Hey everyone.
I came up with a neat idea that would be perfect to anyone modeling the Rock Island or the Milwaukee Road in its later years. Since at those times they had notorously bad track, i thought simply balasting your track with varous shades of ground foam would lend the perfect sense of grunginess and shabbiness the track needs to convey the dire financial straits of these two railroads.
Just thought I would share the idea.
James
James, go ahead and make it LOOK as bad as you want, but for reliable operation, make sure to make it smooth. Also, don’t use any large chunks of foam near open gears, It tends to find ways to hang on.
I think that rather than all green, it might be best to go with the browns to simulate a lack of attention and mud. A hint of green would be a nice touch too.[swg]
I model the Rock so thats a good idea ! Thanks for the tip !
My track laying skill, although much improved, still have a way to go. Fortunately, I model the Milwaukee Road. The track is not always straight, and some joints are a bit wide, but the trains stay on the track, much like the prototype. If teh track job is too bad, however, I will redo it , for as posted above, it’s no fun if the trains derail.
[#ditto][#ditto][#ditto]
And a modellocomotive hasn´t a weight per axle of more than 25 tons!
Even in its declining years the Milwaukee Road mainline, at least the Chicago to Milwaukee main, looked reasonably good, often with gravel ballast. yes the jointed rail was probably a rough ride and I suspect some of the secondary lines were pretty seedy but at least some parts of the Milwaukee were decent to the end. The SOO did often replace the gravel ballast with granite.
Dave Nelson
I got the notion for the Milwaukee Road as I remember seeing in a friends issiue of the MILW Historical Society magazine. (The Hiawatha?) of the mainline to Rapid City SD. the ballast and ties lost in a sea of weeds. Then the Rock had a bunch of lines the same way.
James
James.