Working in Southyard

While waiting for parts to come in to complete the houses I am working on finishing the scenery in Southyard. I would say that it was currently at about 75%. It looks OK but incomplete especially in pictures.

A couple things are prompting this. First I need to finish it up for my scenery and civil AP certificates. Second and more pressing is that there is going to be an article in the NMRA magazine featuring layouts on a tour for the 2012 convention and I am one of them. I did not like the picture that was going to be used so I need to finish some stuff up to make a better showing.


So the first thing I needed to do was remove the structures and rolling stock. Most of the buildings are removeable so it is a pretty easy task. and now we have a clean slate.

The first thing I did is work along the backdrop. I had done some basic scenery there for the open house I had during the regional convention here last year. It looks ok but not to the level of completeness I wanted for the layout.

It's tough working along the backdrop in this area because of the depth of the benchwork. For the Southyard area I extended the benchwork by a foot to be able to incorporate all the features I wanted. Consequently the distance from the front of the benchwork to the backdrop in this area is about 42". And even though the benchwork is only 40" AFF it's still a pretty good stretch.I'll be glad when it's done. The corners at the interchange will pose a similar challenge but that is a ways down the road and hopefully by that time I will have forgotten how tough this area was.


I finished up along the wall and it looks pretty good now. I'm still not crazy about the looks of the trees. I think I may be a bit too critical though. They probably look ok to anyone else. We are our own worst critics eh?

I decided to do the grade crossings next. I tried to find a plan or guide for constructing them online but alas none was to be found. I could just buy them from the LHS but I have lots of wood so why not just scratch build them especially since I am using code 70 rail. I made the timbers 12' long and just kind of laid them in there. I needed to put one in on it's edge then cut it down. I waited for the glue to dry overnight and then sanded them smooth. I had to do a bit of trimming as well to make them look correct. The wood I used was long ties for turnouts so it had already been stained a silver gray color. I wanted the crossings to look newer so I thinned some asphaltum and stained the crossings. I like the results. The one thing I wonder is if I should go back and put in some nail holes. TBD. I put in the dirt for the road and called it good.

Installing the Roundhouse will follow in the next couple days.

Have fun!