Starting a new smaller layout

Chartiers

Still plays with trains
The little tributary of the creek that is next to the mountain/hill just disappears behind it, there is no track bridge there. There were some minor trackplan changes that I made on-the-fly since I first posted it here. I plan on partially blocking the view of the rear tracks with a tree line in places.

Having the control panel slide out of the way has worked out well.
 
Great choice

I haven't railfanned that area YET. It is on my to do list. Years ago, when CSX still operated on the W&P sub, I took a local to Washington and back. Talk about over the river and through the woods. (even under rt 51 ). I was sad we gave that branch to the AVR. I am not too big a fan of OC, but would like to check out the line one day. You made a great website too.
 

Pitchwife

Dreamer
I checked out your website. The layout is really looking good. BTW nice job on the "Sears House". :thumb: :thumb: I got one of those when I was working on my HO layout and it really looked like a lot of work. Many, many pieces. :eek:

From your plans, the layout is about 3' deep. do you have any trouble maintaining the tracks at the back or can you just pull it away from the wall to access them?
 

Chartiers

Still plays with trains
csxengineer- Never had the pleasure of riding or visiting the real Chartiers Branch. It was only 23.6 miles long but crossed the creek almost 20 times. It has an interesting history.

Clark - The Sears house took a lot of work to get it to look good. Not directly due to the number of pieces, but more from the way the pieces fit together and the lack of good instructions. You have to go slow and take some extra care if your lucky enough to find one of these out-of-production kits. 36" is too far to reach at normal layout height. The layout is small enough that I can slide it away from the wall to get to the back side if necessary. Also, during the construction phase, it also helps that I have the layout much lower then it's going to end up being.
 

Chartiers

Still plays with trains
The following picture represents a slight step backwards in progress on the layout.

I was about ready to paint the bottom of the creek which is a major water feature on the layout. Something just didn't look right to me and a little voice in my head said not to continue. I finally figured out that I wasn't happy with the way the creek was going to look in that it was too lumpy and the creek bed was way too uneven. So I got out the screwdriver/chisel and am in the process of redoing the creek bed and banks. I will have some cleanup to do to get the white plaster splatter out of the scenery, but that's OK.

I think the reason I posted this is to say that if something on your layout does not feel right to you, or looks like there is something wrong, then it's better to take the time and effort and redo/fix it so you will be happy with it in the end.


back1.jpg
 

nkp174

Active Member
Jim, it looks good. I see that you've developed very solid skills. Your last layout looked very nice too. I got a kick out of seeing that your Pennsy layout used to have an NYC Hudson...lettered for the Pennsy. As far as your other locomotives, I didn't know that there was such a nice selection of PRR power available in N-scale! Wow!

I just recently completed 80% of my mainline for the same reasons you stated...despite the otherwise accepting wife's protest over "why now?". I look forward to seeing your progress.
 

Chartiers

Still plays with trains
Well, my Pennsy road foreman made a midnight acquisition of the Hudson from a nearby NYC interchange track when he found he didn't have an engine available for an important express train. A little black paint and some quick lettering was all that was needed. The PRR had so many different types of engines that no one noticed for a long while. When they did, the "borrowed" engine was quietly returned with a nice thank you note.
 

nkp174

Active Member
Well, my Pennsy road foreman made a midnight acquisition of the Hudson from a nearby NYC interchange track when he found he didn't have an engine available for an important express train. A little black paint and some quick lettering was all that was needed. The PRR had so many different types of engines that no one noticed for a long while. When they did, the "borrowed" engine was quietly returned with a nice thank you note.

sign1 That's great. I have a couple Mantua engines...a Rogers 4-6-0 and a 2-6-6-2t which received NKP colors some 10yrs ago...but I never lettered them.
 

Chartiers

Still plays with trains
I just did the first of two planned pours of a creek using Envirotex and was looking over the results so far. I think my creek bed painting turned out to be a little too much of a blue/green color.

I was thinking about how to tone the color down or muddy it up a little. My thoughts were to maybe add a little tint color to the second pour but I'm not sure what color to use. A drop of light brown? dark brown? Olive? Black?

creek-1.jpg
 

Chartiers

Still plays with trains
Thanks - appreciate the nice comments. I ordered some yellow and some green transparent Envirotex dyes for possible use in the second pour of the creek.

I'm going to do some testing first in small batches to see if the dyes will tone the color of the creek down a little. If I can get a high confidence level in that it will look better, then I will use the dyes. If not, then it the creek will stay the way it is.
 

nw-fan

New Member
look forward to your progress on this layout. looks like you have a solid trackplan for the available space.
 

Chartiers

Still plays with trains
Just thought I would give everyone an update. I decided to bite the bullet and repaint the creek bed on top of the first Envirotex pour and try again. The primary colors on the new bed were black/blue with some green and brown mix along the shore. A new pour of Envirotex was made and I think it came out a lot better. Once it cures, I'll touch up the edges and probably add some acrylic gloss gel medium to the surface to get some ripples going if I can figure out the technique.

water-1.jpg
 

TrainNut

Ditat Deus
The creek looks good! On top of painting the bottom before I apply the WS water, I also add blue food coloring as well as a little brown to the mixture to achieve the results desired. The blue food coloring is a little bright at first but it fades over time and I'm pleased with the results.
 

Chartiers

Still plays with trains
Look great, but the water looks so.......still for a creak. Nun the less, it still looks good

I know, looks dead calm doesn't it. After it dries in a few days I going to put some gloss medium on the surface to try and create ripples and give the impression of movement. I think you can also add a little white paint to a couple of place, say where the water hits rocks or abutments, to add a little turbulence. I have never used gloss medium like this before so I think I'll create a few test sheets on the work bench to try it there first.
 

Chartiers

Still plays with trains
TrainNut; Some great looking work there. Didn't think about using food coloring for dyes in the resin but it should work fine.
 
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