Ascape Tennsion Sulphur Gulch Railroad
Time 2021-10-30 15:09:00Web Name: Ascape Tennsion Sulphur Gulch Railroad
WebSite: http://davesatsgrr.blogspot.com
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Tennsion,Ascape,Sulphur,Railroad,Gulch,Description:
keywords: description:1. Whetstone Ridge
Whetstone Ridge (1) is a six foot from-the-floor mountain that enclosesthe helix that moves trains from the staging yard under Ascape up to the WestWhetstone Tunnel portal onto the trestle at Sulphur Gulch (eastbound) or the EastWhetstone Tunnel portal at Professor Plunge (westbound). Park City attaches to Whetstone Ridge at theleft side; Echo Canyon and Ascape engine facilities attach to Whetstone Ridgeat the right side. The front ofWhetstone Ridge (2) is adjacent to the aisle entering the railroad.
2 Front Whetstone RidgeTerrain (See Post 22)
Once the cheese cloth is formed to represent the terrain ofthe mountain it is painted with a thin mixture of plaster of Paris which formsinto a thin shell. The plaster containsa bit of stucco dye to give it a tan color so that it isnt stark white. Once the shell is dry it is covered with athicker mixture of plaster of Paris.This material becomes like modeling clay as it dries making it easy tocarve. This stage only lasts for about15 or 20 minutes before the plaster becomes hard as stone and is very difficultto carve. The rocks and cliffs are handcarved a small section at a time during this molding period. Carving tools consist of a small piece ofwire brush, several different Xacto knives, some dental picks, and a smallpaint brush with stiff bristles. Oncethe carved plaster is dry it is first spayed with alcohol containing a fewdrops of India ink. This emphasizes the cracks and ridges in the carvedrock. The whole surface is then coloredusing diluted (12 to 1) tan latex house paint applied with a spay bottle andallowed to run where it will over the scenery.When the paint is dry the rocks are brushed with pastel chalks invarious earth tones until the rock has a realistic appearance. The cliffs and rocks are then sprayed withflat lacquer to prevent the chalk from smearing. Scenery on this railroad is never paintedwith full strength paint because then the rocks and surface do not looknatural.
The left side of the mountain contains a tunnel entrance toPark City near where the mountain attaches to the backdrop. A stream appears to flow from somewhere ontop rear of the mountain and makes its way down and toward to top of KatyFalls, a large waterfall falling into Sulphur Gulch, a recess in the cliff inthe front of the mountain to the bottom of the benchwork 6 inches above thefloor. The stream itself continueseveral smaller falls and rapids. Alarge scratch built wooden trestle carries the main line in front of thiswaterfall across Sulphur Gulch to the front side of Whetstone Ridge (Figure 1).
3 West Whetstone Tunnel
The eastbound main line exits the WestWhetstone Tunnel portal (3) immediately onto the trestle . The trestle is on a curve and a 3 % grade,matching the grade in the helix inside the mountain. Katy falls is behind the trestle in SulphurGulch.
The mainline crosses at the base of Whetstone Ridge aroundthe front of the mountain (2). A barbwirefence protects the railroad from cattle grazing on the hill side below thetrack. The scenery on this side ofWhetstone Ridge contains yellow, red, and orange fall colors to representautumn weather. A Dougs lake (4) is nestledat the base of the ridge behind the Ascape round house. Some fishermen can be seen trying their luckin the lake.
5 Professor Plunge
The right side of Whetstone Ridge contains two tunnelentrances. One is the East WhetstoneTunnel portal that returns the main line to the helix inside the mountain anddown to the staging yard under the Ascape Engine Terminal, station, andclassification yard. The East WhetstoneTunnel portal is in a large cirque in the mountain known as Professor Plunge(Figure 3). Beyond the cirque the ParkCity branch line enters the Park City tunnel.This right side of the Whetstone Ridge forms the backdrop for the AscapeEngine Terminal.
No comments: Description of Completed Railroad
The ATSG Railroad mainline is a big loop on twolevels. Eastbound trains leave thestaging yard to the helix and exit the helix via the West Whetstone Tunnelportal at Sulphur Gulch, the lowest elevation on the railroad loop. They returnto the helix and staging yard via Echo Canyon, the highest elevation on therailroad loop, to the East Whetstone Tunnel at Professor Plunge. Westbound trains leave the staging yard tothe helix and exit the helix via the East Whetstone Tunnel portal at ProfessorPlunge to Echo Canyon and return to the helix and staging via the WestWhetstone Tunnel portal across the trestle at Sulphur Gulch. There are three branch lines: The Spring Canyon Coal branch begins at theSpring Canyon junction on the main line just in front-of and below Tennsion;the Tennsion branch loop begins at the west end of the Sage Junction siding andreturns to the main just west of the Sage siding; the Park City branch beginsat the east end of the Echo siding.
East bound trains enter the loop as they leave the WestWhetstone tunnel on to the trestle at Sulphur Gulch in Whetstone Ridge (1). Thehelix and trestle are a 3 % grade. Thetrack levels out past the Ascape Engine Terminal (2), Ascape yard (3), BurgessBeef (4) and Farmers Grain (5). Itremains level across the truss bridge at Left-Hand Fork (6) and the HiddenMeadow (6) passing siding past the mining town of Clear Lake (7) but thenbegins a climb in Shaws canyon (8) below Rogers Meadow and the Clear LakeMine (9) around the end of the peninsula in front of and just below theindustrial area on the Tennsion branch (9).The track passes through the backdrop at the Spring Canyon (10) coaltipple and then levels out again at the Sage (11) passing siding, which isabove the mining town of Clear Lake. Asit leaves the Sage siding it climbs again across the trestle above HiddenMeadow and the steel bridge over Left Hand Fork and climbs up past Craigslogging camp (12) to the Echo Canyon (13) siding above Ascape. As it leaves the Echo Canyon siding itdescends through the East Whetstone Tunnel back to the 3 % down grade of thehelix back to the staging yard. The ParkCity branch line leaves Echo Canyon via the Park City Tunnel and proceeds pastWhetstone Ridge to Park City (14).
The scenery of the Ascape Tennsion Sulphur GulchRailroad consists of a series of integrated scenes which will be described andillustrated below. The Staging Yard isunder Ascape and Echo Canyon and does not include scenery. The numbers in the previous paragraphsidentify each of the scenes that will be described in subsequent posts: Whetstone Ridge (1), Ascape Engine Terminal(2), Ascape Yard (3), Burgess Beef (4),Farmers Grain (5), Left Hand Fork (6), Clear Lake (7), Shaws Canyon (8),Clear lake Mine (9), Spring Canyon (10), Sage (11), Craigs Logging Camp (12),Echo Canyon (13), Park City (14).
No comments: Sunday, September 3, 2017 35 Round House Ascape
Ascape RoundhouseMore than 40 years ago the ATSG acquired a Scale Structure Limited Sterling Colorado Round House kit. The Roundhouse served on an early version of the ATSG railroad for a number of years. The railroad was moved in 2006 and began reconstruction in 2009. The roundhouse was removed from its crate where it had been packed for more than 5 years. The construction crew in those early days were far less skilled than our current crew. When the roundhouse was put in place next to the turntable it was apparent that the construction standards did not meet the new building code for the railroad.
Ascape Roundhouse RIP trackDoug Whetstone, a member of the Color Country Model Railroad Club and operator on the ATSG volunteered to reconstruct the roundhouse to bring it up to code. He completely disassembled the previous round house, discarded everything but the metal parts including the windows, doors, roof vents and details. He repainted all of these metal parts using paint that he had on hand. He reconstructed the right wall of the building using foam core covered with embossed stone paper. The new wall looked great. But then the press of other responsibilities prevented him from further construction for a couple of years. The management of the ATSG finally revoked the contract and retrieved the building parts for later reconstruction.
Reconstruction of the Ascape roundhouse was resumed in 2015. Using the pattern of the right wall constructed by Mr. Whetstone, the construction crew of the ATSG went to work reconstructing the remainder of the building. Using plans from the original kit a floor complete with simulated pits was designed to correspond with the turntable already in place. The roof supports in the middle of the roundhouse were reconstructed using some of the parts from the original kit. The inner walls were lined with embossed red brick paper. Overhead lights were installed under the roof support beams.
Ascape Round HouseThe roof was made removable. Rather than attaching the rafters to the roof beams, these rafters were attached to the underside of the roof so that they rested on the support beams when the roof was in place on the building. The roof was constructed from poster board with the roof vents and windows secured in place. Scored aluminum was cut into appropriate panels and secured to the roof. The roof was weathered by brushing on ground rust colored chalk. The whole structure was then dusted with powered graphite to give it a dirty well used appearance.
When the windows were originally repainted, one window escaped and was not painted with the new paint scheme. When the reconstruction was resumed Floquil paint had been discontinued and it was not possible to match the color scheme used on the windows. The problem was solved when the roundhouse was placed on the railroad by including painters repainting this window.
The original Scale Structures kit included a number of details of some of the equipment that might be found in a roundhouse. These were also metal parts that were retained. When they were placed inside the roundhouse it became apparent that even with the lights that were installed these details would not be easy for visitors to view. Thus a construction shed was added to the right side of the building where some of these detail parts could be placed for construction on the RIP track at the side of the roundhouse. A crane was also constructed for this RIP track to give the whole scene a more used appearance. Appropriate railroad junk was placed near the RIP track including a set of locomotive drivers.
The motive power of the ATSG now runs much better with a roundhouse for regular maintenance.
No comments: Wednesday, June 11, 2014 34 Ascape
When Echo Canyon was mostly complete the folks in Ascape turned their attention to finishing the yard and some industries in Ascape. Other posts will feature individual structures and their construction. The purpose of this post is to provide an overall view of Ascape, particularly the Engine Terminal, Yard and associated industries. Figure 1 View of Ascape Engine Terminal.Figure 1 shows the Ascape Engine Terminal (center), Ascape Station (left), and Ascape Power Plant (right). The main line and Ascape siding are along the back of the terminal. The caboose track is seen at the end of the Ascape siding. There is another passing siding in front of the station next to the main platform. The other tracks from left to right include the engine ready track serviced by the coal tipple, the sand house, and the oil terminal. This track connects to the turntable in the background. The roundhouse is under construction and is not present in this photograph. The track to the right of the engine ready track also leads to the turntable and is track for locomotives entering the terminal. The track to the right is the lead track for the Ascape yard. The yard ladder is switched from this track. The gondolas sit on the Power House stub.
The station is a Fine Scale Miniatures kit, the coal tipple is a Campbell kit, the turn table is a Diamond turntable kit. The water tower is Walthers. The power house is scratch built from card stock with hand carved brick detail. The sand house (hidden by the oil depot) and the oil depot are Campbell kits. There is a old box car shed under the water tower. Saulina's Tavern and Harley's Cycle Shop are hidden behind the trees behind the station.
Figure 2 View of Ascape Yard
Figure 2 is a view of the Ascape yard. The yard lead shown in Figure 1 feeds the ladder to these tracks. The track to the right is the main line with the turnout to the Ascape siding shown. Burgess Beef packing plant and Mauzy Ice are at the end of the yard tracks. Farmer's Cooperative elevator and feedstore are to the right of the main line in the upper right of the photograph. Craig's Camp is in the far background.
Burgess Beef is a Fine Scale Miniatures kit, Mauzy Ice is scratch built, the grain elevator and feed store are Walthers structures. The turnouts in the yard are powered by Tortoise machines from switches and indicator lights on the fascia.
Figure 3 View of Ascape Station, Water Tower, and Power PlantFigure 3 is a view of the station, water tower, and power plant. Echo Canyon tunnels 2 and 3 are in the background. This photograph was an earlier photograph that did not use Helicon Focus or the settings indicated below.
Figure 4 Ascape Coal Tipple from between Harley's Cycle Shop and Saulena's TavernFigure 4 was the photographer's first attempt to use Helicon focus with multiple exposures using manual focus (see photographic details below). Note that the cliffs are about 30 inches from the camera. The coal tipple is about 20 inches from the camera. The figures and gas pumps are about 8 inches from the camera. Enlarge the photograph by clicking on it to see the clear detail at every distance.
Figure 5Burgess Beef and Cattle YardFigure 5 is Burgess Beef packing plant. Bruce Burgess is a cattle man and close friend of the president. This structure and corral are a Fine Scale Miniatures Kit. The Cattle yard is small and can handle only one or two cattle cars in any one shipment. Reefers call at the platform to ship processed beef and pork to the market.
Figure 6 Mauzy Ice and Burgess BeefFigure 6 is Mauzy Ice. This small structure is perfect for the very small operation of Burgess Beef packing plant. Reefers are iced one at a time and it is rare for more than two reefers to visit the plant on any given day. The ice house was named for Chris Mauzy, who is a frequent operator on the ATSG. This structure is scratch built from polystyrene siding and strip wood. The builder drew plans from photographs of an On3 model of this ice house designed and constructed by Troels Kirk of Sweden.
Figure 7 Farmer's CooperativeFarmer's Cooperative and Feedstore are Walthers kits weathered by the author. Craig's Camp is on the hill behind this scene. The main line is behind these structures and again behind Craig's Camp on the upper level.
All of the photographs except Figure 3 were processed via Helicon Software and involve multiple exposures focused at different distances. The focus was set manually. The photographer measures the distance from the furthest object and closest object in the picture using a metric measuring tape. This distance is then divided into 5 or 6 equal lengths and an exposure taken at each distance. The camera indicates the distance when using manual focus: Sony 35 mm 8 mp digital camera, F8.0, color real, no zoom. Lighting is from overhead compact florescent spot lights enhanced by two photo lamps also with compact florescent bulbs. Exposure time is automatically determined by the camera. All photographs were taken on a tripod via the camera timer to avoid any camera shake. You should be able to enlarge the photographs by clicking on them.
No comments: 33 Echo Canyon
Perhaps the biggest challenge for the ATSG Railroad was how to provide creditable scenery when there is a high line behind and above the main line? Figures 1 and 2 show the problem.
Figure 1 High Line above Ascape Yard
Figure 2 High Line above Ascape
Several solutions were tried. The first was to try to hide the high line with buildings but this required either hiding the high line completely or trying to provide a rational why the high line was above the buildings. Not an acceptable solution. A second solution was to hide the high line completely as it returned to the helix. But this eliminated more than 20 feet of railroad that could provide additional running and scenery. A ride through Echo Canyon Utah provided a possible solution. See Figures 3 and 4. Why not a series of tunnels through the cliffs forming a backdrop for Ascape Engine Terminal and Yard?
Figure 3 Echo Canyon Utah the Prototype
Figure 4 Echo Canyon Utah the Prototype
Figures 5 and 6 show the construction of Echo Canyon. The high line is partially hidden by the eventual cliffs and a series of tunnels carries this main line through the cliffs.
Figure 5 Armature and Cheese Cloth Echo Canyon
Figure 6 Plaster covering Echo Canyon
Figures 7 - 13 show the details of the resulting canyon with carved rocks, sprayed paint with chalk weathering with foliage proved by Woodland Scenics. Portals were modified to appear to be partially built into the cliffs, the roadbed was hidden by a rock wall support between tunnels 2 and 3 and a bridge between Tunnels 1 and 2. Rock was hand carved, spray painted with diluted house paint, and weathered by raw pigments and colored chalk. The scenery was sealed with dull coat. The plan is to place photograph backdrops between the cliffs in Echo Canyon. There is lots of red rock to choose from in St. George and Snow Canyon. We will illustrate these photograph backdrops in a future post to this blog. The cliffs of Echo Canyon make a very nice backdrop for Ascape. A future blog will illustrate Ascape with these cliffs in the background. The illusion of height used forced perspective by using small shrubs and trees high on the cliffs and larger shrubs and trees in the foreground at the base of the cliffs. Interest was created at the base of the cliffs by including a retaining wall in some placed, a rock fall in other places.
Figure 7 West Portals Tunnels, No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3.
Figure 8 East Portal Tunnel No. 1
Figure 9 West Portal Tunnel No. 1
Figure 10 East Portal Tunnel No. 3
Figure 11 West Portal Tunnel No. 3
Figure 12 East Portal Tunnel No. 1 Echo Canyon
Figure 13 West Portal Tunnel No. 2 Echo Canyon
No comments: 32 Craig's CampThe high line curves around the back corner of the layout above Burgess Beef and Farmers Cooperative. A short stub was installed here to serve a small logging camp. The challenge was how to fill in the corner and create a plausible scene.
Figure 1 Future Site of Craig's Camp
Small mountains were created to fill in the corner. Even though they are 3-dimensional the attempt was to make them appear to be further away than they are. We are still debating how to make them appear pine covered without causing them to appear closer. The scenery in front of the camp is behind Farmer's Cooperative and Burgess Beef. A freight train is passing on the upper main line behind the camp.
Figure 2 Craig's Camp with upper main behind.
Craig Harding, a model railroad club member spent many hours helping construct the return loop in the staging yard under the location of the logging camp. In honor of this arduous task the lumber camp was named in his honor. The camp consists of a small shed, a logging crane, and a log pond. Figure 3 shows a set of scratch built log buggies behind a Bachmann three truck Shay locomotive. To the far left is a Barnhart log loader that rides on the top of rails on the log buggies. This small crane can then crawl from car to car as it loads the logs. How can you have a log camp without any trees in the vicinity. Hopefully some trees will spring up in this location in the near future.
Figure 3 Craig's Camp
Figure 3 is a Helicon photograph of Craig's Camp as described in other posts (See Post 30).
No comments: Tuesday, June 10, 2014 31 Professor Plunge and Hardly FallsI'm finally back to posting to this neglected blog about the Ascape Tennsion Sulphur Gulch Railroad. I will not try to include these posts in order but will merely date them as I post them rather than when they were constructed. I will try to give some details about the back story.
In 2009, installment #23, this blog described theconstruction of Whetstone Ridge, Sulphur Gulch, and the trestle at SulphurGulch. This bit of scenery served as thefocal point for the railroad since that time and is sure to get a Wow! from visitorsas they enter the railroad room. Howeverthe back side of Whetstone Ridge maintained its under construction status forthe next several years. As the presidentwas about to undertake a whole new construction project on the peninsula of therailroad the Chairperson of The Board subtly made the following observation:Dont you think it might be well to finish a bit more of the railroad beforeyou undertake a whole new construction project? Good observation. A wise president always listens to the BoardChairperson and thus construction on the back side of Whetstone Ridge wasbegun. This installment will describethe construction of Professors Plunge, Hardly Falls, the East Tunnel Portal,and the Park City East Tunnel Portal.This section featured in this post was finished for the 2012 November Open House.
Figure 1 HelixFigure1 shows the helix with its cardboard safety wrap prior to the construction ofWhetstone Ridge. The backside of WhetstoneRidge including Professors Plunge with Hardly Falls will hide the helix inthis area. The track at the lower leftis the mainline as it comes from the trestle at Sulphur Gulch and entersAscape. The roadbed at the upper rightis the mainline as it enters the helix at what will become East Portal and thebranch line as it crosses through Whetstone Ridge through what will become theEast Portal of the Park City Tunnel.
Figure 2 Armature, cheese cloth, and plasterFigure 2 shows the initial construction of the side and back of Whetstone Ridge.The cardboard armature in in place over this section of the helix and the cheese cloth has been glued to the armature.
Figure 3 Scenery DemonstrationFigure 3 shows this same view of Whetstone Ridge.This section was the first scenery on the ATSGRR.It was deliberately left in this partially finished state to show the construction technique used on the ATSTRR.The near section shows the cardboard armature and cheese cloth prior to the application of a plaster coating.The next section shows the cheese cloth coated with a thin plaster shell and some rock castings have been placed over the shell.The third section is the first part of Whetstone Ridge that was completed to show the scenery technique.The Sulphur Gulch section of Whetstone Ridge was then completed as shown in an earlier post (#23).This section of the railroad stayed in this condition from 2009 until the construction described in this post was completed in early 2013.
Figure 4 Armature for Professor Plunge and Hardly FallsFigure 4 shows the area that is to become Professor Plunge and Hardly Falls with the cardboard armature constructed but not yet covered with cheese cloth. The armature has indentations where the canyon will be and a notch in the summit of Whetstone Ridge which is the head of Hardly Falls. The roadbed leading into the helix can be seen cutting across the front of the scene. East Portal will be constructed where this track enters the cliff to join the helix. The roadbed leading to Park City can be seen in to the right of the picture. The Park City Tunnel East Portal will be constructed where this track enters the cliff to cross to the rear of the helix.
Figure 5 Main Line around Whetstone Ridge
Figure5 shows the aisle side of Whetstone Ridge after the scenery has been completedover the armature and cheese cloth that had occupied this location for severalyears. After experimenting with rockmolds it was finally decided that hand carved cliffs were not only moreefficient but could include a far greater variation of rock formations than iseasily accomplished with rock molds.
Figure 6 East Portal of Main Line Tunnel and West Portal of Park City Tunnel with Professor Plunge and Hardly FallsFigure 6 shows the East Portal of the Park City tunnel and the bridge leading to the East Portal of the Main Line Tunnel.
Figure 7 Ascape Engine Terminal with Professor Plunge in the background.
Figure 7 is a view of the Ascape Engine Terminal with Professor Plunge and Hardly Falls in the background. The train is entering The westbound main line from the East tunnel. The caboose is entering the East Portal of the Park City Tunnel. Saulena's Tavern and Harley's Cycle Shop are in the foreground. The Ascape Engine Terminal Coal tipple and Sand House are to the left behind Saulena's Tavern.
You will observe that the edge of the railroad has been protected withPlexiglasto preventaccidents during open houses. Ironically the only serious accidents so far on the railroad have been caused by the president when on one else was in the room :-(
Follow the construction and operation of the ATSG Railroad at its new home in St. George, Utah. This model railroad was started in 2007 but was interrupted by a mission to BYU Hawaii during most of 2008. Visitors are welcome. Contact the management at ATSGRR@gmail.com to arrange a visit.
Posts are numbered but appear in reverse order with the latest posts appearing first. ContributorsAscape Tennsion Sulphur Gulch RailroadOwnerTheManagementBlog Archive 2019(2) April(2)Whetstone Ridge and Sulphur GulchDescription of Completed Railroad 2017(1) September(1) 2014(4) June(4) 2013(2) July(1) April(1) 2011(2) October(1) March(1) 2010(5) September(1) July(1) June(1) January(2) 2009(11) November(1) October(1) July(1) June(1) May(1) March(1) February(2) January(3) 2008(10) December(1) November(9)FollowersTotal Pageviews
TAGS:Tennsion Ascape Sulphur Railroad Gulch
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