Rainbows in the Lehigh Valley Gorge
Coming along great!
————————————————————————————
Modeling the East Broad Top as it was between 1937-1942
~Amanda
Reply
TMO,
love the background to the left of the breaker, it really expands the sense of place.
your layout just keeps getting better and better.
thanks for sharing.
Reply
Looking good.

I need to try the glue on the side of the roadbed. Thanks for the tip.
Tom
Silence is golden but Duct tape is silver
Ridley Keystone & Mountain Railroad
My Rail Images Gallery
Reply
Here's a shot of the "edge ballast" after a night for the glue to set up and the vacuum to be employed.  Just makes it a lot easier to dress the ties after you do this step.  I've been able to spend some time doing the final ballasting on about 10 feet of track.  Unfortunately, I'm going to get decent at it and then I'll never have to ballast another piece of track!

   

I do plan on getting back to that backdrop next week, so I'll be able to show some progress (I hope).
Check out my "Rainbows in the Gorge" website: http://morristhemoosetm.wixsite.com/rainbows
Reply
Another night of multi-tasking after being away in Charlotte for the weekend when I didn't even think about my layout.

I'd purchased a short (2-ft) add-on for my track lighting to increase the distance between the lights and the layout on the Hazleton section of the layout and picked it up the night before leaving for the long weekend. 

Track lighting might not be the best light source for simulating natural light, but I like the flexibility that it gives me.  Here's the before:

   

and the after:

   

Still working on finishing ballast, but we're real close to being complete on that mission, at which time I'll start working seriously on the city backdrop for Hazleton.
Check out my "Rainbows in the Gorge" website: http://morristhemoosetm.wixsite.com/rainbows
Reply
I'm reaching the time of the year when I have very divided loyalties.  Lots of demands on my time, the days get longer and I spend more and more time outdoors when the weather is decent.  So, after finishing the ballasting of the track, I thought it was a good time to record another "from the front of the train" perspective of my layout.  

I usually do this with a camera mounted to the top of a 86' flat, but there is one place going down to the storage level that cannot accommodate the total height of car and camera.  As a result, all of my prior videos started after that spot and ended prior to reaching it on the return.  Hence, all of the videos to date have been in the counterclockwise direction around the layout.  For this video, I wanted to get a different perspective and run clockwise.  Either I demolished some plywood structure or redesigned the "camera car".  I elected the latter.  Took an old Tyco box car, removed the shell, gutted the floor and slipped the camera in and secured with tape (after checking the clearance in that low ceiling).  

One big problem.  The structure of the camera car is less on structure and more on flex.  When the car gets moving downhill or endures even a little lateral acceleration, it bounces and sways.  You've been warned.  DO NOT WATCH THE VIDEO IN THE LINK BELOW UNDER THE INFLUENCE!

New layout video (morristhemoosetm.wixsite.com)
Check out my "Rainbows in the Gorge" website: http://morristhemoosetm.wixsite.com/rainbows
Reply
Todd - Very nice video. Wish I was at the point of doing something like this.

The bouncing did not bother me. I thought it gave it some realism. I have never ridden a locomotive but I spent many times in the front car of a commuter MU train, The Broad Street Subway, or the Market Frankford EL looking out the door window and I remember how much it bounced.
Tom
Silence is golden but Duct tape is silver
Ridley Keystone & Mountain Railroad
My Rail Images Gallery
Reply
Thanks Tom!

I'm pretty sure I can beef up the supporting structure to reduce the bounce and roll, and realism be damned! It'll probably be a while before I do another video, but reducing the bounce and roll is on my list of things to do.
Check out my "Rainbows in the Gorge" website: http://morristhemoosetm.wixsite.com/rainbows
Reply
Back to the backdrop for the city of Hazleton.  After printing and cutting, I started joining the bottom two layers of cardstock using Elmer's Stick Glue, gluing to a strip of cardstock between individual panes (you can see the top of the strips jutting out of the top of the joined panes).  I cut out along the edge of the sky on the top layer (that's the stack above the joined section in the photo below), and I'll join that layer to the others tomorrow.  I'll further refine the gaps between individual panes of the picture. Then comes the posterboard backing before placing it permanently on the backdrop.

   
Check out my "Rainbows in the Gorge" website: http://morristhemoosetm.wixsite.com/rainbows
Reply
Finished the joins and installed the posterboard backing - toughest part was cutting the posterboard to an equivalent horizon line to match the cut cardstock on the top layer.  I got some thick posterboard we use for tire prints at work and the stuff is thick.  Laid it against the backdrop for the time being to get it off of my bar table.  I still need to work a little on the seams and do a little more touchup on the gluing before I mount it permanently to the backdrop (homasote), which will eliminate all of the shadows at the top.  

   

We got some snow Friday night, but I spent all day Saturday and some of Sunday working the finances and getting my taxes done.  The snow had all but melted today, so I spent a whole lot of time outside and not much inside - which is going to be the theme going forward into the fall.  Much less model railroad, much more working on my property and my other pursuits, especially when daylight savings time kicks in in about 3 weeks.
Check out my "Rainbows in the Gorge" website: http://morristhemoosetm.wixsite.com/rainbows
Reply
The background looks great. Really gives depth to the scene.
Matt
I can smell a steam post ten blocks away and when I do clear the tracks because the steam express will be hi ballin through
http://cambriaindiana.weebly.com/
Reply
That backdrop looks phenomenal and the improvements to the layout lighting look much better.
————————————————————————————
Modeling the East Broad Top as it was between 1937-1942
~Amanda
Reply


Forum Jump:


Users browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)