On Right-of-Way and Drainage

 There is very little 'flat' about the details along railroad tracks.  Even in some of the most flat and level territory, tracks are installed to facilitate drainage, which means some elevation changes are present even if they must be added by the construction.  

One reason most larger model railroads are built with subroadbed cut to fit the track areas and then mounted on support piers is that the terrain around the roadbed then can easily be built to be above and, more importantly, below the track level.  Water flows down, and adding simulated ditches where that would happen adds a lot of plausibility to your model.  

Here is a scene on the OC where the terrain is both above and below the right of way.  The bridge is up on abutments with slopes down and away from the road, but those slopes keep right on going down past the tracks, suggesting a spot where the railroad is on an embankment.  This is a key to a scene's plausibility and adds a to the overall feel of an area.  Real railroads provide a spot for water to run off too, and modelers should, too.

The Growth of an Embankment

Over the last several weeks, the embankment and bridge abutments at overhead bridge 279.89 have come together well, and as of last night are now at their final land form after being coated with a last layer of Sculptamold.  

Here are a few photos showing the foam stacks, providing a gentle sloped approach to the bridge that will support the road surface, and the duckunder for the Cazenovia Industrial Track visible to the left.  This is a tough part of the layout to scenic, with multiple viewing angles and several different elements that come together here.  How to make those not distract from one another?  We need the illusion that the branch is on a different alignment here.  It took some time over months and collaboration with Rich W. and Jason to make a decision.  

The goal with the duckunder is to make that particular aspect of the embankment disappear - there isn't room to build another bridge there without having it look forced, and it would distract from the main scene.  We will tree in around that area so that it is invisible to the viewer.

Once the foam was set and glued down using latex adhesive caulk, it was time to do the Sculptamold surface.  I installed some wax paper to protect the backdrops, and some tape to protect the tracks, and away we went.

As is the case with so much of the scenery process, the visual difference is stark once we complete different steps along the way.  Here are a few views of the completed plasterwork as it cures.   

Of course, it will look even better with paint, and much better still with scenery.  But these views help you see the direction we are going, and the view block is very effective even now.  The entrance for the Cazenovia to duck under will almost disappear with just the painting process as you can see here, and once the trees are planted around that area, I think trains coming down the branch will disappear and reappear with no distraction for the main scene.  

Progress like this is very satisfying and sets the stage for finishing the scenery here over the course of the next few months.  This will be a different view entirely before winter is through!

~RGDave

Over & Under

Now that the dairy farm scene is largely completed, I am working on the two bridges immediately east of the farm scene - an undergrade bridge, and and overhead bridge, in Conrail parlance.  Bridges on different railroads are noted in different ways.  Some railroads use a 'bridge number' where the structure is numbered beginning with '1' as the first structure, then 2, 3, and so on.

Conrail used the milepost to create a unique bridge number, down to the hundredth of a mile, numbered from a survey identifying the easternmost point of the structure.   I have numbered mine within milepost 279, which is to say west of 279 but east of 280.   The undergrade bridge is 279.17:  two hundred seventy-nine point one-seven miles from the bumper post at Grand Central Terminal in New York City, Milepost 0.0 on the Water Level Route.  This bridge is based on a prototype in Syracuse (and another in Little Falls, NY) on which one could still see the NYC markings beneath the rust and grime.  A heavy dose of weathering is coming soon to this structure!

The girders rest on poured concrete abutments, modeled from the stock Walthers kids, and cut to fit.  Again these are just placed in for now, a test fit of sorts, before full weathering and assembly.  Note too that there will be a second abutment placed behind the one visible to suggest the right of way that used to carry more than two (three) tracks - since the East Lead of Onondaga Yard is present here too.  The drainage ditch is in place, and once the bridge is painted and weathered, it will be glued in place too, opening the door for finishing this scene.

West of 279.17 is overhead bridge 279.89, my ongoing kitbash of a highway bridge from the stock Walthers truss.   You can see here now that it has its railing installed for the sidewalk, the railing being the stock Atlas 'hairpin fence' made for intertrack fence applications at train stations.  For me it captures that perfect 1930's vintage look for an old steel bridge railing.  There will, of course, be several photographers foaming appropriately over the Conrail (and NYS&W, Amtrak, etc) action.

Current efforts are focused on building up the embankment behind that bridge, and finishing it to the same standard as the surrounding territory.   Foliage will come next and then the road surface, after which the whole scene can be detailed and ballasted, a goal of mine by the end of this winter.

Little by little!  Each day counts with progress over and under the railroad as well as along it.  Happy Halloween to you and to all the trick-or-treaters out there!

~RGDave