Seaboard Central 2.0

[Lemosteam]

That's a great idea to do a few clumps of pines for effect.  That hadn't occurred to me.  I was just picturing an entire pine forest.  But, now, this would make it much less of a monumental task to populate the layout.  Well, I figured out kudzu after much hemming and hawing, I'm sure that I can figure out how to build an effective pine tree, too.  But, keep me posted, if you come up with anything.

Ha!  I used to live in and around Winston-Salem in the early 1990s.  I once owned a house in Lewisville, NC on a 3/4-acre plot of land.  Since we were in a wooded area, the front yard was all pine straw, so I'm familiar with that!

DFF

Annnd from a recent trip to the area, ALL WE SAW was truck after truck after truck loaded with the trunks of these things- they were everywhere!  Something to populate the roads with?

[Lemosteam]

@Lemosteam,

I can try.  Do you want straight-on shot to get just the pattern without distortion for perspective or just a close-in shot of the entire roof?

DFF

Just a patch in some good lighting.  Really want to see how the process performed up close.  Thanks in advance!

[davefoxx]

Just a patch in some good lighting.  Really want to see how the process performed up close.  Thanks in advance!

Will do.  I'll try to remember to do that tonight.

DFF

[Lemosteam]

Will do.  I'll try to remember to do that tonight.

DFF

Thanks no rush though!

[davefoxx]

@Lemosteam,

Will this work?



DFF

[Lemosteam]

Aye.... LIKE IT!

[Dave V]

Dave, I was searching eBay for more pine trees for the Colorado Midland and stumbled across these:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/10x-Pine-Tree-Model-Train-Railroad-Scenery-Landscape-1-100-Layout-Dark-Green-/262764287727?hash=item3d2df8d6ef:g:eM8AAOSwnHZYUt8U

Not perfect but the price seems nice!  You'd want to find a way to weather up those trunks though...

[davefoxx]

Dave, I was searching eBay for more pine trees for the Colorado Midland and stumbled across these:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/10x-Pine-Tree-Model-Train-Railroad-Scenery-Landscape-1-100-Layout-Dark-Green-/262764287727?hash=item3d2df8d6ef:g:eM8AAOSwnHZYUt8U

Not perfect but the price seems nice!  You'd want to find a way to weather up those trunks though...

Thanks for thinking of me!  I probably could have done something with those, e.g., thin the foliage and paint the trunk, but, as par for the course with model trees, at only 2³/₄" in height, they're too short.   D'oh! 

DFF

[Dave V]

Thanks for thinking of me!  I probably could have done something with those, e.g., thin the foliage and paint the trunk, but, as par for the course with model trees, at only 2³/₄" in height, they're too short.   D'oh! 

DFF

A lot to sort through but I think there may be some promising leads for you:

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_sac=1&_from=R40&_trksid=p2045573.m570.l1313.TR9.TRC0.A0.H0.Xpine+tree.TRS0&_nkw=pine+tree&_sacat=180250

[davefoxx]

Yeah, I keep flirting with the idea of starting with the Woodland Scenics pine tree armatures.  But, with a lot of extra effort, I think we could do better.  The question is whether the significant amount of work saved by "cheating" and using the WS armatures outweighs the loss in fidelity.

DFF

[davefoxx]

Holy crap!  After all of the talk about the excellent pricing on the Arnold U25Cs, I found this instead:



While I should be spending money on others at this time of year, I bought myself a Christmas present: an N Scale BLI set of Atlantic Coast Line E units with DCC and sound (E6A No. 505 and E6B No. 751).  Boy do I love those slant nosed E6s!  I was able to pick this up from a BrassTrains.com for only $139.95 plus $6.95 shipping!  That was a deal I couldn't refuse!  Again, the A unit has DCC and sound.  I can MU them with my ACL purple and silver E7 No. 524 prototypically, as the paint scheme on No. 524 is around early 1957 with the 12" tall lettering on the sides, while the black and yellow was a change in late 1957.  Perfect!

Without really trying, I'm slowly building up my dual era of ACL in 1957: E6A, E6B, E7A, F2A, and F2B.  Nice!  Now, if Atlas were to offer the GP7 in ACL purple and silver . . .

DFF

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Oh man, those are hot!

I've got some FEC Budd cars I'd be happy to send your way on extended lease.

[Lemosteam]

Holy crap!  After all of the talk about the excellent pricing on the Arnold U25Cs, I found this instead:



While I should be spending money on others at this time of year, I bought myself a Christmas present: an N Scale BLI set of Atlantic Coast Line E units with DCC and sound (E6A No. 505 and E6B No. 751).  Boy do I love those slant nosed E6s!  I was able to pick this up from a BrassTrains.com for only $139.95 plus $6.95 shipping!  That was a deal I couldn't refuse!  Again, the A unit has DCC and sound.  I can MU them with my ACL purple and silver E7 No. 524 prototypically, as the paint scheme on No. 524 is around early 1957 with the 12" tall lettering on the sides, while the black and yellow was a change in late 1957.  Perfect!

Without really trying, I'm slowly building up my dual era of ACL in 1957: E6A, E6B, E7A, F2A, and F2B.  Nice!  Now, if Atlas were to offer the GP7 in ACL purple and silver . . .

DFF

What no Kudzu?   

[davefoxx]

What no Kudzu?   

Nothing's safe on my layout.  It if sits in one spot too long . . . gone.  The other day I was looking for a screwdriver.  I couldn't find it anywhere.  Kudzu.

DFF

[davefoxx]

I received my BLI Atlantic Coast Line E6A and E6B this evening.  I spent some time adjusting CVs to set the horn, bell, and master volume on the E6A, not to mention that I replaced that the one wheelset that has traction tires with Kato wheels to get the locomotive to run better.  I've got more Kato wheelsets on order, so I'll be able to replace the rest of the wheels on my E6A and E7A in the near future.

Gotta love that slant nose on the E6 as compared to the bulldog nose of the E7!




A real plus is that BLI produced these two ACL schemes, which are appropriate for my alternate era of 1957-58.  The lettering on the flanks of the purple and silver scheme was changed to the 12" tall letters in late 1956; the black and yellow scheme came in late 1957.  Perfect!  These two schemes can plausibly run together, and there are photo photos to prove it!  This makes me happy. 

Now I just have to start building a Florida train.  C'mon MTL, kick out some heavyweights decorated for the ACL.  Please!

DFF