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A
small area has been cleared of trees, the slash burnt and the lumber
piled up ready for shipment
“I’ve been a model railroader for 55 years now and this is the first time I have ever had a layout with scenery”. This was Gord Bellamy’s comment last
April as Bud Nelson and
I reviewed the results of our efforts on Gord’s Fern Valley Railway. We had taken on the In nature, terrain is not normally flat
so we introduced
some undulations into the areas surrounding the railway.
We used commercial scenic materials readily
available as a base but were careful to vary them to ensure good
variation of
height, textures and colors. But
these materials
only serve to produce a base and many additional techniques were used
to
produce variety and increase interest. We
created a number of visual blocks where the line is partially hidden
from view
while train runs from one scene to the next. In casting one’s eye
across the
scene we can pick out a number of mini-scenes that hold the interest.
- some grass seeds, when put together,
provide good
variation to the other grasses and weeds that infest the water-filled
ditches
beside the line. A broom, purchased
while on vacation in - an area where trees have been cut down has been brought to life with some tree stumps, and a fire to burn the slash while fireweed is taking over. A small forest fire has occurred and fireweed has also taken over here. - people are swimming in a lake. A figure in a bathing suit has been cut in
half and cemented on to the water. The
bottom half shows a person diving in off a railway bridge while the
upper part
represents a person up to her waist in the lake. The
lake must be pretty deep as a boxcar has
derailed and fallen in and is pretty much submerged.
After a season on Fred Mills’
garden
railway we were back in
Gord’s basement a few weeks ago working on a different part of the
railway. This time, Gord’s two grandsons
Brad and Tyler, together with their friend Mat, came along. They quickly became interested in what we
were doing and pretty soon were helping out. It
was amazing how quickly they understood what we wanted
and the speed
at which they worked was truly amazing. They
quickly got the hang of variations in scenery and
texture and
enjoyed planting the red and yellow weeds in the grass to give interest
and
bring the scene to life. Brad took on a
tricky piece of river bank which required concentration and dexterity
to place
scree slopes properly. Tyler and Mat
quickly got the hang of turning a head of dry grass into accent tall
grass in a
meadow.
I should add that Gord’s son-in-law,
Gordie, came with his
boys to continue his great ballasting job on one of the main yards. We made good progress on the Gord Bellamy is a member of HOTRAK and if you go to his HOTRAK page you can take a ride over the entire line on YouTube. Go to: Ottawa Valley Associated Railroaders, The Interchange December 2009. |
