Ties

Balsa wood under Atlas flex per Prof_Klyzir's instructions. If you look closely you can see the HO ties that are still attached (that pesky missing bag o' spikes.)

Benefit of 55n3 is the P&Y RR is 3 foot gauge (a standard narrow gauge?!) Diagrams I've seen show the Bachmann  On30 equipment close enough for me. (See Rule 1.)

Ballast too big?

This is Woodland Scenic's Coarse Gray. I have some Arizona Rock HO scale ballast. It seems too small looking at

it in the bag.

Wide angle. Behind the screen...

Just to show there is no "there, there."

Gradually getting things done. Of course, next week I might work on some N scale. Or those pesky HO C-415 pictures I owe Andre (and others) because I moved out of the shadows...

As a friend malapropped it, I seem to have "HGTV."

The ballast appears to be the

The ballast appears to be the right size. Do you have a figure to put on the ballast; that will help also.

Looks Good

Great little scene. I had the same thought about using a figure. Only took it just a bit further and use a figure with an open hand and place a piece of ballast in the hand and compare that to holding a piece of ballast in your own hand.

Hope to see more of your work.

Jack

New day, new delivery

I looked through my bags of people, looking for the guy on whom I performed leg surgery. Couldn't find him. I did find the missing track spikes.

The scene above was dismantled last night, which gave me the opportunity to apply Jack & Dee's suggestions. 

Coarse ballast revisited

Neither guy felt like picking up a piece of ballast. Safe to say, it looks unsafe for walking.

But how about that HO ballast?

Here is the Arizona Rock & Mineral Co. HO ballast. Looks better underfoot and between the ties.

MTH RailKing figure on the left, generic eBay figure on the right. In 55n3 RailKing figure is 5' 6-7", generic figure 6' 6". O scale is 4' 9" and 5' 9" respectively. RailKing figures fit inside Bachmann passenger cars with less surgery.

Average height for a male in 1940 was about 5' 7". Another thing to ponder...

Direct comparison

Think I'll go with the ballast on the left.

Another Thought

Prototype industry spurs and yards tend not to have well-groomed ballast.  The tracks above were photographed this century, but are typical for earlier eras of both standard and narrow gauge.  You could go with the more uniform ballast for heavily used tracks, transitioning to something that has more dirt and sand for secondary tracks.

Why shrink the building?

If you're modeling in On30, why reduce the size of the O-scale building?  Maybe I'm missing something.

Bob Bartizek

OP is working in "55n3"...

Dear Bob,

What you're "missing" is that OP Ken is recasting equipment scaled (against known prototypes) as On30, into the smaller scale of 1/55, in order to render 16.5mm gauge track as "true 3 foot" gauge.

As a result, all physical items, including structures, logically need to be "squzzed down" to (or re-assessed in context of) 1/55 proportions...

It helps if you avoid thinking about what the Bmann stuff is designed, labelled, and sold as (IE On30),

and rather look at the models and scenes "natively" in context of the scale the builder is actually working in, IE 1/55.

I for one can't wait to see where Ken takes this, looks promising soo far...

Happy Modelling,

Aim to see thru the "scale/gauge alphabet soup", and recalibrate eyeballs on-the-fly as situations require,

Prof Klyzlr

PS not OP Ken's fault, but previous attempts at promoting US-outline "1/55 scale 3' gauge modelling" over the last, say, decade, have suffered from poor, almost adversarial relationship-with and references-to "On30". The waters were muddied, and the wider target audience generally couldn't discern the "55n3 trees" for the "On30 forest". (It's hard to recalibrate one's eyeballs to a rare scale, esp in the face of the popularity/common-familiarity of "Bmann On30" * ) ...

55n3

I thought that might be the case, but the title appears to equate On30 and 55n30.  Perhaps it should be edited to read "Practicing with Scenery in 55n3" to clarify.  Are the car and structure both 1:55 or is the car On30?  If the latter, have things like the ladders been reworked to the spacing between rungs is appropriate for 1:55?.

Of course, why anyone would do this instead of simply modeling On3 or Sn3 is another question.  "Because nobody has done it before" is a perfectly good reason!

Bob Bartizek

Thoughts Re "Why?"

Dear Bob,

but the title appears to equate On30 and 55n3

Agreed, exactly the cross-over "forest =/= trees" confusion mentioned...

Perhaps it should be edited to read "Practicing with Scenery in 55n3" to clarify.

Quite possibly, to avoid the understandable confusion/legacy of the previous "adversarial" promotions,
"55n3" needs to be confident/proud-enough of it's benefits to "stand on it's own 3, ... um, I mean two feet"...
(I believe it is strong enough to achieve that, FWIW,
and 55n3 is actually active in the UK, primarily for modelling Irish 3' gauge lines...)

http://www.55ng.co.uk/index.php

Of course, why anyone would do this instead of simply modeling On3 or Sn3 is another question. 

Firstly, I'd reference:

http://www.55ng.co.uk/why.php

Secondly, and I've found this in my own NG modelling:

- _Prototype_ outline NG modelling is significantly less "mainstream" as far as US Commercial Support is concerned, esp once we get off the "Colorado 3 foot" and "WestSide Lumber 3foot" lines

(IE we acknowledge and start-the-discussion from the position that we're already heading into significantly "Scratch/Bash, or Go-Without" territory, in my personal case, Aussie and NZ NG logging... if anyone releases RTR O scale models of Britton Bros "Diesel #1" or "Marshall" loco, or a Days Tractor Loco, I will personally bowl them over with cash soo fast....

DAYS Tractor loco

Britton Bros "Diesel #1" locomotive

"Marshall" locomotive
 😉

- For the _mechanically_ unconfident, handlaying track (esp Turnouts!)
and scratchbuilding reliable loco mechs are commonly-considered insurmountable ShowStoppers
(even constructing and quartering an reliable 0-4-0 mech successfully can bring a grown man to tears,
and no ammount of CAD/CAM/3D-print tools will automatically create a "turnkey" mechanically-perfect mech,
no matter how much One might wish it so......)

- Strangely, there's a marked Venn-diagram crossover between the above and those who don't have suitably deep-pockets for "legit" On3 brass locos and PSC track

(Ditto both points above for On2, let alone those who model anything like "Colonial gauge" On42! Ahem!)

Ergo, if one can pick a source of readily-available, cheap to purchase, smooth-running track/turnouts and mechs, (here's looking at you, 16.5mm "HO" gauge ),

and the modeller is _wedded_ to the idea that "It's gotta-be 3-foot gauge or No Gauge" *

then the 3rd-point of the equation (scale) is up-for-grabs, and 1/55 steps right into the frame...
(shades of the old sawby
"...Prototype gauge, Model mech/track gauge, Scale.... Pick any TWO...")

...Of course, this assumes that while the modeller may not be _mechanically_ confident,
they _are_ confident in the Structure, Scenery, and associated "aesthetic" modelling disciplines,

IE scratchbashing 1/55 buildings is considered "easier" _for the modeller-in-question_ 
than scratchbashing a XXn3 Loco mech or matching turnout...

Happy Modelling,
Aim to Improve,
Prof Klyzlr

* and for those who are _flexible_ on the "gauge issue", 
IE "...as long as it doesn't look _too_ out of whack,
I can accept a near-enough gauge to represent a _prototype_ 3' gauge unit..."
On30 is and-has-always-been quietly whispering their name... 

Thanks!

Thanks so much for the detailed description and education.  Much appreciated!  That "Marshall" locomotive would be amazing to see in operation.

Bob Bartizek

That "Marshall" locomotive

That "Marshall" locomotive would be amazing to see in operation.

Yes!  Lots of moving parts! 

Why 55n3 and not On30?

I be different.

We all have itches that need scratching. Some are similar, some are unusual. In 1984 I wrote a machine code printer driver for my upgraded Timex Sinclair 1000 (64k RAM, 300 baud modem, RS-232 port, full size keyboard and computer monitor display) to print to my new ImageWriter printer. Because that itch needed scratching.

I bought my first Bachmann On30 4-6-0 with two passenger cars because they would look good around the Xmas tree using the HO Kato Uni-track. And they were cheap. (Darn you, TrainWorld!)

A passenger train needs a station. The RailKing Christmas station fit the bill. On30. Christmas lights. Cheap. Therein lay the problem.

MTH’s RailKing line is/was their answer to large curves in O Scale. Shrink the equipment, shrink the minimum radius. But O Scale people don’t fit the Bachmann cars without major surgery. They certainly overpowered the interior I built for the train station. (Cars and stations need people.) Another itch that needed to be scratched.

Diving down the Google rabbit hole I found Harold Minkwitz’s Pacific Coast Air Line Railway. In one section he laid out the rationale for Bachmann On30 equipment and 3’ narrow gauge. I liked that idea. Not mainstream, but I be different. Itch scratched.

It's a label. And, as Prof_K says, taken in context, everything should look natural. 

Good suggestion

Thanks for the pix, Rob. Good info for later. Right now I'm at the "trying things out, see what sticks" stage. Here's a station scene, checking out heights and distances. I didn't bother with the ballast. Or with cleaning up the background. 

Cinders

Cinders or slag (or dirt) would be the most likely ballast on a narrow gauge industrial spur. The concept behind a narrow gauge railroad was to build it cheaply.  Cinders and slag were virtually free. They are both typically dark colored and fairly fine grained.

55n3

Part of the irony of 55n3 is it sorta brings HO scale full circle. 

O gauge started out as 1.25” gauge with 1/4” scale superstructures which evolved into 7mm scale to get the superstructure in scale with the track/mechanisms.  7mm scale was halved to make HO scale, 3.5 mm scale.   Now HO track and mechanisms are having the scale adjusted again to make the superstructure scale match the track gauge.