Portola Valley RR

[Noah Lane]

Pretty stoked. The wife got me a Powercab and a TCS decoder for Christmas.

I got it up and running. Although I must admit, running just one loco w/ DCC is somewhat anti-climatic. Woo hoo I can turn the headlight on and off!  JK, I understand that this will get cooler in the future 

[Bsklarski]

Wait until you start consisting 

[Noah Lane]

Let me start by saying ballasting Unitrack is so fun!  Except the complete opposite. I finished the back section to the tunnel portal. Fortunately, a few critical path items will provide relief from ballasting for a while.



I ordered the Limestone Bluff from Cripplebush Rubber Rocks. Northern California isn't all granite contrary to popular belief    In preparation for said rubber rocks, I started carving away some of the foam little canyon that I knew would have to go.

Any tips or suggestions on this section would be greatly appreciated:






 

[railnerd]

Noah,

Looks *really* awesome.

-Dave

[Philip H]

You need some bridge footings or a retaining wall that the bridge piers can sit on.  Otherwise links good.

[Noah Lane]

Dave- appreciate the support!

Phillip- I'm currently battling with styrene and various textures (or lack thereof) to create abutments for my truss bridge. I plan to do the same on these girder bridges.

I picture the abutments here being quite subtle, like a small cement pad(s) poured on rock.  However, do you fellas think one abutment for both bridges (which are not quite parallel), or two separate abutments?

Noah

[seusscaboose]

I like the progress on this

How are you managing the seams in the road (black styrene)

Eric

[Noah Lane]

Eric- the only thing I have done on the road so far is rough-cut the styrene pieces and lay them in place.

I will refer back to David K Smith's tutorial for my pre-construction analysis. I will probably try to utilize the seams as prototypical imperfections -like an old section of paving.  Here in California, our roads are quite....mosaic like. In other words: total crap. Even after billions TARP funding.  So in a way, the more janky, the better.

[Noah Lane]

Holy Cripplebush!  This piece of stone..err, rubber is massive! I know see that the $50 price is actually quite reasonable for what you get...


I finished my second bridge abutment and started on the pier. Well, I first made the pier out of styrene and realized it was far to big and blocky. So naturally, I improvised: whipped up some hydrocal with various grayscale pigments mixed in, and filled the unintentional form.  I had no expectations.


As it turned out, I kinda like it! I'll add some rusty rebar (using wire) in the chunked out corners, and some weathering/detailing. Now I'm considering re-doing the styrene abutments I wasted all that time on.


Cheers
Noah

[Noah Lane]

Calling on David K. Smith & other Cripplebush Rubber Rock users or just wise a$$ hats...

I want to get moving on installation of the rocks, but I need some advice for a confidence boost, before I ruin this pricey piece of rubber!

As you will see below, I made an initial cut -what seemed obvious and a good direction for me to head.  I'veSo, beyond painting/weathering, what kind of advice can you give me in regards to 1) Placement specifically on my layout 2) blending seams/edges using talus, scree, and plaster, etc  3)  Transitioning to the shoreline of the creek

Note, I am willing to make substantial modifications to the main hill (where the majority of the rock will be used). Although I'd prefer to have the road in the same general location.

I appreciate the help!

Noah

[Chris333]

Do you know the number of that Cripplebush casting, I might want to try that one next.

[Noah Lane]

It's the Limestone Bluff: http://www.cripplebush.net/limestones/limestones-category.htm

[Chris333]

Thanks. Yours looks better than their photo.

[Noah Lane]

I was having a hard time figuring out a modern tunnel portal wide enough to clear both tracks.

I ended up cutting two Woodland Scenics portals that I had sitting around.  I secured them on the backside using CA and .060" strip styrene as a brace. I 'painted' some hydrocal into the seam, and re-cut the brick lines with a hobby knife. 



With a bit more work, paint/wash, and weathering I think it should turn out okay. And then seam shouldn't be noticeable at all.

               

[packers#1]

Only after closely looking at the picture can I even tell that the tunnel portal is split and widened; nice job