Topeka, Kansas City, and St. Louis layout 3-21-2016

Really starting to look good. You went on offense and it took off. it is going to look really good.

Very nice. I like it. Nick

The rock sculpting and color looks great!

Thanks everyone!  Yes, moving right along.. I've since added a mix of cinnamon and raw umber.  Get all that mossy cliff right.  Next I'm going to use a four step process to get the shale looking like shale -  heavy drybrushing of dark gray, lighter drybrushing of a light gray and white, then I'll finish it with a black wash.  Hopefully it comes out looking as planned - and if not, no blggy - its just the first 10 feet.

really like your rock ledges  look great!!

 

More progress - steps 1 & 2 done for half the test section.  2 painting steps left. I'm feeling pretty good about it.

In the photos, the darker result looked good. I can see how the revised process will look a lot closer to the real thing in person.

 

Again, thanks for sharing your journey. This is a nice layout and you are bringing it to life.

 

1st section finished and ready for greenery

Thinking about drybrushing in some green on the backs of rocks and in cracks to get that mossy element back.  It worked in a few spots but in others its lost

Came across this at my LHS for $25.  It's rough and was filthy with dust and cobwebs. Trying to figure out if I want use it as an engine house or bash it into an industry - and if I do use it, what to do to it. 

Debating using it as an engine house but adding a third bay with a louvered roof - bricking the arch in the doorways and adding garage doors.  It woukdnt be exact by any means but itd have the look albeit smaller of Topeka.

Really wonderful job of disguising the linear look of layered foam into sculpted sedimentary rock.

 

Plenty of time to decide on the old engine house.  Give the imagination time to ferment and you'll end up turning it into a layout focal point.

 

Bruce

Working on upper level of the cliff face... About half-way done... Also got two engines...

I pulled some of my initial install and added some depth - starting to sculpt that now into aa transition from cliff face to hillside...

The rock faces look great!

Thanks!  Here's some more views... plus I finished the next section... 

 

 

 

Now to figure out how to turn that corner section into a heavily wooded hillside...

More updates - finished sculpting the ozark cliff face:



Ready for fall foliage...  Wife and I did some scouting yesterday at Pickle Springs...





Lots of fun and one beautiful fall day before I start full timing it in the basement.

I'm not really feeling the Lionel Autoracks - Think I'm going to unload those and pickup some more of the auto parts boxcars.   I did pickup an Atlas Tropicana Evans Boxcar recently. I'll be adding some more Evans and some Berwicks over time.

Coming along nicely

More work - More changes.  If I only knew six months ago, what I know today...

 

If I could start everything over, I'd: 

- establish a better plan for yards.

- adjust the flow for simplified running.  

 

Now I'm adjusting:

 

- I'm removing the curved sub-roadbed and installing a 30" sheet of ply in the northeast corner of my layout.  

 

- That sheeting is coming from under the stairs where I've ripped everything out. 

 

 

 

 

The bridge crossing next to the stairs is getting an overhaul. I realized once I got my cliff face on the east wall that it looked goofy if I didn't add similar cliffs to the stair wall.  I've decided to lower the joists  to 1 1/2" from 4" to give some extra depth for modelling rocks and I'll be inclining the inside mainline.  That will climb and connect with the incline on the east wall in the alcove across from the stairs and head south to the reverse loop.  The inside loop will maintain it's original route - but will now go through a tunnel.

 

 

 

 

Here I've pulled up the inside mainline in the Northeast corner... I'll be pulling the rest out and installing a 30" x 8' board to allow for yards.

 

Here's the east side - I'm swapping inside for outside - inclining the exterior loop instead of the interior. Starting to layout the inside loop with sub-roadbed I pulled from the northeast corner - storing the rest of the tear-out pieces in the foreground.  

 

Hopefully now that I got this all worked out, I can get the boards in their final spot and start laying track. 

Thanks for the photos and explanations.

 

Suggestion:  Use the "edit topic" icon to edit the thread's title to include the date of the current update--makes it easier to follow your thread, at least for me.

Beat me to it!  Thanks pingman

WOW; that was fast.

looking good

 

Some more progress... Hour here, hour there...

adjustments continue...  Had to shift some stuff around. Learned my lesson about planning yards.  Ive pulled all the tabletops and will work the exterior then relay thr tabletops for the yards.  Everything is moving slow but I should get the redesigned outside roadbed ready for trackwork this weekend.   Want to get one loop up and running in the next month...

I didn't quite get the first loop finished this weekend... But I'm close.  Torebout some more in the Northeast corner including some of my foam rocks.   Made another minor change - turning the elevated section at the foot of the stairs into a bridge. Started installing the bridge this evening.  Once it's all in, I'll connect the last few feet to the south of it. Then all that's left is installing a lift bridge at base of stairs.  Then on to track.

Looks like you are making good progress and improving significantly. Will be laying track soon.

That looks like a nice visual improvement.

 

You may want to leave it fastened temporarily until you do the scenery in the wall bump out across from the stairs. Might be a pain working over it.

 

Keep Chuggin'!

Awesome; You have to love the internet and this forum for being able to see folks layout work "almost" within hours or days as its happening.

 

Love those auto parts boxcars; they are huge!

 

I like your use of L girder bench work. Are you using woodland scenic rubber matt road bed or is it vinyl road bed? Keep up the good work!

Thanks!  I'm learning as I go, that's for sure.  The more I change, the more I'm learning to utilize the l-girder.  

 

The autoracks are large - but look small when placed in such a large space.  Look really good with the FP45 units.  Can't wait to get some SD units to pair with them.  I want to add them to a mostly TOFC  super-C train.  Narrowing my years of collection down to 65-75 to minimize all the rolling stock to a select few items.  

 

The roadbed is Woodland Scenics foam.  I really like it - super easy to work with - and its made it very easy to tear it out and start over.

I was thinking the same thing!  Having tried working over a table once already and failed, I won't do that again.  I'll get the wall loops all done with scenery before I attempt to tackle the inner loops and yard.  

George,

Not to derail the thread, but what did you end up building?

Hey Carl,
Still in the planning stages. Had family medical issues this past summer. Things are quieting down now.

Your a great asset to this forum ! I'll keep you posted when I start to build.
Thanks Carl!

Thanks, George.

Looks Good Eh

 

A little more progress today...  the rise is now installed on the south end of the layout.  I came out about 4" short on the bridge.  I'll have to build a small gap section.  Now for the lift bridge by the stairs and I'll be able to officially lay track. 

 

 

There's a few layout updates I look forward too-this is one of them.  

 

I can't wait to see more each time!

 

moving along nicely

Inner loop bridge from stairs to alcove is in.  Gotta get some Hardware to make it hinged. 

 

The down the stairs shot looks great! That's what caused you to change all of this. Now, when someone heads down to the train room, the first thing that they'll see will be that area.

 

Have you considered a lift out?

8/31,9/1, 9/1 video, 9/22 explanation

Yea, lift out will be my fall back if I can't come up with a satisfactory hinge mechanism. 

Was at Menard's today and noticed they had clump foliage ... Picked up a pack of medium green and the fall mix.  Started adding some greenery to the cliff face.  Will need light green foliage, some off green shaker, and some tall grass to make it look less one deminsional. The early fall colors are disappointing - but I really like the late fall. 





       
       

Gotta work this afternoon but spent my morning foraging.  My lot is heavily wooded so was exploring some options for scale trees.  I've been clearing invasive bush honeysuckle from my property for over a year now.  While it's horrible for the woods, I'm thinking that it might make some good scale trees.  Thoughts?