Waterville & Washington Railroad

I've been slow at providing updates to my model railroad. I'm currently working on a Missouri-Illinois 4740 cuft covered hopper. These covered hoppers were built in 1966 and share much in common with Pullman-Standards earlier 4000 cuft covered hoppers. They had 12 - 30" round roof hatches and a high brake. Nate

I've been working on installing static grass on my Coon Creek bridge module. I've tried different techniques and I've decided that I like applying 2mm grass and then immediately applying 6mm grass while the glue is still wet. The other method that worked good, but is more messy is applying 2mm thickly then waiting for the glue to dry and then using hairspray to apply the 6mm. I like how thick it makes the 2mm grass, but I don't like the extra mess and clean up the hairspray makes. I had an issue with my grass being too thin in one area and I used the hairspray to thicken the grass application and it works well for that use. The scene I'm trying to replicate without the snow. Static grass is one of those applications that looks much better in person instead of when photographed. My application is much more varied and patched compared to what the pictures show. Next step is to complete the grass application, then add the fence, shrubs, and brush.

My static grass application from earlier. It came out spotty and not very even. I worked on my applicator and I think I've fixed it. I need to work on layering the grass a little better and try the hair spray technique.

Working on installing static grass on the Coon Creek bridge module. I got spurred on by a friend and I'm hoping to continue with my progress. My static grass did not go on evenly. I think loose grounding wire is the culprit. I now have soldered my leads and wires so everything should work good again. Since it's late, I'll fire it up tomorrow. Hopefully with pictures to follow.

This picture was taken of Wateville looking west between 1977 and 1982. The train order signal in the picture came from Blue Rapids after the Blue Rapids depot was sold and moved off location. In 1982 the Waterville depot was moved. Great looking picture for modeling because the double privy can been seen and the tool shed has two track car drops. Milford Godsey's, Waterville station agent, vehicle is seen in the left hand side of the picture. The dirt path to the left of the tracks is where the old passing siding was located during the Passenger train era.

I had the pleasure of talking to Dean Cox who worked for the Missouri Pacific and he allowed me to borrow his train sheets from 1957 for my line. When I talked to him about the amount of traffic the line saw and he said during the grain harvest rush season, the line would see multiple trains a day with train lengths stretching to the horizon pulled by 4 or 5 locomotives. However, during the dry spells between harvest the line was known as the "High, Dry, and Dusty" with a few cars pulled by a single or pair of locomotives. It has been argued that the high volume of traffic that came off of the Northern Kansas Division is what sustained the Missouri Pacific main line from Kansas City to Omaha.

It's been roughly 5 months since my last update. Time has flown by with minimal modeling done. I'm now working on a Lake Junction Models Mopac tool shed. Hopefully that'll spur my modeling and I can once again be on track again.