PRR Panhandle Division

Updated 11/29/2010:

A Thanksgiving trip to Weirton yielded dozens of new photographs of the following areas / subjects of interest:

• Strip Steel - got a number of shots of the building's end walls. I am working on the design for the layout.
  
• Electrical towers - Weirton Steel used a variety of structural shapes and sizes of towers to suspend power lines.
  
• Blooming Mill - while most of the mill has been torn down, some small pieces (the one I want to model) remains and I got some good shots of them. Should help sort out the proportion issue I'm struggling with.
  
• Wall along Main Street - took some photos of the concrete wall for use in representing it.
  
• Mill Administration Building - was able to capture some of the detailed brickwork in this structure.
  
• General - got a number of photos showing the general deconstruction of the mill. Very sad, really.
  

Along with a great visit with family, this trip provided terrific resource material for new buildings and layout improvement.

George

Updated 12/3/2010:

I had some progress since the last posting:

• Made yet another height adjustment to the Blooming Mill, lowering it 1.25" (5 scale feet). This involved moving one of the side wall frames, but the change is more prototypical and helps keep the dimensions proportional. I tested the clearances and we are good to go.
  
• Front and sides of the Blooming Mill have been cut out of foamcore using their new dimensions. They look much better. As soon as I get these photographed, I will mount them to the framework.
  
• Ordered additional Crow River overpass pieces. I am considering repainting all of the components a sand color.
  
• Figured out the height of the overpass. We are going to just clear any trains I run. Obviously, there can be no double-stacks on the PRR Panhandle!
  
• Got the end wall design for the Strip Steel building worked out and on paper. This 3-D "backdrop" will be roughly 44" wide and 30" deep (at spots). It will have a ton of Tichy industrial windows.

That's it for now.

George

Updated 12/22/2010:

It's a good thing I had as much progress as I did leading up the previous post. The past 3 weeks have been consumed with family, car troubles, and work. However, some things did get done:

• Made one more height adjustment to the Blooming Mill. What was that saying - "Measure once incorrectly, cut 3 times"?? Anyway, that's what I did. Finally, I have the correct height.
  
• Also re-cut out the foamcore front of the Blooming Mill. Glued all the foamcore walls together and onto the frame.
  
• Discovered the color of the prototype Strip Steel brick (yellow).
  

My immediate next steps are to get the foamcore roof on the Blooming Mill and order Tichy windows for the Strip Steel.

George

Updated 12/31/2010:

I removed some photos and added a new one. This last photo (#8) is of the Blooming Mill under construction. I've added foamcore walls, building front, and internal roof support to the wooden framework. The main roof and ventilator roof are ready to go as well, but doesn't appear in the photo.

You can see the prototype Blooming Mill in Photo 5 (left center) of this album.

George

Updated 1/03/2011:

The Blooming Mill has received its ventilator roof (foamcore). Painting of the Plastruct roofing parts and Evergreen vertical channel walls is underway. Once dry, these parts will be glued to the foamcore backing.

George

Updated 1/05/2011:

I added a photo to the album showing the Blooming Mill foamcore shell. It is temporarily in place next to the overpass, which is not yet elevated. We are checking to see that the mill fits correctly on the layout.

Next step is to use Plastruct and Evergreen styrene roofing and siding, respectively, to cover the foamcore shell.

George

Updated 1/10/2011:

Couple of things to talk about:

• To my great surprise, the PRR Panhandle photo album has been viewed over 15,000 times. If you add the 4 previous postings since 2005, you have over 43,000 hits. I thank you all for your patronage and support.
  
• Progress on the Blooming Mill continues - siding has been added and the roof is in progress.
  
• A friend surprised me with a large plotted poster (map from Rand McNally) of the Panhandle. I had it famed and it will hang in the train room.

More to come.

George

Updated 1/14/2011:

Here's the latest:

• I completed the roof, trim, and all major construction tasks on the Blooming Mill. For the first time, a second complete mill stood nearby my Open Hearth.
  
• Last night we held the first Train Smoker, a name I made up to describe a gathering of friends and their children to view the layout and play with the trains. From all accounts, it was a great success. More will be posted on this event shortly.
  

In the very near future, I plan to add decals and some details to the Blooming Mill, order the windows needed to build the next structure (Strip Steel), and complete the highway overpass.

George

Updated 1/19/2011:

Photos from the train smoker were added as a separate album.

Please check them out.

George

Fantastic info, tho I M at the bottom of the heap control wise. I vote for phasing, believe its cheap insurance.

Good to see someone actually building out of fomecore and making good progress. Nicejob.

Thanks for the aside info on use of bus bars (building supply store) and/or the european style gang terminals (?) for junction wiring. I had several for some kind of use and was not able to decide what and how to use....

Oh yeah- R U doing something in the mill to simulate actual hot iron in ladle or ingots cooling? Could be quite imprissive!!!!!

again Thanks! Fine info and layout.

L

quote:

Originally posted by L Larson:
Fantastic info, tho I M at the bottom of the heap control wise. I vote for phasing, believe its cheap insurance.

Good to see someone actually building out of fomecore and making good progress. Nicejob.

Thanks for the aside info on use of bus bars (building supply store) and/or the european style gang terminals (?) for junction wiring. I had several for some kind of use and was not able to decide what and how to use....

Oh yeah- R U doing something in the mill to simulate actual hot iron in ladle or ingots cooling? Could be quite imprissive!!!!!

again Thanks! Fine info and layout.

L

Lars,

Thanks for the nice comments. Regarding activities or animation in the mills, I've certainly thought about something in the Open Hearth to simulate a pour. However, I've not hit upon anything that would be practical. For instance, I wanted to use a friction wheel to throw sparks coordinated with a sound module to simulate a pour. Trouble is, you don't really want sparks in an area with so many flammable materials around. So, I'm still thinking.

George

Lars,

I'm not sure what you are referring to:

quote:

Thanks for the aside info on use of bus bars (building supply store) and/or the european style gang terminals (?) for junction wiring. I had several for some kind of use and was not able to decide what and how to use....

George

Updated 1/31/2011:

Recently, I have been struggling with the decision to re-do the front of my Blooming Mill. In trying to get the building ready for the Train Smoker, I rushed the application of siding and fudged a seam. I tried to correct it with paint, but it looks a bit shiny.

I took the building off the layout and looked at it again up close. From certain angles it looks OK, from others - not so much. I am going to try hiding the problem with weathering and see if that works. If it does, I will declare success. Otherwise...

That hasn't sopped me from ordering windows for the Strip Steel building or starting the detailed design.

George

Updated 2/4/2011:

No matter what the groundhog says, there will be at least 12 more weeks of model railroading this spring!

Accurately produced a full-size Microsoft Visio drawing (plan) for the front of the Weirton Strip Steel mill building onto three 11"x17" sheets of paper. The building front will be 44" wide with 7 bays and stand roughly 9" high (not counting ventilators and stacks). The building (really a 3-D backdrop) will be 5-sided and fit in a corner of the layout.

Haven't done the weathering yet on the Blooming Mill. Sometimes it's easier to work on the computer than the layout itself, but that's on the schedule for this weekend.

Talk at ya' soon.

George

Updated 2/11/2011:

Baby steps. Sometimes it feels like I'm not moving forward at all. Misplaced the weathering powders and had to order a new set, so the Blooming Mill hasn't been touched.

Did cut a few pieces of craft wood for the framing of the Strip Steel Mill. Also bought some Evergreen styrene needed for that structure as well as Dullcote and Glosscote for decals.

George

Updated 2/16/2011:

Made a bit of progress:

• I've got a outer frame built for the Strip Steel building. It's up on legs being leveled. I'm wrestling with some of the trackwork that encroachs on the space in front of the building. I need to keep a space between the climbing track and the front wall. Not sure if I will use a slope down to the building front or a retaining wall.
  
• Starting to focus on completion of the highway overpass again. Gluing masonite to resin along a thin strip probably isn't a high percentage play. A friend has suggested the use of angle Plastruct pieces to cover the masonite and present a good surface for adherence to the Crow River resin guard walls. Definitely worth pursuing.
  
• Put the weathered Blooming Mill back on the layout to check its appearance. Fortunately, the other buildings tend to mask the blemishes pretty well. Next step there is to apply the Weirton Steel decal, put it back on the layout, take a few photos, and declare victory!

That's it for now.

George

Updated 4/5/2011:

Finally got a nice day yesterday (76 degrees!) and was able to take the Blooming Mill into the garage and re-paint its front wall. It came out looking pretty good. Got the Weirton Steel decal onto the front as well. I will post a photo tonight.

George

Updated 4/6/2011:

New photo (#10) of Blooming Mill has been posted.

George

Updated 5/5/2011:

I've been preoccupied by other aspects of life (kids, health, York) over the past month and haven't done a lot on the Panhandle. However, the mind has percolating along. Here are the latest random musings to escape:

• The way to finish the highway overpass at Crawford's Crossing is starting to take shape in my head. Thanks to a post on the Scenery Forum, I have a way to raise the piers to guarantee clearance. I bought the wood necessary to do this and will start this very shortly. Once the piers are supporting the overpass, I will work on the descending pier (an inclined plane of my own design). The final step will be to glue the side rails in place.
  
  
• I've started gathering ideas, material, and information for the completion of the Blooming Mill's billboard. The billboard kit has been opened, I've printed a sign, and now I'm working on getting onto the backing and onto the building. Still need to drill the holes for the lights.
  
  
• I've started searching my photo gallery of Weirton Steel for pictures of gas storage tank racks. The tanks are placed horizontally in rows on a girder framework. I'm not sure of their purpose, but on the layout they will serve to hide a track entering the side of the Open Hearth building. Plastruct has some parts that will work nicely. I'm roughing out the design and will shortly have the plans created in Visio.
  

That's it for now.

George

Updated 9/20/2011...

Non-train activities have been king around here for the past 6 months.

However, since the work is relatively mindless (no real planning required), I have been working on cleaning up the ingot molds that I had made. Finalizing them includes drilling, cutting, and sanding a hole in the top, painting the recessed slab orange, painint the rest of the ingot mold gray / rust, and weathering. Because I have 30+ molds to drill out, I am currently working on a jig to use in a drill press.

I also did an under the layout inspection and cycled the power. All TMCC functions working normally.

Hoping to find more time for the hobby soon.

George

The Steubenville- Weirton area is so depressed now. When I was a kid, I loved going to the A&P with my mom and I would wait outside and watch the PRR trains go through Steubenville. The Sears store was another great place to watch trains, but the best place was at my aunt's house on North 6th Street Rear. I would hear the train whistle and race down the back porch stairs and run to the wall next to the tracks. Those big K4s were beasts.

Larry

quote:

Originally posted by LLKJR:
The Steubenville- Weirton area is so depressed now. When I was a kid, I loved going to the A&P with my mom and I would wait outside and watch the PRR trains go through Steubenville. The Sears store was another great place to watch trains, but the best place was at my aunt's house on North 6th Street Rear. I would hear the train whistle and race down the back porch stairs and run to the wall next to the tracks. Those big K4s were beasts.

Larry

Wow, I am in awe. I was too young to experience Pennsy steam, but I remember that A & P and especially that Sears and its trains!!!

Thanks for bringing back memories.

George

George,

I was about 6 years old when steam last operated on the PRR mainline through Steubenville OH. Then it was diesels. I think the year was about 1957. The last steamer I saw was stopped at the Steubenville station and my dad went over the grade crossing on market street ( the gates were up). At the base of market street hill, I heard the bells of the crossing gates going down, the two short blasts of the whistle and the big K4 bellowed and started to move. The train was moving at a pretty good clip when the last car cleared the grade crossing. What a site!.

Larry

Larry,

Do you remember how Sears would have a big train display set up around Christmas? That Sears was the source of my first train set - a Marx All-State freight set (#666 2-4-2 steamer and tender plus 7 cars). Over the next 10 years I got more cars, track, and engines from that store - all as gifts. But walking in there as a kid was magical.

The General visited Steubenville in the 1960s. Did you see that?

George

George,

I do remember the big Sears layout. The Hub also had a great layout every year. M&M hardware when they were on 5th street had a small layout, but they had the high ticket items every year, the big steamers and diesels and they always had all of the catalog sets.

I missed The General.

Larry

Larry,

I had forgotten about The Hub. What a grand old store. Boy have you brought back memories. My grandfather and I used to the P & W bus across the river to Steubenville and walk around downtown. Stops were The Hub and S.S. Kresge (soda fountain & candy / nut counter). Later when I was of driving age (1970s), I would take him to Baker's Market on 6th for fish.

George

George,
A shopping trip to Steubenville was always an adventure when I was a kid. We'd park the car on 5th street by Krege's and start there. Move down to McRory's 5&10 then across the street to Richmond Brothers. Down the street to Penny's and lunch at the diner next to Pennys. Back to the Hub and after that to the car to go to Sears, Steubenville was really a bustling town in the day. My dad said that at one time Kaufmans and Gimbals in Pittsburgh were ready to build department stores in the downtown area, but the local businessmen on city council blocked them at every turn. Could you imagine what Steubenville would have been like if those two giants in Retail built stores in the late 40's early 50's.
Sadly Steubenville is a shadow of what it once was like most Ohio River towns, Weirton, Wheeling ... the list goes on. At one time Wheeling had 4 passenger stations B&O, PRR, W&LE and I can never remember the 4th station.

Larry,

By any chance, do you have a map or photo of the intersection of Market & 4th with businesses identified? Steubenville is part of my layout. About 5 years ago, I took a number of photos of present-day Steubenville. The variety of architectural styles and buildings still survive, although most buildings have been "modernized" (translation: made ugly). Obviously, the businesses that occupied them have changed. My layout's timeframe is 1948-1957 (that's a lot of leeway). Knowing the businesses that actually occupied the buildings would be helpful.

Given my space limitations, I can more-or-less model that intersection, but the rest of town will have to be "interpreted" loosely on the prototype. For example, I've moved the station off 4th (not 6th) and created a seedy area there. Model railroading is full of compromises.

If you do have such a thing or some thoughts, please contact me via my e-mail (in profile).

Thanks,

George

Updated 10/27/2011:

Well, I pretty much blew up the workshop this week. I just couldn't deal with it any more. I had gotten to the point where there were too many projects taking up the available work space. Some of the larger tools were also not well organized and the shelving was not flexible enough to reduce / eliminate the clutter. I finally reached gridlock.

So all the projects have gone on hold while I reorganize the shop. I'm not done yet, but I have managed to:
1) Dismantle a plastic shelving unit (5 fixed height shelves) and replace it with a flexible 6 shelf wire unit.
2) Consolidate the above shelf's contents with the project bins from under another workbench onto the new shelving unit. Big win!
3) Clear out and reorganize the crawl space (holds lumber now)
4) Sell off a bunch of excess shelving units
5) Transfer many train-related items to the large (and underutilized) closet in the train room. Reorganzied that closet to maximize its space utilization.

Still working on:
1) Assembling the workbench I bought last week to hold power tools.
2) Installing a new shop light over the bench
3) Installing pegboard in front of an existing workbench

Yes, the place is in a state of chaos, but lots of good things are happening.

George

Updated 11/3/2011:

OK, we are whittling away at the items on the list (and adding ones, too!). Latest changes:

1) The new workbench is assembled. As I was putting it together, I noticed there was now some wall space available next to it. So I took some of the scrap pegboard and put that up. It will hold drill bits and other items directly related to the power tools that will occupy the bench.
2) Installed a shop light over new work bench. I am about to put a power strip on the work bench - still figuring the best location for it.
3) As I neaten up the workshop, I discover items that can be organized. So I generated another bin of building and detail parts as well as one for figures.

We're getting there. Next steps are to get the power strip fixed in place and get the pegboard up in front of that existing work bench.

George

Updated 11/12/2011:

The power strips were installed on the new workbench. I also moved the drill press and hobby table saw to it. The mitre saw and other power tools are now stored below this workbench. This is a much better arrangement, freeing up space elsewhere in the work shop.

I finished the pegboard installation on another wall. The shop now has 3 new areas of pegboard; most of my tools and parts (screws, small electronic fittings, etc.) will be hung up and out of the way.

I am in the process of getting enough pegboard hooks, sorting out where things should go, and hanging them up. This feels pretty good - my shop is becoming usable again and I can't wait to finish some of the projects that have been hanging fire for weeks or months.

I will post some photos in the next few days.

George

Updated 11/19/2011:

Well, it took awhile, but there are new photos posted of the workshop re-organization and improvements. Actually it is a new Photo Album.

Enjoy!

George

Updated 1/2/2012:

Completed the billboard for the front of the Weirton Steel 40" Blooming Mill. This has been added as a new photo album.

Please take a look at: Blooming Mill Billboard

As always, your comments are welcomed.

George

Updated 1/3/2012:

Had a good friend over to run his recently acquired NYC Hudson (egad, "foreign" power on the Pennsy?) on the layout. It had some trouble negotiating a tight O54 downhill curve, so much so that it kept shorting out (pilot hitting outside rail). The situation brought into focus (once again) some of the uninformed trackwork decisions I made when I built the layout.

The good news is that he had a suggestion that may fix the problem once and for all. I am going to reduce the amount of grade on the curve and throughout the rest of downhill run.

I've also decided that the metal bridge deck across the Ohio River has got to go. It will be replaced with a hardwood rod structure (will simulate box beams) that will form the floor for the tracks and be securely anchored to the end points. In the future, I will be able to tie in a bridge superstructure.

I can no longer tolerate the poor track performance.

Last year around this time, I held my first Train Smoker - an open house for about 20 guests. Everyone ran trains, but I spent a lot of time holding my breath anxiously as the consists passed over the shaky trackwork. No more. Fixing the track is the pre-requesite to holding the 2nd annual Train Smoker. It's got to happen and I can no longer put it off.

George

Updated 1/11/2012:

I am pleased to announce that the PRR Panhandle Division has been viewed more than 20,000 times as of today. The layout reached the 10,000 count mark on 6/2/2010, so this is an additional 10K viewings in a little over 19 months.

I thank you all for your viewership. Believe me, it helps keep me going.

George

Updated 2/18/2012:

 

Given all the other distractions in my life lately, my progress has been very slow.  However, I am pleased to say that I have just improved (reduced the amount of descent) in the grade coming eastbound off the PRR bridge at MP 42.11.  This has improved the tracking of all my locomotives in this area.  I intend to test this improvement with some visiting "foreign" power shortly.

 

George

Updated 2/26/2012:

 

Well, I carried out my tests on the "improved" descent east of the bridge at MP42.11.  Let's just say it's getting better, but still needs some work. 

 

Several days ago, I tested the track with doubled-headed PRR K4s.  The engines remained coupled and ran well over the areas in question.  I did not get a chance to run the Lionel M1a.   But so far, so good. 

 

Yesterday, I had a visit from my friend and forum member Price Bradshaw.  He brought along a 3rd Rail NYC Hudson with TMCC and a Weaver ATSF Hudson (conventional).  These engines were used to test the track improvements.

 

The 3rd Rail Hudson found the going a little rough, with the pilot hitting the rails at 3 spots on the track.  Those were marked for improvement.

 

The Weaver ATSF Hudson was more forgiving, cruising happily around the Panhandle like it belonged there.

 

I have since repaired one of the spots and am putting together my thoughts for repairing the others as well as replacing the bridge floor (which is a known trouble spot).

 

More when I know it.

 

George

Updated 3/17/2012:

 

Awhile ago, I had my billboard come off the Blooming Mill.  In the attempt to fix it, I got Crazy Glue onto a patch of the mill wall and had to scrape and repaint it.   I finally got it glued back onto the front wall with E-6000.

 

Baby steps, but at least it's forward progress.

 

George

Updated 4/2/2011:

 

This past weekend I made some slow progress rebuilding the mainline track work between the Weirton Steel Yard (WSX) and the eastern end of the PRR bridge.  In addition to the elevation changes (reduced the slope by raising the subroadbed), I replaced the electrical connections with Fastenol #60049 male disconnects (spade connectors).  I am about halfway done and am working backwards from the WSX yard to the bridge.  I anticipate some trickier track laying as I head toward the bridge.  Once at the bridge, I will pull up the metal bridge floor and replace it with the still to be designed wooden bridge floor.

 

George

Updated 4/10/2012:

 

Boy if there is a hard lesson I keep learning it's this:  Use 5/8" or thicker plywood for your subroadbed!

 

In rebuilding and re-laying the track, I keep finding and fixing low spots.  Having to reinforce them is labor intensive, but marginally less painful than replacing the subroadbed altogether.  My roadbed supports are spaced about 16-20" apart and that's just too wide.  So I am having to add additional bracing.

 

George