BNSF Oregon Trunk Subdivision in N Scale

[mopacaustin]

oh this is exciting, I love Central Oregon

[dkerber123]

Thank you, guys!

Mopacaustin, I referred to the area as eastern Oregon, likely because it’s east of the cascades, but I believe you’re correct that it would be central Oregon.

I’ve been thinking an aweful lot about how to model sage in N scale and I came up with the following. It is WS clump foliage in the forest blend color. I used some Liquitex acrylic in green gray to stipple in the sage color. I’ve had success so far gluing them in place then carefully stippling in the color.
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And I caught the H-VAWRIC headed south!
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[James Costello]

Great weathering on those locos too!

[dkerber123]

Great weathering on those locos too!

Thanks! Maybe someday I’ll do a post on my technique for that. I’ve got about 10 done or in the process and another 25-30 to go! I’m loving the NP couplers, BTW!

[Ed Kapuscinski]

This is filling an Oregon Joint Line sized hole in my life.

[dkerber123]

This is filling an Oregon Joint Line sized hole in my life.

Dean’s layout was a huge inspiration for me to make the switch to N scale and a true work of art! I remember seeing pictures of his layout for the first time and argued with myself that it had to be HO scale.

[dkerber123]

The removable center section inside the horseshoe is finally put in place permanently, which means I’m mostly satisfied with the surrounding scenery (it was a construction access point). I’ll have to blend the scenery over the patch, which will be somewhat of a dry marsh/desert wash representing Sagebrush Creek and Mud Springs Creek.
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Here’s one of two access holes I cut into the facia on the north side of the staging level. 
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[dkerber123]

Here’s where I need some help from the community here. I’m looking at the below image and I’m not really satisfied with the way the mountain that makes up Tunnel 5 is composed. My thought is to reshape it to extend more along the lines of the way the prototype mountain is shaped. I’ve drawn in some basic lines of what I’m thinking, but would like some opinions and feedback. My thought is that I could easily make up the form for the extension with a cardboard web and put plaster cloth over the top. The extension would change the perspective of the track between the concrete tunnel portal and the north (farthest from view) portal of Tunnel 5 a bit from the front of the layout. There is a perspective point over the facia that aligns with the track as it exits the concrete portal, which would force perspective and encourage walking around the layout more, seemingly making it feel larger.
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[Ed Kapuscinski]

Here’s where I need some help from the community here. I’m looking at the below image and I’m not really satisfied with the way the mountain that makes up Tunnel 5 is composed. My thought is to reshape it to extend more along the lines of the way the prototype mountain is shaped. I’ve drawn in some basic lines of what I’m thinking, but would like some opinions and feedback. My thought is that I could easily make up the form for the extension with a cardboard web and put plaster cloth over the top. The extension would change the perspective of the track between the concrete tunnel portal and the north (farthest from view) portal of Tunnel 5 a bit from the front of the layout. There is a perspective point over the facia that aligns with the track as it exits the concrete portal, which would force perspective and encourage walking around the layout more, seemingly making it feel larger.
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So what's stopping you?

[dkerber123]

So what's stopping you?

That’s a great question… I’ll let it sit over the weekend and get after it next week!

[dkerber123]

This view would be partially obstructed by the expansion of that mountain…. I guess if I kept the expansion small enough, it could be preserved to a degree. I think it’s cool to see a train stretch out in country like this and wouldn’t want to lose that.
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[dkerber123]

Another huge inspiration for me to model this area is Railfan Dan on YouTube. He’s done an excellent job of getting drone footage of the area and is allowing me to use some screen shots from his videos here. If you haven’t seen his channel, I’d highly recommend checking it out! Below is a screenshot of the tunnel 5 area in the spring, so a little imagination is needed to yellow out the grass, lol.
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[James Costello]

Another huge inspiration for me to model this area is Railfan Dan on YouTube. He’s done an excellent job of getting drone footage of the area and is allowing me to use some screen shots from his videos here. If you haven’t seen his channel, I’d highly recommend checking it out!

Railfan Dan's content is so good, my wife and daughter will stop walking past and see what's on.

[Philip H]

So thinking about your mountain issue, I gotta ask what’s the trade off you want to make. Is “prototype” fidelity here that important?

[dkerber123]

So thinking about your mountain issue, I gotta ask what’s the trade off you want to make. Is “prototype” fidelity here that important?

That’s a good question. I think it’s a combination of prototype fidelity and just not looking right, although prototype fidelity is out the window with that sky blue support post rising out the mountain! It’s a trade off to have a valance, dust mitigation, and self contained layout lighting.

 I think the rock face and abrupt stop to that mountain just doesn’t look right or natural to my eye. Luckily, I won’t be around to mess with it through the weekend, so I’ll have some time to think about it until Monday or Tuesday. Here’s another option I drew up that might be a happy compromise.
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