Gibbon, Cozad & Western - "The 100th Meridian Line"

[C855B]

Yes, I know the technique. But I wanted to try what I had anyway with the thought of continuing the slope upward in the backdrop painting with just enough scrubby vegetation to hide the cutoff. As it was the slope was partial, representing maybe half of the rise on that face. It would have been effective only from a small view angle, but I could deal with that. The failed compression has put that all to rest, anyway.

After seeing the results, I'm with Otto - synthesize a small foreground rise with the rear fall-off as you suggest, and have Robyn paint a representation of the mountain in the distance. There aren't any foreground hills, as the mountain was a limestone outcropping erupting from what is basically a big alluvial plain. At best there are 30' feet of uneven rise between the tracks and the mountain, and from the view angle we're talking about that may be a half-mile or so. I'm going to dwell on it a bit, however. The scene reality is a neighborhood of modest bungalows built in the '20s between the tracks and the mountain, so the solution may be to go house shopping instead.

Sure glad I'm trying this in foam and not plaster over grid.

[Lemosteam]

Came across this product on Facebook and remembered that you were looking for a liquid expanding foam.

This is a two part mixture bag for setting posts in post holes in three minutes. Not sure if it's useable to anybody or not...

https://usa.sika.com/en/solutions_products/Construction-Products-Services/residential-home/products/02a024/02a024sa025.html

[C855B]

Good find, John! It might be a bit on the fast side for scenery work, but absolutely worth a try. Lowes carries it here and it's only $12 a bag. I'll pick one up next time we're near there.

[Lemosteam]

If you could decant the two liquids into separate containers, you could use syringes with equal parts (I think that is the ratio based on the video I saw) you could do smaller "pours".

[C855B]

Local farmer's supply store - I'm sure you folks have 'em in the big city - had a big stash of mis-mixed paint, and lo and behold I found a gallon of "dirt", for... uh... dirt cheap. Slopped it on Slover Mountain just for grins. You know, it sort of looks like something now. Not Slover of course, but with a bit of sparse desert scrub and fixing the false horizon like David suggested, it could actually be usable.

[3DTrains]

Looks great, Mike. Note, however, that Slover Mountain (hill) is mostly limestone and is a light grey color, somewhat like fire ash.

Cheers!
Marc - Riverside

[C855B]

Slover was off the table with this lump and I was just trying to verify whether covering the pink made the form and base texture salvageable for desert scenes further down the line. Color and the rest are - can we say? - "malleable".  As it is, it's somewhat reasonable as a base to incorporate into the Afton Canyon area, but probably better around Caliente and the Meadow Valley Wash. I'll know more this summer after a photo expedition to the region.

[DKS]

Love those cotton-ball clouds...

[C855B]

Yeah, I chuckle almost every time I look over there. Blame the in-house artist.

[C855B]

Traffic jam in Daggett:



Everybody is queued-up waiting for the groundbreaking at Sinclair:



Cleaned up this end of the room this week and ran the laser in prep for turning the corner with benchwork.

We had a prospective construction helper visiting today, a fellow member of the N scale club. He's one of the few in the club who also has a home layout, and at an hour away he's the closest member to us. I filled his head detailing the nonstandard and experimental MRR construction techniques and it didn't scare him off. He's well-versed in signals, wiring and JMRI, and is ready to dig-in. We also have a mutual project in grade crossing signal detection; he's working on making the micro servos work with gates, I'm working on using SMD components for IR detection.

[C855B]

It's amazing what can be done when you move the junk out of the way:



I'm debating about another brace in the middle there. It's not needed structurally, but the way it is now looks like a missing tooth.

I'm struggling slightly with elevation changes here:



Option 1 has the location on the left (a refinery) in a slight depression, rising 1/2" around the corner into a major junction with the "backbone" route descending 1-1/2" into the junction. combining into a three-track main. Option 2 is no rise from the refinery, have the backbone descend 2" into the junction, and then the 3-track main rises 1/2" going south in an 0.25% grade (basically level). Option 1 is more interesting, but with grade and curve transitions right into all those turnouts.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I'd look for some prototype inspiration.

[C855B]

I know of several examples of Option 2, one elevated line coming down into level - normal overpass-type situations - but I'm sure with a little research the first idea can be found somewhere. My conundrum is MRR operations physics, a 1.3% rise on a 25" curve connected into the diverging leg of a turnout with easements both vertical and horizontal. Will it be an invitation for derailments due to flange pressures where they shouldn't be? Or stringlining opportunities?

Less concerned about the wider curve from the spine line into the crossover mess. Easements there are long. If I do the 1.5" rise it'll be 1.1% or so, a 2" increase will be 1.4%.

[jagged ben]

Is this the spot that concerns you?

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What kind of operations will be running through that spot and how long will those cuts of cars be?

[C855B]

No, no problems anticipated there. That's just an industrial lead into the refinery pick-up/drop-off tracks. Concern is the center switch at the north end of the crossover maze.

At the moment I'm 80/20 in favor of reliable operation and will keep the junction on the same plane as the refinery. But that may change after sleeping on it.