Canton, Highlandtown and Fells Point - Compact layout

[Specter3]

Rich, glad you made that distinction as I do have pics of that procedure. Nothing NSFW but the wife was there and shot a few phone pics for posterity. She then got to assist the doc during the procedure.  That was weird.

[wm3798]

Okay, here's the update you've been waiting for at the urologist...



First the steep loop.  I haven't started adjusting the terrain on the inside and outside here, but you can see where I painted the streets in on the railroad grade.  These will be at-grade crossings, with the streets rising to meet them.  The adjacent real estate will also be elevated.  This will have the net effect of the highest freight sidings appearing to be about an inch above grade, rather than 2" above zero elevation.  I'm thinking the coal dock will work nicely where the foam block is next to station 9.



Back on the other side of town, I've started elevating the blocks to show a gentle up slope toward the track looping up at the left.  The yard tracks will be at zero, and the grade rises up behind the billboard sign.



The buildings rise from zero at the White Tower up to about 5/8" at the railroad.  A nice retaining wall will support the road as it goes up next to the yard track.



I've scabbed in a little sidewalk to give you an idea of how this will come together.  I'm going to build up foundations under the buildings with little stoops rising up to the doorways as needed.  I plan to used more blue foam cut in wedges to establish the grade of the roads, then top them off with that foam craft stuff.  I have two sheets of black to fool with, we'll see how they turn out.



Looking up the side streets, you can see the rail grade continuing to rise behind the commercial district.  Here the track is at about 1", and again, we're going for a grade crossing, so the buildings will rise up to meet the grade.  There will be a street running parallel to the tracks here, so I can fudge a little bit of the elevation at the intersection.



From this angle you can see that I plan to embed part of the curve in the street.  This will hopefully help disguise the return loop aspect and provide a good photo location.



Finally, here's a view down the street next to the brewery.  This street will remain at zero elevation front to back, and the arch bridge is more or less in final position.  The siding for the brewery comes off the main just to the left of the stone arch, so it will have to cross the street on a steel trestle, then run parallel to the brewery building on an elevated platform.  I'm sort of tempted to make this like a branch line on an elevated trestle over the street, with the brewery siding being a trailing point.  There's enough room to have a tail track long enough for the 44T and a couple of cars.  It could also feasibly reconnect with the 8 in front of station 9, but that wouldn't serve much of a purpose.

It's interesting to note that even though I referred to the first loop as the "steep" one, both are the same (more or less) rising 1.75" over 5 feet of run.  One just looks longer because a portion of it is on the straight away along the back.

So there you have it.  These bits of sleight of hand should take care of the elevation changes on the railroad, and help blend the scenery together successfully.  Next I have to rummage through more boxes and dig out the rest of the turnouts I need, then I can start figuring out where to trench in the wiring for track power and lighting.

Lee

[Baronjutter]

That's awesome.  We too often build our towns on a sheet of glass, even a slight elevation change adds so much realism and interest, but it's certainly a lot more work.

[Chris333]

Lookin' good!

[OldEastRR]

You can also put lowered sections of street where it goes under the elevated track, as well as elevated road and surrounding land under higher track. This is to keep the clearance under the railroad the same for each roadway. It helps unify the look of the layout. In the first picture, an example of "rising" the street would also include the ground, thus making the land gradually rise from the center of town toward the right side of the first picture. The overall ground there would still be lower than the track embankment height, yet higher that the flat base level in the center of town.
It's always the case our track ROW has to be reasonably graded but streets can go up and down at steep angles to get under or over track and yet not look unrealistic.

[jpec]

Looking good, Lee!

[wm3798]

OldEast, you are spot on.  I'm likely going to notch down the highway at the stone arch bridge to gain clearance, and it may happen elsewhere should the need arise.  East Baltimore is full of such undulations.  (especially after midnight under the Tunnel thruway!)

Lee

[mcjaco]

^ Just keep moving on this, or someone will get cranky about it, and start posting shameful things about this thread.   

This is a cool project. 

[sizemore]

That layout screams that it needs some BTCo.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=0F_j0vphkPU

The S.

[wm3798]

A Peter Witt would look nice threading its way down the Avenue, no?  If I do, it will unfortunately have to be a static display... nowhere for it to run, really.

I may embed tracks in the main street... the last cars ran in '64, so they could be freshly abandoned.

Meanwhile, I've been having some more fun with DPM buildings.  This time, I'm taking some spare back walls I had laying around, and working up a block of the ubiquitous East Bawlamer Rowhouses...



A little judicious cutting, and I can make two rowhouse fronts out of one back.  I cut out a window opening to make way for a front door.



Comprende?



Next a little strip styrene magic to build up a foundation.  I'll have to figure out how to make an N scale painted screen for the basement window...



Installed with a block to catch the white marble steps.



Added the steps, and some strip stock to build up a cornice.  Lather, rinse, repeat...



And in position.  This block runs up the right side against the back drop, again, gradually rising up the hill to follow the railroad, which at this point is in the street.  I had the truncated "Cricket's" building in the scrap box.  It makes a nice corner store.  That's all for now.  Gotta get back to working on work!!

Lee

[Ed Kapuscinski]

ROWHOUSES!

I love it.

[jpec]

Outstanding! One could go broke with a square block's worth of CMR rowhouses...nice kits but pricey.  Thanks for the tip Lee!

[GaryHinshaw]

Great!  But less red brick going forward:




A single boarded up one might portend the future too.

[wazzou]

Where are all of the boarded up ones located? 
That's just sad.  Outwardly, they look to be in pretty good condition.  Are they to be torn down or is that just the wrong side of the tracks now?

[basementcalling]

What are you using to cut apart those DMP walls, Lee? I find kitbashing their structures some of the toughest tasks around because of how dense there walls are.