Frosty Morning

After yesterday's discussion of trains in the fog and frost, I figured the weather events were done for a while. Wrong again!

This morning I had a meeting at church, and when I walked out of the house I heard a train horn to the west. Since my church is close to the tracks, it seemed like no harm would be done by taking the long route just in case the train was eastbound. The gates were coming down as I approached the tracks, so after a full speed exit and barely coming to a stop I shot my first crude train of the day at the Highway 71 crossing. Tried to include a little of the frost that was hanging on everything including the front of the locomotive.


After finishing up at church, I needed to stop at Ben Franklin for some weathering supplies. I'm glad I did, since there was another eastbound tank train passing through town when I walked out the front door of the store. A quick phone call to Mrs. L4T to let her know my arrival home would be delayed was followed by hot pursuit towards Staples.

After overtaking the train just east of Verndale, a quick dash across the tracks yielded this:


As you can see the sun was out now, leaving me wondering how much longer any of this frost could hang on. I spun around to shoot the train going away as well, as much as anything to get a shot of my favorite Staples Sub tree sporting a glorious coat of white.


The frost was prettier than I was able to record, and not being able to get the train against the trees due to the position of the sun and highway was a little frustrating. My next big idea was to try a shot south of Staples, where the sun and frost just might play well together. Well, kind of I guess.


A pit stop at a Staples gas station extinguished the low fuel light, and I headed back for Wadena. Almost immediately BNSF 771 East cleared up a warrant, and it was back to work. This time from the Todd County Highway 9 crossing, for what turned out to be my favorite shot of the day.


Another tank train! Knowing how much he would wish he had been there, I immediately texted Chris with tall tales about the flood of oil trains headed into the bright sun amidst the frosty scenery. That was kind of mean of me.

When I got home, the frost was just starting to drop, creating mini snow flurries throughout the neighborhood. It was a scenic day, and thanks to the BNSF for cooperating and giving the chance to shoot some trains in these unusual conditions!

The Evergreen Sprouts Needles

Let's put some color on the tree armature we built in the last post.



The above video details the process I use to turn the tree armatures into something that more closely resembles an actual spruce tree. Matereials used are cheap brown spray paint, Woodland Scenics fine turf in a dark green color, and Aqua Net unscented hair spray. I find that the first application doesn't cover completely but after a coat of hair spray the turf really sticks.

Here's a shot of the finished product.


And that's all there is to that! They're not perfect, but they are quick and inexpensive, so they fit right into my model railroading wheelhouse. Hope you enjoyed the story.

Evergreen Modeling

Not this kind of Evergreen:

(Although I have messed around modeling such a thing, printing it out on cardstock and cutting, folding, and glueing the printout):

No, today I want to talk about something called bottle brush trees, or a type of evergreen that is easy for someone who is cheap and all thumbs like me to conjure up. Instructions for making trees like this are all over the model forums, but I've learned one or two things that seem to help me get acceptable results. First, let's take a look at what you need to have on hand to make a bottle brush evergreen.


Clockwise from top left-first is a bit of sisal rope. I've heard of people using other types, but I've only used sisal, so can't speak to anything other than that. Just to the right is plain old masking tape, cheapest you can find. Line up on the right are the three tools this step will use-wire cutters, scissors, and a comb? Yes, a comb. Continuing on across the bottom, we see the wire that will serve as the "trunk" of the tree, and some of the rope after it has been cut into usable lengths and boiled. I don't know why you boil it, but it works, and I've never tried without boiling it. Kind of makes it seem like there is some magic to the process so I keep doing it. Now that we've got the stuff on hand, let's make a deal tree.

Cut yourself a piece of wire about twice as long as the tree you are making will be tall, plus just a bit. Next step is to tear off a hunk of masking tape the height of the tree and stick it to the wire, leaving a bit of wire past the end of the tape, kind of like so:


So far, so good. Now, get your comb and some of the boiled rope. Unbundle the rope as much as possible without tearing the strands apart. You will have a single "ply" of the rope, consisting of many individual sisal strands. What needs to happen is the strands have to be separated. Here's where the comb comes in. Comb the rope. From the middle out, first one way, then another. Nobody used conditioner on this rope, so some of it will be a bit tangled. Get after it! Separate those strands. Then stick them to the tape, distributed somewhat evenly. Start at one end of the tape, and continue on until the whole strip is covered. You'll end up with something like this:


Now, it's time to turn this into something resembling a tree. Bend the wire over so the bend is right at the end of the masking tape. Fold those wires together as closely as you can. Leave a loop at the bent end, and clamp the free ends to a 2 x 4 or something like that securely. You'll be pulling on this, so clamp 'er down tight. The time has arrived to use a power tool. In my case, it's a cordless drill with a carefully engineered bent finishing nail in the chuck. Rather than explain what happens, I'll try and show you.



Frankly, at this point, the product looks very little like a tree, and very much like some wire and rope twisted together. Time for the magic weapon-out comes the comb, again. Once more, it's easier to show than tell.



We're getting there. After combing out the "tree" it's obvious that it looks like someone spilled a gallon jug of growth accelerant somewhere in the area. Next step is to correct this problem. Bust out your scissors, and get to work. And don't be afraid to cut! My second secret hint is to be aggressive when you trim. Make that sucker look like an evergreen tree.



At this point, you've got something that looks like this:



We'll make it look more like a tree in the next post. Stay tuned.

It's Hard (but not Impossible) to Stop a Train

Toward the end of a long day, as I neared Austin, I encountered a northbound ICE manifest train picking its way along the 10 mph track between Blloming Prairied and Owatonna. Even though the clouds were thick, why not try a few photos? It's not like I had any pressing engagements this evening.

So after a u-turn and a run back up US 218 to Bixby, I fired off a couple of shots. These are the best I could do with the editing software on my work computer.



As I waited for the slow-moving train to approach a grade crossing, someone in an orange railroad vest drove up in a pickup. He asked me if I had reported a tree down on the tracks. I told him I hadn't, but there was another pickup a little ways further north parked near the tracks. The railroader thanked me and took off north.
After getting my shot I followed.

Amazingly, I found an open spot in the foliage just as the sun peeked through a crack in the cloud cover. It seemed as is fate would allow a nicely lit photo of this train after all. But just as his headlights appeared, the train speed went from 10 mph to zero mph. Now what?

Peering down the right-of-way, I thought maybe I could see something on the tracks. The rail in the pickup went racing down a gravel road, and since the train was stopped, I drove a little ways down the highway and pulled over. Sure enough, a good sized tree had blown down across the tracks. After asking the engineer and conductor if they minded me taking some pictures, and them telling me to go ahead, I shot a few. Here one of the crew members is snapping a photo of his own:


The crew was waiting patiently for help to arrive. Since darkness was rapidly approaching, I decided to move on, and thanked them for their cooperative attitudes. It was fun to talk with railroaders encountering something a bit out of the ordinary.


And that's my story of how it's hard, but not impossible, to stop a train.

Jim