Wisconsin Central - Heritage Division

[w neal]

Working on concealing the staging entrances:











Thought I'd try the classic "Hide them under a bridge" approach, since Neenah yard's southern end is sort of marked by an overpass. I used Rix's classic bridge kit with  the HO-sized roadway. I'm sorry the picture is a bit overexposed. My friends tell me I'm supposed to place the bridge 90 degrees to the tracks, but what do they know, anyways? 















Waupaca is not really known for potato growing anymore. But since its such a big part of their history, I wanted to include one anyway. Sometimes you just gotta say...






I plan to apply some different shades of color to the dirt.

Question: What do potato plants look like in early fall?

[w neal]

Grass was added to one side of the Waupaca "slope" by my friend. He is learning how to use static grass. I try to instruct him.












I'm planting potatos in a field nearby. Its not really 100% accurate, per se. Its more of a tribute to Waupaca's past. I know, it looks more like lettuce, but it gives the idea (sorta):

[JSL]

As always, looking good!

[w neal]

Added some factory doors. Its not a big accomplishment for sure. After an evening helping with homework, cooking dinner, and some yard work, its a big accomplishment for me.

Even if you only spend 15 minutes a day working on the layout, it adds up over time. 

[w neal]

Ok, this is hard to show but, glued my crossing signals to their foundations. The foundations are not much more than large holes. I'll add some scenery to them soon to help cover over them. The holes are larger than the signal bases. I did this to allow room for the wire that moves the gates.











The tricky bit is trying to get them to stand up as close to vertical as you can. I propped them up with some polyscale (remember when that was a paint?) bottles until the glue set. Here is another view of the results.










I spent some time trying to hide the seam between the buildings and the land. I tried planting a few structures in some "mud". We'll see how things look after the mud dries...















And as long as I was "Muddin", I thought I might apply another coating of mud to part of that "disappearing" track. My friend applied the first coating. It dried very thin, so I thought I might apply a second coat to the part of the rails that are nearly invisible. Again, we'll see what things look like as the mud dries. I'll be ready for a third coat if it "needs" it.













I've been preparing a home for the "Concealing bridge" at one end of Neenah. More work to be done...










I added some "line lanes" to the bridge, not that anyone will really see them.












Weathered the hell out of this structure in Waupaca. Yes, I wanted it to look bad, real bad.












Also added some weathering to one of those shapeways trackmobiles. Mmmmm dirt.

[mcjaco]

Love the last two pics!  Keep 'em coming!

[Philip H]

W,
What coupler did you use in the Track Mobile?  Mine's painted and ready to weather, but I want to add a coupler or two for realism.

I like the bridge, and the "nestling" of the buildings in your "mud" mix.  Should work out well.

 

[w neal]

W,
What coupler did you use in the Track Mobile?

Just some Z scale ones, not very original. I'm lazy.

[w neal]

Last night's report:

I added a few more rows to the potato (lettuce) field. It sure is time consuming even though it does not appear that way.











The "mud" appears to have settled around the building foundations pretty well as it dried. There are some small holes. This will allow my scale rats and groundhogs a chance to get under them!




















The dried "mud" seems also to be giving the effect I'm after on the "buried GB&W" track.












In this wider view, you can see both layers of "mud" on the track. Now for some ground cover next.













A little weathering for some old oil storage tanks in Waupaca's "South America" industrial district (What little of it we have room for).










Now, if I could just learn to hold the camera level while taking pictures. 

[w neal]

I was about to apply grass here when I realized ballast might go better here first. I have tried applying grass first, but did not have good luck. After the ballast had dried, I masked it off and began "grassing". I could not wait to see the effect with the bridge in place. Obviously, there is more work to be done here. Oh, and don't fret about the plaster blobs on the sky. I'll see to that.


















Here is the wider view with red unnamed industry:










A view from the road's side. I have work to do here also. The road is not glued down yet. That should help take care of the gaps.












To satisfy those who want to see a "train in it".













I need to weather those tracks eh?












I used some still sticky clumps of grass to represent some taller weeds along a hillside that was stripped bare when the masking tape was removed. It kinda works.












In other news, look!, three more rows (yawn)...










Only 900 more to go!









And lastly, another "try that in HO" shot. The building is not that massive in person. But if YOU were N scale...

[conrailthomas519]

W. Neal I'm just eating this up! & Loving IT!!  Keep up the hard work!

[w neal]

Really? Its not GREAT modeling, its just modeling. Thanks for the motivation...

[w neal]

It lives!!

[w neal]

It was another night of parenting for me so all I managed to accomplish were these lines on my roadway. The 15 minute law applies here... The roadway is not glued down yet














All that country driving lately helps me to notice the soybeans this time of year. I hope my version is "crose enough".














I think its time to return to Gills landing...

[conrailthomas519]

Good Stuff!!