Mainline rework


Got the Vollmer truss bridge installed, and the track to the right of it completed and ballasted. I'm running trains again.

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The bridge looks great Mike, the stream and the foreground bridge look great too. The backdrop, though, is absolutely fantastic. Keep the progress reports coming.

Joe
 
Thank you guys so much for the comments. Its come a long way in a month or so. I'm happy how the river turned out.

To the right of the river, in between the far track and the two crossing tracks. There's a space there. I'm adding some rocky hills that I had on my old figure 8. So I'm re-using part of to go there. Working on that right now. I took that out all in one piece. Its made of foam and plaster.
 
OK I got that rock faced hills piece cut out and placed. I'm sure glad I was able to save it when I ripped out the middle section. All it needs is some lightweight spackle around the backside to form it to the raised tracks, and on the left a right sides where its cut. I will probably add some more grass to it, and then put a bunch of trees on there too.

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Motley,
How about and old falling apart timber bridge, crossing the stream, like there was a line relocation? Or is that was you're going to do with the front bridge?
Otis
 
Otis,

Yes that timber bridge is not yet complete yet. I still need to add the other pieces to it.
 
I finally finished the rock faced hills. I tried to match up the grass with the backdrop grass colors. I picked up some sage blue grass from my LHS. I think I got a pretty good match with the background grasses.

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Looks great. You did a good match. The background colors are correct as any objects at distance will usually have a gray tone to it.
 
Wow, that background is stunning. I'm learning a lot following this thread. Keep going and THANKS!

Jeff
 
I just got another new backdrop delivered today. This one will replace the downtown yard scene, that covers the window on the left wall. The downtown yard scene never really matched and trasitioned with the other backdrops. So now it will be all mountains scenes.

Stay tuned I'm working on it right now.
 
Motley great job, really coming along!
Stoker now I have that dang Dixie horn stuck in my head! (guess I asked for it tho...)
 
OK the new backdrop is up. I like it much better now, I think the scenes flow better without the downtown scene.

The yard scene will still be prototypical. Along the Moffat route, there are several yards in the mountains, like Aspen Branch, Leadville, and Minturn. So now my yard is located in Minturn, CO. near the Tennessee Pass. There is a 5-6 track yard there with loco facilities too. So I can still build my Diesel Shop.

This is the old backdrop. It was 24" x 6 ft.

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And this is the new backdrop. Its 24" x 9 ft.

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The new back drops are great. Makes the wole layout much better. As far as the yard is concerned, most major yards are/were built outside of population centers when possible. Look at photos of Enola, PA, (NS); or Barstow, CA, BNSF as examples where there is a "natural" mountain backdrop in the near distance.

You have given this upgrade a lot of thought, and it shows.

Joe
 
Thanks Joe for confirming that. One thing though is the intermodal yard I have. It kinda looks out of place now, so I might get rid of the concrete rails (stryene) and just use yard ballast on those two intermodal tracks. Also this way I can store other rolling stock other than double stacks.
 
Motley said:
Thanks Joe for confirming that. One thing though is the intermodal yard I have. It kinda looks out of place now, so I might get rid of the concrete rails (stryene) and just use yard ballast on those two intermodal tracks. Also this way I can store other rolling stock other than double stacks.
Click to expand...

I was at Morrisville, PA, when the Trailvan terminal opened, back in 1982, the outer tracks were ballasted, and the trailer yard was compacted stone and clay mix. When it became necessary to add an adjacent track, the MW just paved the existing track by spreading more of the crush and run mix on it. South Karny, NJ was mostly paved with blacktop, but the rails were normally ballasted with crossings at strategic locations. If I were doing an intermodal yard, I would pave it with cinders, while ballasting the tracks with fine ballast. Tractors, trailers and piggypackers wreak havoc on any kind of paving, and railroads are by nature cheap, so something cheap and easy to repair might look better.

Looking at your intermodal yard, from the photos, I would leave it as is.

You may want to over spray it with grimy black or similar to simulate black top paving, vs concrete, and if you can remove the 'paving from the tracks themselves, and ballast them you can, but I'm not sure it would make that much difference. Several stacks of containers, and trailer storage might help the effect you are looking for, but that's up to you. My rule is It has to look right, not necessarily accurate but right. For the most part you are very close to that right now.

Joe
 
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