Conrail Windsor St Yard (York PA) Engineering Report

[Lemosteam]

To me it looks great until you get to the overpass.  Could you Photoshop in a continuing overpass over the tress and grading down toward the slope on the other side?

[Ed Kapuscinski]

To me it looks great until you get to the overpass.  Could you Photoshop in a continuing overpass over the tress and grading down toward the slope on the other side?

I think I'm gonna put in some actual trees there to hide that a bit.

[SAH]

A shot of bourbon.

Hmmm.  I've tried that treatment myself a time or two.  It works for a little while.

Can you draw lightly (or photoshop in) lines representing the bridge disappearing in the perspective?  Do both sides of the backdrop that way.  Then paste the far river bank tree line to the backdrop where it meets the bridge such that the tree line is visible above the roadway surface.  Place some vehicles  on the road to obscure the view.  Done.

[svedblen]

Although I am an advocate for taller trees (something Ed and I agree on), I have no problem with the trees being shorter in this case, because (1) you can see a river through the trees, justifying a slope towards the river, and (2) you don't want or need the backdrop overpowering the layout.

DFF

EDIT: Looking back at the pictures, those trees appear to be scrub-type trees, so they wouldn't necessarily be that tall anyway.

I agree with Dave on all accounts. And I think it looks very convincing. The trees look a bit shabby and matches the industrial feel of the yard perfectly.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Hmmm.  I've tried that treatment myself a time or two.  It works for a little while.

Can you draw lightly (or photoshop in) lines representing the bridge disappearing in the perspective?  Do both sides of the backdrop that way.  Then paste the far river bank tree line to the backdrop where it meets the bridge such that the tree line is visible above the roadway surface.  Place some vehicles  on the road to obscure the view.  Done.

That's a good thought. I'll give that a shot if I'm not happy with the way I hide it with actual 3D trees.

[mcjaco]

I think once you throw some vehicles on the overpass the eye will be distracted a bit from the edge into the backdrop.  I had a buddy that would put a couple 18 wheeler's toward the backdrop end of his overpasses to distract the eye from the sharp edge.  I thought it worked.

[wm3798]

Not the best shot, but the bridge I had in North Junction was tapered a bit, front to back, to create a little forced perspective.

In rummaging through my photos, this is the only one that really shows it.

Over your yard, though, I think keeping it measured to scale front to back is fine, especially since it's long enough to play tricks on the eye by itself.  Also, since the tracks underneath will always be occupied with scale rolling stock, it makes sense to allow natural viewing angles to supersede.

Lee

[DeltaBravo]

And, like so many places these days. That scene above is now treed in.

Looking good, can't wait to see it in person.

[wm3798]

So there was a lot of chatter about some sort of open house or something, complete with a Model Railroading A lister being among the attendees....

Pictures or it didn't happen.

Lee

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I'm workin on it!

I'm, gasp, actually having to work! I'm not used to it. Lol.

[chicken45]

So there was a lot of chatter about some sort of open house or something, complete with a Model Railroading A lister being among the attendees....

Pictures or it didn't happen.

Lee

Ask Ed what that A-Lister said about german shepherds. 

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I was afraid that I'd want to take a break after the open house.

Nope.

I've started attacking York city now (like a central PA Godzilla).

The first place to start, logically, is coming out of the yard at the scene that will actually be the Windsor St grade crossing.
I had thought about ignoring it, since it's a little weird (being across the drill track and an interlocking), but it'd be weird to not have the layout's namesake street represented.

Here it is with the green styrene that will become pavement all cut and fit. I put down a layer of foamcore to elevate the ground to be closer to track level, which is also something I've got to do on the Pershing Ave stretch as well (to facilitate the street running).



The actual scene can be seen here: https://www.google.com/maps/@39.9754367,-76.7184982,330a,20y,270h,41.62t/data=!3m1!1e3

I've also used a straight edge to straighten out the other track and have glued it down (@seusscaboose and @chicken45 can now suck it). I've used a technique that I haven't heard about to get already placed track glued down. I treated it like ballast! I ran a bead of diluted glue down the track, and then soaked it with water. Pins held everything in place while it dried. Capillary action worked, and everything is glued down and you can't actually see the glue. Here's a pic of it in progress.



Because the track was now glued, I could also get going on using foamcore to bring "street level" up around the Pershing Ave street running section.





As you can see here, I now need to bring the level of the terrain down a bit, but that's what random orbital sanders are for!



And lastly, while I was down there, 6366 was sitting there looking like she wanted her picture taken. So I obliged.

[nuno81291]

That street running is gonna be hawt 

[Ed Kapuscinski]

That street running is gonna be hawt   

I sure hope so.

[Philip H]

I'd really like to up-vote this by itself:

rather then sand down the landforms of your foamcore to get to a set height for the street tracking why not just restart the whole thing s make sure the track is laid so its more even?