Current Layout by Peter Vanvliet

Layout Name:

"The PRR Chartiers Branch"

Official Web Site:

Visit

Layout Status:

active

Track Type:

Layout Space:

4' x 2'

Layout Style:

Single-scene, sectional

Track Manufacturer:

Tomalco

Rail Size:

code 100 flextrack

Ruling Grade:

Track Height(s):

62"

Mainline Track Length:

10'

Completed:

100% complete

Era:

Summer 1924

Setting:

Canonsburg, PA

Railroad(s) Modeled:

PRR

Control System:

Battery-powered (S-CAB)

Featured In:

The S Scale Resource, Aug 2021, pg 44

Notes:

Be sure to visit the web site linked to above, if you are interested in seeing how the module was built, what the overall design goals are for the layout, and for weekly status updates (the web site is updated every Friday). High-level update photos are shown on this page in their chronological order.

This new layout was started in early 2021, and it will consist of many individual modules. The first one is currently under construction. To make the modules as lightweight as possible (for ease of transportation), it is entirely constructed out of 3/16"-thick Gatorfoam board. This material is expensive, but it acts like plywood, yet it has the weight of foam board. This photo shows the first module, which measures 2 feet wide and 4 feet deep, and is constructed in the "honeycomb" design for structural integrity. The four 1-1/2" square blocks in the corners reinforce the corners and allow for adjustable leg screws to be installed in the bottom in the future, if necessary. Grab handles were incorporated into the sides (reinforced internally) to make it easier to move this long module. A secondary objective with this module is to test the stability and durability of the Gatorfoam over all of the seasons of the year (the module has remained perfectly flat and stable), and to verify that the construction method will work (the module is rock-solid and lightweight). By the way, in the background, you can see Peter's N-scale diorama which was salvaged when the layout, in which it was installed, was demolished. Peter had many fond memories of building that diorama and that layout, that he just had to keep it.

This photo shows the same module, but now with its top cover installed. The area that will hold the track has 1/2" ceiling tile installed for sound absorption, as well as allowing for some slight ground undulation (as the Gatorfoam sheet under it is nearly impenetrable). For this yard it is not that critical, but this module is to be the "standard" for all the subsequent modules, which may require the need to make gullies and ditches, for example. Peter was prepared for putting some sort of sound insulation material in the cavities of the honeycomb structure, but test running an engine (battery-powered) on the ceiling tile was very quiet, so there was no need for any further sound insulation.

This photo shows the coal tipple's concrete foundations installed. These were built out of styrene and they were salvaged from the previous attempt Peter had done in modeling this scene. Peter then painted the ground with a brown base coat paint, mostly to protect the ceiling tile, which doesn't handle moisture and too much handling too well (it is basically similar to the well-known Homasote material). The paint color isn't that critical as it will all be covered, eventually, but at least it hides the bright white ceiling tiles. The prototype had a five-track yard under this tipple, so five pieces of Tomalco Track flextrack, code 100, were installed in the correct location, and their ends trimmed to match the sides of the module.

This first module's purpose is to hold the Canonsburg, PA Hazel Mine coal tipple. There are at least a total of four modules planned to model the majority of the interesting bits of this plant. This one is the main one that contains the tipple itself. There is no selective compression applied, and the model is built as close to the engineering diagrams available for this building as possible. The tipple itself was in Canonsburg-proper, but the mine was under Buffalo Hill, which is on the other side of the Chartiers creek (the not-yet-scenicked area in the back of the module). This is the reason for why this module is four feet deep; to be able to model both the tipple in its full length, and the mine entrance across the creek (the creek is as close to the actual width at this location as was able to be determined from period drawings). The track work for this module is finished, but the ballast/ground needs more work. The main tipple building itself is finished, but the support structure underneath is not. It was built out of to-scale styrene, but as the support structure was put together, it started warping in all three dimensions over a period of several weeks. It has now become unusable, which was a large disappointment considering the costs involved in both energy, money, and time. Note that the engines shown in the photo do not fit the 1924 period modeled, but Peter doesn't own any S-scale steam engines (yet), so these are used as stand-ins. The fire trucks aren't period-correct either. The metal weights are there to keep the warped support structure stable.

After many months of work (30 weeks to be exact), the newly rebuilt coal mine tipple support structure has been constructed. This replaces the white styrene version shown in the previous photo. This new version is made out of Plastruct ABS, which has shown to not warp at all over decades (from past projects' experiences). The entire support structure was built in place on the module. This guaranteed that it matched the concrete foundation blocks that were already installed on the module. The main support structure consists of 1,146 individually-cut pieces of black ABS structural pieces, and white styrene gusset plates. The incline in the back across the creek consists of an additional 168 pieces. The entire design matches the exact prototype engineering drawing. Peter's web site has detailed information about how this support structure was built. As stated above, the main building that sits atop the support structure was already built before this layout was started. That main building was built around a 1/4" plywood sub-structure to which Peter glued 485 individually-formed aluminum corrugated sheets. The windows are Tichy Train Group's modified Roundhouse Pane Window parts. The main building took him 25 weeks of available modeling time to complete. An interesting note about the main building are the two exhaust stacks. One of them has a magnet at the bottom. When it is placed in the correct hole in the roof, it activates a reed switch which, in turn, turns on the power to the LEDs that are installed under the main building above the five tracks. There is a 9-volt battery in the back of the main building, readily accessible for replacement when needed. This layout, being built as a "dead rail" layout, has as one of its objectives to be fully operational without any external wires. Meaning that it should be operable without being plugged into the wall socket!

Here is a top-down view of the support structure by itself. The main building is not yet permanently attached, as there is still much work left to be done to the support structure.

This is a close-up view of the incline at the back of the module. This incline will carry the two 42"-gauged tracks that ran the coal mine cars up and down the incline between the under-ground mine entrance and the tipple's main building. It will, eventually, rest on two abutments, but for now it rests on some temporary blocks of wood.

With the support structure itself completed, it was time to move the module into the garage and spray-paint the entire structure. Peter completely covered the entire module in painter's paper held in place with blue masking tape, including in between the concrete foundation pads. Peter used rattle-can paints, one layer for the primer, and the final layer for the actual color (using Tru-color paint's "weathered black", #TCP-4013).

After just shy of three years, the Hazel coal mine tipple is finished. Since the previous photo, the visible components (as far as determinable from prototype photos) were installed, which included several coal chutes to the tracks, a walkway spanning the entire structure, an operator's shed, and additional covers for the drive mechanism in the back of the tipple that held the motors, belts, and gearing to operate the system that moved the cars up and down the incline. This was a later addition (on the prototype), hence the slightly different look from the main building's siding. Once all of the interior detailing was completed, the main building could be permanently attached. Peter used J-B Weld epoxy because it gave him the working time he needed to apply almost 60 inches of contact surfaces that needed glue to be applied (carefully and without squeeze-out).

This is a closer look at the incline in the back of the module. The wood (track ties and the walkway) all looks very reddish in the photo, but they look weathered-gray in person (this photo was taken with a cellphone). The two Sn42 tracks were made from gluing code 55 rail to ties that span the entire width of the incline, as per the prototype engineering drawings. The walkway between the abutments shows in the engineering drawings, but period photos showed it to be well-worn, so Peter mimicked that in its construction. The staircase on the left was built from a Rail Scale Models S-scale staircase kit (and their jig), and the abutments were made from one Pre-Size Model Specialties S-scale abutment that was cut up to create the two. Again, this one was chosen and then modified to match the available prototype photos. With the main focal point of the module finished, finalization of the scenery is next.

This module is now essentially complete. Cardboard supports and Sculptamold were used to represent the start of the hill on the other side of the creek underneath which the actual mine was located. The creek's water surface was created from three coats of Liquitex "Gloss Gel". From time to time Peter may add some more details and some more bushes. He is now in the planning stages for the two modules that will go on either side of this one. One will be the yard trackage that holds the loaded hoppers, which will be attached to the side of module that is shown here. The other will hold the power plant and the water towers that were found in the empties yard on the other side of the tipple.

This is a good prototype photo that shows the mine from the point of view of the photographer standing near the creek's embankment from the "loaded" yard. The smoke stacks in the back are from the adjacent power plant.