Rivermont Branch RR: Progress and seeing a light at the end of the tunnel

Been awhile since I updated on the status of the railroad. This is par for my writing style. I sort of produce in spurts.

So, as of early March the railroad looks like this:

The Farm

Rivermont

The back area

Pine Hollow

Putting all of the buildings and some people on the layout sure brought it to life and showed what I have in store for me. I also took some time and painted the roads a nice "blacktop" color to a) get rid of the blue adn b) sort of show me what was going to be what. Just that one step did wonders!

We are continuing to make little tweaks here and there as I go along. For example, I needed a concrete "pad" for my Fire Department. My attempt at spackle to make a large "concrete" area didn't work so well so I went out and got some SmoothIT to try. This product is touted as the easiest way to make roads so I figured what better way to do concrete areas. And it lives up to its name, but it's pricey at nearly $10 for a quart which makes about a 15' x 3" swath. Using it to make all of the roads and parking lot, sidewalk areas would get HUGELY costly. But after using it, it seems to be just a plaster formulation so I'm going to do my next attempt using the plaster of paris I have on hand. At about $10 or so for a 25 pound bag that is MUCH less expensive.

So anyway, here is the Fire Department pad (rats I don't have an updated picture of it sanded and colored. Have to add that in another post). So here I have a raised concrete pad under the building. To the left that area will get another poured section to be painted black for a parking area. I also took a moment to test scenik a small section of track in front of the building. I think it turned out fairly well. It is a section of sculpting plaster that dries looking like granular rock. Over that is the base layer of "turn" and some coarser area to look like brush just growing wild along the section.

And here is the other major concrete area I put down. This one didn't come out as well as I would have liked and I'll have to touch it up.

And one of the reasons that it is exciting to me to get the buildings and items on the layout. When you get the camera down to their level it looks real :) That is so neat. Been a long time coming.