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White Pass in S
This begins one of the larger model railway projects I have ever undertaken, only second to my Years of The Grande in HOn3. I'm not sure how much I can or will end up sharing, though I would like to have you along for the ride. First things, first. A little history on how this crazy idea came about...
I had followed the White Pass RR, only as a casual observer. I admired the massive scale of the scenery, the seemingly small trains battling grades, curves and bridges that shouldn't be. Sounds very Rio Grande doesn't it... Even the rails are 3ft apart to boot... A chance look at a beautiful Sn3 layout featuring a little bit of the White Pass certainly cemented some early interest. That was in the early 90's. For many Years I could easily picture that layout and Shovelnose diesels hauling a string of ore hoppers or oil tanks. Same old gets in the way... Things happen, interests change, life goes on and that White Pass dream never materialised, nary a freightcar or loco or structure, nothing. My interest in all things Grande waned a hair around 2015. I had lived it for almost 20 Years and I guess I burned out, there are only so many 3000 series boxcars you can build. Between then and now I dabbled with a few ideas, in between settling into a new job building locos all day long, I forgot about anything with 3 ft between the rails until...
Recently, one Sunday evening I spied a Sn3 Shovelnose kit from Railmaster Exports on that money pit known as eBay. The starting price was right. I put in a pretty generous bid, not thinking anything will come of it. You guessed it, I won the blasted thing. Presto, the next "big project" I was sitting on instantly came to fruition. A quick email to Railmaster secured a couple trains worth of flats and ore cars and caboose. Whilst I was at it a kit for #73 floated it's way across the ditch too.
A frenzy of email and Credit Card activity secured books, plans and other useful bits such as postcards, photos etc. It's starting to fall together very well.
Things looked a little hazy health wise for me during 2021 and I wasn't even sure this was a good idea, spending a substantial bit of coin on stuff that may only sit in the boxes? Common sense always prevails... He who dies with the most trains wins...
Regardless of what tomorrow may bring, this project is "highball"... I have learnt not to ponder things for too long, odds are I miss out.
How about we jump aboard Train #1 for a run to Whitehorse.
Updates will always be on this page over any social media post. I wish this page to be one that will have everything organised in the one spot, not scattered all over socials like a dog's breakfast. I have also set up a page on Facebook, though I will be spending more time here and any update will be in far greater detail. For now, any update will likely just go on the page, in time I will start to organise things into menu's/folders etc...
That fateful loco kit that kicked off this mad idea. Beautifully made kits that go together with minimal work. They are solid white metal, I better pay attention to the track!
Clifton at MP8 almost certainly will be modelled. Thankyou to Boerries for allowing me to share some of the photos here that are featured on his website.
www.whitepassfan.net
7/02/2022 saw Skagway depot get off the ground. For me, the best way to build these large structures (Skagway is around 500mm square) is to build a styrene skeleton then laminate the inner and outer walls. In the picture above is the wall facing 2nd Ave and a few interior partitions. Window/door openings are cut just a touch oversize, the windows and doors will be dropped in after the siding is applied. The entire structure will be scratchbuilt. I can't locate any near enough windows or doors in 1/64, building them from scratch doesn't really take all that long once procedure and material/dimension is sorted out. Next step for Skagway will be the wall facing Broadway and the track.
For anyone genuinely interested in construction methods, technique or looking for a little mentorship, you only need to drop me an email jurgenengel@y7mail.com
The basic skeleton of Skagway Depot is now complete, now on to the adjacent RR offices.
Both frames now complete for the Depot and the RR offices. This is also approximately how they will sit on this module.
I've turned both buildings around here so you can see the 2nd Ave side of these buildings. I.E the track is now behind the buildings. All structures are built from 0.75mm styrene. It's a nice compromise between strength and ease of cutting. At first the structures are somewhat flimsy. This quickly dissapears as various interior walls and supports are added. I prefer the very thin Mr Hobby cement and also Mr Cement Deluxe then reinforced with HobbyMio Thick adhesive. The finished joins are very strong.
I have now started to add the siding to the Skagway Depot. White styrene hides a surprising amount of your work, I really wanted to get a bit of primer/neutral grey on the model to see exactly how this was all falling together. I am happy enough to continue with the entire depot. Each length of siding I run a blade along the edge to weather/add the rounds to the siding edges. The inlay is a fair bit of work, but with the more complex side done, the other 3 sides are flat and much more straightforward.
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