Essex branch HO v4

[nuno81291]

Last night during the pats game I had a productive work session. Got the replacement ties in on the bakery and paper mill branches. Began weathering ties on the paper mill (Lawrence Branch). Also began terraforming the embankment by the main into staging/ it will have a house up on the hill with a rock wall lining the ROW. I will eventually cove the corner behind the house but that requires working from the backside which is barricaded with guitars so the track side scenery will be first order. Began shaping a bit by the Waterworks overpass. I hope to get largely done with shaping foam tonight, there is the removable bridge scene embankments as well as a smaller embankment which will be by the beginning of the Bakery (Watertown) Branch. I also began sifting and tinting my next round of ballast.

[ Guests cannot view attachments ]
[ Guests cannot view attachments ] [ Guests cannot view attachments ]

[nuno81291]

Tonight’s session saw filling in my control spacers(3/4” stock) the full length of the layout. Painting that brown. Cutting cork for Main St. as well as foam for the parking areas for the adjacent buildings. All got a coat of black (except that red one! Ran out of black before...) before getting a skim coat of tinted plaster. I also got some dirt zip texturing done by the paper mill. My goal is to get this left sides scenery more or less to ground cover as the track configuration is very simple and tested reliable. Also all the structures are mocked up so most of the guess work is taken out. I set road widths based on real dimensions from similar streets I am depicting. That is a 9” street curb to curb for Main St or about 65’ taken from Main st in Waltham MA.

[ Guests cannot view attachments ] [ Guests cannot view attachments ] [ Guests cannot view attachments ]


For fun I ordered ballast I need for the rest of the layout, the depot I will be using, a gas station and propane dealer kit as well as a mill style building I will depict as a loft apartment. Hobby budget is blown for the month but plenty of roughing work to get to groundcover. Not set on season yet either summer or fall. Going to need to decide sooner than later!

[peteski]

That poorly maintained track looks quite good!

[nuno81291]

Thanks Peteski. A sort of iconic scene for our neck of the woods! Hope I do it justice in the finished build out. I want to introduce some more vertical curvature to the track in that section but am a bit apprehensive as it currently operates without issue. Then again the 1:1 put it on the ground many a time through there so I do want it to be a ‘on the edge of your seat’ experience for operators to have to crawl along that stretch with their fingers crossed... but if it goes on the ground more than 25% I would be unhappy.

Here is an overview of the left side as of this afternoon. Found some time for more ground goop and zip texture. Also finalized and laid down the pavement bases for the bakery branch. I am excited to detail the abandoned industry at the beginning of the Branch. Finished shaping foam more or less for the layout, some smoothing out to do on the wedding cake/house on the hill scene. Any of those rough edges will be slathered in my goop mix which is good for filling in large cracks or very rough terrain. Also managed to get another skim coat down on the pavement areas. Been researching grade crossings and am up in the air on concrete or rubber for Main st. Also need to find crossing gates that fit for a two lane road... anybody have recommendations? nj? Tomar? Will also need large gantry flashers for the early 90s.
Forgot to add that you should disregard the large pile of rocks at the base of the hill. I will have some riprap but those larger ones are going, just rolled there in the process of spreading. I sift my own dirt mix, and used some of the remaining materials on the hill.
[ Guests cannot view attachments ] [ Guests cannot view attachments ]

[nuno81291]

Trying my hand at building the trestle.
[ Guests cannot view attachments ]

[nuno81291]

Warning: long rambling post ahead. So I have been steadily plugging away at the roads, ground goop and texture, as well as a big oops! While gooping around the waterworks overpass I realized something; I didn’t account for the cork roadbed I put down. Solution? Dig out and raise the abutments of course! After an hour of careful cutting I raised the abutments by 2 layers of cork, if you look up thread at my proto photos you can see the track is more or less in the mud  while there is a small mount of dirt/tiny hill raising up to the visible first row of stone on the abutments. This will allow me to simulate this sunken style of trackage, something I didn’t think of while crafting this signature scene. It took all of 1 second after realizing this mistake to begin fixing it; lesson is do not be afraid to make changes! Included are the beginnings of scenery on this portion of the layout. Yes I will be weathering the poorly applied graffiti decals on the abandoned industry!

[ Guests cannot view attachments ] [ Guests cannot view attachments ] [ Guests cannot view attachments ] [ Guests cannot view attachments ]

[nuno81291]

[ Guests cannot view attachments ] [ Guests cannot view attachments ] [ Guests cannot view attachments ] [ Guests cannot view attachments ] [ Guests cannot view attachments ]

[nuno81291]

Did the big flat brown spray bomb for the rest of the layouts track, as well as spent some time coloring ties as well as little test patches of the yard ballast, versus the mainline ballast.

[ Guests cannot view attachments ]

[nuno81291]

A look down the yard as ballasting continues.

[ Guests cannot view attachments ]

[LIRR]

nice work on the ties, I agree the effect is worth the time

[nuno81291]

Thanks! It really makes the industrial trackage/ guilford yard stand out from the mainline. I found some reference materials that made it imperative to capture this sort of effect. The yard trackage will be receiving plenty of weeds/grass/foliage to enhance the effect. I am quite pleased with the Scenic Express ballast as well. I am using their gray blend on the main and dark gray for the rest of the yard. I am using the gray blend around the branch lines but intend to weather it a bit with soil, and perhaps the airbrush. [ Guests cannot view attachments ]

[nuno81291]

Well it has been awhile since an update. Not much has changed, in February I tore my ACL on our annual family ski trip in Austria. Upon return I spent some time building structures for my N scale Alps layout. More on that in my other thread. As far as the Essex goes I have been worn out after all the work on the yard but recently got bit by the bug. I realized I was unhappy with my industry layouts on the other side of the peninsula and decided to move the propane dealer to the further lot, and a scrap yard by the yard lead. I also got a few DPM and rix pieces to get a feel for the large industry against the backdrop. I got the bones of a Depot turned restaurant Ala a Beverly Station. I am going to put a non rail served industry behind the mainline going into the yard in the corner. I am unsure how I am going to handle the foreground between the scrapyard and propane dealer, I am thinking of showing the lot of a construction/landscaping company with various equipment and a fence, weeds etc. it needs to be low profile enough for switching that yard lead/branch and industry on the backdrop. I am unsure what to make that industry, I was thinking gelatine like Rousselot which is near by, but the track config is different. Currently I have: bakery, olive oil dist, lumber/building materials, small paper mill, scrap yard, propane dealer and a Transload in the yard. Looking for interesting historical or current single track industries that could fit the bill. Grocery distributor? Idk... either way The track is now down and it’s on to the fun part: scenery.

[nuno81291]

I changed the corner to be a non rail served warehouse. Been slowly plugging away at groundcover and the other side of the peninsula. Hit a mental block with the layout and starting to get past that. An order from scenic express is enroute and I hope to be largely through base scenery this coming weekend. Haven’t run a train in months as there’s no point while the entire layout is wet glue, plaster, scenic materials. Hope to get there soon and then break down areas for further detailing without taking the entire layout OOS.

You can see some of the attempt at zip texturing gravel for the lumber yard and dirt next to it... not sure why one area looks splotchy. Probably need to go over the whole thing again with the grout and dirt. 
[ Guests cannot view attachments ]

[nuno81291]

Well my scenic supplies came in early, and I carved out some time to do some work. Here is some greenery (still wet) by the paper company:

[ Guests cannot view attachments ]

Here is the other side of the peninsula, I finally came up with a foreground feature in the form of some industrial ruins. Needs paint but is a nice low profile (to allow the nearly eye level ops) way to handle and add to the overall feel I’m going for.

[ Guests cannot view attachments ]

Here is the new configuration of the other corner of the layout. I moved the house/hill scene. Brought the abandoned signal tower (Ala Salem or Waltham) and the Depot steakhouse (like Beverly Depot). Also it leaves the apartment and loft/warehouse in a good situation for a foreground station similar to Waltham’s.

[ Guests cannot view attachments ] [ Guests cannot view attachments ]

A quick couple of thoughts: I hate urban/semi urban scenery. Extremely time consuming with all these structures, roads, parking lots etc. Fine detail will take quite some time to achieve.

I built more than I can chew. In this case I am quite happy with the overall track plan, the distillation of various local inspirations but man if I was redoing this I would have built less. I don’t want to think of the man hours to get it to this point. There is something to be said about smaller ops focused layouts that get trains moving quickly, I tend to work in fitz and bursts and am alright with the beast of a project waiting for months on end but at a point it is easy to be overwhelmed and take up an easier activity/hobby.

There were a lot of mental blocks along the way of imagining finished scenes for structure placement. I think I am largely over that hurdle, which kept me from wanting to progress.

I have no idea what I am in for in the maintenance department, track cleaning, working on the locos and rolling stock etc. and at the end of this scenery party it will be time for that and to actually figure out an Ops plan (JMRI switchlists?) and even yet deciding what a few of the industries might be! Currently there is: a recycled paper company, lumber yard, bakery, propane dealer, scrap yard, a team track and a beer distributor. There is one industry without A purpose, I may make it an olive oil mfg based on one that was on the Salem/Beverly line until a few years ago.

[nuno81291]

Working on some greenery

[ Guests cannot view attachments ] [ Guests cannot view attachments ] [ Guests cannot view attachments ]