[LateStarter]

Collect 'deadfall'
(for forest realism).

Your backyard is full of tiny treasures for woods and forest scenery.
The more time you spend in the woods, the more deadfall you'll see... or notice.
The forest floor can be covered with branches, either fallen out of brittle age, or broken in the wind.

Twigs have the same characteristics as branches.
Use them to your advantage.

 

[Stumpy]

Leaves too. Grind them up in the food processor to create forest floor litter - as in the second pic in post #97.

An alternative is sawdust from a dark wood such as walnut.

 

[LateStarter]

BTW, deadfall twigs should be preserved, either with a thorough DullCote spray, or a coat of paint.
If you're paranoid about insect larvae, vacuum seal them, and freeze for a week.

 

[Stumpy]

If you're paranoid about insect larvae, vacuum seal them, and freeze for a week.

Good tip.

When I brought the bucket of good ol' NC red dirt in the house to use on my layout... ants.

 

[Chaostrain]

BTW, deadfall twigs should be preserved, either with a thorough DullCote spray, or a coat of paint.
If you're paranoid about insect larvae, vacuum seal them, and freeze for a week.

Good tips. I'll have to remember those. Another one I read in a Model Railroader magazine is to microwave for 30 seconds to kill anything that's living then seal with cheap hair spray.

 

[LateStarter]

Concrete pavement
The best commercial rendering of concrete pavement is by Monster Model Works. But they've either sold the business, or they've discontinued the product... I can no longer find it.

However, this product from Busch is very good.
Two 8"x6" segmented cardstock (precolored) sheets for about $2.75 on LHS shelves.

You can add washes to heighten the effect (clear coat first!).
Razor-cut a few potholes, put in some Mod Podge & weeds, and you'll have a pretty realistic parking lot or truck paddock.

 

[LateStarter]

Snapshot...
The Redemption Gate

 

[Stumpy]

Nice.

Whence cometh the name?

 

[LateStarter]

Whence cometh the name?

Redemption Hill is a town in northwest Montana.
Army buddy lives there.
Took a bike ride there with him in the '80's after Sturgis.
The name just stuck in my head ever since.

 

[LateStarter]

Tried running my coal drag
Such a long train, behind a BLI 'Gator' and two Proto SD9's, plus all those cars on a 5x10 platform just isn't as much fun as on a club layout.
The gator approaches Pines Nest, while the last 20 cars haven't cleared Worlee yet.
Plus, there were a couple of derailments on the faulty superelevation near El Barranca. It happens about twice every 10 passes, but it's fairly typical of too long a train through 28" curves... especially wavy ones.

Too bad...
I love the look of that consist, and the train behind it.
It sounds and runs so smooth on a big wide-open layout. Must be what a 'high' feels like.

 

[Magic]

LS you do some beautiful work both on your trains and the scenery.
But I don't ever remember seeing any pics of the entire layout with some trains.
You got any you could post? It would help to put everything in perspective.
Would also like to see that gator on the point.

Magic

 

[LateStarter]

LS you do some beautiful work both on your trains and the scenery.
But I don't ever remember seeing any pics of the entire layout with some trains.
You got any you could post? It would help to put everything in perspective.
Would also like to see that gator on the point.

Magic

Yessir, I'll post wide shots when there's more topography, and less benchwork & raw plaster.
Right now, things are patchy, and only about 40% landscaped, or even have a substrate layer... lots of risers and open benchwork with track on ungraveled cork.
The photos so far, have been closeups, or had the naked areas cropped out.
My grandson might help me with a video if he ever gets time.

The locomotives and hoppers are put away, but here's a facsimile:
At club opportunities, when a dispatcher lets me, I'll sometimes run a 4-diesel consist (and an even longer train)...

 

[Magic]

That "Gator" looks so cool, unfortunately too new for my layout.
Guess I could fudge a bit.
Of course my SD70ACe fits right in.

Magic

 

[mopac]

LS you certainly have a talent. I don't. I found this thread for the first time and really enjoyed it all.
Great pics. I started following you doing your locomotives and rolling stock a few years ago. Glad to see
your layout coming together. I was wondering if you would get running. Too many things to list but all
looks great. I was HO but have gone to S scale 3 or 4 years ago. S scale is nowhere near as detailed as HO
but takes less talent. I love messing with my almost 70 year old locomotives. I do have a talent working on them.
Congrats on your layout. Have fun.

 

[LateStarter]

Snapshot:
Old Redemption depot
Now a rarely used passing track.

Passenger service ceased years ago, so folks have to bus or taxi to Worlee to catch a train.

 

[LateStarter]

Gotta do some tidying up underneath...
Re-did some stuff... got lazy, and left wires hanging. Looks like crap.
But my back is killing me. It'll have to wait.

 

[LateStarter]

Weedy & grungy:

 

[LateStarter]

 

[ecmdrw5]

Stop taking pictures of real life and passing it off as your layout. J/K!

Fantastic work! I hope I will have skills like this at some point.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[LateStarter]

One of my minor regrets, is that I didn't make the run through El Barranca a 2-track mainline... double track runs through a canyon is more common in my imagination.

It was actually because I wanted only one track through Pines Nest and Woods End to render sort of an isolated and lonely ambience.
Plus, it gave me a chance to stick in a few abandoned shacks and crumbling Civil War ramparts.

So the inside track jogs away, and shortcuts to a 24" radius, (to Pines Nest) and then swings back out to run parallel again beyond the abandoned Redemption station.