Last weekend it was cold outside, -36c, so I decided to make a few wrapped bundles of lumber to scatter here and there on the layout. I used information from another modeler posted on his blog which required cutting pine to scale bundle size, printing some bundle wrapping and then cutting the paper to size to wrap around the wood. I only planned on doing a dozen bundles but it was so easy I made a lot more.

Happy New Year. Another year has come and gon so here is a summary of som of the work I have completed this past year.

Starting with the trestle and surrounding scenery is where I left of end of 2018.

Got back to work on my mining scene area. Completed one final building for around the mine area. Small freight house to hold the explosives. Also scratch built the headframe storage and access area. 

I have invested in some Roomettes interiors with lighting for two buildings. I will start with the apartments as they are close to my just plug controllers. Doing a test on the first four rooms.

Time to move one to some more scenery and fill in a bare spot with rocks. I will be using both my own moulds and commercial ones to cast the rocks.

I did not do a lot of work on the layout through the summer, but I never stopped building stuff, specifically buildings. 
 

A couple of new houses for the town. Got to house the mine workers.

Just a little note on what i have been doing  with modeling this summer. In short no changes to my layout. However I have been investing in “stuff” to keep me busy when this long winter months come. I got down to Eau Claire Wisconsin for the international toy train expo. For me it was the biggest show I have been to. I stuck to my shopping list and bought buildings for my town scene and mining scene. Lots of different layouts of many scale types to watch. A reoccurring theme was the Big boy. 

I have just got back from vacation on the west coast. Went to meet up with friends and family. Visited with long time friend, fellow geologist and model railroad enthusiast Marc Simpson. Marc was able to get me down to meet Mark Dance and see his world class layout, The Columbia and Western Railway.

i took my HBMS #2 to Marc’s layout for a few photo ops. Marc models HBMS and the CN line. 

I have started to work on my mining scene. Unlike my previous layout which had an open pit, this will have a head frame to hoist massive sulphides. The small ore cares will be loaded there and then taken back to the plant for processing. The design is based on the Chisel Lake Mine head frame in northern Manitoba. 

we are a month an a half into 2019 and scenery is what I have been working on this year.