Siding Upgrade

Greetings All,

As more and more of the layout gets photographed and filmed during my ops sessions and the virtual ops sessions with Ralph V  I really needed to get some of the scenes into shape to support the action. Case in point is the siding that serves Gervais Pipe and Fitting and Ralph's Grocery Warehouse and Distribution Center. The track is in. Structures are in but the scenes are pretty blah and end up on the cutting room floor.

From The Penn Central Car Movement Series #7 the 40' PC and NYC boxcars are consigned to Ralph's Grocery Warehouse and the 2 gondolas are going to Gervais Pipe.

In P.C.C.M. 7 series we saw the NH H16-44s and the cars being shoved. What we did not see was either Ralph's Grocery Warehouse or Gervais Pipe. 

Why? Because the scenes were not ready for prime time so to speak

Here is Ralph's Grocery Warehouse during the P.C.C.M. #7 photo shoot. 

Pretty boring and not much to look at.

It did not make the final cut.

R.G.W.&.D.C. when first introduced in December 2015

Note the two black poles at the end of the siding to stop the cars from rolling onto the main.

1/87th Scale Sir Neal welcomes 1/87th Scale PC Ralph to the neighborhood. 1/87th Scale Sir Neal assures 1/87th Scale PC Ralph that the scene will improve. "He's slow but he'll get it done sooner or later".

Here is Ralph's Warehouse with a new covered loading dock complete with plenty of crates and a few figures including 1/87th Scale PC Ralph in his signature PC green shirt.

Those of you that follow Ralph's Kings Port Division Blog http://kingsportdivision.blogspot.com/ can hear him saying "How about a bush, some shrubs, a few weeds maybe even a tree or two".

The first thing added was the Atlas track bumper painted with brown rattle can primer. 

Next a load of fence and posts is picked up at Neal's Lumber and Hardware. That's 1/87th scale Sir Neal Himself watching the flat car roll out of his yard.

The flat car with fence and posts is spotted at Ralph's Grocery Warehouse under the watchful eye of 1/87th Scale Sir Neal and PC Ralph. Note the engineer has left his cab to confirm the spotting location. 

Wait....Could it be? 

 It is! 1/87th Scale Engineer Ed is back at the throttle while 1-1 Engineer Ed recuperates from illness.

A fence, a few trees, some fauna and flora and the scene is taking shape. Much better!

Homemade trees from the plant "Sedum" positioned out of the way at the end of the siding so they do not interfere with the uncoupling of freight cars. 

I also added some ballast and blended earth to the tracks and rail bed.

Two 40'ers and a 50'er are spotted and ready to be worked.

A few signs are in order but overall I think it came out quite nice.

Next up is Gervais Pipe and Fitting. The fence poles are in and I hope to have that done in the next week.

Be patient Bobby G. I'll get it done.

 Stay tuned!

Thanks for reading!