The New El Dorado.

After getting the backdrop painted, I started to work on the track plan and building footprints for El Dorado.  As I said in an earlier post I want to keep things to a minimum if possible.  No yard, just the main line, a siding and a few industries.

The siding was shortened on the south end (right) but it will still hold a train with three locos, 21 car and caboose, which will probably be more than I'll ever need.

This is what I came up after a few hours of doodling.

I drew it straight but I kept the swing in the tracks as I plan to keep the depot as part of the scene. I also flipped the house track, mainly to balance out the switching moves between the NB and SB local.  This plan gives the SB local two moves: The house track and the Mill.  The NB local can service the Oil Co, Dr Pepper Dist and the Maytag Dist. 

The feed mill might be a little awkward to switch and may not be prototypical?  The track that is below the mill is an old track that went to another defunct industry.  Originally it was the drill track for the old yard, but I plan to keep it in place, model it weeded over and I may keep some MOW equipment parked there to add to the look of the town.  

I still need to get the mill track and the old lead in place and secured temporarily.  Here is where I'm at as of this posting.

Looking South.

Looking North.

Clouds over El Dorado

I watched the clouds roll in over El Dorado this morning.  I did these the same way I did the others a few years back: 

  https://thelittlerockline.blogspot.com/2017/10/clouds.html

Foliage on the closer hills

Found some time tonight get the closer hills painted with foliage.

It took me a bit to find the pattern I used several years ago, but I think I got it pretty close to what I did before?

I left the foliage off the area right behind the bridge scene as I want to carve the river banks and then sling some plaster cloth and plaster to get the banks formed, then I can come back add the foliage.

Next comes the clouds... 

The Paint I used for the backdrop

Answering DandHColonieMain's question on the paint that I used for my backdrops.

To be honest, it's a little too rich, it could be a tad lighter. 

 

 

The hills of El Dorado

After getting the pan head screws removed, filling in the seam, countersinking the new screws and spackling over them, I was able to recoat the backdrop with a fresh coat of sky blue.  Then I got the distant hills painted on tonight.

Once this dries and I get a little time, I'll start painting on the foliage of the closer hills using these craft paints like I did before.

A clean slate in El Dorado

With my whirlwind of locomotives behind, I think I have had enough of the bench time for awhile?

It's time to get back to the layout.  My first target is El Dorado.

When I first started working on El Dorado I had planned it to be a busy location that had a small four track yard, two A/D tracks and the longest siding on the layout.  The plans were to have two locals work out of for the entire layout.  This worked well and we had a lot of fun with it and kept the sessions fun full of operations.

As I have mentioned before, time moves on things started to change.  The sessions slowed and the crews dwindled and I decided to reduce my operations.  With this a lot of changes have and are changing.  El Dorado  is on the list and I have decided to start here.  I am going to try to conform to and hold to the old motto "Less is More".

A few years ago, when El Dorado was in its prime it was hopping place.  Here's an image of what it use to be.

 

I decided that I want to go back to my original plans for the layout with it being nothing more than a backwoods branchline of sort.  This means a lot less traffic and nothing more than a string of small towns with only a few industries being served by a local.  So the yard had to go.

After doing a little doodling I came up with this new look for El Dorado.  Also as I have said in the past, I am not modeling the line exactly so I can make full use of my modelers license. It's not to scale, but it's close enough to get started with.

I'm hoping to get the feeling of a small town with a two lane blacktop running down the middle of town, with a few industries to work, and the tracks passing through the edge of town.

Over the last few days I've ripped up the majority of the tracks and have reduced it to the mainline, passing siding and the two A/D tracks, both of which will be removed in time.

I've got the industries pretty much decided on and their locations, but I need to get a feeling of their size before I can really get down to laying the tracks.  One of them; The Dr. Pepper Dist will be fairly large and will be made up of several building kits that have been added on to the original building over time.  The Depot will remain, but will be an actual kit this time.  For the Maytag warehouse, I'm thinking about using the DPM Wood Furniture kit and for the mill, well it's built and ready to install once I find a location for it.

Tonight I figured I'd better make sure the depot would fit the same location where the stand in has been sitting.  So I dug out the Walthers Clarkesville depot and set the foundation in place, and it fits.  So the tracks won't have to move now.

I started thinking about the Maytag building and where it would sit along the backdrop.  Well that got me thinking about the backdrop.  I should really get it done first?  That means I'll need to get it prepped and ready to paint so it look like this when I'm done.

So tonight I cleared things off and got a clean slate to work with.

The first task will be to remove the panhead screws I used to hold the backdrop in place and replace them with some #6 x 5/8" countersink screws, then patch them with spackling and repaint.  I'm also gonna have to do something with this seam?