Erie Railroad Mahoning division HCD

[Chris333]

Welp all the track is down and trains can move. I smoothed a couple areas out by planing the rails with a flat mill file. I used my ABBA set of FA1's so I could use the yellow stripe down the sides to see any up-down in the track.




Also wondering what everyone thinks about my old backdrop blue color?


I'm out and need to buy more, should I go lighter?

[Scottl]

Your turnouts and trackwork look fantastic.  I love hand laid turnouts.

[davefoxx]

Chris,

Other than perhaps fading the sky color as it nears the horizon for a hazy effect, I like your color choice for sky blue.  I wouldn't go lighter.

DFF

[davefoxx]

Dont know why this has been nagging me, since I'll likely never see an ops session on your layout.  But, I think you should restore the turnout on the Erie mainline to operable condition, because there is room for at least one and maybe two cars on the interchange track.  That's like adding another industry, but you can interchange any type of car you wish.

DFF

[Chris333]

Do you think it would make sense to set off cars right on the B&O's main track. I mean wouldn't there be at least a siding on along one of the railroads?  I do like the idea of setting cars off though.

[Chris333]

Oh yeah. For the backdrop I'm using a piece of white melamine board. Anyone here ever paint that stuff? I've read just sand it down good and then use a special primer. I'm wondering if I can get away with just sand and paint. ideas?

[davefoxx]

I'm just talking about shoving a car or two into that little curved track connecting the Erie and the B&O.  So, you wouldn't be blockingeither mainline.

[wazzou]

Do you think it would make sense to set off cars right on the B&O's main track. I mean wouldn't there be at least a siding on along one of the railroads?  I do like the idea of setting cars off though.

Ooh, quad crossings...
It looks like only one car would fit in that curved section.

[Chris333]

I see now. Man I don't think would really work:

[packers#1]

For an ops session, I don't see why you couldn't treat the main line as just a spur; sure it's going to look kinda tacky etc but it's an ops session and you wouldn't be running any trains on that line anyways, so using it as an interchange spur won't really affect that.

Then for photo sessions, it just goes back to being a mainline crossing; heck you could even stage "transfers" or whatever between the two yards for photos.

[Chris333]

Latest caper. This is where the 3rd track will disappear behind the backdrop to staging. It will be disguised as an industrial siding and is lower than the main. Also non-elevated.




Behind the curtain:


And for good measure the Erie ducked under this bridge about 7-8 miles from me:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/barrigerlibrary/12468570383/in/set-72157640479663145

[LIRR]

Since you asked, the backdrop blue looks a bot bright. I would dry brush it horizontally with white to mute it.
Nice work on the hand-laid switches.

[Chris333]

Was running wires all day and some how 100' wasn't enough    So I cracked open some Geo Robert's kits and made this:


Sort of reminds me of this scene along the main. https://www.flickr.com/photos/barrigerlibrary/12296678813/in/set-72157640479663145

[jpec]

That curved building is wicked! Like the backdrop color, +1 on some white along the horizon to soften it up a little.

Jeff

[wm3798]

Gotta go urban on my next effort.  And I've got a printing plant kit in the stack of stuff...

Lee