Burlington Northern in the Twin Cities, '91

[milw12]

Now that's tempting. mmm beer 

Time for a confession, I took a gamble and never tested my track work and electrical before painting/ballasting:



whew. Not recommended, but it all works. The locomotive traveled smooth enough on all ~3' of track. Still have to fine-tune the points, touch up paint, etc,  but it works!

Scenery and ballast is very rough, first pass. Ground foam will be covered in static grass before long, but my other options were the Cork Central branch or the BN in the Sahara, so it'll do. I'll show more when it's refined a bit and not so embarrassing.

I'm actually happy with the ground foam, at least the color. It gets rather lush around here in the summer, especially when the dew points go tropical (much like this summer is panning out!)

http://www.railpictures.net/photo/300126/

Not quite the dried-out post industrial wastelands that are in vogue these days, but hey.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I'd flip the industry on the left around, track orientation wise, so that you can use the one on the right as a lead for it.
It means you might need a runaround though.

[milw12]

About two weeks ago I began the daunting task ballast and ground cover. It's usually where I get dissatisfied and quit a layout, so it took a bit to get going 



Materials used were, Polyblend unsanded Charcoal grout for ballast(per Ed K.- thank you), Polyblend sanded Fawn grout for dirt, and Woodland Scenics green blend fine ground foam, plus lots of glue water and alcohol (of both kinds!)

I'd easily recommend grout as ballast and dirt to anyone. I've tried both actual rock products and the walnut shell "ballast" from WS in the past, but these are the best results, and bang for the buck. $12 at Home Depot will get you a lot of grout.

And to give credit where it is due, and should others be compelled as I was, I found these quite helpful in my grout adventures:

https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=39186.0
http://conrail1285.com/n-scale-ballast-using-sanded-grout/
http://palisadecanyonrr.blogspot.com/2016/05/tile-grout-as-scenery-material.html

You can see the in progress work in my last post, and it was kind of rough. I finally had time yesterday to sit down and try to blend the works together, and these are the results so far:







Still work to do but I'm pleased for a rough-in. It's amateur compared to most around here on the Railwire, but it's hands-down the best scenery attempt I've had so far. And for the record, this as far as I've ever progressed on a layout, so new territory from here out. Amazing how satisfactory results keep the motivation up, can't wait to keep moving 

I have the cheap-o Grastech in the mail and am working on a Scenic Express order for static grass, looking forward to it, that will be fun for a first time.

And a glamour shot for funsies:



Thanks for looking!

[milw12]

Thanks Ed, that never occurred to me yet it's so simple. I like it. Something like this?



Ignore the run-around cassette, I don't like the idea personally now that it's drawn out, plus it ridiculously short.

While considering the run-around dilemma , I had an idea. Naturally, it's not original and I'm pretty sure that Lance Mindheim talked about it somewhere, since most of my work follows his school of thought, modelling wise. 

I'm sure there is a more eloquent way to put it, but a "pre-staged" a run around movement like my colorful little diagram might work. So the cars  for the trailing industry (yellow and red) are to the left of the locomotive (green), and the cars for the facing industry are to the right (black). The cars not currently being switched can be pushed to the opposite edge on the lead to say out of the way, or perhaps on a short cassette, 12" or so. Not an ideal solution, but workable in my space. It would imply that there is a run around down the line and off the layout. I'll have to look into it, but going this route may help me avoid a cassette altogether.

[mu26aeh]

At the very least, your run around can still get extended further to the left.  You only need room for your engine to get past the switch.

[Missaberoad]

If it were me I would keep both industries facing the same way, that way you can use the cassette as the lead for both industries and use the storage track (or is it the main) at the trans load as a storage for both industries. (or even have your switcher staged in place there)

The way your latest plan is set up you would have to keep that track clear to use as a lead for the new industry.

I think if you keep it simple you will get alot more joy out of operations...

[milw12]

Hoo boy 



Not one to dilly-dally (ha!) I jumped right into this brave new world of model scenery. My only regret is that I didn't start chia-petting my layouts sooner, probably would have saved a few dumped layouts. Static grass is fast and my first attempt is passable, I believe. With a little experience the results could be amazing.

Ch-ch-ch-CHIA!



Glue is still wet, more later. Layered Heki Prarie grass as a base, then Silfor 2mm Late Summer, and a few spots of Silfor 2mm Summer.

mu26aeh, correct you are. For some reason I had it in my head that I would need to run around with more than the engine.

Ryan, the track parallel to the layout edge is indeed and main, and I appreciate the input. I'm still considering my options right now, tho I may bang out a short cassette so I can operate and ponder the layout extension over a few more beers 

Thanks for looking!

[mu26aeh]

You will be very happy with the Super Trees.  Take some time to trim up the armatures you get, and make sure you straighten out any bent or curved trunks.  Can easily be done with a soldering iron.  And while fine ground foam works for N Scale, I also suggest getting some Super Leaf product.  You will get a small sample bag in the box, I used Loctite spray adhesive on mine instead of the matte medium/glue they provide.  Here are some of my results.

20160523_192239 by Adam Henry, on Flickr

[milw12]

Here's a quick grab of the grass now, after the dilute matte medium dried:



Very happy with the results 

mu26eah, nice trees and thanks for the tips. I was going to pick up some hair spray for mine, but I'll look into the locktite. Definitely looking forward to the foliage, even they already look like trees now! Or I could just model winter 



Hard to see with the over spray, but dark camo brown paint before the leaves. I would've used a grimy blackish-grey color but it's what I had on hand for a test. I'll look for something more suitable for the next batch. Also, fwiw, these are the first trees I've tried to model, ever.

Back to the extension discussion, I made a decision. Rather than try to make turn a test module into a larger layout, build a new, more spacious switching layout. It would end up about the same foot print as my dual module plan but have much more operation potential and less space constraint due to the any module seams. Based on Lance's Palmetto spur, the Minnetto spur:



I'll keep my current module to completion, and finally whipped out a nothing-special cassette yesterday, so I'd have an operating layout while I work on the new project. But the 9"x26" is a test bed to hone my skills, and it's time to think about (slightly) grander things!

An  overview shot, as things stand now:



Thanks for looking!

[mu26aeh]

I think the camo-brown you used works fine.  I hit mine with flat black.  When you get leaves on them, you won't see most of branches etc.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I like the color.

One thing to think about, although it might be a little late now.

Think about what treed in areas look like under the trees before you plant them.

Like here: https://bit.ly/28Z6VlP

And here: https://goo.gl/maps/qKLZjzVaXFq

See how the ground cover isn't just grass, but bushes and trees? Getting that right is absolutely key to making your scenery look realistic.

[milw12]

Thanks Ed, I agree 100%. I ran the static grass like that more for practice and to see how it would turn out- planning on just covering it with a forest floor or sorts. Nice choice on Energy Park Drive, I know that stretch well! Too bad old Midway Stadium is gone now, growing up in the mid nineties we used to watch the BN Midway intermodal yard across the street from the top of the right field stands, and the main line across the left field wall. Why watch baseball when there's trains about? Good memories 

Recently I foliage'd (?) my first batch of trees and planted them. Used medium green blend foam and my super leafs sample- thanks again mu26aeh, worked like a charm and I like  the variety.  I may use more colors the next time around, this seemed like a good start.

The new woods:



The process, keep in  mind the glue and Matte Medium are still very wet.

First, a layer of fine Soil ground foam, and some coarse dark green sprinkled on for texture.



Added polyfiber dusted with medium green foam and some small supertree bits for undergrowth:



The matte medium spray sort of goobered up, not sure what to do about that, improved as it dried tho.

Now came the trick part, trying to remember what I know about Japanese floral/bonsai arrangement (read: nothing other than that it exists) And something about odd numbers, clusters and avoiding lines. 



The dopey Viking tree with his leafy horns, second from left, has since been trimmed, as much as I liked it 

Given the MDF/cork construction, I had  to drill holes for the trees. Pain in the . The next layout has a foam base, so that will be nice.

I'm considering added a couple more trees, along with more underbrush, out towards the track to give it depth, but wanted to stop here, as I figured it'd be easier to add trees than remove them.

So I believe that I'm finally nearing the detailing stage of the layout, pretty cool because I'm looking forward to starting the next one. Things to do yet:

Weather and detail the concrete lot (up next)
Repaint fascia now that the bulk of the dirty work is done
Fix up and detail the building, add storage tanks, etc
Odd and ends for vegetation as seen fit
probably more, but that's off the top of my head. Closer than I thought 

Comments, critiques, suggestions for improvement are always welcome, especially since this is my first go with trees!

Thanks for looking!

[Ed Kapuscinski]

That looks great!!
And yes, I highly recommend more trees. I've always said that Supertrees make kinda shitty trees, but they make a good forest. Basically, they look better the more of them you cram in together.

[milw12]

Thanks Ed! It may not be an award winning forest, but I'm pleased for a first attempt.

Added a couple trees to the left cluster:







Also added some expansion joints with a black color pencil and used some black chalk to tone down the pavement:



I'll try to get a better shot next time, but I had to put the contrast way off in this one just to a line to show but trust me, they're there 

Thanks for looking and a Happy 4th!

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Thanks Ed! It may not be an award winning forest, but I'm pleased for a first attempt.

I would be too. I think it looks great.