More Hills

In my last post, I talked about how Bruce and I were collaborating and bouncing ideas off each other. In particular, we were focusing on the far right corner of the layout that is relatively bare and I had no idea how to scenic. Bruce later emailed some thoughts:

• Use a different color of ballast on the farthest track to make it look like a separate right of way (like track from a different RR company or a branch line). 
• Extend the E. McKeesport backdrop to curve around the corner in front of the farthest track, with the scene changing from city to country - may require removing the elevated track on the bridge
• Shape a piece of foam about 2" high to fit between the two rearmost tracks and also between the farthest track and the corner (as you did on the opposite corner of the layout) and scenic to simulate a cut & fill. 
• Put a road in front of the farthest track and use a series of closely-spaced Burma-Shave billboards to hide the rear track (Maybe this idea is a little goofy).
• Build an embankment or a hill in front of the rear track about 6" high; tall enough to hide the trains. Leave the top open for access.

I thought all the ideas were rather creative. I did not want to remove the bridge (I love the trestle bridge there) and since the track is curved with hand throws at either end I did not want to cover it in a tunnel or below an access hatch. So the 3rd bullet, the track hidden in a cut really appealed.

Initial mockup to hide the corner

I cut some of the remaining insulation foam that I had lying around and ended up with hills 3" high in front and behind the "cut in the hill" next to the bridge. In fact, I think there will be a lower cut in front of the closest hill to add more shape to the scene. I placed the only background scene I own behind this and really liked how its starting to look - although I want the background to show cut rock faces.

Stepping back (to Uniontown) to take in the scene

Looks like Bruce will be other this weekend so I expect this scene to really get fleshed out.

Compromise or Collaboration

Since the holiday break, I did not get much done on the layout, just a few little odds and ends like creating a couple of coal loads for the hopper cars and touching up a couple sections of scenery. There was some serious activity over the Jan 9-10 weekend though. First, I made a trip to Pittsburgh to see my Dad which meant I needed to stop at TK Hobby Shop in Bridgeport OH. I love this store and while I don't find everything I was looking for, I always find a few things I can use at great prices. Since this trip was an out-and-back (round trip 520 miles in one day), I was only going to stop in for 15-20 minutes. I had a list of what I wanted that I checked against their website inventory. I walked into the store at 10:10 AM...and called my Dad at 11 when I realized what time it was! And yes, I walked out with some new stuff for the train including a test background scene and Parkview Terrace building for East McKeesport.

The new background temporarily placed

I was only about 15 minutes later than planned (I padded my estimate, I was not speeding!), so I still managed to spend a few hours with him before heading back home.
The other thing that weekend was Bruce coming over Sunday afternoon. Last time we got together was before Christmas and we ran an operating session to see how it worked. Lots of fun and seemed appropriate for the session - play with trains rather than building. This time we had a working session. We always start by catching up on family and work activities, then talk about any changes I've done and bounce around some ideas. This time, I was able to show Bruce the new stuff from TK - background, apartment building kit, and a couple of '54 pickups. On the layout, I had rough in some initial scenery in the corner between the Irwin Yard and Untiontown as well as the section between Herminie and East McKeesport.

Future farm in the corner, brick streets in Uniontown

 I spent the session trimming some brick paper for the streets in Uniontown that go around the city park next to Isley's and then disappears into the background (above). Bruce added ground foam to the area next to Herminie (below).

Set Bruce up with a variety of "grasses" for the Herminie/E McKeesport scene break.

 We had a good time and while the changes we made were small, it's an incremental step to a complete layout. Afterwards, I was thinking about how different this time is from my day job. During the week, I spend much of my time finding an acceptable compromise between two people or two groups. Yes, there is some collaboration but seems like there is more compromise. Out in the train room, when Bruce comes over to brainstorm ideas and offer suggestions - now THAT is collaboration!

Creating coal loads

Here are the results of my first efforts to create removal coal loads for my hopper cars. As I've said, I only need to create about 5 since most of the fleet were kits that came with prefabricated plastic molds. I created 3 bases using bass wood with some random pieces stacked on them to simulate some depth to the coal pile. Then I glued a steel washer on the bottom so I can use a magnet to more easily remove the loads for cars that are supposed to me empty (written as -MTY- on the waybills). I painted these a flat black and once dry, painted on a thick layer of white glue. I had 3 different types of "coal" - scale coal from Woodland Scenics (I think, got it a long time ago) and 2 sand art materials from Michael's Arts & Crafts. One of these was rather fine and the other more coarse.

Three experiments creating coal loads

I covered one based with the fine and the second with the coarse material. The third I first sprinkled the coarse material then dusted it with some of the fine to fill in the gaps. These are in the photo above - but right to left so the fine one is on the right. Once they dried, I tapped the loose material off and decided that the two with the coarse material are pretty good but the fine material is too fine - you can see the layers of basswood. Maybe another couple coats of the material to hid the sharp corners of the stacking material.

Plastic, my homemade and purchases homemade coal loads

In the next photo, three cars are showing the coal loads I have - left is the modeled plastic that came with this hopper car, the middle is the better example I created, and the right is a model I picked up at a show with a homemade coal load. Based on this, I think my experiment went pretty well.