This week we finished the three-track grade crossing in the switching yard on the indoor part of our “Garden Railroad”. Our system is really quite simple but looks GREAT.
If you have been following the progress on our indoor-outdoor railroad you know that the heart of the indoor section is a 25-foot three-track switching yard where some cars can live, ready to go out on the mainline, and many more can be stored on shelves, to be staged in the yard to go out on the mainline. The indoor part of the layout is very detailed, on previous shows we have shown painting the backdrop, making working switch stands, and hand-laying track. We have also been working on the outdoor section, and next spring we hope to join the two sections. Today we are finishing the road crossing in the switching yard.
We are using several found items and a product called Celluclay. Celluclay is paper mache infused with glue and something like plaster that makes it dry to a hard white product that looks just like plaster, yet is super lightweight. It’s easy to work with and unlike plaster, when wet can be easily wiped off anything it gets on.
We are also using wood strips and acrylic paint from a craft store and “squirrel dirt”, from mounds in Utah’s Echo Canyon where ground squirrels have tunneled creating mounds of fine brown dirt that we use on the layout as, well, dirt. We also have “Gopher Dirt”. Same thing but from Steve’s yard.
We are also using some nails we found on Amazon that are perfect for large scales. Smaller scales will need much smaller nails.
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