Cisco Bridges: a new layout concept

[Cajonpassfan]

Otto, that Fine N Scale board formed concrete wall is a great suggestion.  Do you know how large the pieces are?  I could see using that as a base for casting a plaster rock shed.  Might be just the thing.

Just under 2.5x4.5 inches, about .010 thick.
And yes, there is something deeply satisfying about modeling actual scenes (and a lot of work)

[Scottl]

Great, thanks.  I'm going to buy some to test this out.  Looks very promising.

[Santa Fe Guy]

Scott, When Vic and I made our N Scale version of Thompson River Canyon we used 3 mm MDF to make our tunnel portals. We cut them to shape then super glued 5 thou styrene over all of the sides and edges overlapping the thin sections over the main walls. We applied plastic cement to all the edges to make sure they were all bonded well. Once dry it was just a matter of filing the edges flush then scribing in the concrete form lines with the back of an Exacto blade and giving the whole lot a light sand with 600 wet and dry to take off the shine. Sprayed old concrete and some weathering and they turned out okay.
This may be of some help.
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Rod.

[Scottl]

Thanks Rod, that sounds like a good strategy.  I was envisioning casting something out of plaster, but perhaps this is overly complicated.  I have the dimensions for the rock shed now so this looks to be moving forward.  My new rock molds worked out really well too.  The brush on silicon rubber was idea for making these.

[Santa Fe Guy]

Worth a shot Scott. Good that your rock moulds worked out.

[Scottl]

After cleaning up leaves outside this morning, I was able to come in and try the repaired NCE system.  The consists were all messed up but that was solved and I was able to run trains again after a two-month hiatus.  Everything ran well, although that Kato ES44AC unit at the head derails on a yard turnout everytime.  I wonder if the gauge is out or something...



Needless to say, it is great to have the trains running again.

[BCOL 747]

Wow Scott that is amazing! I passed by Cisco on my way to and from the Vancouver Train Show last weekend and thought of your layout both times. You nailed it! The amount of work that went into the trees alone must be exhausting. I feel your pain as I am in the same boat with my layout.

Well done!

Chris

[GaryHinshaw]

That shot is incredible.   

[robert3985]

That shot is incredible.   

+1

As to only one loco derailing...that's a good indicator that it probably is a gauging problem.  Before I run any motive power on my layout, I always check the gauge.  So far, the only engines I've ever had be completely properly gauged were my Kato FEF-3's and a More/LIK brass GS-2.

By the way, your work is fabulous.  Modeling prototype scenes is where it's at for me.

Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore 

[Scottl]

Thanks everyone.  Chris, you can't imagine how much I now hate making wire tree forms- another 25 finished and drying today and the end of another spool of 28 ga wire.  Probably another 200-300 needed for the east bank...  The problem is once you start with the wire trees, it is hard to try and fill in the distant spaces with chenille.  Thankfully the rest of the layout will have almost no trees 

I appreciate you confirming my theory about that unit Bob, I'll see about checking the gauge.  I had a lot of similar problems with the Atlas SD50/60 units until I read here that they were typically out of gauge from the factory. 

I'm planning my own trip by Cisco and the Thompson River canyon in a few weeks.  I'll be driving to and from the interior to visit family  so I hope to get good weather and trains at Cisco this time. I get two chances at it with daylight trips both ways.

[Santa Fe Guy]

Good to see your trains running again Scott. Keep up with those trees mores the better. LOL.
Rod.

[eric220]

Thanks everyone.  Chris, you can't imagine how much I now hate making wire tree forms- another 25 finished and drying today and the end of another spool of 28 ga wire.  Probably another 200-300 needed for the east bank...  The problem is once you start with the wire trees, it is hard to try and fill in the distant spaces with chenille.  Thankfully the rest of the layout will have almost no trees 

Such talk scares me when considering the sheer linear footage of my railroad that is slated to be alpine forest.  Fortunately, by the time I get to that stage, I figure replicator technology will have been perfected.

And to the rest of you, why has that shot not been up voted through the roof yet?

[mark dance]

Beautiful work all round Scott. Incredible.

Btw: I used your shot of the poured river in a clinic last weekend at the Vancouver Train Expo and I believe the (very largely HO) audience were more than suitably impressed! Makes you wonder why anyone models in any other scale! ☺ Thx for letting me borrow it.

Md

[Scottl]

Thanks Mark, glad the pic was of use.  There are so many advantages to n scale, but for big scenery in a small space, there is nothing that touches it.  My layout takes up about a 10' X 6' space tucked away in the furnace room.  Your layout is a fantastic example of what can be accomplished in the scale.

Eric, doing trees on a large layout is a serious task.  I've contemplated a lot of strategies for doing this, but in the end, I have just steadily worked away doing them one-by-one.  Doing the wire forms is good busy work for time watching TV and I now bring the wire and tools with me on trips for hotel down time.  I had a pair of pliers confiscated at an airport recently...

[ednadolski]

Great shot!  Reserve some space on the calendar for that one!

Ed