Getting There

Well, as you can see, I am near to completing the layout. Just to keep track of what was left I made a "to do" list and the items reach about 50 steps. So I really have a lot of little things to finish.

I got the river bed completed with acrylic paint to simulate a variety of depths, and am now ready to install the Realistic Water. I am also experimenting with two different approaches to building the upper river and the waterfall on the top of the mountain.

This photo was taken the day after Christmas, so my freight car inventory had grown the day before. If you look closely you can see the USRA Mikado 2-8-2 pulling a line of reefers (click the picture to enlarge, and then use the back button to return here). Along the river there is a row of Shell Oil and Texas Natural Gas tank cars filling up in the Winslow yard.

Landscaping Begins

After removing all the bridges and viaducts, and covering the track with painter's tape, I began to apply the landscaping.

For this process I chose the various ground foam products from Woodlands Scenics. I used a combination of the burnt grass & yellow grass to get a more desert like effect. The only place I laid down green grass was in the center of the layout between Winslow and Flagstaff.

When I pulled up the tape I had a few problems with my roads, as the asphalt coloring was pulled off in some places. All I had to do was re-apply the covering. Next, we start on the rivers and waterfall.

Painting Begins

Well, after a significant delay due to apprehension about the acrylic paints, I finally dove in.

I mixed several colors to try and match the Sedona red from my dirt and rock samples collected by Scott & Trish. I finally got a combination that was close enough for jazz.

I put color washes on the mountain face as well as the various rocks on the layouts. My plan is to add real dirt to apply the final, true color of Sedona in several places. This is the final step before I begin the landscaping of grass in earnest.

Construction of Structures Begins

In order to make sure the parking lots were correct I needed to construct a few of the basic structures I had planned for the layout.

As much of the layout is rural, I planned only a few structures in the two urban areas of Winslow & Flagstaff, AZ.

Winslow is hosting the freight yards, so I had planned on a freight office and warehouse structure. In Flagstaff I needed a passenger depot and a small freight facility (mostly for mail & packages carried on the Super Chief). I also may add some track side buildings to the freight yard entrance.

For the kits I chose the Cornerstone series from Walthers. They have a significant inventory of quality kits in N scale and they make reasonable projects for the intermediate model builder.

Highways and Parking Lots

After studying the various approaches to modeling highways and parking lots, I chose the family of "Road System" products from Woodland Scenics.

I used the "Paving Tape" to lay out the edges of all the roads and parking lots. Then I mixed the "Smooth-it" material that forms the roadbed. This material is then poured into the "forms" created by the paving tape outlines.

After about 12 hours the road surface was hard and I removed the paving tape. With just a little light sanding to remove the rough edges, I was ready to apply the surface of the roadway.

Here I chose the "Asphalt Top Coat" because I liked the dark color and thought it more closely matched the rural feel of the layout in the 1950's of northern Arizona.

Once the asphalt had dried I was able to apply the highway lines and other traffic markings. To accomplish this I used colored pencils and with the aid of both a straight edge and french curve, I penciled in all the yellow and white lines.

First Coat of Paint

Once all the rock outcroppings were spackled in place and the main routes for the roadway and river were carved and smoothed, I was ready for the first coat of paint.

I chose a basic off white flat latex house paint for the undercoat. This gave the entire layout a desert feel with a light sand color.

Detailing the Tunnel Portals

Once I completed the basic mountain, I was able to concentrate of the details.

I installed the precast tunnel portals and retaining walls from Woodland Scenics and spackled them into place.

This photo shows the west bound main line entering the tunnel after crossing the main highway over a concrete viaduct.

A Mountain Takes Shape

With the layout design complete I was able to start working in earnest on the landscaping. The first thing I tackled was the building of Santa Fe Mountain in Sedona, AZ. While the prototypical railroad did not really run through Sedona, I could not resist bring the beautiful red rocks into my layout.

After attaching 4 layers of 2" foam using liquid nails, I began to carve the general shape of the mountain. I wanted to run the outer main line rails through a tunnel in the mountain, so I laid out the portals and the approaches.

Once this was completed, I blended the various layers using lightweight spackle compound, and started to design the rocks and rock faces. I used two approaches here ... the first were custom rock outcroppings using Hydocal plaster molds, and the second was the sheer "Rubber Rock" face from Cripplebush.

Both of these approaches worked great and before long I had my mountain in place with all the beautiful rock detail.

Finalizing the Route & Design

After reviewing the ATSF route map from the 1940-50's, I finalized my choice for prototype location of my layout.

My route will travel from the freight yards of Winslow, AZ to the passenger depot in Flagstaff, AZ. Along the way the main line will travel through a tunnel in the San Francisco Peaks mountain range just north of Flagstaff.

With these decisions finalized, I am ready to move forward on the layout's terrain & landscaping features.