Latest Update Video is out.

Here's my latest video fresh out of the computer and I-phone.  Just a look at the next scene I'll try to get done on the lower level.

Progress since last weekend

I got a few things done on the layout last weekend and continued a little during this week.  Still working on Rappahannock Aggregate area with weeds and details.  I also starting adding signs and and other details to the road and road crossing to RA.

Here is the road to Rappahannock Aggregate.  Added a speed bump to hide a seam.  

Add some weed clumps to "vegitate" the area.  Got to find some more dump trucks.

Found a decent enough picture online to use as a backdrop.  Added some trees and bushes to make it look move believable.  The pic makes the backdrop pic stand out.    

 

These two ridges are for the spot in the background.  I will add trees to them.  Used the florist foam for the first time.  The Foam is definitely easier to paint.

On the lower level, I switched 2 industries around on the Mine Run Branch.  I switched the propane dealer and the woodchip loader.  It seems to me they fit better now.

This was the spot for the small propane dealer but the woodchip loader takes up less space in this spot.  I also did that homemade chip load with foam and sawdust.

This spot will hold two propane cars and is less tight for the larger propane tanks.  

Overview of the propane dealer.  The backdrop on the left is a print from online and the right is hand painted.  I need to add some more olive green to the paint!  

Christmas Break is here!

First I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas.  I will have a few postings   Spent yesterday working in the train room doing a few things.  The main thing I worked on was hopefully the last track I will ever have to lay on the this layout.  I have been contemplating a spur on the Mine Run Branch for a possible woodchip loader.  Yes, the same one I've tried to put a handful of places on the layout.  The loader is going to be small and only handle a car a week.  The spur is also going to serve as a parking area for the local engine based out of this area.  The whole process took a little long than I liked but everything worked out.
I finished up the evening working on the sand loading facility infrastructure.  Still got a bit to do on that.  One other thing.  I recently past 50,000 views on this blog. (actually, almost to 51,000 now) Thanks for all your support and time reading about my Virginia Midland Railroad!

The new woodchip spur.  The track to the helix goes to the left and the Mine Run Branch continues to the right

The hopper will be a VMID chip hopper.  I'll run the piping off and add trees and backgrounds.

Finally got back to some scenery

On Sunday, I decided to get back to the layout for a little scenery.  I really like building/ weathering freight cars and locos, so when I work on them mainly, the layout gets neglected.  I have plenty of cars and locos for the layout, so it's a no-brainer that the scenery could be finished up in a month or two if I really applied myself. This past week I didn't get anything done. Call it laziness or whatever.  Just was not motivated.  Hopefully I can motivate myself in the coming week.  In the meantime, let me show you the progress.

Back at the area I working on this August, I finished the former woodchip loading spur.  I decided against the woodchip loader because of the small nature of the Virginia Central  railroad.  They have enough traffic with the aggregate industry.

This spur on the VC will be a storage and a possible team track.  VC locos will also be parked here.  I decided to bury the tracks for non-maintained look.  Still have to put bushes and weeds in there.

Over in Battlefield Yard, I started working on the yard crew building and parking area.  Added some weathering and a few details.

Finally finished the newest loco on the VM.  GP39-2 #274 has been weathered and I am very satified with the LOK sound decoder.

Another view of #274

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions

Well it was back to work this week at school so not as much is getting done on the layout.  I do have several cars on my work desk that need decals.  They have been sitting there all week and most of the summer!  I was taking a look at the layout this afternoon and realized I don't have a lot of scenery left to put on the layout.  It almost "complete"!  I do have one industry spur that needs me to settle on what I am going to do with it.  It has gone through a pulpwood loading, wood chip loading, plastic pellet unloading and a few others.  The plastic pellet unloader is new but I think I am going to settle on a team track with a unloading ramp.  I could unload stuff on the ramp or near it.  I also could add a tiny residential area with a house or two near it. 

The other area is the wood chip loader on the VC.  It's there but I need to do the scenery.  Should be quite easy.

Here in the spur that has changed several times on the layout.  May finally become a team track with a unloading ramp.

May bend the track a little more this way.  Maybe a house or two where the vehicles are.

The wood chip spur that needs to completed.

Tree making and West end scenery

I have worked on the scenery for my west end of the layout because simply that part of the layout has no scenery whatsoever.  I put in the ballast last week and that helped but it needed alot more.  This area is only about 12" inches wide and 4 feet long but I want it to be more rural than my industrial switching area.  This area also has the "hole in the wall" that leads to hidden staging.  So its not easily done.  I wanted to hide the hole in the wall so it will not be visible.  I also have an overpass in this same general area.  I had two overpasses but settled on one so that I could put some trees in to hide the rest of the area.  My sub-road bed is plywood so planting trees would be challenging.  I used some 1/2" blue foam board to give the area some height and to also plant trees in.  Here's my progress:

Background trees have been painted and foam shaped, painted and installed.

Another view of the area.

Initial coat of scenery.  Background trees have been touched up with more paint.

This area with have the bridge span and foundation.  Need to paint the stud in the wall a dark color!

Tree planting is off to a good start.  Since  The little ridge is only a few inches from the track, I had to choose tall skinny trees.  I push in the foam with a Philips screwdriver and insert the tree. 

From a distance.  I have plenty of holes to fill and bushes to add.  Use the smaller trees and plant them in the empty spaces at the top.  Gives you lots of variety and the look of trees behind the foreground trees.

Almost done shot.  The glue bottle is holding bushes against an area near the "hole in the wall".

A track view. The white paper towels protect my ballast from paint, glue and scenery.

VC #3 poses for a shot near the woods.  In my hasty work, I forgot that I was going to send a wood chip tube across the tracks.  Might have to send it the other way now. 

Scenery tidbits at Battlefield Yard and a new industry?

Did a little scenery to Battlefield yard towards the end of the week.  I did a Scenic Express order earlier in the week and wanted to try some of their grass mats.  It seems a lot of modelers are using them on their layouts and are getting decent looking results.  I also used some of their scenic dirt and used that in the parking lot/roadway.  It looks good but I need to go back and pick out the bigger pieces.

A new industry I want to put on the layout is a wood chip loader.  I've always wanted one but could never find the right spot.  I even did some research and thanks to some guys on Trainorders.com, I was shown pictures of a small loader in the northwest.  The facility is hundreds of yards away but the loader is across the road.  Mine will be across the tracks.

C424 #292 stops on track #5 beside the grassy meadow.  I will tone this down a little with bushes and darker grass materials.

BB #3002 waits for it's next move. 

The conductor prepares to climb down off of #292 for a little break.

Looking for that dirt/ballast/sandy parking area.  I believe I have found it.

This loader is pretty close to what Walthers has.  I already have it built!

Talk about the facility been away from the tracks.  

I would send the loader pipe across the tracks to the left at and angle.  The perpendicular angle does look right.  I've been struggling with the bridge scene in the background.  That's also perpendicular and harder to fix.