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model railroads . dioramas . doll houses . animation . museums . architects |
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| featuring scenes including mt. stephen and castle mountain | |||||||||
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| The track-work was excellent, but aged, and needed ballast. | |||||||||
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My layout
began as a layout built circa. 1972, but not completed. I am pretty sure of the date, because of newspapers used to support the plaster. When I bought the layout in 2000, I also received an Atlas-HO layout book. This n-scale layout was designed as a scaled down version of an HO layout. |
Made in the "cookie-cutter" fashion, it has two figure-eight, over-and-under mainlines, with a branch line, and a reversing loop. Most of the branch line is covered by the elevated level, and emerges on the other side of the table. The smallest turning radius is 9", and the steepest grade is about 3%. | |||||||
| The "cookie-cutter" technique uses eighth inch plywood, cut properly, and elevated on risers to achieve the incline. The working surface is approximately 32" by 76". | |||||||||
| My plan
called for two large mountains, and a smaller one, a natural tunnel, and
a lake.
This is where reference books and photos can really help. |
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I
had begun thinking to model Kicking Horse pass and the famed spiral
tunnel. 
This was of course too ambitious and most of the track
would be under mountains. |
John Garden's book: Nicolas Morant's Canadian Pacific has many useful photos and maps, and the BC Archives has many more great reference pictures. It became apparent that I could design a layout terrain which could provide several scenes along the CP route between Golden and Banff. Or, more specifically, between Stephen and Castle mountain. |
The freelance
scenes could include:
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Mt. Stephen would replace the existing Styrofoam, and Castle Mount would be on the corner at the other end of the table. I thought of making a tunnel under Castle mount, (which in reality there is none), and thought about the possible derailments in that long tunnel. So, I decided to put all of Castle mount on the corner outside of the double track. And, place a smaller mountain on the inside of the double track. This would result in a mountain canyon. The tunnel through the side of Stephen would be a short one, also to avoid dealing with possible derailments. The stations would be located along the mainline near the turnout for the branch line, and another after the tunnel on the mainline around Mt. Stephen. The branch line continues around and emerges on the other side where a yard could be placed. Behind the smaller mountain, in the depressed area on the layout, would be a good place for the lake. |
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| The lake would look something like Lake Louise. Perhaps, with a rustic lodge instead of the hotel. |  |
No disrespect meant for Canadian Pacific's famous chateau, just not much room available on the layout. |
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Terraforming The Layout: mountains, rivers, lakes, flora, fauna. |
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To create the terrain, I began by removing the Styrofoam. And, in it's place used aluminum screen to form the support shells for Mt. Stephen. At the other end I made similar shells for Castle Mount and the smaller mountain. I applied urethane foam from spray cans to the shell. To keep the foam from over-expanding and becoming too porous, I covered it with plastic wrap. Once the foam hardened, I began carving the general shapes. |
Final details were achieved with various grades of sandpaper. I then coated the carved urethane with several thin layers of dry-wall joint compound using a large paint brush, and removed brush marks with smooth sandpaper. To get a paintable surface, I sealed the joint compound with artist's gesso. After the gesso had completely dried, I applied dark gray, dry tempera paint with a dry brush, misted with "wet" water, and removed the excess water. |
Now, the rocky textures became apparent. Next, I applied many different colored acrylic washes. And, filled the river and lake with "water". I placed some turf, grass and weeds. And, finally, planted some trees. My layout now had terrain and basic scenery, as shown below. I had spent three weeks, of uninterrupted work, to get to this stage. |
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The move to the den was a proud moment. |
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Quickly, the elk showed up over the tunnel at Stephen, and the deer arrived overlooking Louise. CP brought The Canadian and The Dominion. As two fishermen tested the waters of the lake. |
Then I realized, that this was only a mile-marker in my involvement in the hobby. And, just as there had been many before, that there would be many more in the future. |
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All photos on this page are the property of Photo Quality Trees and are not for commercial use by others. © 2008 |
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