A Few Words About Wordless Wednesday #61

Farm just west of the town of "Mill Hollow" on the Air Line

Long time readers know that my model of the New Haven's "Air Line" from New Haven to Middletown is not prototypical. Since my focus is on The Valley Local (natch), the Air Line Local is a supporting player only. It has just as much work as its counterpart, but no attempt is made to model the line itself accurately.

This is primarily - if not exclusively - because the line is made up of two 2x8' modules I built a few years back using structures and materials salvaged from a couple of 1970s/80s era 4x8' layouts I inherited from a dear friend in Vermont. I'd intended these modules to be nothing more than practice - a way of getting a leg up in the hobby and getting something "finished" as quickly as possible. Having the structures already done and many of the details already available, I had only to lay track and do scenery - and the photo above shows my first attempt at doing scenery.

Actually, even that's cheating just a little - the farm yard, including the buildings and people, from the barn down to the stone wall, was lifted in its entirety from the old layout and blended in here with new scenery I did in the foreground. Symptomatic of the weight of those two 4x8s (and one of the reasons I decided to scrap them), just this little scene alone weighs 10-15 pounds(!) Plaster and actual rock aren't light.

Having even a small area "done" - or at least to a level of completion - gives me something to enjoy while the rest of the layout languishes in benchwork and plywood. But as soon as BillS & Co. can visit again, I hope to get at least a few scenes of scenery done on the Valley Line too. Stay tuned!