How to Build a Highly Realistic Model Railroad Grade Crossing
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 ก.ย. 2024
- This week we finished the three-track grade crossing in the switching yard on the indoor part of our "Garden Railroad". Our system is really quite simple but looks GREAT.
If you have been following the progress on our indoor-outdoor railroad you know that the heart of the indoor section is a 25-foot three-track switching yard where some cars can live, ready to go out on the mainline, and many more can be stored on shelves, to be staged in the yard to go out on the mainline. The indoor part of the layout is very detailed, on previous shows we have shown painting the backdrop, making working switch stands, and hand-laying track. We have also been working on the outdoor section, and next spring we hope to join the two sections. Today we are finishing the road crossing in the switching yard.
We are using several found items and a product called Celluclay. Celluclay is paper mache infused with glue and something like plaster that makes it dry to a hard white product that looks just like plaster, yet is super lightweight. It's easy to work with and unlike plaster, when wet can be easily wiped off anything it gets on.
We are also using wood strips and acrylic paint from a craft store and "squirrel dirt", from mounds in Utah's Echo Canyon where ground squirrels have tunneled creating mounds of fine brown dirt that we use on the layout as, well, dirt. We also have "Gopher Dirt". Same thing but from Steve's yard.
We are also using some nails we found on Amazon that are perfect for large scales. Smaller scales will need much smaller nails.
www.amazon.com...
www.amazon.com...
Mr. and Mrs. Angell thank you very much for your videos..a great gift for my 16th Birthday. God bless you both!
Happy birthday Lloyd
Happy Birthday!!!
Happy Birthday 🎂
Thanks!!!!!! We do it because it’s fun. But sharing the fun is why it’s fun!!
Best idea with the wheels adding to the authenticity of the railroad
Unbelievable how real that looks and that painted backdrop looks fantastic!! Excellent job by both of you!!☺
Thanks so much!!
Hi!!!! Check out Sunday. I’ve been making corrugated steel rooking from thin aluminum and a paint tube squeezer and circuit board etching acid. Really comes out amazing!!!
the squirrel dirt, as you call it. really brings that scene all together and gives it a realistic look. fantastic looking area.
Hey ur a moderator on smt mainlines live stream
I really like using real dirt on the railroad real dirt real cinders that sort of thing it’s just looks so much better
What you are doing is a work of art! That grade crossing does look like it's right out of 1947.
Thanks!! Working on the coaling tower just now but we will get back here soon and finish the yard!!
It came out wonderfully in the end. Next time you'd like a dusty ground look, try several light coats of hair spray. It doesn't flood the area or change the look. And it clings like glue.
It's really coming along well.
Caddy convertible. Beautiful job!
Good morning! Your railroad is looking great!
Hi! Thanks! More coming soon!
All the time your putting into this sure shows! It look fantastic! Stay well Dale & Karyn, and have fun screwing around with these projects!
Brilliant job on Squirrel crossing. Nothing looks like dirt and cinders quite like dirt and cinders.
The squirrel dirt looks good on the road but I’m going to be using golfer dirt mixed with the cinders when I ballast the rest of the yard! First I need to go gather up some gopher dirt at Steve’s yard. He’s completely overrun right now with gophers And his yard is a nice gray dirt perfect for what I need
@@ToyManTelevision Each creature has it's own grade! I can see you having a big row of containers labelled with X, Y, and Z dirt for every occasion ;-)
Karyn your backdrop is brilliant.
Dale keep up the great work on your railroad.
Thanks!!!! She is working on cross bucks for the crossing
Looks great! Always good to watch these videos with the piano sound track. Really helps get my mind off of real life and anxieties!
I have to agree with everybody else the Grade crossing looks fantastic. good job.
Thanks!!!!
Really great scale work on the crossing Dale! The detail there on the switching yard is excellent, awesome job. -Mike
Hi mike! Sunday I’m showing how we make rusty steel roofing. Posted on fakebook but this will be a detailed show. The whole process
Great work on the crossing. It looks so real.
Thanks’. On to rusty steel roofing Sunday.
Dale: Yet another great job. You make it look so easy and realistic. Again never boring always creative and unique.
Hi Ken! Thanks.
@@ToyManTelevision Meant to tell you it looks like a scene out of Driving Miss Daisy.
“Wow” you & your wife did fantastic job 👍👍
Hi. Thanks!!!!
Your grade crossing came out looking very realistic. All the effort you put into it really paid off in the end.
One suggestion for applying your squirrel dirt (another realistic material) to the hardpan substrate - apply a dilute white glue mix to the substrate first, then sprinkle a layer of the squirrel dirt with a mesh strainer to the wet glue. Allow to dry, and then apply a 2nd layer.
You might also add some isopropyl alcohol to the glue solution, to reduce surface tension.
Going to try some of these. Now show?
FWIW, & IIRC column. When building a right of way you design to keep good water drainage. This keeps the weeds from growing. One way is to put a layer of compacted dirt, another is a layer of clay, the third is a layer of asphalt.
I love the Garage Mahal projects. Thank you.
Watching your videos of your layout updates always inspires me to work on mine! Keep it up, I'd love to see this thing in person.
Check Sunday. You may wanna try this.
@@ToyManTelevision I'll make sure to check Sunday! notifications are already on.
Love your attention and dedication to detail and prototypical faithfulness. You are a talented team.
Thanks!! Karyn is working of cross bucks for the crossing. Should be great!
@@ToyManTelevision I’ll look forward to that as I’m sure many others will.
Good video .. I like Model trains and train watching. I video losts of trains and pics of them
Hi. Yup it’s fun to chase trains! And when you can’t get out to do that, model them!!
thats so cool. Im not very good with scenery so i stick to almost all wood buildings and roads
I love working with wood. Check Sunday. Starting a series on a 40” tall coaling tower from pine and red cedar.
@@ToyManTelevision since my layout is less permanent, use wood samples to make look like road {ho and o} I also don't have many rustic looking engines so I made my layout lookbetween the 1950-70s on a time line.
You guys are up and early this morning. Great new video. Love the road crossings, did a great job. Stay safe guys.
Hi. Yes a changed the posting to 6:30 am because that’s 8:30 in the east.
Looks fantastic and super nice work !!!!!
Thanks mike!
Great work on that crossing. It looks steller.
Thanks!
Great job on this Crossing! I learned a few new things that I will be applying to my railroad. As always thanks for all that you do Dale!
Hi Merv! Been following your posts on Facebook. Cool stuff
Thanks Dale! I hope you two guys have a great Thanksgiving! I think you guys will like the Christmas train I got coming up next month.
Dale,
You could have done this with Joint Compound Mix !!!
Put in your track marks, painted it then sprinkle in the squirrel dust, spray it with 50/50 glue and water then more dust.
I’ve done that but the Celluclay is so much easier to use. If you get it in anything it wipes right off. Naturally looks like mud. Trick is making not look like mud!
Looks great. Nice work. 👍
I’ve been in model railroading all my life and I’ve seen some amazing layouts but I have to say, that’s the best grade crossing I’ve ever seen!
Thanks!!!
EXCELLENT HOW TO ! So the background "road" has a lot of weeds growing in it ( or at least as far as I can tell). That was a stroke of genius. If this is a dirt road, you would need to dirty up the car some, if you intended to keep it in the middle of the track LOL.
Very nice. Your talent is amazing.
Thanks!! Some roofing on Sunday!
Looks really nice
Thanks!!! I always wanted a massive layout. Now I just want it to look the way I see it in my mind. In the past I saw colorado! Everyone else saw plywood.
Great video! Always fun to tune in but this one is exceptionally informative. Thx and stay safe!
You too. Things are totally nuts here. So many people we know with the bug. So we stay home. Totally. But getten a lot of models built.
One word, WOW!
Excellent...a touch of the masters hand.....👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👍👍👍❤️❤️❤️❤️👀
Thanks!!
What a team! Marvelous backdrop, hand laid crossing, the authentic dirt . . . and that switch/lantern is spectacular! Your step-by-step narration is very comprehensive. Excellent!
that looks great, I love the large scale modeling you do. How about a backdrop painting video!!!
Did that! We have a play list!
th-cam.com/play/PLBuDn43_eyeqJ-5326zDXhWIQXznNPCng.html
That looks really good, as in near the real thing. Maybe the crossing timbers should be darker between the wheel tracks of the traffic going across it.
A friend use to use clear flat acrylic paint sprayed down to get his dust affect to not look wet in his dioramas. He also used cheap waterproof hairspray when he was doing them too.
Hi Kriss! Yeah I need to try some of those techniques. Especially if the hairspray which I have used for setting weathering chalk.
JUST A GREAT JOB SUPER GOOD VIDEO VERY INTERESTING AND INFORMATIVE THANK YOU BOTH FOR YOUR VIDEO AWESOME GOOD .THUMBS UP DEL YOU ARE A GOOD MODELER AND YOUR SPOUSE AS WELL. VERY COOL VIDEO. THANK YOU JIM KAMMERER OF PHILADELPHIA PA 👍😷🚂🚂👌👍👍👍👍📸
Thanks for the VIEW. Like the cad
Nice job on the crossing,
Thanks!!!! Happy thanksgiving 🦃
I quite like how some of the dirt right next to the wood is sort of eroded out, just like it would do in real life! You gotta make another crossing somewhere to leave that "muddy" look on it!
I’m adding the road in the Canyon area, that is the Canyon area of it isn’t even a Canyon area yet but it’s just envisioned project, just so I can make a muddy road out of it!
Interesting how that reminds me of a video on the virtual railfan channel of a driver in Ashland Virginia on a lesson of where not to park a truck 😁
I had thought it would be a really funny scene to take a diecast cars and cut the middle of it out and put the front half on one side of the cross sitting in the back half on the other side of the Crossing with just enough clearance for the train to go through the middle
You might want to look into a product used in art restoration called rotten stone.
i know you have ballast etc, to put down but, those discarded "spikes" made a real cool small detail in that view where you talked about them. Just suggesting. ;-)
Yup. I bought 2 bags of “perfect” spikes on eBay. From the 60s and 70’s. Don’t work for stink BUT perfect looking. The only square spikes ever made.
Tooooooooo coooooooool! Looks real as can be👍✌️😊🙏🏼🚂🚂🚂
Thanks. More on Sunday
You both are very amazing & so talented.. keep up the work 👍
Guess I'll have to go to the store and " bius " some lumber. You could also use the backside of ceiling tile to replace the homasote. That's what I do . Your looks great though.!
Hum. You can still get that I guess… ok for the rest of the layout. Indoors anyway.
Wonderful modeling Dale, thanks for sharing!
Hi. Thanks again for watching!
I am thankful for both of you. Happy Thanksgiving
Same to you!!!!! Stay safe
Looks great!
Thanks Jon.
For dirt and ballast, I've been using Elmer's Clear Glue mixed with distilled water, denatured alcohol and a few drops of dish soap.
I haven’t tried the distilled water or denatured alcohol. But planing to. Also just bought a chemical on eBay. I’m thinking it may be useful. If so it will be a show. Could be a cleaver way to ballast
You continue to amaze me with your skills. This crossing is really amazing! Never heard of Squirrel dirt before! Both of you are real masters of your attention to detail and creation of the effect you wanted. Thanks for sharing! Jim
Hi! It took a few goes at it but it finally came out well. On to the cross bucks!
Great video, you make it look so real. Wow, great job. So enjoy seeing your videos. Stay safe and keep on making those fantastic videos. Happy Thanksgiving!!!
For your glue solution you should try modege podge if you haven’t already from my experience it flows in to dirt and other scenic materials much better then other white glues
awesome job that crossing looks amazing!!! cant wait to see everything all done..
The yard is close! Pole wires. Mirror at the east end. Weather and rust. Ballast. Cross bucks at the crossing. AND the real fun, the lantern shop next to the caboose track.
To glue down your “dry dirt” put tape on your rails then buy cheap hairspray at the 99 cent store. It works great. Just don’t spray too close or the aerosol will blow your dirt everywhere.
Looks awesome, real materials make for realistic look for sure. Stay safe an God bless, and a happy Thanksgiving.
Back at ya! Much to be thankful for. Even in 2020. Remember a dumpster fire is still only a dumpster fire. Not a camp fire but not a house fire! It will go out and it’s only a bunch of garbage. OK and a few rats.
VERY GOOD VIDEO THANK YOU BOTH AGAIN VERY INTERESTING AND INFORMATIVE THANK YOU JIM KAMMERER OF PHILADELPHIA PA BE SAFE AND CAREFUL MASK UP WHEN YOU GO OUT PLEASE. 😷👌🙏🙏😷👍
Hi Jim. We are really taking this pandemic seriously. We know about 16 people so far that have had it. Two died. All had a horrible experience. So we stay in. We use masks. And we find safe ways to have a great time.
I'd have spent lockdown exactly the same way, if only I had the money :D
Great job! Love it.
Nice!
Thanks.
FYI - Agua Net Hair spray works too and doesn't dry 'shiny'.
That’s a good idea... since hairspray is meant for holding! Worth a try!
Very nice.
Yowsa ! Looks great !
‘‘Twas fun too. Yard almost finished ✅
Grade crossing looks FANTASTIC.Where did you get the 1947 Cadillac and who made it?
Enjoy your videos.You both really enjoy and have fun together.
Great modelling. New ballast fixer and other armor gravel and sand glue are said to reduce the issue of the white glue. But I Never tried them. I think that next time I do such work, I will use the airbrush to have a very fine mist of water, to wet the earth/sand/ballast without displacing it (but the air pressure must be very low).
Do you have a problem is twofold. Get in the water on there without it running and creating a problem and adding the glue to the wet soil without it changing colors. I’m gonna keep messing around with these things. Years ago Woodland scenics had a new product it was a glue you mixed with water. What I did it’s a mix the powder go directly with my soil and then just doused it down with soapy water and it would harden. Really worked well but it’s not on the market anymore
@@ToyManTelevision On MRH running extra of this month, an article describe some similar powder:
model-railroad-hobbyist.com/magazine/running-extra/2020-11/publishers-welcome#shop
Unfortunately, I need to find more place to lay tracks before ballasting.
Ill look.
They seem to be using wallpaper paste! I wonder if that isn’t what Woodland scenics used to sell? All I know is it was a white powder that came from them which they said you could mix with water and then spray out of a bottle, but what I would do is just mix the powder with my ballast and then spritz the whole thing with wet water and it worked great
@@ToyManTelevision Joe Fugate seems to use some dentist stuff:
www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001F51QHK/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B001F51QHK&linkCode=as2&tag=mrhmag-20&linkId=a20b3676d54281d508dc3b6b5ebdfc2f
But I don't know if it is better than wall paper glue. I'm only using dentist RTV for making my molds (and that stuff works well for my level in this area).
perfect
Thanks!!
I got trains running on my layout on the part where it's my mainline railroad, and I'm gradually working on the oval that's going to be a shortline railroad, I saw that woodland scenics makes grade crossings in HO scale, and I'm thinking of using that for my grade crossings
I always like building things. You might wanna consider getting some wood strips and just gluing them right to your track and making your own crossing.
Great “How To” video and that crossing really looks like the prototype. Have a good and safe Thanksgiving and thank you for all the wonderful videos!
Looks great 👍 I think the wood crossing s are better not many Left in Los Angeles .. sad
I find it interesting that they still put them in. But for the most part it’s a maintenance issue. If one already exists and they’re having trouble with it, it’s easier to just replace the wood timbers that are there
Dynamite absolutely perfect if I can get there by the railroad to look good as yours I’d be in business I am HO gauge. 1950s my Model Railroader
Y'alls artistic talents are amazing!, both of you. Not being a modeler myself is there a very,very flat acrylic that you can use to secure the "squirrel dirt" and similar media?
Y'all have a great turkey day! We only can reminisce about the large gatherings of yore, being 72 I have experienced a few myself. Stay Safe🚂.🚃🚃🚃🚃🦃🦃
Hi. Yes stay safe! Love riding trains, chasing trains but also models of them. Good safe fun!!!
Are you going to have any cross bucks at your crossing? Theres a cool railroad crossing post at the Conway Scenic Railroad which gards the crossing that leads to the parking lot inside the yard and if you look up pictures and videos of the yard you should see it. It sits on a reagular post but the sign is a circle with the words on it. You should definitely check it out.
Yup. The prototype is outside in the driveway! Marble reflectors! Hope we can pull it off.
@@ToyManTelevision cool. Do you have a picture so we can see what it will look like?
Have you ever tried to sprinkle the "squirrel dirt " down while the paint is still wet?
I've used that method with good results for roads or building up dirt under grassy areas
nice
I’m wondering instead of the glue mixture you use artist Fixative (Krylon brand). This is often sprayed over chalk or charcoal or pastel drawings to “fix” and loose material. I think it comes in either gloss or matte finish.
Lemme see if I got all the particulars right here:
- unlike the class 1s, you can't use tie stock as is. You have to get a different dimension of modeling lumber, or put your tie stock through your G scale planer.
- bevel the end of some %age of your lumber in 3 dimensions at 2 different angles.
- drill 500 1/32" holes
- countersink the 500 1/32" holes to 1/64" with a 3/64" bit
- realism is best achieved through the use of dirt processed by squirrels specific to one particular mountain in Utah.
- you were not specific about cinders, as when I was growing up, cinders could be a small gravel. I'll assume you meant burnt coal leftovers. From a roundhouse. Well, the one at Brunswick is long gone, and the B&O museum has been cleaned several times over since it last smelled coal smoke. When I was a kid, we picked up coke at Catoctin Furnace; the intrepid sleuth might still be able to find some, tho I expect the site has been too park-ified since then. Maybe I can find some blacksmith droppings without having to go up too Lehigh, PA.
Net: it's a small wonder you guys ever get wheels on rails.
P.S. you guys are always enjoyable. Best wishes!
And Sunday we are making rusty corrugated steel roofing. Hum.. as for cinders I also use the ash from my barbecue. Totally different look but I thought I’d mention it. Hum... cinders.... Evanston is our go to, only a two hour drive and they have better beer. I’m sure a coal power plant could substitute if you could find one and get past the gate. If you do find a source, like Evanston, the up side is the cinders and coal dust cover several acres and are about 3 feet deep. So you won’t deplete the resource if you take a few hundred pounds.
@@ToyManTelevision I've been making too many overly long comments this TG weekend, so I decided to omit the following observation initially:
What really failed to come out in this video, is that this _cinders_ & _squirrel dirt_ business is *entirely consistent* with your channel theme: _PTAOSA_
You & Karyn go exploring, and you say, "Hmm, this might do for something." So you take a few scoops of squirrel tailings (👀 !) home to experiment with. Same with the cinders.
This is quintessential _PTAOSA!_
Huzzah!
Not mentioned is what separates the men from the boys, the women from the girls, and the you from the me: know when to get rid of the squirrel tailings (👀 !) when they don't work out.
Also not mentioned: how in the world does Dale get his peach of a wife to sift 60 pounds of collected coal droppings for him?
@@ToyManTelevision I saw that bit about the corrugated steel & was looking forward to it. Thanks & best!
Looking great! Are you going to put in a crossing signal or sign?
Yup!! We are trying to do metal cross buck with marble reflectors. Tiny little reflectors. Not sure if it will work.
@@ToyManTelevision Great!
Crossing looks great! In the early pics the red earth looks like the australian outback...Are you going to paint on more road in your backscene? it seems to become a walking track!
G’day. (I love saying that). Anyway yeah it looks sort of like it disappears out into the trees it’s really a nice affect the Karen came up with. Hi on my to do list at this point or to crossbucks! Stay tuned!!!
@@ToyManTelevision crossbucks or starbucks?
That looks so amazing toyman!!!! Have you ever made a model out of layered paper....? never tried but I would like to so I can make some custom models not made by manufactures. Got any tips?
Years ago yes! But I think the Celluclay is the same but different.
Great railroad. It actually looks realistic 👍 oh by the way do you know what the song names are that you used in the video
The music I use I buy from a company called smart sound. Is there usually alterations of recognizable music that some musicians have taken and changed around so that they can sell the rights to it. Anyway very little of it actually has any name it’s just licenseable music that I bro
There you go being a craftsman. How are you drilling? Pin vise or power?
Als dremel. We ended up with it.
Looks terrific! Whose track are you using? And where'd you get the lighted switch stand?
Thanks for asking! I wondered the same, but hesitated, as I suspect they mentioned it a few months ago, and I should remember. I would be surprised if they laid rail on ties themselves.
By replying here, I'll catch their answer when they answer you!
I was just wondering do you think you would be easier just to use the cinder dirt instead of the plastic clay stuff? Just pour the dirt shape it and then spray it with your glue solution. Because it seemed to me that the original clay paper mache stuff actually set you back a little bit.
Hi! No the only problem I was having was finding someway to adhere the dirt without modifying it. It’s just very difficult to glue down the loose dirt without altering the loose dirt. Some people have suggested hairspray and I have use that for chalk but it just doesn’t seem to have enough strength for dirt. But the system I use stuff go back over it and if need be go back over to again seems to work just fine
The government has deemed me to be an essential worker so I have been recalled back to work after being laid off for 6 months.
Is that mudhen made of brass ?
One other item, I don't know about the state of Utah, but sometimes the U.S. Federal Government gets huffy about removing dirt, rocks and "samples" from public lands.
That looks so real. Except I can't help but notice that the wood is not worn. All your research pictures show the wood in pretty bad shape. With all the dirt around the grade crossing I would think that wood would be pretty beat up. And with that crossing in a very rural setting I doubt that the railroad would have put in new wood recently.
Appears the road ends at grade crossing. I guess the next step would be to add road to background diorama
It’s there. Cuts through the trees at an angle. Looks great in person.
@toy man television how long is your Railroad is yours including the inside and the outside of your Railroad? How long do you think before you test a train going over the road crossing?
Well there is only about 60 feet outside and 80 feet inside so far. Hoping that next year they will join! I have run across the crossing. Works fine!
Is the 1:20 battery power or track? How do you handle the out side tracks if track power?
Both. But the outside power has always been good for me. The key being to run a 12 or even 10 gauge bus wire under the track and tie every section of rail to that.
Your photo of the second R X R crossing ( 3 : 15 ) is perfect for a back woods or sparsely populated areas .
So please don't be putting it off .
Even if you don't like the way it looks .
I really do! I need to build the canyon and the muddy road. Mostly the trestle as I can’t get the train into the “kitchen” without it.
@@ToyManTelevision
I remember not one But two old TV shows. " You asked for It " and the other show was similar .
Both couples had O gauge trains running around the house and yards .
Both had it set up so a " Lunch Train " went into the kitchen .
Plates were shaped so the flat cars cleared the tunnels and bridges interior .
Both had converted tanker cars for coffee or sodas .
I haven't seen those in over 50 years but still remember them .
Step 1: Do your research and take pictures. Step 2: Follow your pictures and refer to them often.
one or two of the boards should be lifted up
On a really crappy crossing in the canyon I just may do that.
Do I hear minecraft music in the background 😂
I hate wood beam crossings
lots of concrete ones are precast & the railroad puts them into place Sometimes by bolting them to the wood ties
Looks great!