UP SD40-2's NEW Layout

[hillyard999]

Deano,

Speaking as the owner of a plywood pacific, I rarely post.  But....
Wow.
These are some of the best pictures of a layout I've seen.
Nicely done!

For some reason, the one I like the best is the long shot of the straight highway. Don't know why.
It's all good.

[UP SD40-2]

Hillyard999, Thank you, so much for the very kind complements, Thank you  . 
I have been going around my whole layout, 19x11 with a yard extension, and been putting in static grass and upgrading the brush/bushes, trying to make it a little better, its a work in progress  . 

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The UP had 4-6 CNW Dash 9's, unpainted, unpatched for a long time, I found an AWESOME deal on a CNW Dash 9 on EBAY last week, couldnt pass it up, now I have ttwo of them on my layout to represent those engines. I have seen them many times as the ran up here a lot, even have a pic of my dad on one of them  . The one I just bought is pristine so I'll keep it that way. The other Dash 9 I had I only weathered a little, not bad at all, so it worked out great. In the pic below, the center engine is my newest one  .


The other pics here are just a couple shots around the layout...








I think the next part of the layout I am going to tackle will be the yard side, pics in my next post. 

[tompm]

Deano great shots. I think my favorite is the DL-109.

[UP SD40-2]

Thank you Tom

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OK, the next section I am working on is the "yard side" of the layout, the problem is I have been thinking about POSSIBLY doing something different, just not really sure. 
I built the edge of a small town in this area, I already had the buildings from previous layouts so the cost was really next to nothing to do. I put the small town there to show some "life" on the layout as much of it is rural, I kinda modeled the area after Clinton Wi, this is pretty much all you see of the very small town from the tracks, the end of a small town block. I could detail this area up a bit more and pretty much leave it as is, I'm NOT tearing up track and redoing it, so this area is going to stay without rail service.

OR... I can take out the town, place a "proper" Farm in there and just go full blown Rural WI  . I have three factories, a Train Museum and a yard for switching duties I like to preform from time to time, but lets face it, I am for the most part a "railfan" model RRer, I like to run two trains a once and admire the trips they take around the scenes on the layout. 

DONT GET ME WRONG, I like the small town edge on the layout, I do however, already have another small town edge on the layout, Owen Wi (fictitious), it has the Diner with the car show and United Transfer for rail service.  

YOUR HELP/OPINIONS WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED! I will make it easy, I will put a couple answers as numbers below, THUS, if you don't feel like explaining your thoughts, just simply put the number down that best describes your thoughts.

1- Deano, Leave the town, just give it some more detail, its there and costs very little to do that.

2- Deano, leave the town, it provides some sort of human life going on, on your layout. 

3- Deano, the heck with the remnants of that small town, evict everyone, rip it out and put a farm in that spot, go full blown rural WI 

4- Deano, put the Farm in, makes more sense of the way your layout is and gives more sense to the ton of grain hoppers you run a lot, for cripes sakes, its the MidWest.

Good points made on BOTH sides, what do you folks think? 

These are a few pics of the area in question...
  







Thank you! -Deano

[Trains Winnipeg]

I say #1, gives you some switching and things to do. But it's your layout.

[Charlie B]

1 and 2 Deano, there is no railroad without a public to serve.  Bakeries use grain for bread and farmers use grain to fatten up beef to make steaks for those steak sandwiches that use grain to make the bread for the steak sandwiches and the goats eat grain too that provide milk that is used in making cheese that goes on those sandwiches. Keep the town, add a slaughter house, a cheese factory and a bakery. That's my story and I am sticking to it.
Charlie

[tompm]

I agree with the others, either 1 or 2. You could add a freight house or a team track track. This would allow for a variety of loads to be shipped.

[cn nutbar]

Hi Deano---first of all I really like your layout as is but if I could suggest adding a backdrop of a commercial scene behind the existing buildings I think it would add some depth and wideth to the scene.I found this site which produces background scenery : https://www.sceniking.com

[UP SD40-2]

WOW,  Thanks so much for posting and you input guys

Ummm, funny thing, I posted this on the 4th, checked every day, last time I checked this thread was yesterday right after work, DID NOT SEE ONE REPLY, no big deal, so I thought well, the heck with it, I guess I'll put in a farm. I went on EBAY and bought a barn, barn base, and an old silo, planned on scratch building a couple grain storage bins. 

NOW, I come on after work tonight to post a couple parting shots of the Town, and I see the replies  .

Yep, I pulled the trigger last night and now the town is gone, not a huge deal, THERE WAS NO RAIL SERVICE TO THAT TOWN ANYWAYS, it really just made use of two buildings I had from previous layouts. While there is absolutely no place for the Police station/courthouse/city hall building any where else on my layout, the other building is going on a spot I am revamping on the layout.  

In remembrance of the small towns edge on the Rock Valley Sub...








Ed, Thanks for the link, yes, that is on my long list of to do things on the layout, real back drops, they really look GREAT, just havent made it that far yet. Back in the old Zealot days I had backgrounds like those on my switching layouts, they made a huge difference

[UP SD40-2]

First, a couple random shots.. 




OK, well, I got the barn, silo and barn base in, folks, it will be Awesome  . I couldnt get the barn I was looking for, but I did find an Antiques barn, no problem, I am going to paint the barn gray, then weather it, THEN dry brush it with red, so it looks like the barn has been around for some time. Dont get me wrong, it will be in good shape, not dilapidated, just in need of some fresh paint, but not to bad. I am also going to elevate the area, nothing on this side of the layout is on a hill, so this will help the layout not look like "plywood central"  .

I have a bunch of neat details, from previous layouts, and I didnt get much anything of Dads from his train stuff, but I do have a couple little gems of his that will really help this area out  . I have been working 60 hour weeks lately   , but I will post pics as progress is made.

[tompm]

I can't wait to see it. I really like the barn base. Almost all of the barns around here are on a similar base.

[UP SD40-2]

Thanks Tom, it will be fun to build. Most all the farms here in Wisconsin have that same base also, but here the most used rock is limestone, so I'll be painting it to match Limestone. 

[Tyson Rayles]

Beautiful layout Deano. I think the upcoming farm scene will look great.

[UP SD40-2]

Thank you, Mike  , I am hoping your right  .

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Well, crap, worked 58hrs this week, left me one day to fix the toilet, walk the dogs, do laundry, and go grocery shopping...sheeew. 
 I did however, find the time to open the barn kit up and spray everything gray since it was 50 out today  . Next I'll weather everything before I paint it the actual colors everything will be, I'll dry brush the red on after that making it look like the paint is fading away, that should work out great, I hope  


Probably wont get anything done during the week, I'm sure I'll have to work next Saturday too, we'll see.

[ezdays]

You know you can build this kit as part of the new challenge we have ready to start soon, come on, join, you have plenty of time to finish