New backdrop

 

 

that really works

Nice use of the backdrop and wall paint below the fascia line to make it look better.  The shot at track level looking back really shows how well your wall color now blends into the surrounding scenery.

Backdrop over window

Hi Joe,

It's a great improvement.  Did you do anything to deal with moisture and condensation around the window?

Thanks,
Rene'

Very effective

That's a great solution, Joe- everything seems to work, at least from the vantage point of the photos. And it certainly is a big improvement over the window! 

The diagram of the yard tracks caught my eye in the prototype photo. Do you know the story behind it? Given your attention to detail, I suspect we'll find one near the entrance to your yard at some point in the future.

Tom Patterson

Wow…

Such an improvement over the first photo, Joe. Very nice. Really like the low angle view with the 250 working the yard. Also like the simple rock pile detail. 

Scott Thornton

Seamless

Joe,

The paint on the wall below the backdrop had me fooled into thinking the for ground extended out into the room.  Great job and big improvement.  I might try something similar in my Brent Quarry, to extend the perspective behind the storage shed there.

Ryan M

Sign, sign, everywhere a sign

Thank you all for the encouragement.  I actually didn't think about that distant fascia color blending with the scenery.  I'm glad it worked out okay.

Thanks Tom.  I'm not sure how that sign came to be, but it postdates my era, showing up along with a bunch of other signage in that area, I think in just the last year or so.  Maybe they had IAIS crews getting lost and needing help finding their way back home?   Or maybe they just did it to help with my layout planning?

I thought it was cool how the UP used the classic "Rock" and "Q" track names on the sign.  The IAIS crews taught me that 212 and 211 were called "Old RI" and "Old Q", respectively, but UP still gets points for trying.

No, I just have that section of backdrop resting on top of the layout at the moment, held to the wall with [hangs head in shame] doubled-over duct tape on the back.  I wanted to be able to remove it if the need ever arose to repair the window.  So, no concerns about moisture there.

Thanks Scott.  That pile was inspired by the ballast dumped at the same location in the shot below.

As you said, such a simple thing, but I thought it made a fun detail.

Thanks Joe

Great work

Question: how much of your original design that was published in MRP a few years back has changed? Just details? I'd like to see a follow-up article eventually documenting the things that you didn't anticipate.

We've seen them all covered here I know but it would be nice to see it in print, too.

Follow up to MRP article

Ha!  Thanks Thomas.  But I don't think it's a matter of popularity!  I just don't know when to shut up. 

I don't know about MRP's interest, but I'd be all for doing something for MRH if Joe F. would be game.  Aside from scenery and structures I've completed, changes haven't been all that numerous, but those I've made have focused almost entirely on maintainability and accuracy.  The first dealt primarily with narrowing benchwork at Bluffs Yard and Hancock, as well as adding a backdrop balloon at McClelland to narrow that scene.  All three changes made it much easier to reach in for operations and scenery.

As for accuracy, a primary design goal I had from the beginning was to model my prototype track-for-track, so that kept subsequent changes to a minimum.  I originally made five compromises due to space limitations, but have since found ways to do away with four of those:

• Lengthened the elevator spur at Hancock to extend well north of the elevator there, allowing cars to be pulled from that location to indicate how the elevator moves them in the loading process.
• Added a dedicated spur for McCollister Oil west of Bluffs Yard
• Expanded the capacity of the Atlantic Spur so I could spot cars for Harlan Elevator there.  This also allowed me to remove Cass County Elevator behind the Atlantic depot and stub the siding that once served it, as the prototype did.
• Added the fourth track to Atlantic yard

The last remaining compromise, aside from the ever-present too-sharp curves and too-short sidings, is that the yard scene at Council Bluffs was built more narrow, to allow better access to the rear tracks.  That leaves the yard itself one track shy of the prototype, and instead of two double-ended RIP tracks, I've got one RIP that stubs against the enginehouse.  I have no plans to change that, since I don't want to make the scene any deeper.

An updated version of the layout plan reflecting those changes is at  http://www.iaisrailfans.org/gallery/Sub4WestEnd/LayoutPlanMRP2011_updt , with the original courtesy of MRP.

Yes, please!

Difference in Pictures

So I am curious as to the dates of these pictures. Obviously in this picture below that you posted in an earlier blog there appears to be only two tracks on the left, while in your model and the latest blog there are three?

Also, Are you planning on scratch-building the yard tower or leaving it out of the model. I think that it needs to be there to keep with your Proto level of commitment. 

PS I love the work you do. Makes me want to tear down what I have done and go Proto

Don't mean to digress

but how are you getting the 'worn/driven on/half dirt' gravel look to your yard?  Two kinds of gravel or washes or highlights, or all of the above?

So I am curious as to the

Hi Neil - The pic you posted above was from a few years before my era.  The third track from the left, immediately adjacent to the yard tower, was still there, but was stubbed near the east (near) end, with the east turnout removed.  Later, that turnout was restored.  I can't tell from the photos taken in my era if it'd been restored by then or not, but I needed it in order to complete my only runaround in that yard, so I voted yes. 

I definitely plan to scratchbuild it.  I'm hoping to maybe knock that out in the coming year.  I'm told the prototype is supposed to be torn down in the next few months, and it'd be nice to have the model done before that happens.  I also still need to finish the little strip of scenery between the left-most track and the backdrop.  

Thank you Neil!  There are all kinds of fun paths in this hobby, and I've really enjoyed the one I'm on.  It's very rewarding watching local scenes start to take shape.

The base layer is real dirt I collected from near the IAIS yard and sifted through kitchen strainers of various grades and then Tide laundry bags I found at Walmart.  I then sprinkled Woodland Scenics fine light gray ballast in a "stripe" down each side of the road, with another stripe down the middle to try to give the look of wheel paths being worn through the gravel.  Finally, I sprinkle just a bit of the ballast over the whole road to give it a less uniform look.