nycjeff layout

[Bernd]

Some interesting wood work there Jeff.

Like your swinging door you built.

Bernd

[nycjeff]

Nice work, Jeff.

Enjoying the tour.

Cheers, Mark.

Hello Mark, thank you for looking in and I'm glad you are enjoying my layout tour

Some interesting wood work there Jeff.

Like your swinging door you built.

Bernd

Hey Bernd, building my swinging gate was quite the project. There was a lot of trial and error involved to get the whole thing to the close tolerances necessary for good train movements.

Continuing on...



This is a track level view looking from the free end of the gate



And from the hinged end of the gate



The drone view of the bridges. There are two Atlas 18 inch through truss bridges in the center and four Atlas deck truss bridges on the ends. The bridge piers are also from Atlas.



The GP-7 led reefer train coming across the bridge.



A closer look at the through truss bridges. I did apply some light weathering chalks to the bridges, but I would like to do more in the future. When I got to the point of having trains running across the bridges I moved on to other projects.



A closer look at the deck truss bridges, you can better see my weathering chalks here, but again I want to do more to this scene. More in a minute

[nycjeff]

At the transition from the land to the river bed I used some flexible Chooch retaining wall material. I also placed some rocks here. As far as the bridge piers went, I sprayed them with some rattle can flat red primer and hand painted the bases with some dark grey craft paint. Does anyone have any suggestions as to what to do with the vertical holes in the piers below the track ? I want to do some weathering and aging to these and also put some sort of man made barriers at the river level.



Here is a river water view. All that I have done to this point is to paint the plywood base with some blue and black craft paints and then some Mod Podge on top of that. What I have done is a good start, but as I said I want to do much more. I have been very impressed with what ACL Tom has been doing on his layout tour river scene and he has given me many ideas. I also want to put some kind of boat in my river, but with the scene only being 12 inches wide I can't go too big.



Here is a look at the track after the swinging gate and leading to the bottom left corner of my track plan.



This is a track level view of that same track.



I have a cross-over in the tracks here. When trains come down from the second level of my layout they need to use this cross-over to get to the westbound mainline. The turnouts are Atlas #6 and the ground throws are from Caboose.



Looking back over the cross-over to the river. There is not a lot you can do on a 12 inch shelf with two tracks, but I do plan on adding some trees along the backdrop and some trackside details. That's it for now, more later.

[PRR Modeler]

Everything looks great.  Very nice job on the swing out door.

[Bernd]

Like those Geeps in the lighting stripes.

I've got some pictures of F7's here in Rochester with lighting stripes. I'll have to see if I can find them. I do have a set of Athean F7 A-B-A set.

Nice job on the bridge. Looks really great.

Bernd

[nycjeff]

Everything looks great.  Very nice job on the swing out door.

Hello Curt, thank you for looking in and for the kind words. I needed to do something other than a low duck-under for the entry to the train room and the gate worked out great.

Like those Geeps in the lighting stripes.

I've got some pictures of F7's here in Rochester with lighting stripes. I'll have to see if I can find them. I do have a set of Athean F7 A-B-A set.

Nice job on the bridge. Looks really great.

Bernd

Hey Bernd, I agree with you about the Geeps with the lightning stripes and I would love to see the pictures you mentioned. The gate seemed to be a good spot for a river crossing and I'm pleased with how it came out so far. Stay tuned for some scenic updates on this area.

In my travels in central Ohio, where my layout is located, there are many slow moving, shallow rivers and I thought that I would model this type of river. Many of the rivers are good for canoeing and there are companies that let you rent a canoe and take it down river and then pick you and the canoe up and take you back to where you started. Most of these rivers have sandy banks and some sandbars in the middle. This is what I attempted to do.



The first step was to spread some full strength wood glue on the plywood base in the shape of the sandbar that I wanted.



Next I spread some of my base scenery material, which is dirt from my yard, on the glue to the depth that I wanted.



After that I spread some finely sifted dirt onto the edges to represent a beach type area. I then sprayed it all with a water and alcohol mix to prepare the area for the gluing material, which is 1/4 mod podge and 3/4 water.



I then placed several varieties of ground cover on the dirt as well as some fine turf green and black. I also placed some larger rocks on the sandbar and also some small twigs to represent trees that had floated down river. I then resprayed everything with the wet water and then re-glued it all down.



The drone view of two of the sandbars.



And a water level view of the sandbars around the bridge piers. More in a minute

[nycjeff]

I needed to do something about the tops of the bridge piers- they looked too toy like as they were. I cut some 1/8 square stripwood to cover the top and painted it with a craft paint to match the color of the track ties. I then built a small railing for the rear edge of the new wood platform. I also placed some of the same wood between the rails so that the entire top of the pier was covered with wood.



I placed some canoes with paddling figures- from Woodland Scenics , in the river. I remember several canoe trips down the Loudonville River in central Ohio paddling under railroad bridges just like this.



Another water level view of the canoes under the bridge.



There were two screws that hold the plywood to the wood framing in the middle of the river along the edges. I tried to cover them with the paint I used for the water color, but they still stood out too much. I decided to cover them with some dirt and ground cover to represent  small sandbars in the river.



Another view of the area around the base of the bridge piers. I still need to finish the tops of the piers with wood and add some more canoes that I ordered. I spread some AI solution on the sides of the piers and also some weathering chalks. I need to do some more with them to get the look that I want, but I'm happy with what I've done so far. My river crossing looks much better than it did. That's it for now, more later.

[postalkarl]

Hey Jeff:

The bridges look just terrific. Love the coloring and the water.

Karl

[PRR Modeler]

The scene is looking great.

[Jerry]

Love those bridges!  Great job with the water a really nice scene.


Jerry

[nycjeff]

Hello Karl, Curt and Jerry, thanks for checking in  and for the nice comments. I like the improvements to the bridge and river scene. I still have more to do, but as we all know, a layout is never finished.

[nycjeff]

As you come around the corner at the bottom left of my track plan you enter a city area. The first part of the city area is an industrial area



This is a drone view of the industrial area. Against the backdrop is a scratch-built building flat complex. In front of the two track mainline are three buildings and a construction equipment yard area. A spur feeds the large building in the center and also serves as a pick-up track for construction equipment by way of a scratch-built ramp.



This is a closer look at the backdrop flat complex. I used pieces from a Walthers kit and also pieces of styrene from my stash. I plan to do some more backdrop painting in this area.



The first building is a Walthers kit called the Factory. I liked this kit because of the different roof lines and the tanks on the end. I painted the styrene roof panels with rattle can silver and then used weathering chalks to age them. I believe the truck is from Classic Metal Works.



A closer look at the Factory. In the future I would like to add some signage and some more roof details and some casting clutter around the perimeter. This was a kit that I built early on in my layout timeline and I feel that I can improve it.



The next building is a CCK craftsman kit called Conocoheague Coal and Ice. I did a build thread on this kit during the past year. I still have to blend the scenery around the base of the kit. The tank is a Tichy kit that I painted silver and then weathered with chalks.



A closer look at the CCK kit. I really enjoyed building this kit and I'm pleased with how it came out. More in a minute.

[nycjeff]

Continuing on...



A ground level view of the CCK kit. I plan on adding some vehicles and some additional ground scenery.



The next building is the Walthers Golden Valley Canning kit. This is another kit that I built several years ago and that I would like to revisit in the future. The skills that I have picked up doing the wood craftsman kits and from learning techniques from forum members will help me improve this building.



Another look at the Canning building. I liked this kit because of the loading docks and the roof details. The small building on the other side of the track is also part of the kit.



A drone view of the Canning building and the construction equipment yard area. You can see the scratch-built ramp used to load equipment onto a flatcar.



A closer look at the equipment yard. The various construction vehicles are metal kits from Scenic Details. I had fun with these little builds. I first cleaned up the various pieces and then painted them with rattle can grey primer. After painting the pieces with craft paints I used super glue to assemble them. The office trailer is from Scene Master and the small pick-up truck is a plastic kit, but I can't remember where I got it from.



This is a track level view looking around the corner and at the back of the CCK kit. As you can see, I haven't ballasted the track in this area yet. I plan on upgrading this little industrial area with more scenery, vehicles, signs and casting details. As I said before, I first worked on this area of the layout several years ago and I feel like I can improve it. That's it for now, more later.

[PRR Modeler]

Great scenes and details Jeff. Are you able to do a video of the layout from the track perspective?

[postalkarl]

Hey Jeff:

All the building and scenery look great also.

Karl