Updated 8/29/2021:
The eternal project, aka the Eastern Approach scenery, has taken yet another twist in the road.
Last night, I decided to stop trying to push a rope uphill. I studied the 2 pieces of styrofoam that were going to form the landscape below the Eastern Approach. They didn’t accurately join together, didn’t follow the complex curve of the sub-roadbed very well, and just didn’t look right. Making them look right was going to take an awful lot of work, and there was no guarantee it ever would look right.
So I did the smart thing (finally). I asked my wife what she thought. I asked for the brutal truth and got it (but it wasn't anything I didn't already realize). Accordingly, I am scrapping the styrofoam pieces and will use the Great Stuff / quilt batting method to form the entire slope all the way from the arch to the edge of Standard Slag. It turns out to be the easiest and possibly the best looking approach.
To do that, I needed to know how this part of the scenery and fascia would mate up with the pit at Standard Slag. Here's the track plan.
I had a lot of difficulty visualizing this area in 3-D, so I created a mock-up using some of the styrofoam insulating sheeting. The curved section is the wall of the pit. The flat styrofoam is the floor of the pit. Below it and at a right angle to the existing fascia will be a piece of fascia extending left to right along the floor.
Here's slightly closer look with some of the "strand steel" pilings and wall temporarily in place.
Here's a slightly closer look. Again, this is a mock-up and everything is not correctly placed yet.
I hope to get the Eastern Approach scenery done over the next few days. Yes, it's taken awhile to finally sort out what I want, but I think it will look much better in the end.
More when I know it.
George