The Housatonic RR in N scale

[Pomperaugrr]

I have not posted overall layout updates in a while. There has been incremental progress on the N-Scale Housatonic RR layout, so I am taking this opportunity to post some very candid, high angle, state of the layout photos. These show where the layout stands as of March 1, 2023, warts and all. The photos show work in progress, unfinished buildings and scenic areas. There is a lot of detailing and finish work remaining to be done, but, there is a basic level of scenery on about 80% of the layout at this time. Not shown is the 2' x 11' closet annex that houses Sheffield Plastics and Mead Paper, in the Massachusettes portion of the layout.

Letourneau Gorge:


Pharmco (Brookfield, CT)


Stratas Foods (New Milford, CT)


Neeltran (New Milford, CT)


Kimberly Clark (New Milford, CT)  Removable roof section is warping and in need of repair. 



Crossing the Housatonic River, near the old Bleachery. (New Milford, CT)


Downtown New Milford, CT


Cornwall Bridge CT and the old station (now a residence)


Becton Dickenson (Canaan, CT)


Canaan CT Union Station (Former N.H. & C.N.E. crossing and shared station)


Specialty Minerals (Canaan, CT)


Housatonic RR Shop and Canaan, CT yard.

[Scottl]

A great looking layout.  I really like your scenic approaches and the way you have folded the industries into the scenes.

[MK]

Mic...dropped!   

[kevlarcat]

Absolutely one of the best N scale layouts out there, and probably the best layout to capture what the average person sees on a daily basis, vs big mountain layouts. 

What are the average depths of the layout shelves in some of the pictures? The scenes looked well filled out, and an inspiration for what I want my layout to look like.

[Pomperaugrr]

Absolutely one of the best N scale layouts out there, and probably the best layout to capture what the average person sees on a daily basis, vs big mountain layouts. 

What are the average depths of the layout shelves in some of the pictures? The scenes looked well filled out, and an inspiration for what I want my layout to look like.

The shelves are between 24" and 32" deep.  Were I to do it over again, I would not go over 24" deep.  Otherwise the corners are difficult to reach.  The Specialty Minerals shelf andthe shelf housing Kimberly Clark, Neeltran and Stratas Foods are 32" deep.  The Gorge and the Housatonic River scene are on 24" deep shelves.  Railhead height is 54" from the floor.

[Pomperaugrr]

After finally getting the nerve to pour epoxy resin water features on my layout, I have to say that I loved the outcome. One thing still bothered me though, and that was the mirror like finish of the smooth surface. I have been experimenting with adding ripples to the smooth resin surface. My experimentation was limited to the beaver pond at the bottom of my gorge and steel trestle scene. Here is a brief description of the 4 attempts:

1.) Woodland Scenics "Realistic Water." It went on OK, and I was able to add some surface ripples. It looked acceptable, until... 3 months later it began delaminating from the resin surface, even though I thoroughly cleaned the resin with alcohol to remove any residue or finger prints. I peeled that off and cleaned the resin again, with alcohol to remove any remnants. Never again!!!

2.) High-gloss Modge Podge. I applied this to the prepped resin surface, worked in some ripple detail and it dried nicely. It had the texture I wanted, but looked like dried glue. I was not happy with the outcome. So, I managed to scrub that off after soaking it with alcohol and scraping and scrubbing it with a micro-fiber cloth. High-gloss Modge Podge may work well for fast moving water effects in a stream or river scene, but not for slow moving or staionary water, in my opinion.

3.) The "Boomer" method. Allen (Bendtracker1) suggested I take another look at the Boomer "River Road" videos, on his water effects. He used a combination of Golden Brand products, "Semi-gloss Gel" and "GAC Gloss Flow Enhancer." I ordered both, although I got the Gloss Gel, in lieu of the Semi-Gloss. Boomer applied his over a painted water surface, not over resin. His looks great in photos and video, but I was not happy with the effect over epoxy resin. It just looked too "frozen" for lack of a better term. It was the most promising, but I felt I really lost the look of "depth" in my water. I then peeled and scrubbed off this acrylic layer as well. (Seeing a pattern here...)

4.) Last night, I made my final attempt at ripples. I applied straight Golden Brand "GAC Gloss Flow Enhancer" with a fan brush, in a pattern intended to represent wind blowing across the surface. The next three photos show it right after application last night and how it looked this morning. I am pretty happy with it, yet nervous about trying the effect on the other two larger epoxy resin river scenes. This application dried nice and hard, without any tackiness at all.

*** I still need to touch up the banks, beaver dam and lodge, after the damage from the prior attempts and removal of the failures.

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[Cajonpassfan]

Who models beaver dams, lol
Looking great!
Otto

[Pomperaugrr]

Who models beaver dams, lol
Looking great!
Otto

 
Otto, This area is a fictional section of the Housatonic RR.  It is called "Letourneau Gorge" in honor of a member here "Trainforfun" a/k/a Louis Letourneau.  He convinced me to add the steel trestle, even though there is nothing like it in CT.  I figured a beaver dam and eventually an N scale moose would make the scene an honorary slice of Canada, in honor of Louis. 

[Pomperaugrr]

After an awesome visit to the Grafton & Upton locomotive shop yesterday, I was inspired to start detailing the shop area around the Housatonic RR shop and yard.  Here are some un progress shots from tonight.

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[Pomperaugrr]

I just found an online prototype shot that reminded me of a progress photo I took of Specialty Minerals a while ago, on my layout. I wasn't trying to replicate this photo, but I may need to try to actually stage a better layout photo for such a comparison. I also need to renumber the leased GMTX unit to match the one the HRRC is currently using, as seen in the photo below.

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[Ed Kapuscinski]

Oh *****, you need some N scale beavers too!

https://www.miniprints.com/product/beavers/

And while you're ordering, don't forget this guy.
https://www.miniprints.com/product/ed-k/

[Pomperaugrr]

Oh *****, you need some N scale beavers too!

https://www.miniprints.com/product/beavers/

And while you're ordering, don't forget this guy.
https://www.miniprints.com/product/ed-k/

Beavers are always welcome.   

Yeah, we will also have to have an N scale Ed K., probably visiting the HRRC shop.

[Rossford Yard]

I may have missed it, but is the minerals company completely scratch built, kitbashed, etc.?  Did you use some of the Walthers HO gravel and asphalt kits?  Just curious, as it is a great looking industry, modern and all.  I think it looks pretty good for the modern era rather than the typicall under scaled N buildings.  Nice job!

[Pomperaugrr]

I may have missed it, but is the minerals company completely scratch built, kitbashed, etc.?  Did you use some of the Walthers HO gravel and asphalt kits?  Just curious, as it is a great looking industry, modern and all.  I think it looks pretty good for the modern era rather than the typicall under scaled N buildings.  Nice job!

Thanks.  I used a combination of kits and scratchbuilding for Specialty Minerals.  I have a couple of Walthers HO scale "Blue Star Redi-Mix kits as rail load out buildings, a couple of n-scale Bachmann car shops combined for the bagging and box car load out building, A modified kraft/pulp mill from an N-scale "Superior Paper" kit, to represent the crusher and truck scale, a repurposed "Glacier Gravel" building and I scratchbuilt the gray, curved top kiln building to represent that signature structure at Specialty Minerals.  Lots of silos, conveyors and tanks, piping, etc are in place and more need to be added.  Here's a couple of overall shots, where you will recognize the various kits all mashed together for my Version of Specialty Minerals.  Although compressed, it follows the materials processing and flow pattern pretty well and I think it conveys the feel of the actual location.  The facility is about 7.5 feet long, by 18" deep, since I modeled mostly just the rail served portions and recognizable signature structures.

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Actual Specialty Minerals plant:

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[chuck geiger]

This is one awesome model railroad and it rivals: https://www.facebook.com/TeninoWesternRR/