On the Layout: Ballasting the Union Station Corridor

     For the past few weeks, I've been working on ballasting the area near Union Station.  I'm actually not adding ballast to the track, I try to get as close as I can to the ties without getting glue or ballast on the track.  I do this so that I can reuse the track in the future when I move on to my next layout.

  

  I use a mixture of fine gray ballasts from Woodland Scenics.  I also use Scenic Express' dirt as ground cover along the right of way.  There are also small patches of grass blend to represent areas of small weeds that have grown on the side of the tracks.

    Once the first layout of ground cover has been added with a mixture of 80% white glue and 20% water, I shop vac the pieces that made it onto or under the track.  I then look for patches that may need a little more cover and then saturate the area with Woodland Scenics' Scenic Cement.  The Scenic Cement moves through the ground cover better if you apply some 70% isopropyl alcohol to the space first.

    Once all the ground cover has been added, I'll add of the trackside equipment from Details West that I assembled last month.   This isn't my favorite project, but it makes the layout look better.

Happy Mother's Day 2023

     I got my first HO scale layout when I was a kid.  Getting it from a sheet of plywood to something I could use became a family project.  Buildings were my mother's specialty.  She would paint and weather the buildings using her acrylic stencil paints.  A few of the buildings she painted are on my current layout and others are in storage.  I took one out of storage (hence all the dust and debris), it's one of my favorites.  I've included the before and after so you can compare.  Happy Mother's Day to my mom and all the mothers that have had a hand in helping a model railroad!

Image from Ebay

The camera doesn't pick it up, but the dumpster is weathered to look a little rusty and dirty.

She added weathered colors to the steps to represent dirt and wear & tear due to customers walking up and down them.

Workbench Wednesday

    Projects continue on the layout.  I been working on a little of this and a little of that.  This past weekend I built these wooden CN switch stands made by Osborn Scale Models.  They are non-operational but I think will look good in my Pointe Saint Charles yard in Montreal.  The stands are finished, I just need to scenic the area around the yard before I install them.

On the Layout - God Save the Queen

     I watched the coronation of King Charles III this weekend.  I thought it would be a great time to add royalty to the layout.  The TM&B is set in 2006.  Queen Elizabeth II was the monarch of the time and here she is paying a visit to Canada.  She is joined by her husband Prince Phillip and an honour guard from the Canadian Armed Forces.  

Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Phillip are leaving the Royal York Hotel in downtown Toronto on their way a few blocks north to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in Queens Park.  The Royals will head to Montreal later in the afternoon.

    I was having a hard time finding her royal car in all of my vehicles, so I decided to try out a few alternatives.  Eventually I found what I was looking for.

On the Layout - Montreal Buildings

     I like when I'm able to check things off on my To Do list.  I was able to do so this past week in the Montreal part of the layout.  The backdrop buildings have all been secured to the wall.  Some of the high rises are just photos glued to the wall.  Others are parts of Walthers kits that are painted, weathers, and then secured to the wall.  I've had these buildings just taped or leaning up against the back wall, but that's no more.  While working on this part of the layout I also added a Canadian flag to the top of the Queen Elizabeth Hotel and the sign over the tracks at Place Bonaventure was printed and glued to the building.