Small Projects Around the Club (Part 1) - Caliente

In early June 2018, I made one of my fairly regular visits to the La Mesa Model Railroad Club in San Diego.

No.59, the West Coast, cruises through Kern Jct. crossing over as it approaches the SP depot at Bakersfield.

After the 1950's TT&TO Operations Reenactment, I was able to spend a few evenings on some lingering projects that needed to be buttoned up.  This is an overview of several of these which really don't take a lot of time, and are fun to get finished.

The Hole in the Bucket - Finally Fixed!

Sometimes modifications to existing buildings and structures sometimes is required when special features need to be replaced or repaired.  The depot at Caliente on the La Mesa Model Railroad Club is one such example.

Here's a 2009 view of the Caliente depot model with the old cover boards.

For far too long, we've had to hide the unfinished deck by spotting a freight car in front of the hole.

The Train Order signal had to be replaced with a new servo operated one.  This required a section of the freight dock decking to be pulled up and the corner of the freight house dock deck was separated.  The corner of the dock became attached to the new TO signal, and the remaining part of the station are then placed against the TO signal and deck corner.

The Station at Caliente while workmen replace a section of the freight deck.

I finished the new wooden deck section in two parts, the larger piece is wrapped around the back of the TO signal mast.  A second section of deck, only two boards wide, forms a filler piece with the rest of the existing deck.

The new deck sections in place.

I used 1x10 and 2x10 planks for the new deck sections.  I used two 2x6 scale lumber boards as stringers under the length of the replacement deck section, which fit between and around the small bulkhead sections.  White glue (wood glue) was used to glue the pieces together.  I used a piece of Tamiya masking tape to hold the wood planks together while the stringers glued the deck boards together.

The new loose covering boards still slightly lift up, but at most viewing angles works well.

The ballast around the edge of the dock is filled in and glued in place with common ballasting techniques of 'wet water' (water with either a drop of dish soap or 50% isopropal alcohol).  Then a diluted glue-water mix with an eye-dropper (pipette) around the edge of the deck.

Caliente Station after the deck work is completed.

With the ballast glued around the base of the deck corner, it should still be possible to pop/break the deck loose if the TO signal needs additional work.  One of the challenges with weathering the new deck was matching the amount of ingrained dust in the older sections of the deck boards.  Even with regular vacuuming, dust seems to find a way to naturally weather models that stay out for long periods of time.  I used a brush with water in it to wash and lightly scrub the older sections of deck to clean them off so I could better match the deck colors.

This project only took about 30 minutes to make the new deck pieces and another 30-45 minutes to paint, this certainly falls into a "One Evening" project.

More Photography - Those Missing Shots

ATSF's Kern Jct. Tower and SP Bakersfield Yard.  The Sunset Rwy interchange are the two tracks to the right of the tower.

One of the projects for this blog I wanted to do at the club during the last trip there was to take certain photos for those times I wanted to do a blog post, but didn't have the appropriate photograph of the item or place.  I was finally able to get a decent photo of the modeled Kern Tower and Bakersfield SP Yard.  Many other photos from this trip will be posted soon in future blog posts.

Jason Hill

Related Articles:

Overview of 1950's TimeTable Operations (Part 1) at La Mesa Model Railroad Club

Triple Trouble Tehachapi - A Weird Day on the Hill