Just looked at a railfan guide for the curve from the Penn Central era. The wrought iron fence was there.
@Lehigh74 posted:Just looked at a railfan guide for the curve from the Penn Central era. The wrought iron fence was there.
I was wondering myself if a fence was present in the transition era, but forum user Bob commented that it was installed in 1952, so I will be adding in a fence. I was planning on picking some up last time I was at the train store, but they didn't have what I was looking for. I'm going to try to order some online here soon. Should create a neat look.
It will make an excellent look!
Finally had the time recently to resume work on the layout. Starting off slowly with some new rock work outside the tunnel entrance; with these rock I was trying to go for a more natural look opposed to the manmade rock cuts on the track above. Also have begun early rock work and painting of the hillside on the other side of the bridges. Hope to have more to share soon.
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It’s looking great! The gray wash really shows the rock texture
Great Layout!! I love the way the scenery is coming along, and I love the broad sweeping curves! Great job! Very interesting track plan.
Thanks for sharing so much of your project: ideas, pics, videos!
-Ken
Looks Great!! Nice looking layout keep posting updates, A job well Done!
Thank you guys for the kind words! Glad that "train season" is back for me 
Hello everyone,
I finally decided to make a layout overview video. Not too much has changed since my last post, but hopefully this video gives a good general commentary on my layout.
Nick
Nick, the layout really looks great! That is a nice run for your trains
I thought the video was great! I don't usually care for FasTrack but this look really great! Definitely reminds me of the tracks I see around the Lawrence County area into Mahoning County in the way the curves occur. There aren't many straight tracks here. They all hug rivers or hills or something.
NIce video and you did great with your descriptions - thanks for sharing!
Thanks guys I'm glad the video came out alright haha
Great video!
Peter
Nick,
Great video! I envy the space that you have to create those high terrain ranges. I think this definitely gives another dimension to a layout and it not easy to do in O Scale. I'm sure with your lower ceilings there is more of an immersion into the layout. Most of us wish that we had a bit more space but you are making good use of yours. You have a lot of possibilities with your given area. My advice would be to create as much detail as your heart desires and that in itself will make a statement. Keep up the wonderful progress and keep us posted.
Dave
P.S. As you were moving the camera around I saw the shelves where you store your steam engines. If you ever want to get rid of the J1 I'm here, lol.
Thanks Dave for the kind words. As time goes on I plan to make the general scenery and specific scenes more detailed. Right now I want to get some more of the mountains built and base scenery down. After that bushes, various vegetation, and static grass will be in order. End goal is to make the layout look dirty and sooty of the steam era since that's mainly what I'm interested in.
Did some work on the rocks near one of the tunnel portals. The attached video shows the process from beginning to (almost) completion.
Nice. I'm sure where you're from or anything but the rock walls you have remind me of the cuts on the freeway I take to Pittsburgh. I think it's route 76. That's what I thought the first time I saw them in the photos. I think they look great!
Nick-Thanks for the video. You probably have your mind set up as it relates to the "corner". I can see why you would want the hillside to hug the tracks. The railroad would have done the bare minimum to move the hills out of the way. With that being said, you could really create a nice scene there with some large trees and other details. That would show the mass of the hillsides and give the entire area some dimension. Just a thought before you rip it out. Whatever you do I'm sure it will look fine.
Bill-If you mean taking the drive from Youngstown to Pittsburgh, it's interstate 76. I made that drive many many times. You are right, there a few valleys and hillsides that have the same type of rock work Nick is doing.
Dave
The rock tutorial looks great, Nick!
It's the time of year where progress really starts to pick up on the layout. Finally decided to start work on the bare back corner of the layout. The pictures and video below shows the progress from bare wood to plastered hillside. Really pleased with how this is turning out so far.
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Looks good! JohnA
Nick, That's another good tutorial. You are doing a great job. I haven't taken the time to tell you how well you are modeling the steep hillsides that the prototype hugs. When I was a technician at the local phone company, the PRR tracks passed through our area around Freeport, Pennsylvania across the Allegheny River from the Kiski (actually Kiskiminetas) River. Anyone can see why everyone calls it the Kiski. 
In my time of course it was Penn Central, Conrail, and NS. Later I was an telecom engineer and am now retired. We had dedicated data circuits to each of the railroad's signal cabinets/huts. One was sandwiched between the tracks and one of those steep hills, with the Allegheny River on the other side of the tracks. Another was in the middle of the Wye that is at the mouth of the Kiski River next to the Allegheny River bridge. I've seen trains go by when servicing the phone company's data circuit. I would hear relays chatter in the hut, not knowing how their equipment works, but knew it was detecting the train passing. Incidentally, we had a microwave tower on top of the ridge almost directly above the first hut I mentioned. It is several hundred feet down or up depending on your point of view.
Again, all that to say, you are doing a great job conveying the feel of the railroad deep in the river valleys!!
Lookin good Nick. Reminds me a lot of Chris’ N&W O Scale layout that features scenery without a lot of depth but plenty of height. In my eye it’s better looking than a backdrop. The same texture on the hills continues down to the rest of the layout. Not easily achieved with photos or a hand painted backdrop. Definitely works for a coal hauling RR in the mountains.
Nick, you are doing a wonderful job. Your scenery looks great. Please continue to post pictures of your work.
Thanks all for the super kind words! It really means a lot to hear feedback. And Mark, Freeport is very close to where I live so your stories are super interesting.
Dave, this is the first layout I ever tried tall scenery on and so far I'm liking the results.
Thanks again everyone!
Nick, well I wondered what gave you the interest in calling it Kiski. As you guessed, I live in the area or used to. I live in Butler and grew up in Valencia.
