Progress Shots

[Green_Elite_Cab]

I made up a panorama of this area on my layout -- maybe a 200-degree view.
[ATTACHMENT NOT FOUND]
It's giving me a better idea of where I need to go with the backdrop. The area more or less above the PC baggage car needs to be basically the rear of a terminal headhouse. From that point to the middle will be urban-industrial.

Have my eyes detected a pair of LIRR MP54s to the left in this picture?

[faraway]

Your backdrop buildings make a big difference. I love Kingmills backdrops too.

[jwb]

Have my eyes detected a pair of LIRR MP54s to the left in this picture?

Yes.

[jwb]

Here's an update from my post on October 5. I started out just wanting to add an extra insulated rail joiner to this junction, which I was turning into a CTC control point, and I needed it for the detection. But then the twin-coil switch machine that worked the switch gave out, and I had to pull the trackwork up to replace it with a Tortoise. At that point, the old switch basically disintegrated, so I had to replace it as well. I procrastinated for three months, but now at least the new switch and the Tortoise are in place:    
I've added the power switch machine for scenery and a switch heater. I still have to add the signal which is a BLMA double track gantry, and I'm probably going to procrastinate that job, too. Here's the "before" shot:
   

[jwb]

Here's a closer-in view of the switch machine, switch heater, and signal bungalow in their final locations. I still need to add more ballast in the area, plus vegetation and other details to the backs of the structures here. The flat area on the left is where the base for the BLMA signal gantry will go.
   
The foreground track is going to be replaced with concrete ties.

[teejay]

I've admired the Kingmill product for a couple of years . I've never bought any myself ( yet ) but have recommended them to other mrrers and they report being quite pleased too .....so you glue it to foamcore , I'll have to remember that .

T

[jwb]

I'm making slow but steady progress adding switch heaters and switch machines (scenery type) to my CTC control points. Here's one, with a prototype shot for comparison:
   
   

[jwb]

Here's the CP West Zenith switch with new ballast added and some details in the area behind:
   

[jwb]

I haven't paid attention to the Zenith Amtrak station area on my layout for some years. I had meant to give it something of a George Sellios style treatment, but stopped somewhere in the middle. Here is the current status. I want to make some progress here over the next several weeks:
   
   
   

[jwb]

I'm making more progress on the unfinished mountain webbing in the upper right of the first shot in the post just above. Within the next day or so, I should be able to cover this with plaster cloth and start to add ground cover. The overall scenery treatment will be Appalachian wooded area in the lowest third of the scene, transitioning to something more like New England, with a snow line around the middle level, and snow in the upper portion of the scene.
   

[jwb]

The webbing is complete, with the initial layer of plaster cloth added. I remembered that I had several buildings that are roughly TT size that I got as a Hallmark store special maybe 20 years ago. For now, I think they may be good candidates to put in this area -- they're finished, they're a little underscale, which is good for the scene here, and while the detail is a little thick and crude, I think this is less important, since they'll be at least 2-3 feet from the viewer. They also have Christmas decorations on them, but it isn't as noticeable at this distance, and they'll be roughly at the snow line as well.
   
As the scene takes more shape, I may also consider other commercial structures, since some of the Woodland Scenics built-and-ready might fit in here, too.

[jwb]

A church somewhat similar to the Hallmark, this apparently out of service, at Ft Fraser in northern British Columbia. Hard to find halfway decent HO churches.
   

[jwb]

Here are two shots of the current state of affairs in part of Bay City, CA on my layout. Bay City is a different sort of place from Vernon, being inspired by parts of Oakland, Hollywood, Sacramento, and elsewhere. It also happens to be in the middle of an oil field.
   
   
I need to make a great deal of progress on scenery and details here, starting at the continuation of the street in the lower right of the second shot. The tracks on the right in the second shot are, take your choice, either European electrified or the US Northeast Corridor, which of course need to be separated conceptually in some way from California.

[Mike Kieran]

Bay City like in Starsky & Hutch?

[jwb]

Bay City like in The Big Sleep.