The Wet Stuff

Water, and how to do it. There are so many water products on the market, I'm sure you are familiar with most, so I'm not going to repeat them all, just wanted to highlight one, that I think is really cool. Just my opinion though.
Here is a little video demonstrating it, and if you want to know more, check out the Unreal Details website.

The next stage

Track down and wired, backdrop painted, it's time for the next stage in the construction of the layout. This is to mark out the scenery, and then build it.
I used a black marker to mark out the roads on the layout. I used a width of 25 scale feet, sufficient for a normal two lane road. I've also marked out a service road leading to the location of a signal. Service roads are essential and are a detail that will add realism to your layout, so plan for them where needed.

Ontrax 2010

Last weekend, OnTrax 2010 was held in the dutch national railway museum, in Utrecht, the Netherlands.
Also US model railroading was well represented by dutch modelers that have a modular layout to Fremo USA standards. Here's a youtube video made by my friend 'Chief deadfrog'. he apologises for the poor picture quality as his video camera was defect, so the footage was shot with an iPhone. I recommend to double click the image to view in seperate windows, due to the width restrictions of the blog layout. Enjoy.

Trees

One item that is almost unavoidable on a model railroad are trees. Usually more than you think. As you may know, I plan to model California on my layout, so I feel that a few palm trees are needed, placed on a few strategic urban places.
Palm trees are sometimes a bit harder to find in your average model shop than a birch or pine tree. Although I found a supplier who can supply virtually any type , size and quality of model tree imaginable, suitable for nearly any scale.
This is"themodeltreeshop" . The pic shows a palm tree from their wide range.  Select the type of tree, then select the size and quantity. Some trees are made to order (like the wire wound types ) others are readily in stock. Check them out, I think you may find just what you need here.

Achievement Programme

As you may know, the NMRA has an Achievement Programme, or AP in short. The AP is simply said a recognition system for your modeling skills. Sometimes you can enter the fruits of your labour in a contest, and with enough points, you can get a merit award in that particular catagory. Independent judging outside a contest is also possible. The AP has several catagories, among which Motive Power, Cars, Scenery, Civil Engineer, Volunteer etc.

Depending on the catagory, you need several merit awards to complete that particular part of the AP. Should you do this in sufficient catagories, then you can be awarded the title of Master Model Railroader. I have no illusions that I will reach that goal anytime soon, but rather I want to use the AP program to measure my modeling skills. The point scoring system used is a good way of showing what I could improve, and what I may be good at, and it's a fun way to learn new skills. So at present, besides me building on my own model railroad, I am researching several things towards earning merit awards. Currently collecting drawings and data of several locomotives, and freight car types, for future projects in the Motive Power and Cars catagories. For more on the AP, see  The Achievement Programme .

Freight train

NE 1623 rolls into the yard with a short local freight.

This locomotive is an Athearn bluebox GP38-2  which I superdetailed with a Cannon&Co cab and nose, and several other details added from several detail companies. It also was painted into my freelance colour scheme and railroad name. At the time I build it (approx 1998) it earned 82 points , just not enough for an NMRA merit award.  It is due to get a DCC & sound upgrade, and wire up the roof beacon etc. A few small cosmetic repairs are also needed. After all that is done, I will probably enter it again to re-earn it's merrit award, but I'll have to check with the NMRA if that's allowed first. :-)

The clouds

Just a piccie of the clouds as they are as present, unedited, and no touch up (yet).