Construction January 2010 - Cleveland Jaite to Akron

Beginning on January 6th we will begin a major construction project that will disrupt operation of the layout. One area will be extensively reworked that will require removal and reconstruction of main line track. Due to the nature of the reconstruction lots of dust will fly and we will be covering parts of the layout with plastic to protect those areas. For the month of January (and perhaps beyond) the layout will be shut down and will not be available for operation. Guests are of course welcome to still visit the layout and see what we are doing and how we are doing it. This is an ideal time to see a major project in action.

 

Apr 27	Much progress is happening with scenery. A tree background is painted in and the "ground" work for some three dimensional trees is ready. Some work has been done on the lock but it's waiting for the area behind it to be completed.
Mar 3	The layout is now again open. Updates to the page will continue but probably less frequently.
Feb 27	We're starting to look like a river. More "pours" may not be necessary except to hilight certain features. More brush and such need to go down by the river edge but we're pretty close now. With the bridge installed (but removable) we're just about ready for operation. The lock going in. Much work is still needed as it will appear to be long abandoned with perhaps just a trickle of water flowing through it.
Feb 10	Views just before the "pour" of today.
Feb 09	The river is now ready for the next "pour" with some added debris and such in place. And how odd the layout looks with NO locomotives or rolling stock just prior to a thorough track cleaning.
Feb 05	The river "pour" has begun. This will be the first of some yet to be determined number of layers we will pour for the river. This first coat is quite thin and just enough to cover the river bottom. Steve Ulichney working on the beginning. It's somewhat slow going as we just pour a bit of the material we're using, Liquitex Gloss Medium and Varnish, and brush it out thin. Although you can add color to this product we will not be doing so. We did quite a bit of experimentation with this product before actually starting this pour. Here's the east end of our river here and you can see it's a nice glossy surface. It looked this way after only about an hour of dry time because this are is pretty thin. This photo at the west end where the bridge will be installed was poured a bit thicker in places. You can see the deeper areas not fully dried yet as white milky areas. This is about four hours after the pour and is 2-4 times as thick in the yet undried areas.
Jan 24	Quite a bit has been happening and some things critical to the reopening of the layout are now moving ahead. The type of bridge we will be using has been settled and construction of that bridge is in progress. Knowing the bridge we were able to place the support pylons and start working on the river itself. The river bottom has been covered with plaster cloth for a rough forming of the river bed. Further work on the river will proceed soon. Signaling at Jaite has been completed along with the laying of switches and track in that area. The only remaining track work is around the area of the bridge.
Jan 13	A lot of things got started on Tuesday (12th) but not too many were as visible as some of the previous things. The photo below shows some of the Jaite-Akron project progressing. The backdrop has been painted (and the fascia) plus the corner at the lower left has been completed. Some planning and preliminary work is proceeding in the Cleveland-Jaite project although nothing too visible right now. Thanks to Frank, Tom, and Matt nearly all of the fascia board has been painted. It looks much better now.
Jan 9	Rick and Bruce worked on the backdrop, fascia, and river for the Jaite to Akron area. There is a small area of backdrop at the right still to be completed. The homasote in the foreground is removed because this area will be mostly wetlands.
Jan 7	Bruce installed the river bottom. Not nearly as easy as it would seem with all the wires underneath.
Jan 6	Work starts for real with the removal of all track between Cleveland and Jaite and the removal of structure between Jaite and Akron eliminating the tunnel. Participants today are Bruce, Steve (the elder), Rick, and Chris. The difference here is rather dramatic. Some supporting structure, backdrop, and fascia are still needed. The river cut through. River bottom is still needed and much work will still be required to properly form the river. The first attempt at cutting the homasote and board beneath, which is OSB board, got just a few feet before the first  cutter failure. Most of the layout uses plywood but this is early stuff and used OSB. Steve is vacumming all the dust up before it gets everywhere.. Continuation using a jigsaw went much better. Steve still capturing the worst of the dust.
Jan 4	Before we started here are the relevant photos: