More Dreaded Ballasting

 So, we are starting from the car storage area on the main, and going to the half way point in the yard. That is abut 35 feet.

 You can see that the main is ballasted to the end point. Now all the other tracks have to be ballasted as they have been painted.

 A lot of stone will be used. I am using 20 grit on the main, 30 grit on the Arrival and Departure tracks and the run around track, and 40 grit for the actual yard tracks. The color will vary as well, with the main a limestone, the A?D tracks a dark grey, yard tracks are cinders and the run around a recently laid grey.

 Occasionally, we get spills that I have to clean up.

 You can see the spray bottles of wet water . I am also using an alcohol / water mix as well.

 We start at the rear and ballast along.

 Wetting t down, darkens the color as it washes down the dust.

 I use carpet remnants as protectors for the track as we lean in or actually crawl along.

 Now I am adding the yard lead ballast, a darker grey.

 I wanted to see the look of the cinders on a yard track so laid some in the caboose track area.

 This is the grey for the approaches to the yard tracks

 So, we have ballasted the ladder tracks with a darker grey. We transition to black at the uncoupler.

 Here is a top down view.

 Some more views

 Rich is adding the yard track ballasting. It is the most difficult as the stone is the finest grit. It is HO cinders.

 He seems to be enjoying it though!

Moving on to ballasting

 So, I have moved many cars down the main line and blocked everything up.

 I had to clear the yard so I could paint the track in about 60% of it.

 The cars come into the other room. The unpainted ones in front are the next tranche of cars to be painted. Mostly hoppers.

 Too many projects, too little time.

 So, I have gotten some ballast down with the help of the gang. I spent the week before painting the yard and and main line. Then 2 days cleaning the rail heads of the paint. My finger is permanently colored from the acetone and paint combo.

 You can see the uniform color of the track and turnouts as the wood ties paint up the same as the plastic.  I have to glue the main line ballast down and then I can put down the Arrival and Departure track ballast. Then glue that. Lastly, I get to put down the cinders in the 5 track yard.

 Some of the fellows started on the other end of the prepared area. The main line required two levels of stone - a fine sand filler of the kerfed portions of the road bed. I am trying to save on the  expensive main line stone to be sure I have enough. If I used just the main line ballast, filling the kerfs would double my consumption. You can see I have a lot of tracks to ballast!

 The toothbrush is the end of the filler placement. So I will have to push that on to be able to continue the white ballast.

 Just another view of the project.

 It is starting to look good.

 Where the foam brush sits is the end of the Arrival and Departure tracks. That will be a grey ballast.

The cars are ready to get back into the yard so I have to move along.

Adding some more greenery

 Well, I am getting ready to paint the yard tracks and ballast this whole section so we need to have the greenery in the rear added beforehand. Carpet remnants are up to allow the guys to climb on the track to get to the rear.

 This is where we will be working as we go around the curve.

 Pulled all the cars in the yard down to the east end to keep them out of the way. We will do the work in two sessions so I can keep the cars out of the way.

 We had a visitor from Australia who was interested in what we were doing. A very nice addition to the train group with her wonderful accent. Michelle was working under the layout, pulling wires, by the end of the evening. She even came back for a second evening with us. Amazing!

 

 Mike can't believe he has to get up on the train yard.

 We are coming around the curve from the left.

 Here is how we look after the addition of the ground foam. The guys got it to flow nicely into the backdrop.

 Here is an overview after the guys went around the curve.

 I think it looks much better., It does need some trees but that will be next year.

 Coming around the mountain on the second night.

 Cars moved out of the yard and the balance of the backdrop is done.

 Here is the overview to the end.

 Future area of work.

 Cars hanging out down the main lines.

Developing new scenes

 We have completed the track work and layout of Reed and now I need to work up a new backdrop. This is the east end of town and all is done except for the backdrop. I am working with Dave at Backdrop Junction.

 I am thinking I will have a wooded scene to the far end behind the coal dealer. As you come back towards us, I would like to have a town appearing in the woods and coming up toward the track. It is a difficult area  as it is close the tracks and the buildings crowd the wall.

 As we look further down the tracks there will be more town buildings and then blending back to a country scene as we approach the bridge.

 This will have hills to the left and town to the right.

 I need to have a city scene here to represent Sunbury as I do not have space to build it.

I hope they come out as nice as this.