Well folks, I guess it's time. First, a little background. On reentering the model RR hobby after decades away my plans to build a decent layout, especially with a coal mine scene including operating coal mine locos, was fairly well along when my ignorance of the fact that the equipment I needed to build it, low profile mine locos that run, N scale narrow gauge, didn't exist.
That was when everything went sideways.
After extensive searching I decided, it's OK, I'm a machinery guy, I'll just make one.
Well, once I got started I found out why they didn't exist
and the whole power truck thing took on a life of its own. The layout was forced to the back bench.
As I began to realize, because of the power truck venture, that it would be a long time until I had something presentable to run trains on, the opportunity to purchase Dave Foxx's Seaboard Central 2.0 layout presented itself. I have a decent assortment of locos and rolling stock that I like to be able to putz with and this gives me an opportunity to do so. I can run trains as the mood strikes and also like to use it as background noise while I'm working on other things. It's therapeutic.
I've had the layout for some time now and have been happy with the purchase, letting me run trains while spending most of my modelling time on miniature power chassis pursuits. Dave did a lot of nice and very precise work on this. Thanks, Dave. Your effort continues to give enjoyment.
The layout was purchased unfinished. The track was layed, the RR bridge and road bridge were in (very nice RR bridge), the water feature was in, and the roads and sidewalks were in, all fairly complete with just details on those things to finalize. The scenery was, for the most part, covered in a base of ground foam with a few sections static grassed and one extensive section around the water feature was covered in an excellent rendition of Kudzu growth, a common invasive plant in the region he was modelling. Very nice super trees were also in, giving a sense of something complete. No buildings were complete but space had been allocated and unpainted examples were set in place. And for many of you board members, you already know this and more.
Now for where I am in the scheme. Dave's plan for this layout was very focused in Aberdeen North Carolina. Mine has no particular location or era chosen and may never but the region that supports my interests could be anywhere in the Western Pennsylvania area south through the coal regions of West Virginia, and maybe even Virginia. Or more broadly, the Appalachians. The roads of interest from that region include the PRR, WM, B&O, C&O, Erie, and the like and the era that interests me ranges from post war to maybe the later sixties. I haven't and may never narrow that down specifically but who knows what time, experience, and knowledge might bring.
I have done very little with this thing so far other than fix a few running issues. Then, I have run it.
Lately I took a break from the mine loco (it's accumulating hours and awaiting some next step plans) and decided to just clean up a few of the details that were left over from Dave's last downsizing rework, get things to a level of presentable, and start planning next steps. That's going to require some thought on building and placement execution and at some point may force a decision on how far I really want to go with reworking this. Also, modelling in this scale and at the level of detail intended is new to me. I'm pretty well experienced in tool use and not afraid of any of it but there will definitely be a learning curve with all of the new things to learn.
An example of the kinds of decisions that will need to be made is, based on the intended region there are no rock cuts or exposed rock features. In my region of interest they are literally everywhere. Do I want to do that surgery? Certainly not now and maybe never. But I'm looking at it and haven't dismissed it yet. I can add a building here or there, a light, a fence, etc. without disrupting the whole shebang and keeping a running layout, the original intention. And I can also tickle the fancy and play with all sorts of details and at will. Major surgery? I don't know. I may prefer to satisfy that itch with small modules, keeping the 2.0 largely as is and used as I originally intended, to run trains and on something more than a plain plywood board.
Now to the actual start of a building thread. It will probably not be too busy here, as explained, but I hope as I progress to be able to draw on the extensive experience evidenced throughout this board.
Performance wise there was a lot of switch tweaking required as the #5 turnouts were, to varying degrees, not in spec and as a result some didn't perform consistently and a few were pretty much inoperable. Some of this Dave had advised me of when I purchased it so there were no surprises although the extent of the out of spec stuff was a surprise and was a product issue, not anything to do with Dave's work and in fact, I suspect some of it he was unaware of. But if there was rolling stock that didn't perform as well as others or maybe were a little finicky in some spots, or maybe just had some of the rolling stock bumping, rocking and rolling through them, that would agree with my experience and subsequent discovery of the spec issue. Now they're smooth rolling with anything with wheels in spec, and regardless of whether high or low end of the spec. This work was performed not too long after getting it set up here. It was only recently that I've actually done anything beyond getting it running well and testing and tweaking locos and rolling stock. That's largely done but also a never ending effort. Especially if I'm going to put decoders in some of my DC stuff.
Now for some current photos, progress reports, and the start of what will likely be many questions.
The work completed in the last week or so included touching up the paint on the facia. It was all prepped and ready when I brought it home and the paint was furnished. Just took me doing it.
On the layout itself there were some exposed white areas where spackling was used to level and fill. Around the roadway and the perimeter is where most of this existed. It's all been attended to as needed, colored in, ballasted in some spots along the edge, and WS blended turf added to get back to a clean look, even if not final. The blended turf appears to be what was originally used and matched well. VERY uniform appearing but that's for a future discussion.
The sandy area around the lake (I'm calling it a lake, not sure that was the original feature) was very white sand looking and way too white for any of the areas I'd be interested in so I blended it with some mixed brown and tan acrylics, mostly like a wash, and darkened it and colored it as can be see in the photo. Just my guess. I also added some assorted sizes of grass tufts made with static grass and a few with hogs hair bristles added for some more height at the center. I dry brushed the tips very lightly with some yellow and distributed them about in a few places around the layout, trying to get a feel of doing that detailing. At the lake there are some larger ones that are done the same but with some oxide brown dry brushed on just the very tips to resemble a cat o' nine tails. I think they came out OK. And I might add that ALL of this is new to me, first time, so while I may be happy enough with it for now I am learning in leaps and bounds and the next effort will only be easier and better executed... I hope.
Also toned down the sand parking lot and sand area around the engine service building from bright white to something more muted. They will probably get more attention and the sandy lot may get changed based on what is decided for that space's purpose.
Finally... the kudzu.
I like it, it's VERY well done, but I'm not sure it has any place in a Western PA or West Virginia scene. I'm also not sure that it couldn't be modified to be something else. I've already taken it off the trees near the bridge and lost those trees for that spot in the process.
I'll have to get some replacements or steal a couple from elsewhere.
In the meantime, I temporarily replanted what was left of them in town. They look decent there and will receive some scrutiny at a later time and will at least be dressed up if not replaced.
What I did do with the kudzu on the hillside is sprinkled it with yellow grass fine turf just to see what it would look like. I like it better than the much more uniform green that it was but don't know that it's a solution to anything. I'm going to ponder that some more as I weigh the whole scenery plan. None of it is sealed in so it's as easy as vacuuming it up to undo it. I'm also learning that yellow grass and blended turf appear to be staples in this work, at least for regions with water.
That's enough for now. The questions will come and comments will always be most welcome.
These photos show the lake shore darkening, the cat o' nine tails, and the kudzu hillside with some yellow turf sprinkled. I'll take some other pictures and attach later
