Before

Here's where the scene started:

This area had a mostly finished backdrop, but the foreground was only a plaster shell.  I challenged myself to get the 3-D portion visually complete, with ground cover, weathered track, ballast, etc.

Get Yer Fill

The first step was to apply a base layer of ground cover, my usual two coats of sand sifted on brush coats of 50:50 diluted white glue.

Note in the "before" photo how there was no representation of the railroad's embankment built into the plaster.  I planned to create the fill from sand.  I have a lot of the sand used for the base ground cover, so most of the fill is piled up from that.  I have a couple other batches of darker colors to represent compacted cinders and other material, and those were added atop the base before gluing.  I'll go back later and paint the track.  Note the pencil marks used in planning the road that will cross the tracks.

Since this is a low spot, I installed a culvert.  The pipes are drinking straws.

Grade Crossing

With the railroad's fill in place, I had a better idea of where to locate culverts for the road.  

I used the flexible part of some straws to represent corrugated pipe.  Each pipe has two sections that meet somewhere in the middle; most of each is the smooth portion of the straw.  By installing the sections as if they were one pipe, I could ensure the finished culvert looked logical and that both ends lined up.

The crossing itself is 6"X8" scale lumber.  This is supposed to be a one-lane farm access road.  The next step will be painting the transition between the 3-D road and the backdrop.  The road will get more weathering later.

Here's the view perpendicular to the road.

Round pipes, not for long

I live on a dirt road that has graded ditches along both sides. Driveways and field access easements coming off the road all have corrugated steel pipes across them much like your farm road. I don't think there is a single drain on the entire road where the culvert has remained round at the openings. Invariably someone drives off the edge or pulls a trailer in a little too short or snow plows back over them, something always seems to hit them. The pipes become flat on the top, veed in, or almost squished. Distorting the shape of your pipe ends might add a realistic detail. I can shoot some pictures if you want. Also, even though they are galvanized they do tend to rust rather quickly especially the bottom inside where water pools because of the corrugation. Of course weeds grow well in the shallow of the ditch but they grow like crazy at each end of the pipes. One further detail is there is always erosion around the pipe inlet on the upstream end. Witnessed during heavy rains there are miniature whirlpools to each side of the pipe. Crushed concrete (approx 5") was laid once upon a time but most has sunk or washed downstream. All this said assuming you get meaningful rain in Utah

Pipes

Oh, plenty of that here too, but certainly not all of them, especially if they're several feet from the travel lane like these.   Where I intend to model damaged pipe I roll it from corrugated aluminum like Campbell's, as squashing the plastic doesn't create a realistic shape.  

Galvanizing seems to hold up better in this climate due to overall lack of precipitation.  Pipe can remain in place for quite a few years before showing heavy rust.  Not to worry.  Weathering isn't complete yet.

Here's a corrugated culvert on the former D&RGW near Soldier Summit, UT.  Oxidation and surface rust are evident, but weathering isn't as extreme as some might expect.  Photo credit Rodney Sorensen.

This rural UT crossing is similar to the one being modeled.  With the weeds and other stuff accumulated around it the culvert isn't obvious.  Photo credit John Pack.

Backdrops

Rob, I love how your scenery blends so naturally and so well with your hand painted backdrops.

Great job on this scene so far!

Rob I would have to agree

Rob

I would have to agree with Alan, a lot of the culvert pipes that I have seen are smashed or at least no longer circular Two other things is that most are between 1/4 and 3/4 full of silt. Maintenance on rural roads and farm lanes is almost non existent. The second is that most of the culverts are rusting through. The galvanizing has long disappeared at the ends of the pipe.

The scene is looking very nice

Is It Me or Does the Region the Modeler Lives In

causes many to not realize that things weather very differently.  The Western part of the US is very arid unless you are on coastal Washington and Oregon, then it just plain wet.  In the country's early years the Great Plains were called the Great American Desert.  Then travel west of the Rockies showed the world what a real desert looks like.

Prototype Inspiration

One of the reasons I started working on this scene when I did was I knew I'd have the opportunity to get some season-specific prototype photos.

This fill is along UP's Malad Branch.  It's one of the places I had in mind when designing the model scene.

This crossing is a short distance away.  The stop signs have been added to the crossbucks more recently than my era.

Another crossing nearby reveals yet another variation in color and texture around the track.

The opposite approach to the crossing in the last photo is taller and steeper.  Note the obvious contrast between the railroad's fill and the road's.

Rust or Lack Thereof

Given the discussion about culverts, I paid special attention to the appearance of corrugated pipe.

This pair of culverts was found on the abandoned wye for UP's branch to Little Mountain, and they were here for many years before abandonment.  None of the culverts I examined on today's photo trip had more evidence of rust than these.   This condition may not approximate how a prototype would look in Ohio, but is typical for what I'm modeling.

And Grass Grew

I started to add static grass and other groundcover atop the sand layers.

This is the first pass around the farm that occupies one end of the scene.

More vegetation such as these Silflor vines is starting to happen around the crossing.  Not all of the glue under the weeds at right was dry yet.  It's invisible now.

Pipes ain't pipes

Yeah Rob, your pipes don't look anything like our pipes. Obviously Utah takes much better care of their pipes than Midwesterners do. 

Road Disappearing into the Trees

It's interesting the way the road kind of disappears into the trees in the 2nd and 3rd photos of your latest series.  Looks like a perfect way to blend the road into a backdrop.

Looking good!

Track weathering

  It looks like in the last photo you stopped painting the front track before you got to the grade crossing.  It could be a trick of the camera, but the rear track looks weathered.  Was this intentional?  Do you weather the track after you put in the crossing, or is it still removable and you just haven't gotten there yet?  Just curious because I seem to create a lot of those "DOH!" moments for myself.

  Everything you've done here looks really fantastic.  I especially like your backdrop, did you paint it yourself?  Very nice!

Toni

Re: Toni

I usually save track weathering for nearly last.  The difference you see between the two tracks at the crossing is because the front track uses plain Micro Engineering rail, while the other is "weathered" rail.  Both will get painted before ballasting.  The crossing timbers will receive dry-brush weathering at the same time, and the dirt areas will be masked.  

I intentionally installed the crossing before painting so the glue could adhere directly to the ties.  Gluing on top of the paint with ME track is tricky because the paint doesn't always stick too well to the slippery engineering plastic, and any glue on top of that increases chances of failure.  I suppose I could paint, then scrape paint off the ties under the crossing to improve the glue situation, then glue it in place.

The backdrop is painted with acrylics.  There's an earlier thread on it here  https://forum.mrhmag.com/post/treelines-a-backdrop-on-the-8th-sub-12193480.

paint / glue

why not just mask the ties where you want to put the road and then paint/paint/paint?

Culvert Pipes

Rob

The reason I suggested rust was because living for almost 50 years in northeastern Indiana rusted culvert pipes are the norm. Can't say the same out here in the West

Re: Bill

I could have done that too.  There are several solutions that would have worked.

I never intended the stained stripwood color to be the final color for the crossing anyway, and I plan to do dry-brushing on the road itself, so I just decided on one route and went with it.  It's not likely better than the alternatives.

Re: Don

I figured your Indiana roots were entering the equation somewhere.  

Meanwhile, Back in the Desert

Is the Forum Challenge spurring adjacent scenes toward completion?  

Nice...

Staying on Track

I managed to get all the track in the area painted.

So far this is a basic monochrome application of paint only.  Additional weathering will come later, but before ballasting.  Paint blends all the different brands of track, as well as hiding rail joints and feeder locations.

I used Rustoleum flat brown camouflage spray paint, decanted into an airbrush jar and then applied with an airbrush for better control.  I used a small amount of thinner to help the paint flow better through the airbrush.  

I ditched the temporary push pin track bumper on the spur at left and installed the permanent wheel stops with Poly Zap.

Compare this photo with the earlier shot of the same location before paint (on page 1).  As I planned earlier, I masked around the crossings and sprayed them along with the rest of the track.  I also started weathering the crossing timbers.

Ties and Ballast

Weathering commenced on the secondary tracks' ties.

Tan and gray-ish acrylic were dry-brushed on the ties of the industry spur at left and company set-out track at right.  Both of these are at elevations lower than the main or siding, and the additional weathering will further differentiate them.

Ballast is progressing westward from the yard.  Scenic Express "Dark Gray" and "Blended Gray"  are the main colors here.  

Last time I glued some ballast, I noticed my usual wetting agent (water with some isopropyl alcohol added) wasn't soaking in as well as I'd like, and the glue didn't spread as far once applied.  Maybe the last bottle of the alcohol had something funky in it, or perhaps there's something in Scenic Express ballast that didn't get along with it.  This time I went back to dishwashing liquid as a surfactant, and it worked much better.

Trainmasters TV?

Sure hope your layout will eventually be on Trainmasters TV, Rob.  Your colour blending between foreground and backdrop is flawless.  

And a question - you are just using water and dish soap now to wet the ballast first?  I'm going to try the same thing to avoid the smell of alcohol, but will go to the alcohol if it doesn't work as well as I like.