Where does the time go? Is it me or does time flow faster than it once did? Did work flow well on your model RR projects this past weekend? An unusual weekend in Illinois, weather wise. Friday and Saturday were balmy 50 degree days with full sun. I took advantage of these two day to move all of my items from a small storage unit to a much bigger one. It was actually on my WMP list since at the end of next month, a friend and I will be using it to start construction of eight modules to be completed for the 2014 Galesburg RR Days show. Besides work on moving, cleaning and organizing, I spent some time on Google Earth and determined the best way to model Potter Place NH in N scale. The measurement feature is great for that. I can still model the town without any scenic compression. All in all, a good and busy weekend. So how about you? Did you get all that you set out to do? Attendance has been low the past few weeks here, no doubt due to the Holiday Season. We should be back on track now so lets see how we did. We'll come back on Friday, January 3rd, 2014 and do this again for another year. We even might have a special Yearly Modeling Plans thread start up here on Tuesday so be sure to watch for that. Until then, have a happy safe rest of 2013 and... ​Happy New Year!
Well, I finally made some time to work on my layout. I figured that I had some time for small projects before the football games started yesterday. These small projects led to bigger projects, and that all equated to progress on the layout. I did not like the mock up I had for Becton Dickenson and the track arrangement for switching. I ripped out the single track from Canaan to the way too short New Milford siding and extended that siding all the way to Becton Dickenson. This will make switching out both New Milford and Becton Dickenson much easier. I added a small deck girder bridge where I had a culvert for more visual interest. I took the B&D building apart and reconfigured it to better match the prototype (both building and track arrangement). Proto shot of B&D: Re-done B&D model (still just the front of the structure). The rest of the building needs to be completed. I wanted to capture the unique loading dock area. This also shows the roughed in bridge, which still needs paint and abutments. Finally some views of the extended siding and switching area for B&D: I also finalized the Canaan yard area and the enginehouse/service area. I ripped out the old track configuration and redid the entire area. The taped together engine house is a stand in until I can scratchbuild one. All track is cut and still needs to be attached, wired and painted. While I was at it, I also ripped out the Specialty Minerals trackage and using satelite photos, laid it out to match the prototype. Proto view of Specialty Minerals. As you can see, I still need to build a number of buildings, silos and conveyors! Eric
My weekend had more plaster cloth than a Mummy movie. And thanks, Eric, for posting photos and inspiring me to do the same. As promised, I worked on the two tracks in the foreground, dropping the roadbed a bit to eliminate the hump in the middle. Originally, I was going to just run the tracks over flat ground as they were, and put a culvert into the ground with a low stream running out to the layout's edge, but it struck me that a short trestle would be more interesting. So, I dug out the flat space to create a shallow pond, and continued the cut all the way to the outer benchwork.
