AT&SF San Diego Sub

[tappertrainman]

How did I miss this? Grew up in Clairemont and use to train watch old AT&SF from SD yard to Miramar. BRAVO

http://goldenstaterailfan.qstation.org/Resources/gallery2f.png?434
http://rostershots.modelrailroadtips.com/albums/userpics/10001/normal_DSC00317.JPG
http://russelrayphotos.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/img_4263-framed.jpg?w=625

Thanks Chuck!  Those websites were a wealth of photos that I tucked away for future reference.  Glad I could help bring back nice memories.

No layout progress to report, but I did head out to the prototype to get some color and scenery reference photos:

This is the big curve up in Rose Canyon.  This pic was actually taken with my cell phone, the others are with the big camera (not that my photography is any better with it...).



One of my favorite things to do with the big camera is create panoramic photos.  I use a program called Hugin to stitch the photos together.  It was a beautiful day.



Caught an Amtrak heading south toward San Diego.



Another panorama the other direction, this is the line that heads south toward San Diego.



My initial thoughts after these (and other) reference photos:
I need more of the low bush ground cover.  In some areas there is no grass at all.
After a dryish rainy season, some areas are vibrant green, and others are gray.  Not sure what to do with that...
I will need more variation in color both for the trees and the low bushes.  Some are brighter, but varying the shades of olive green are needed.
I think I need less static grass that I originally guessed and maybe some gray-ish grass?  Any idea where to get that or will I have better luck painting it?

James

[dick green]

I really like this and want more

[lajmdlr]

Living in Tustin in mid 80s, used to see the SDX doing setouts/pickups at Irvine. It had manifest in front & pigs in rear (no cans). AND it still had a caboose! They were usually standard cupola & sometimes wide vision.

[tappertrainman]

Hi All,

Sorry about the broken links up there, I tried a different way of linking the photos from my OneDrive account that clearly didn't work.  My bad.


P.S.  To all the doubters about San Diego skies in springtime, check out those pictures and *thbbbbb* 

Thanks all,
James

[tappertrainman]

Last Friday we continued working our way down the rails.  We added grass and low-growing bushes over the second hill and experimented with some trees in a few spots.  Your comments are welcome!

This is the last cliff in the Rose Canyon scene before the trains cross Miramar Road (in my world) and disappear behind some office buildings before coming back around and entering the industrial switching area.




Experimented with some trees in this little valley.  On the prototype the hills rise up behind but I don't have room in my narrow space to depict this.  Instead, I'm going to have some trees in front of the backdrop to hide the painted blue sky.  These aren't permanently installed, just leaned up to test the visual effect.  Too much blue still was visible through the branches so we're going to experiment with gluing a polyfiber mat covered in ground foam to see if it blocks the view a bit more.




Trackside view.  Unfortunately, I think the detail on the cliffs is a little too coarse for N scale, but at this point I'll leave it and come back to it later if it really bothers me.  With scenery added the problem is quite a bit less stark IMO.  I may have finally used a blend of static grass that is a good color.  Of course, the mix is completely unable to be recreated (random mix of 5 different colors).




Flipped view.  I especially like how the big mountain in the background looks.  A train snaking up this hill will be awwwwwwesome!




Just a refresher, this is what I'm trying to recreate.  Colors are a little more vibrant on my layout as I'm imagining a spring where we aren't 75% below normal rainfall 




Thanks for your comments and for looking!

James

[Bob Bufkin]

Was stationed in San Diego during the late 60s and took many a trip from San Diego to LA and return.  Back when it was behind Santa Fe F units and fluted Budd cars.  Great scenery along that line, especially along the beaches with all the bikinis.

[tappertrainman]

Last week's progress consisted of more trees and bushes.  Not the most exciting, but does result in more "finished" looking scenes!

Added some trees to fill in the gap right behind where the Santa Fe covered hopper is at.  On the prototype the hillside quickly rises behind but since I'm going without a painted backdrop it looked a little odd with just blue sky.



Here you can see an overview of the area.  Also added more bushes to the foreground hill.  Eventually the entire valley will be full of trees.  Not looking forward to making and planting that many trees. 



A close up of the area



Planted a lot more bushes and trees in the foreground to cover up a bare hillside that had a poor color mix of grass.  Trying to use the Woodland Scenics stuff is just a mess, it's not the right color at all, and even worse it's all exactly the same with no variation, just a sickly green.



Thanks for looking! Comments and questions welcome, sorry for the poor quality camera phone pics.  I need to fool around with the settings on my Nokia Lumia 920 a bit more, I know it can produce better pics than this.

James

[tappertrainman]

Trees and bushes are growing and being planted as fast as they can be finished.  Funny how you can spend a couple hours making them and think you have enough for a while, and then go and plant them all in 15 minutes.     Oh well, on to the pictures!


The valley to the right of this picture is full and foliage is "growing" at a rapid pace to the left across the layout.  Seeing the trees, bushes, grass and underbrush get placed is really neat as these areas start to look more done.



Here you can see the valley filled in and the small hill in front of it is grassed and ready for trees.



A railfan's view of the above pic:



An overview of the layout (actually taken from OUTSIDE the house through the front windows)



Your comments, questions, and criticism are welcome, I'm trying to get better at everything I do as I work on finishing scenes using new techniques on the next area.

James

[tappertrainman]

Late Summer and Autumn is in the air!  Or rather, Silflor Late Summer and Autumn-colored static grass is "growing" at a rapid pace.  I ordered some Silflor grass from another recommendation and I like it.  It has a nice color with minor variation in it.  Woodland Scenics is too much all the same color, and Noch has too many colors mixed in so Silflor seems to be a nice middle ground.  I would also like to try Heki sometime as I hear they are pretty good.  We also ordered a box of SuperTrees and spent Tuesday night making trees and more low groundcover.  None of these actually went on the layout but they should be dry and ready to plant on the next work day.

In this photo you can see the Autumn static grass on the hill to the left.  I also added some Late Summer here and there for accent.  I then hit the whole area with a shot of AquaNet hairspray and sprinkled on Burnt Grass and Yellow Grass(?) Fine ground turf.  This forms the base of the ground cover to which I will add the bushes and then trees.  I think this particular hillside will be a little sparse on trees as I like the way the grass rolls up to the right-of-way.  The valley will get a few more trees as on the prototype there is a drainage stream that runs through and provides year-round hydration.



In other news, a local model railroader here that I've known for years was graciously was giving away some of his N scale items to a good home (YES I WILL ADOPT YOUR TRAINS) and will be cluttering up my yard as soon as I don't need the space for scenery material storage.     I need to start weathering stuff too.  Those trains are too shiny.

Comments are welcome!

James

[packers#1]

I also dig the fade of the grass to the RoW, it looks very natural; keep the pics rolling, I really like your approach to the design of this layout

[tappertrainman]

An update is overdue here, I have been working on the railroad about once a week but not all is visible work. 

An overview of the work recently done.  Many trees have been planted underneath the bridge to the right, mostly finishing off that scene (except for the freeway itself).  The purpose of this area is not to be superdetailed but to be relatively boring and non-distracting, helping the mind's eye forget that the railroad turns back on itself here.  The cement plan takes center stage operationally.



Next up is a track-level shot of the unfinished cement plant still awaiting its silos and a train wrapping around.  Here cement is transloaded from the hoppers into trucks and the single largest industry on the layout absorbing up to 8-10 cars (depending on size).



Close-up shot of the under bridge scene.  The trees here are not quite as closely spaced as they should be, but I needed to save on materials a little bit, and try to fool the mind's eye again, these trees should not be as close to the freeway as they are.



Cement plant siding.  Operationally the job will involve 3 moves.  Dropping off loads on waiting track (closest to operator), move existing loads to unload track (where the cars are currently), and finally pick up empties before leaving.  Perhaps not the most realistic operations but it achieves the goal of a large industry without making trains too long for the longest passing siding on the layout.  Another option may be to expand the operations and create a special cement only train (with simulated "off-layout" moves to bulk up the consist.



As always, comments and questions are welcome!  Will be working on the railroad more tonight, hope to move down the valley planting trees and bushes.

James

[tappertrainman]

See below, I totally screwed up the attachments?

James

[tappertrainman]

I FORGOT THE VIDEOS!!!

Took two videos of the new loco!

Hope you enjoy!

James

[tappertrainman]

Another update from sunny San Diego is long overdue.  Work has proceeded on a weekly basis, except for this week, because I got to run my new birthday trains!  More on that later...


A few weeks ago we finished a good portion of the valley separating the main yard (downtown San Diego) from the unprototypically close Rose Canyon climb to Miramar.  It works fairly well in person to provide a little bit of horizontal separation as well as some trees to cloud your vision from seeing both areas at a time.  It's not meant to be stunning greenery, but rather blend into the background...





Recently we did some grading on the summit where the scenery transitions into an urban environment to add a non-rail served industry.  These are HO-scale tanks from PIKO that will be sanded, painted, and weathered to be fuel tanks.  N scale ladders and walkways will help with the transition to the smaller scale.





New trains!  For my birthday I generously received a Kato SD40-2 and TCS decoder to install.  It worked flawlessly, creeping along at speedstep 1 even through the yard ladder (4 turnouts).







Here's an overview of the progress so far.  Most of the major scenery work is complete here, needing details and cement plant industry to magically appear.  (that'll happen, right?  I don't have to scratchbuild it, right?).  You can also see the greenery filling the valley, and a train FAR too long for one lonely SD40-2.  It didn't make it up the hill, that's why birthday present #2 needs to hurry up and arrive on Tuesday!! 



As always, your comments questions and concerns are welcome!

James

[tappertrainman]

In my best @davefoxx roundy-round impersonation after finally receiving the last of my birthday presents I installed decoders (including a new TCS decoder in the old C30-7, the Digitrax unit did not work well) and loaded up all three locos in a monster consist, somewhere around 9,600 horsepower and 29 freight cars.  Video below of them grinding up the hill.  All three locomotives are closely matched in speed and didn't need any CV-fiddling to run together. 

Model Railroading is Fun!

James