East Branch Scenery Updates -- Part 4

Here at the eastern end of the East Branch staging yard, the first phase of scenery is complete. Yes, more details could be added such as crossbucks, static grass tufts, and more bushes or shrubs. However, for the first layer, it is complete enough to move on. This scene generates Pacific Northwest atmosphere which is one of my goals. This scene also brings to a successful close the fix or extension to the originally planned staging. The first layer of ground foam and other scenery materials disguises the abrupt foam hillside to some extent. Time to move on!

Here, another section of the East Branch staging module exhibits enough first layer of scenery for me to feel ready to move on. The track is ballasted, the original clearcut area has been expanded, and some texture is applied from the berm and gap in the rear to the front fascia. Another layer of scenery should be applied later, but a foundational level of atmosphere and realism goals are there. Now, I need to get up the gumption to add to the first layer of scenery between these two areas, at least make sure that some texture is applied everywhere beyond painted plywood before I return to the Nooksack module's buildings, scenery, and operations.

In my last post, I discussed long range plans and a desire to improve the surroundings in the basement. While I do want to connect the two first phase finished areas ASAP, my thoughts about the basement were reinforced  when our new cat sitter came by to meet Jane and Gracie yesterday. When we mentioned the trains, she wanted to see them. As the first phase of the 4th Subdivision is coming together and I can take some pride in it,  I fear that the surrounding basement is more than a distraction; it destroys the illusion. Some improvements to the surroundings must be fit into the schedule!

TOMA In the 4th Subdivision -- Long Range Plans

Sketch Plan/Design for the 4th Subdivision

I spent the past few weeks revising a presentation on planning a new model railroad after moving and writing the accompanying handout that I will be giving at the MER convention in October. The clinic discusses both general plans for designing a model railroad and how I designed this one. I break the presentation into three parts: To get what you want you have to know what you want, the actual steps I took in designing a model railroad, and using TOMA. 

Nooksack and Staging

For much of the past couple of years, I have slowly made progress on the first phase of TOMA, the town of Nooksack with staging on both ends. The east staging, now named East Branch, will be fully sceniced and is a new module that I have written about a lot here on the blog. While I am somewhat disappointed in the slow progress so far, I feel like what I have accomplished has been somewhat successful. I do need to make a commitment to picking up the speed here as we enter "model railroad season." One major issue is that I have used something like the TOMA approach to providing the space for my railroad. This has been what I see as my largest mistake so far. This piecemeal transition from unfinished basement to layout room has not been satisfying and may be a contributing factor to lack of progress.

TOMA Phases Color Coded

While working on my presentation and thinking about progress on the "train room," I have returned to thinking about the long term goals for the entire railroad. Phase 1 is the town of Nooksack, well under way. My plan for Phase 2 is for Ferndale, a major interchange and fiddle yard, in addition to a new section of mainly scenery including a fill and cut to be added left (to the west) of Nooksack. That area of the basement is very decrepit right now. Although I don't want to start building any benchwork, I think that I should move to room prep of the Phase 2 area of the basement before Nooksack is finished. It would make for more desirable surroundings for me and acceptable surroundings for visitors.  

Moving into even longer range plans, the color coded illustration shows what I am thinking of in future phases of TOMA construction. Phase 3 will replace the temporary East Branch staging with the permanent town of Chikamin and a totally new section with scenery and an interchange between Chikamin and the Nooksack section. At the same time, the East Branch sceniced staging will move to in front of the posts as seen in the illustration. Phase 4 will be the blob peninsula and Phase 5 will be the Port Gulick scene. Other than an existing module from Meadville that is planned as the core of the town of Chikamin, all these sections will be new construction. 

We will see how much of this long term planning comes to fruition, but for now work on the first phase and some improvement of the surroundings in the basement need to press forward.

Wordless Wednesday #3 -- Meet at Railroad Museum of Pennsylvvania

 

East Branch Scenery Updates -- Part 3

Working from the east end

In my last post I ended discussing a patch of trees as a way to disguise the dead-end of the far end of the East Branch Staging.

The first step was to pencil in the location of shadows on the sky from the temporarily placed trees. Then, during a recent Thursday modeling night, I painted in some trees using acrylic craft paints and some brown from the lid of my gallon of latex brown dirt color. Finding the green to be too light compared to the furnace filter trees, I mixed up a slightly darker color and added some darker brush strokes with slightly more detailed branch ends. The next day I drilled holes for the trees and marked them with toothpicks before adding a layer of a Scenics Express "Conifer Floor Blend," a ground foam and static grass mix, to the area.

In addition to gluing down the ground cover, I also applied ballast to the track, here between the tree locations. After the scenic glue had dried I went ahead and fit the five furnace filter trees in place. While no one has been able to explain the the reason for the phenomenon to me, I am a believer in the "odd number groups of trees looking more natural" theory. The five trees are made up of different colors, sizes, and construction techniques. While they actually block the track, the illusion and hidden shadows by the painted trees on the backdrop works well enough for me. 

In my previous post I explained the materials and techniques used for ballasting here on the East Branch staging section. While working here, I went ahead and finished ballasting the main and passing tracks between the clearcut and here at the east end. As seen in the photo, one segment of the ground needs some additional first layer work behind the passing track. My notion is that a path needs to be added, a gravel parking area at the end of the gravel road should be included, and some landscaping needs to be worked out around the yard office (which needs to be finished). 

Working backwards from the patch of trees, a section of the backdrop needed work. If nothing else, the patch between sections of backdrops created with the runaround extension from last September has never been resolved. I decided on showing a clearcut going into the distance. 

Using Google image, I went through a number of photos online until deciding on one from an online report from the University of Cincinnati. I did a screen grab and then saved a portion as a JPEG. My first idea was to do some old school cut and paste before glueing it into the backdrop as an experiment with collaging a photo into the painted backdrop. While trying out various positions of my photo cut outs, I changed my mind. Why not just use the photo as a source and try painting the distant ground and trees instead of trying to blend the photo with the rest of the painted backdrop? So, that is what I did. 

By having a source photo to work from and using my standard latex brown as one of my colors along with a few craft store paints, I think the transition from 2D backdrop to 3D bench-top works. I am not going to give up on ever collaging in a photo into the backdrop, but I will save that technique for buildings. The technique that I think will make that work is applying visual foils on either side of the building, an approach suggested by one of my model railroad inspirations: Paul Dolkos. Paul passed away earlier this month, but I was able to briefly meet him and visit his Baltimore Harbor Railroad several years ago before his railroad was taken down. 

In the last photo, the railroad crossing boards can be seen glued down, and the stumps are loosely positioned, but still need additional weathering. While I am making progress here on the East Branch staging, I still have more to do before I can say, "The first layer of scenery here is complete, let's run some trains and return to Nooksack." First layer of scenery is a doable goal here within a reasonable length of time, and may supply inspiration for additional progress on the railroad as a whole. 

Next Steps:

• Stump weathering
• Yard office completed
• Switch stands
• First layer of ground cover where missing
• Experiment with static grass and static grass mats

East Branch Scenery Updates -- Part 2

For a variety of reasons, some good and some not so great, I have not been working very steadily on the railroad. I have made some progress though with next layers of scenery, ballasting, and finalizing the plans for scenery here on the East Branch section. 

This photo shows the area behind the tracks where I envision extending the clearcut. I continued to work on staining and painting some stumps that I had ordered, but they are not yet where I want them. I got them to a point where I am happy with the color representing just-cut trees, but the stumps need additional weathering to age them for this scene. Also, they are stumps of large trees! I have ordered some more smaller stumps to mix in. Once the additional stumps are ready and the clearcut area is expanded, I will post with details about the process. 

Working outwards from this same area, I started the next layer of scenery, which in this case, consists of ballasting the track and adding ground cover along the track. One of the standards that I have established for the railroad is the use of real rock ballast instead of the ground walnut shell materials from Woodland Scenics. Here, I am using Arizona Rock and Mineral 1152 "Empire Builder" for the mainline and passing track. For the spur track I am using Scenic Express #50 Blended Ballast. In an earlier post, I discussed my ballasting techniques. 

After ballasting a section of track and while the scenic cement was still wet, I sprinkled on some fine ground foam along the ballast edge. I used Earth Blend and Green Blend of Blended Turf from Woodland Scenics. As seen in the photo, I applied the Blended Turf in gaps between the ballast and earlier applied sanded grout. While I plan to later apply additional scenic layers such as static grass tufts and mats as well as static grass fields, shrubs, and bushes, for now my goal consists of applying a first layer obscuring any painted plywood. 

While I am working outward from a clearcut patch, not all of the East Branch staging section is intended to be clearcut. Evergreen trees are part of the identifying atmosphere of the "Evergreen State," so as I mentioned in my last post, I have gotten into my stash of trees. I found one bag of somewhat derelict trees, some from my module days with a layer of "snow" and some half completed furnace filter trees. After picking out the best and poking them into a foam block, I took them outside for a quick blast of dark green camouflage spray paint.  I plan to utilize trees I have on hand here on this sceniced staging section before going into a new phase of tree construction. 

The far end of this section where the track runs into the backdrop has been a bit of a conundrum. One temptation is to apply some mirror trickery. On the other hand this is a "temporary" staging section and that might be considered a bit of overkill. In fussing with some of the trees I have on hand, I think that I have a plan. First of all, in placing some conifers temporarily, I see that painted trees on the backdrop are needed to hide the shadows from the three-dimensional ones. With the tracks running into dark shadows and patch of trees, I am thinking the dead end will be sufficiently visually disguised.

I still have quite a lot to do on the East Branch, but I plan to start by focusing here at this end before working my way back towards the clearcut and the Nooksack section. The first phase of work here at this end will include:

• Backdrop painting
• Track ballasting 
• Gluing the crossing planks
• Applying ground cover
• Applying static grass mat and tufts
• Adding shrubs, bushes, and trees

East Branch Scenery Updates

A little bit of Pacific Northwest "Atmosphere"

In my last post I mentioned that the scenery on the East Branch staging had become a series of stumbling blocks that morphed into a gumption trap. Over the last week or so I have tried to work through them.

One area that had been bothering me was the road towards the east end of the East Branch. I had glued down cork sections for the road, but I was not really happy with them. As seen in the photo I applied a first layer of wallboard mud when I was adding sculptamold to the painted plywood last month. Even after sanding and painting with gray craft paint, I still was not pleased with how it looked. Trimming a too wide section of the curve was a step in the right direction. Another layer of joint compound, sanding, and painting . . . warmer, but not there yet.

Well, it was time for the scenery material du jour: sanded grout. I have been experimenting with sanded grout as a first layer, combing it with various other materials, and preparing a short clinic on using it. Here, I mixed up a dry batch of mainly gray sanded grout and some gray fine ballast from Woodland Scenics and used my now standard approach: white glue, grout mixture tapped from a spoon, isopropyl alcohol, and scenic cement. One issue with the cork road surface was the dip where the cork ended. I was able to disguise that with the grout mixture. While it is still not perfect, I am satisfied with the texture here on this gravel road.

As I mentioned before, I have been applying sanded grout as a first layer on a lot of the East Branch sceniced staging. In this photo I am applying a second layer over an area that appeared "too" soupy after the scenic cement was applied. Particularly when this second layer is a subtly different mix of grout colors or additives, this adds a variety of color and texture without impacting the overall unity of the scene. This is one of the kinds of scenic techniques that approach using elements and principles of art that Lance Mindheim discusses in his book, Model Railroading as Art. 

Two of the goals that I have for building this model railroad are to strive for the model railroad to function as a three dimensional art form and to capture the "atmosphere" of the Pacific Northwest. Yes, it is a model railroad and the trains are important, but maybe they aren't the top priority for me that they may be for some others.

With the goal of capturing some atmosphere, I tackled one area of the berm between the three dimensional benchtop and the backdrop. It already had a first layer of sanded grout applied, and I wanted to attempt to model a section of clearcut there. Using Google images I looked at a number of photos of clearcuts. I had some plaster stump moldings on hand and ordered some more. Using the older ones, I stained them with a dark gray wash and started arranging them in place. Once I was happy with their placement, I used some of my dry grout mixture to level their bases. In the photo one can see this leveling process. 

Having been exploring the look of clearcuts, I decided to expand on my first layer approach and move this scene into a more finished state. I explored using a spray/mister bottle to apply the alcohol wetting agent. Having noticed stray sticks of various sizes abandoned among the stumps in the photos, along with rocks and some greenery, that is what I tried to model. I had a box of grayish (I think oregano) branches that I had collected from our garden in Meadville, and I got into my tub of scenery materials to find some static grass clumps and other foliage. Placing them on the damp grout, I then applied scenic cement.  The end results can be seen in the opening photo of this post. 

Having gotten started, I am enjoying the process. Next up, I envision the clearcut area doubling, exploring with static grass mats and static grass applicator, getting into my box of trees, and ballasting the track. I just watched a couple of videos of model railroaders stating that having one section of completed scenery inspired them to be enthused about their railroad. 

What's Been Happening On the Railroad: Stumbling Blocks or Gumption Traps?

It has been over a month since I last posted, Yikes! I shouldn't get too down on myself; it is somewhat expected that summer is a slow season for model railroading. I have done a few things, just not the steady progress that I had laid out for myself. Some slow progress has continued on the Curtis Cannery roof-top water tower, but I hit a small stumbling block. I tidied up the railroad, cleaned track, and did some solo operations, but I hit a bit of a stumbling block. (Do we sense a theme here?) Just last week I spent some time in the basement because it was the only cool part of the house during our week long heat wave. While there, I returned to scenery on the East Branch, which had been stymied by, wait for it, a series of stumbling blocks.

While my original drawings for the water tower had a different approach, I changed the plan at the last minute to the 12' X12' posts all aligned as straight and plumb verticals with a 90 degree angle at the base instead of many of the posts in the bents having a slight angle. I saw this approach with all straight posts and an angled board added at the end of the bent in a coal trestle somewhere, but I don't remember where. I may be breaking the "don't model from models" rule here. At any rate, I drew over my original drawing, cut and stained the parts, and went ahead starting to glue up the bents with braces as seen in the photo. 

Avoiding the heat working outside on another day, I went down to the workbench in the basement and wrapped up the rest of the braces and slanted end boards. After the glue was dry, I started brainstorming how to tie the joists holding the tank up, the bents, and the tank itself together. I was able to accurately glue the bents together by lining the parts up on the waxed paper covered drawing. Attempting to balance the 6" X 12" joists and bents in place with my shaky hands was unsuccessful as a trial of the new process. This was the stumbling block I mentioned earlier. At first I thought I would have to design a fixture to hold the joists in position and then glue the bents in place upside down. Now I am thinking that an easier approach is to glue the central joists in position at the bottom of the tank with the tank upside down before gluing the bents in place. At least I now have a plan, and I can move forward with cutting the joists to length and staining them. 

As I mentioned in the first paragraph, I spent a couple of afternoons in the basement with solo operations. I am experimenting with the notion of having the car cards at an agent's desk that I discussed here and here earlier this spring. Clearing off the layout and cleaning track and loco wheels went fine. I arranged some cars in place and made up the first switchlist. After that I ran a first session that was enjoyable, lasted a little over an hour, and suggested that "model railroading is fun." But then, for the next session, the return of the first session's turn, I had too many cars in the East Branch yard, too many destinations, too many cars to pick up at the NP interchange. And worst of all, too much in my head moving back and forth from the railroad to the agent's desk. Model railroading was NOT fun. Well, over the last month, Lance Mindheim has posted links to some Switching Operations 101 videos on his YouTube channel and discussed solo operations on his blog. After considering his suggestions, my takeaway is to simplify and slow down, instead of trying to jam the operations plan of the whole completed 4th Subdivision into this one location and small yard. 

I had hit several stumbling blocks (actually, a full on gumption trap!) earlier this year on the East Branch staging. Looking back, this is probably why I started the cannery project. I was unhappy with how several parts of this temporary staging were turning out. (They all appear in this photo from February.) I tried justifying the obvious seam between two sections of sky panels as "deal with it, it's just temporary." Despite that, it bothers me every time I notice it, and I don't want to finish painting the tree line there because of it. On the aisle side of the module I had "scalloped" the fascia that I had installed after carving out some of the foam to create some three-dimensionality to the foam tabletop. I also had glued in a cork base for a road at the far end of the scene. I worried that I was in a "can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear" situation, but didn't want to start over, so I ground to a halt.

Last week, during the worst of our heat/humidity wave, I bit the bullet and mixed up some Sculptamold. I applied it along the edge of the fascia, hoping to emphasize some irregular natural ground surface and deemphasize the too regular scallop I had cut into the fascia. After painting with my standard brown color, I was satisfied that it had mostly worked. I also went ahead and applied some wall board mud to the cork road base. After painting that a gray color, I am still not happy with it. However, I can see what to do next to correct that, rather than worried I will make it worse and not willing to do anything. 

At this point, I would say that I have possible solutions to most of my stumbling blocks, so that I can move forward and not be a victim of multiple gumption traps. We still have a lot of yard/garden projects to complete, but the railroad in the basement feels more like a place I want to go, a mental respite not a chore.