autoparts around the country. These smaller cars were replaced by second hand acquisition of larger 60' Plate F Berwick and new build Gunderson cars. 

There are a three other model railroads that have MCIS equipment in the works or active but unfortunately I do not have any pictures to share at this time. Thank You to all of the layout owners for letting the Michigan Interstate Railroad be apart of your operations.

These two posts not only show another dimension that freelance model railroading provides, but also allows you to develop great friendships in the hobby. You never know what kind of conversations will come up when someone sees that freelance railcar or locomotive for the first time.

- GM

Washington Northern Railroad - WN

Saginaw Valley Model Railroad Club - SRV

Early July Update

Well June and its significant rainfall is now gone, but the scorching heat and humidity of a Texas July is in full swing. Back earlier this summer I outlined what projects I had planned for June, July, and August in hopes to complete them. I am happy to report that June's sound install project (LHT #02) is complete and both P2K GP38-2s (MCIS 3827 and MCIS 3833) are operating and sounding fantastic. Being able to complete this and have our second child was quite a feat. Thanks to my wife for giving me time in the evenings while the kids were asleep to complete the project. This post we are going to focus on the recent motive power and rolling stock additions, while the Mid-July post will dive into the July project which entails adding scenery to Bay Yard.

MCIS 4052 and CN 6256 lead the M-PHBA-07 through Upper Huron, MI.

Motive Power
Earlier this spring three MCIS motors and one CN motor were sent to VMS in Virginia for sound installation, and other wok. VMS otherwise known as Virginia Midland Shops is work that my friend and fellow modeler Shannon Crabtree completes for me. Just prior to the July 4th holiday VMS completed work on two MCIS EMD SD40-2s and one CN EMD SD40-3 arriving back on property just before the holiday. I happened to be at the right place at the right time to capture two of the motors heading up the M-PHBA-07 through Upper Huron yesterday.

MCIS 4052 (EMD SD40-2) closeup.

CN 6256 (EMD SD40-3) trailing. Last I checked the prototype motor was operating up on CN''s DMIR property.

MCIS 4056 at Bay Yard receiving inspection, ditch light, and air conditioner installation.

Rolling Stock
Trailing behind the power on the M-PHBA-07 were three railcars that are new to the St. Clair Subdivision and also represent new business for the railroad.

Pipe load for Alaska
TR874111 is carrying banded pipe out of Wolverine Steel Products at Marine City heading to the Fairbanks, Alaska via ARR barge at Seattle, WA.

Railcar is Atlas 73' model with custom pipe load created by a local friend and fellow modeler in the Fort Worth area.

A future post will showcase many of the unique and awesome open top loads that his modeler has created.

Closeup of load - meticulous detail with each bundle wrapped individually.

Coke for Sugar Beet Production
CWE 125379 and CWE 125360 from Tom Patterson's Chesapeake, Wheeling & Erie are carrying coke destined to Michigan Sugar at Upper Huron. Once these cars reach Bay Yard at the terminus of the M-PHBA-06 they will then return to Upper Huron on the Port Belle Turn (R-BAPB). This is a great win for the railroad as in the past the coke was being trucked out of Detroit, but with a pooled supply of cars from CWE and MCIS a product pipeline will be in place to deliver anywhere from 2 to 6 cars a week depending on the sugar production needs.

Both railcars are Bowser 100 ton models. 

These modernized 100 ton hoppers were painted, decaled, and weathered by Shannon Crabtree's Virginia Midland Shops before heading to the CWE for loadout. More to follow on these cars in my next foreign railroad equipment post.

Later on this weekend I will be posting my Mid-July update focusing on this months project at Bay Yard.

GM