New Power at Herrin

I recently purchased a BLI Paragon 4 locomotive that is DCC equipped along with a capacitor that allows the loco to navigate dirty and imperfect track sections. It is certainly not a cheap loco, but I feel the added features of sound and the capacitor make it well worth the cost. Definitely a game-changer for my layouts!

I plan on utilizing this on my main layout, the Owensville Terminal OASIS District, but also plan to use it on the Herrin Micro.  I recorded a video of the event and you can view it below:

Switching at Herrin

I  dusted off the Herrin Micro Layout to do some switching. The layout has been sitting dormant for about 8 months. My BLI Trackmobile has not been working very well for me lately, so I dug out an old Athearn Blue Box locomotive I purchased back in the 1990s. It still runs like a champ! 

I originally custom painted it for a freelance paint scheme I was developing for my Owensville Terminal Railroad, but never finished it. The blue and white scheme matches the old logo colors of the Maytag Corporation, so I may finish the locomotive to look like Maytag had its own locomotive to shunt cars at the plant. As far as I can tell, Maytag did not have any locomotives painted with a Maytag logo.

Action at the Maytag Plant (Video)

Scenes on the Herrin Micro

 

June 1968

The New Maytag Trackmobile
June 1998

June 1998 

June 1998 

One of the most satisfying parts of the hobby of model railroading is the completion of a layout. The Herrin Micro started in May of 2020 and was completed in March of 2021.  Overall, my initial plans came together with little need of modifications. Originally I wanted to have the fencing run perpendicular to the backdrop, but the Walthers kit only had two gates. A second kit purchase would have been required to be able to place the fencing the way I had originally planned it, so I changed my plans and ran the fencing parallel to the backdrop. A minor compromise.

With the Herrin Micro completed, I will now be working on weathering rolling stock and the Trackmobile to enhance the realism of the layout. The lessons learned from building the Wetterau Food Services Micro Layout helped to streamline the building process of the Herrin Micro. This was a fun and enjoyable layout build. I look forward to sharing it at a future train show.

Thank you for following along with the project!

Tom 

Scenery Update 4

🎉 The layout was completed on Saturday, March 27, 2021.🎉

Final Details Added

I added tire marks to the pavement with pastel chalks and AIM Weathering Powders. I also glued down some homemade static grass tufts in between the rails and along the backdrop. Static grass was applied before the fence installation, and I used a homemade static grass applicator made by my friend, Ed Traxler.

Building some trees with armatures from Scenic Express' Super Trees. I'm using a method I learned from Joe Fugate's Ten Mile Creek Model Railroad Video. A simple and effective method for realistic looking trees.

The last step was to paint foliage on the photo backdrop to blend everything together. This was a challenging step with blending colors together from acrylic paint to the colors of the photographs. My experience with landscape painting really came in handy for this step. I am pleased with how the paint feathered into the photo scene. One of my better works! 

An overhead view of the completed layout. I cobbled together a cardstock trailer from Team Track Models for the shipping dock. I'll be replacing it with a plastic model when I can locate one for a good price on eBay! 

I'll be posting some "showcase photo scenes" of the layout, as well as some final thoughts in the near future.

Thank you for following along with this micro layout build.

Tom Conboy 

Scenery Update 03

After a bit of trial and error, I got the hang of building the fence kit from Walthers.  A challenging project, but it was an enjoyable challenge.

I have installed a photo backdrop to the layout.  The photos are from Herrin, but they are not scenes from directly behind the Maytag plant.  The only way to get photos from the exact location would require trespassing, and I do not do that when railfanning.

Just a few more details to add in addition to a couple of trees to serve as a view block and the layout will be completed.  I have ten days to complete it by my self-imposed deadline!

Tom

Scenery Update 02

 

The Maytag Appliance manufacturing plant is made from foamcore and images printed onto cardstock. This portion comes from a Clever Models Texture CD I purchased from them many years ago. I also added a few plastic detail parts from leftover kit parts. 

The larger extension of the plant is mounted directly to the painted foamcore backdrop. These printouts are from Team Track Models and printed on cardstock as well. The storage tanks are from a Walthers kit.

The large storage tank is a printout from the CD, and it is mounted to a cottage cheese container lid to create the round shape.

Started building a fence kit from Walthers. This is a tedious kit to build and I'm not real happy with it at the moment. We'll see how the rest of it comes together before I decide whether or not to keep it or rip it out.

Until next time,

Tom