Finally, Real Foliage

It's a bit ironic that as we enjoy the beautiful colors of fall outside my home in western New Jersey I am finally learning to add foliage to my layout.  Thanks to a neat product called 'Super Trees' by a company called Scenic Express, I am learning to build my own trees so that no two are exactly alike, and am able to do that in about 2 minutes a tree, at a cost of about 50 cents a tree (!!).

How do they look?

I am really excited about how they appear, both individually and even more so in a group.  The first piece of the layout to get more trees is the M&E.  While the above group is all the new trees, the one below includes a few of mine mixed in with some commercial trees I had installed previously.

At this rate, I am very excited about the future of the appearance of the scenery for the railroad.  The challenge now is to find time to do it, mixed in with mechanical projects, real-life commitments, and a new future extension project - extending the Island Running Track to allow for more flexibility during operating sessions!  This winter promises to be full of potential on the Onondaga Cutoff.

~RGDave

Adventure on the Montana Rail Link

A temporary hiatus of progress on the OC, and thus a lack of blog updates, is the direct result of limited time.  But, this time, that is due to a generous donation of effort by my wife to cover the home front so that I could make a trip to see the Montana Rail Link, which has long been on my list of railroads to visit in depth.  While having passed through MRL country in 2003, this was the first time I could do it properly.

It was an epic trip, one that exceeded all my expectations; THIS is a modern railroad to be excited about!  While we did get to see the SD45 show, and while it was a highlight, the pride and focus of the operation promises a bright future, and the modern SD70ACe power isn't going anywhere soon - and it it has a sound all its own.

The rest of the photos are available for viewing at https://www.flickr.com/photos/77452817@N08/

More modeling will be coming soon, but I figured I'd put a note up here to document time well spent watching trains in Montana in September/October 2014!

~RGDave