Here we go! Gotta start somewhere.

In the immediate previous picture, you can see that I still had one big chunk of blue foam exposed. I was not really sure what I wanted to do with that slope but I did know that I did not want just a plain simple grassy slope. Sooo, I started throwing some rocks on there, a little plaster, some color and hoowahhh! I've also gotten a good jump on cluttering up the runoff creek with some good sized boulders. Now I just need to add the smaller ones in their respective stages. To find out where the water was going to run, I simply mixed up a batch of diluted brown, oxide paint and started pouring it at the top of the creek. The runoff stain you see is where the water actually ran. It was pretty neat seeing it run down through there. My colors of plaster don't quite match but that will mostly be covered by vegetation anyways and so won't really matter. Also, the big gaping hole of the third tunnel portal at the top left now has a new stone portal in it's place. I need to splash one more coat of diluted black and maybe some burnt umber highlights on it and it should look pretty good.

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Next up, we had a sudden localized cloudburst that prompted the first stages of vegetation. Soon to grow will be some foilage and some trees I'm sure. Down in the bottom middle, you can see my first attempt at rusting my rails. I don't like it - too orange/red. I think I need to dumb it down much closer to brown.

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This will be the first time I have ever tried to weather the rails. Somewhere a while back, I read how somebody just dabbed it on with a pointed sponge and that sounded like the way to go. However, as you have pointed out, it also paints a great deal of the ties which I now need to come back and weather to a believable color again. Live and learn.
 
I keep reading to just smother the ties and the rails with one color, wipe off the top, then maybe add some detail weathering on the ties, like gas/oil spills, etc
 
Hey, you ned to get someone out there and get those trees off the track. I think your rail crew is screwing around. :)
 
Well, all of that work that I put into creating that new little mining road and I decided that I did not like the entire whole lower half - too steep. I also did not like the terraced housing district above the station. Sooooo, time for a remodel! Now the mining road is much more believable as it wraps around a curve, across a little bridge (still to be created) and joins the main highway at a lesser angle. Since I wiped out half of the housing district, the main highway also changed. Well, have a look... remember that it still needs a lot of trees and bushes but that's where it is at now.

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Looks Good TN. Much more believable than your earlier version. :thumb: :thumb:
One question, what does the (future) bridge to the mine cross? Is it a stream or just a gully? Either way, I hope that your area isn't prone to flash floods. It would empty out right onto the road and probably get the station and tracks as well! :eek: :eek: Maybe plan some drainage there, a culvert or something.
Or am I just seeing an optical delusion? :D :D

OOPS! :oops: :oops: Just took a closer look at your second pic. Looks like you've got the situation under control. :wave:
 
I'll try to get'cha a closer up of this area. It starts out as runoff coming from two culverts underneath the upper tracks. It then cuts itself a little ravine which will travel under the future bridge of the mining road. It then runs off into a little pool area before crossing underneath the paved road via two more culverts. It then cuts in between the road and the parking lot. Before the railyard was built, this lonely little creek used to continue straight on but now, it has been diverted under the road again in a hard left via 2 more culverts where it drains down next to the rail yard and joins up with the runoff from the mine. In the second picture, as you mentioned, you can barely see 3 sets of culverts. In the fourth picture, toward the very bottom, you can see where it comes out of the culverts and runs along the edge of the railyard. Like I said, let me see if I can get'cha some closeups. My camera does not do those real well but I'll try. I have to wait until tomorrow though when I can open the window blinds to get some natural light and not have to use the flash.
 
Well, I pulled out the 'ol tripod and took some flash shots and they did not turn out too bad so here they are. These scenes are not finished by a long shot. The roads will receive at least one more (if not two or three), darker color of grey. Also, where the road seems to dead end into the yard, after the track of the yard gets laid, the road will continue on across at that point. That big ol' pine tree right there in front... I think that's gonna have to go. It is too distracting. Oh, and obviously, the nice pretty piece of flat wood (part of a tongue depressor) is only pretending to be a bridge until the real one gets built.
 

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COMBAT - Open house????!!! The thought of that just scares me. I've got to have trains running before I can even think about something like that. I'm still waiting on my Digitraxx Zephyr from Freight Yard, nothings wired up, and like I said, there is still a lot of track to be laid. Youch. Don't do that to me!

MadHatter - I'm not going to show you my untidy benchwork. You can hardly see the layout for all the supplies, tools, paint, model boxes, etc. scattered everywhere! I usually try to clean up a little for the pictures but believe me, the clutter is just outside of the frame!
 
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