Scenery and structures
Uses for old track, off the railroad line
We all have bits and pieces of old rail lying around—and I’ve seen rail used for several different things around the neighborhood of the tracks. I thought I’d share what I’ve seen, and perhaps others would share what they’ve seen.
In several places around Rochester, New Hampshire, pieces of old rail have been emplaced vertically in the pavement on either side of things like newspaper vending machines, presumably to keep slow moving cars from hitting them.
A Use for Steel Snap Track
I got handed about 10 pieces of this stuff by a guy I work with. 2 ideas I had were that I could use it to layout a 18"r curve with some of it when the need arises. The other would be to use some of it as a guard rail at the end of a street where it dead ends against some track in an industrial area. The other is to lay pieces of rail on some ties like it is being stored for future use.
So a question is for the stuff being stored does it rust or stay looking like it is fairly new rail? Also depends on whether I can straighten it out.
Thanks, Jack
Weathering Chalk - Do it Yourself?
Is it possible to make your own weathering chalks/powders? I want to try and weather some rockfaces instead of dry brushing them, but did not want to spend over $20.00 for chalk/powders. Thanks!
Source of N Scale Chain Link Fencing Material
I have been searching for some time for a suitable material to make N scale chain link fencing and came across this product the other day whilst browsing through a Spotlight store (the NZ equivalent of Michaels I guess).
Being 10.5mm wide, it is almost a perfect 6 N scale feet (actually 5.5ft).
The photos show it before being painted and the spool of ribbon in case anyone wishes to search for it.
Odd track feature
Found this picture of a ? piece of trackwork in a Russian website:
Does not look like a rerailer (too short and wrong shape) Any ideas?. Jose.
Are backdrops neccesary for realistic looking scenes?
There will be plenty of areas that I will be using backdrops, especially photo backdrops for various scenes. Those include river crossings, towns with roads that have the road going into the backdrop, buildings in the photo to expand a town or industry, and so on. But for areas that are only have a single track mainilne and are less than 12" in height (measured from lower edge of deck above to top edge of deck) is it necessary to have a backdrop?
Your opinion please on the foilage on my hills
Please let me know your opinion on how to cover the hills with foilage for my layout which is set in the Eastern U.S.
The pictures below are from my previous layout where I used two different methods.
This first picture is using ground foam, bushes, and trees along with rocks.
Preserving history and memories
I haven't posted anything for a while, but I recently finished a scratch building project that I thought I would share here. This is my interpretation of an old depot that was in Fond du Lac, WI. Originally built by the Wisconsin Central ca. 1892, it eventually became part of the Soo Line. I grew up in FDL, and have many memories of this building, both as a boy fishing in the river just behind it and hanging out there with a favorite uncle who was a railfan, modeler and prof.photographer.
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