Westfir to Oakridge: Terrain

Terrain was next up for Westfir and Oakridge with trackwork, wiring, and backdrops all completed. I started work on some of the terrain forming with pink foam on the far end of Westfir, the first sceniked area of the railroad out of Eugene staging last winter. Since, I have decided to build the majority of the hills with cardboard strips, painters paper, and plaster, with flat areas that need more support out of pink foam. I started on the RR-East end of Oakridge: Tunnel 22 and a small residential area.

Above: Foam base in for residential area, and first layer of cardboard strips in place behind tracks. Gaps between foam and subroadbed will be filled with cardboard strips. Two white rectangles are foundations for some of the homes that will be modeled in this scene. Cardboard strips are held into place with hot glue.

Above: Beginnings of terrain around Tunnel 22. Had to wait for ballast to dry before securing the tunnel liners and portals. The cardboard is much faster and easier to work with than pink foam.

Above: Cardboard lattice finished around Tunnel 22.

Above: Pre-sculptamold. I covered the lattice with sections of painters paper. I found the paper is much easier to form if it is crumbled a bit first, otherwise it tends to hold its rolled shape. I filled major gaps and seams with masking tape.

Above: Sculptamold applied! I added some rock castings I had on hand.There are a few spots that will need to be touched up, but that shouldn't be too big of a deal.

Continuing to develop the terrain, I started to add some rock outcroppings. The prototype tunnel is fairly heavily vegetated so much of this might be covered, however, there are a few sections of particularly steep slopes that require some rock work, so I will be continuing this process in multiple areas around the two tunnel portals to supplement the rock castings. For my first attempt at carving I am pretty pleased with the results. Paint and weathering will reveal the true look, but so far so good!

Tunnel 22

As I begin to work on terrain in Westfir, Tunnel 22, the tunnel directly to the RR-East of Oakridge needed some attention. In order to cover the tunnel, I needed to build some liners and ballast the track that will be inside the tunnel. A great afternoon project to ease into some modeling!

I first painted the subroadbed on the inside of the tunnel a deep brown color. I was not too concerned about exactly which shade of brown, I just needed something dark to serve as a base for ballast.

While the paint dried I began constructing the tunnel liner. For a lightweight and low-cost solutions I went for foamboard and a textured cardstock I had on hand. This I held together with hot glue. I will be honest as I was putting these together I was beginning to be skeptical of how they would turn out, however, they proved to be quite sturdy and easy to put together! I simply used the tunnel portal as a template for the foam supports and went to town cutting!

Here is one half of the tunnel going through some rigorous testing. The tunnel portal I am using is sadly not prototypically accurate, but I think a fairly decent stand-in for the tunnels on the line. Only true Cascade fans will know its is not correct. I did raise the tunnels using scrap pieces of cork roadbed for my intermodal equipment to clear.

Ballast! This is the first true element of scenery on the layout. I installed Arizona Rock and Mineral ballast on the track inside the tunnel and secured it with WS Scenic Cement. The darker gray color is perfect, I was quite surprised as it comes in a very light color before securing it with glue.

I gave the two tunnel liners a spray with some black rattle-can paint I had on hand. Didn't go for a solid finish, but left some variation.

Tunnel in place! I have not secured everything just yet, but the scene is ready for some basic terrain. I still need to paint and weather the portals themselves and there are some gaps to fill on the lining, but otherwise this afternoon project turned out much better than I imagined and will be a technique I return to for the other 9-10 tunnels on the line. 

First Level Backdrops Complete

 Above: A quiet cascade afternoon in Oakridge. Helper units sit waiting for their next trip up the hill on the back tracks.

After many hours spent trying to figure out how I wanted to paint the backdrops for my Cascade Sub Railroad (more on that in a coming post) I finally bit the bullet and completed the backdrops on the lower level.

The backdrops add much needed depth to the railroad and serve as a foundation for future scenery work. I am purposely keeping the painting simple, but suggestive of distant landforms and trees. I've run into the trap of trying to paint every tree and rock, but I think in this case less is more!

 Above: Oakridge from operator's height. Where there is whitespace at the ground level I will build up terrain and vegetation to blend the foreground into the backdrop.

 Above: Salmon Creek and Pope & Talbot Lumber.. This alcove of the railroad room is starting to have the feeling of stepping into another place and time: a rainy, spring day in the Cascades.

Above: Westfir and future Tunnel 23. This is the "first" scene of the railroad and important for setting the stage for the rest of the modeled Cascade Line. With backdrops complete, the scene is coming together more and more.