I started my layout in March, 2010 but only joined here in November, and finally got to some photos now. I'm modeling Conrail in central Pennsylvania in 1997. I am "loosely" basing this on the geography of the Middle Division, Pittsburgh line, west of Harrisburg along the Susquehanna river. So let's call it proto-lancing, with an emphasis on "proto". The layout is 3'x16', double track mainline, with a smaller local type yard. Industries will include a feed mill, building supply dealer, paper mill, corn syrup trans-loading facility, plastics plant and a scrap yard. Track is a mix of ME and Atlas Code 55, with Atlas switches. Construction is heavily over-engineered L girder; it could hold an elephant... I have a cheap DC pack to get things running for now but will be running DCC on a system to be named later once I get things a little further along. The backdrop is painted directly on the wall. Scenery is various thicknesses of foam with sculptamold to blend it all together. This is actually my first layout since my 4'x8' HO one my dad and I built when I was about 13. It took me way too long to get to building due to moves, kids etc... but I have been modeling military aircraft for years, so I have a great deal of actual modeling experience. So on to some photos. I'll try to keep up with updates as things progress. Overall view to the right And to the left The building sitting on the level is the corn syrup trans-loading facility. I still need to build it's base and all the assorted pipes/tanks etc... A train rolls by the rock cut The yard It's not finished at the right end yet. The switch lead (top left) doubles as the track leading to the industries at that end. It took quite awhile to find a yard configuration that I liked and actually worked well. Thanks for looking, more to come!
Nice, very nice. I like these kind of rather small layouts with long mainline runs and a lot of switching opportunities.
Joe, You have a very nice start on your railroad! I would like to see a closer shot of the backdrop- it looks real nice in these pics. Craig
A few more photos The riverbed for the Susquehanna. I used real gravel/sand from my backyard white glued tot he foam base and painted with various gray and black washes. This creek was done in a similar fashion. I still need to extend it around the corner to the right behind the feed mill. The bridge is two Atlas viaduct kits, glued side by side with the deck chiseled off and a styrene replacement for the road. The railings are from Rix. These types of stone arch bridges are all over Pennsylvania. I am still trying to determine what type of bridge to use for the tracks where they span the creek just below the bottom of the picture. Another stone arch type would be appropriate.
Craig, Here's a few. Painted with cheap craft paints over a base of sky blue wall paint, blended with white. The clouds are airbrushed. It looks better from a distance...
Looks nice, I like the rock cuts. The bsckdrop looks good too.. Keep the updates and pictures coming JSL
Here's a quick look at the Walther's paper mill facility. I added a few structures to increase the size of the complex; paper mills are big! The small forground structure is the office, composed of a simple Pikestuff kit. The larger building behind it is a combination of things. The blue areas are wall panels from an HO Pikestuff kit, everything else is sheet and strip styrene. I have yet to work out the final configuration of all of the structural parts and have a number of detail items such as vents, stacks, piping etc.. to add as well. Definitely a work in progress. Thanks for the nice feedback so far!
OK, big update. I've been hard at work since the last update and finally cleaned the layout off enough to take some photos. All of the groundwork/scenery base is complete. Yeah, no more pink foam shavings!!! I have completely revised the area where the creek enters the river and placed the bridge carrying the tracks, as well as some scenery in this area as well. The riverbed and it's adjacent scenery are also complete. I still need to finish the upstream end of the creek. I tore some out there as i didn't like the way it looked. Most of the rocks in this area are real stone from the side of the road. Better than commercial IMHO and easy to do. Compare this with where it was in my previous posts, it's come a long way! I also did some general base groundwork at this end of the layout and worked on the overpass carrying the road over the tracks. I still need another Rix bridge segment to carry it into the backdrop.
All of the roads are roughed in and structure pads placed for the various buildings, many of which, retail in particular are still to be determined. Where the road enters the layout at the other end I completed the cut stone underpass from a cut-down WS double track tunnel portal and abutments. These are so typical of Conrail in Pennsylvania, I had to have one. Overview shot: I'm still working on the paper mill and will show all the things I've done there in my next update. You can't see it real well in this photo, but the fascia has also been installed.
