Tehachapi, BC

[GaryHinshaw]

It's been forever and a day since my last update.  In the intervening months I've converted a few dozen locos to LokPilot decoders, installed the last mainline crossover at Sandcut, and I've taken care of some odds and ends under the layout, including building a desk for the yardmaster and adding some curtains under the fascias.  (Photos when I clean up....)

I recently turned my attention to terra-forming the central peninsula.  For the past 4 years(!) or so it has looked like this:



About a month ago it looked like this:



And today it looks like this:





This side view from the entrance door is the first thing guests see upon entering:



(It will look much better when the painted fascia is in place!)

One of the tricky aspects of this scene is that the bridge over Bealville Road (centre, mocked-up) and Tunnel 2 (right, mocked-up) are separated by 2 track miles on the prototype, so I had to come up with a plausible way to compress the terrain.   I still have a number of adjustments to make, but I'm liking the feel of it so far.

Bealville Road itself will disappear behind another gentle ridge near the back wall.  I'm only modelling the lower portion of it on the layout:



The mostly dry Tehachapi Creek bed will pass under the rail bridge adjacent to the road.  Still a long way to go, but this feels like progress.

[Scottl]

Wow, that *really* changes so much!  The hidden staging loop always dominated that scene, so this is a big step.  The contours sure look like Tehachapi and that road crossing will be a fantastic photo op.

[Wolf N Works]

Gary that is looking great.

[Scottl]

I just noticed the derailed well car 

[NorthWestGN]

Nice Terra Foaming ! How are you contouring all that foam, I don't see any mess?

Brent

[basementcalling]

I just noticed the derailed well car 

Earthquake territory.

Gary, the scene already pops even without a base layer of ground cover. Don't tell @Ed Kapuscinski your hills went Conrail. 

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Gary, the scene already pops even without a base layer of ground cover. Don't tell @Ed Kapuscinski your hills went Conrail. 

The hills are alive with the sound of the Canopener...

[GaryHinshaw]

I just noticed the derailed well car 

Unlike you, I'm too lazy to pack my trains away during work sessions.

Nice Terra Foaming ! How are you contouring all that foam, I don't see any mess?

Oh there is plenty of mess.  Here are the tools I use:



From right to left: 1) a jigsaw with a blade designed for soft materials like foam.  The blade looks like a bread knife and it makes beautiful cuts with no dust.  Festool and Bosch (and perhaps others) make them.  2) A retractable knife with a flexible blade, and lots of refills.  I use this for the final shaping.  3) A Dremel rigid scraper.  I use this for rough shaping.  Inevitably it produces a lot of chips, but little to no dust.   The most annoying part of this is trying to get the scrap chips in the bin.  They cling like crazy.

[GaryHinshaw]

One of the most satisfying projects I did over the summer was to hang some curtains under the lower deck fascia to hide clutter.  The materials are just some garden cloth and lath strips. 

[James Costello]

The contours sure look like Tehachapi and that road crossing will be a fantastic photo op.

Amen! Nicely done Gary. Love how this is coming together.

[chuck geiger]

Amazing Gary can't wait for it to look like this:

[ednadolski]

bump?   (hoping for a pic or three)

Ed

[GaryHinshaw]

Oops, just noticed this bump.   

There has been precious little progress on TBC since the last substantive post in Sep'24.  Since then I have been mostly focussed on rolling stock reliability: to date I have converted 36 locos to LokPilot decoders with TSC keep-alives (they run like a dream...) and 130 cars to N-Possible couplers (they couple like a dream...).  I will be documenting my N-Possible installs in a separate thread in a few weeks.

Since the last layout update, I exhausted my stock of blue foam and have switched to purple.  You can see some (very) modest progress in this shot:



And here is a quick grab of a converted consist drifting downgrade towards Tunnel 2 with a cut of N-Possible equipped stock in tow:



This coming September is another VanRail ops meet, so I'm hoping to make a lot more TBC progress this summer...

[ednadolski]

Looking really good, @GaryHinshaw !   Are you going to put any covering on the foam (Sculptamold, plater cloth, ...?) or just smooth & paint?   Likewise how about rock formations -- plaster (molded? carved?), directly carving the foam, ...?

My guess is you're going to need at least 500 trees

Ed

[davefoxx]

My guess is you're going to need at least 500 trees

500!?  I’ve got bad news for you, because, in my experience, I’d say triple that estimate. 

DFF