First, Happy New Year to you, once again! It's 2026 now, with a swirling world around each of us. This hobby makes me grateful for that and also for the downtime that brings me back to a center.
I embarked on a big effort to finalize a key scene this winter. Waterflows on most model railroads are key scenes. The prototypes often follow rivers and streams, and cross them at many spots too.
Butternut Creek comes down through Jamesville, NY, south of Syracuse but several hundred feet higher in elevation. Creek flows along the big limestone quarry down into the shale valleys and eventually into the marshy lowlands that head out toward Fayetteville and Dewitt, all of which eventually drains into the Oswego River and eventually Lake Ontario.
It is a waterway that had to cross the Lackawanna Route coming up from Binghamton, and thus my Minoa & Euclid had to find a way across it too. Early on I knew this scene would be at the entrance to the room, the bottom of the stairway. But-pouring water on a complicated scene is nerve-wracking. There is just no way around it - many hours of work, sometimes even years of planning and effort comes down to mixing and pouring epoxy and getting it right the first time.
It took years to get the scene set, and years to commit to the pour!
We rearranged dry rocks, selected pieces of Marcellus Shale which forms the bedrock of the Finger Lakes, to see what worked in the basin. The walls of the basin are tree bark carved and painted to represent limestone, which is the capstone in the regions south and east of the Finger Lakes.
Eventually I asked Susie to help, as her creative eye has been a great help with ensuring scenery looks random and not unconsciously organized. She found a great final arrangement that we glued in place.
Meanwhile I printed selected photos of CNY waterfalls, and with those as a guide, proceeded to lay things out. The falls themselves were made from clear Dap paintable caulk mounted to celophane wrap from the kitchen, interlaid with 'angels hair' Christmas tinsel and drybrushed with white paints.
The overview takes us directly to the Finger Lakes, and brings a smile to my face each time I see it.
It is a wonderful relief to have this set - and opens a door into finishing several other scenes this winter on the OC. It will be an exciting year!
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