It’s time to lay tracks along the waterfront on the Model Railroader staff’s HO scale Rice Harbor project layout. Associate editor Cody Grivno shows you how he used styrene to simulate concrete apron. He’ll also give you some tips for modeling rails in pavement. The harbor bottom has also been painted and is ready for water.
Building a 5 x 8 harbor railroad part 8
By Angela Cotey | March 19, 2014
| Last updated on November 23, 2020
Laying tracks along the waterfront
I wish these videos would show more of how you did it (like the Virginian). Instead of just standing and talking, could you maybe build like in a how to video.
Why is it everyone wants/has to lean on the layout…? Looking very good, but must concur with earlier comments regarding talking vs doing. more doing, less leaning?
Awesome model yuor building there.
super informative and well thought out. can not wait to build my own harbor.
I've got an area on my layout where a styrene apron would be appropriate. Unfortunately Cody's reference to making a paper template sounds a lot easier than it really is. A how-to session on this would be much appreciated! Especially around curved track sections.
Although I'm enjoying the Rice Harbor videos, I've also noticed something different about this series compared to, say the Virginian or Thin Branch ones. Jeffery sort of hit the nail on the head. I've noticed quite a bit more talk about what you've done without really showing how you did it. To be fair, you have given separate videos covering things like the swing-up section and the car float. Seems like the main Rice Harbor videos will be just updates on progress with more detailed construction help as separate videos. Will there be separate, more detailed videos about kit-bashing and scratch building the structures beyond what's in the magazine or the main project videos? No mention's been made of wiring. I know the Thin Branch series got quite long but I enjoyed every second of it. I'm not complaining, just making some observations. Model Railroader has always been one of the most innovative hobby magazines ever. Keep up the good work!
WALT ANDERSON from NEW YORK
I was disappointed that this was mostly a "chat" session, no hands-on demonstration of HOW anything was done… no video clips as the work progressed, the styrene trimmed/cut, how/where the adhesive was used, whether the .20 plastic went in before or after the .80. Not very informative.
Frankly, the video of this episode is not as professionnally done as the previous ones about the project and many other videos from the MR staff. The concept of two persons just talking to each other is not ideal for the purpose. They look at each other, mumble and are often hard to understand.
Is there any chance the layout will be shown at the National Train Show in Cleveland this summer?
Nice update video. Speaking strictly for myself, I would have filled in the turnout in some fashion, as there are couple of proven ways to accomplish this. I am really surprised that Cody wasn't up to the challenge!
The layout is looking good, and I hope this will be brought to next fall's Trainfest for display. One way to put the styrene "road" into a turnout, which I agree introduces some risk from an operating standpoint, is to take a turnout before it is installed, put magic marker on the tops of all the rails, and use it as a sort of huge rubber stamp to stamp onto a clean sheet of paper. It will show the outline of all rails, guard rails, and frog. That creates a template — actually a series of templates — for cutting out the styrene to fit within the rails, guard rails and frog, even if you decide to leave the points alone (although a separate piece of styrene that travels with the points is an option as well). It's easy enough to clean the magic marker off the rail head with a solvent based product such as Goo Gone.
Can anyone help? I'm attempting the Rice Harbor layout. I'm making the L version. I am having the hardest time getting the harbor side framework to look like yours. Also how much room should there be and how many cars plus loco can you manuvure to run cars to the dock. Pleas any help would be good. I've tried measuring using the 12" blocks and I still keep coming up "short". Are there any videos or more in-depth articals dealing with just the laying of track? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!
Thank you!
Adam