Pass me the ballast

Has been a pretty good last two weeks on the modelling front.

My staging tracks are still there which is a good sign that it may be a permanent fixture.  As I was saying to you in my previous post, I added staging even though it eats up alot of precious space I can ill-afford.
Even though I made it easy as possible to make up trains using the big 0-5-0, it became tiring to do, hence I added staging back on the baseboard.  Obviously the major benefit is that trains are all ready to go when I want to see something running.

I did make a modification.  I wasn't too happy with the length of the stub-ended sidings as I like to see more than a single unit heading at times, so I made the staging yard tracks little bigger and managed to fit in two extra tracks which means I now have eight tracks, four for up and four for down trains.  If I am going to devote this space for staging, I might as well use the possible space as efficiently as possible, which means trying to fit as many staging tracks as possible without it being too over-crowded.
All this staging is nice, however what I gained with ready-to-run trains, I lost in scenery space.  I think I now have about 30% dedicated for staging, 30% yard/operation and 40% scenery.

I also made a minor modification on the "Down" end of the yard.  I have re-arranged the point work so it is possible to have a head-shunt on this end as well, and this siding can also be used as a cattle siding, enough to fit about two or three wagons.  It seems to look good so far.  I added stud ended siding from the Goods Shed road.  This siding will only be used as a Programming Track.  I use to have the Programming Track on the peninsula, and it came in really handy.  Unfortunately this adds another point to the yard.  I wanted to adjust this side of the yard before I begin ballasting here.

Still unhappy with the flat nature of the layout, I have dropped some of the baseboards to model the undulating terrain.  Looks so much better.  I think I will have a culvert in this location, with a small water steam disappearing into it.

I have also began to ballast the yard.  The method is quite different compared to ballasting the main line. Here, I pick up some ballast from a cup and sprinkle it on to the layout.  Unfortunately I ran out of ballast to complete the yard.

I have also begun to ballast the yard.  The method is quite different compared to ballasting the main line.  Here, I pick up some ballast from a cup and sprinkle it on to the layout.  I then use a spray bottle with a real fine mist to spray a 50% PVA glue and 50% water mix with a touch of detergent on to the ballast. I think it looks quite good.  May airbrush "rust" mixture over it later.

Head Shunt on Down End of yard with new siding for "Programming Track"

Possible Cattle Loading siding

Ballasting

On a side note, today marks the day we left for our 4 week holiday to Poland last year.  Their railways are quite fascinating.  It's pretty much a working museum.  One revenue service is hauled by a steam loco.  The experience of walking into the round-house at Wolsztyn with those giant steamers being worked on and the scent of coal and oil was just an incredibly amazing experience.   Do see the complete video below to see some of their amazing rolling-stock in action.

"Staging" back on the agenda

Even though I made it as easy as possible to place consists on the track before running a train, it eventually became tiring to do.  So I have now re-considered staging.
I have done away with the peninsula I had and the shed looks so much bigger, moving about is alot more easier, so placing staging at that location is out of the question.

The challenge was to find a suitable location and staging has to serve both clock-wise and anti-clockwise movements.  Further, trains should run the entire circuit of the shed without going through a scene twice.
I find it quite amazing in this hobby the number of challenges I encounter.  Alot of people out there think we play with train-sets but the amount of thought and problem-solving that goes into it is just amazing.  I am always impressed with Craig's schematic.

One of the issues I had with my previous attempts at staging was the incongruous site of having all that track and wagons at a "prime" viewing location as well as the huge consumption of real-estate.  I would need to hide staging, however this comes with its own challenges, of easy access to the wagons and locos.

I began to experiment with what was possible if anything at all.

I have this 1 mm sheeting that I put up a while back to block the sun rays coming onto the layout near the entrance of the shed. Given its thickness, it bends quite easily.  I began cutting about 4 inch high strips and affixed them to some 3mm MDF.  Obviously, going ahead with this idea of having staging, I would have to sacrifice some layout space.  I chose the far end of the layout for this experiment.  This meets both the conditions mentioned above.  Remember this is only an experiment.

If I could use this sheeting to hide staging, maybe it would work?  I ploughed ahead with the idea.  I came out with three stub ended sidings for up trains and three sidings for down trains (As Darren would say, "Lets not be greedy")

Once the 4inch sheeting had been erected to hide staging, the difference to the scene was very encouraging!

I think I will continue this experiment and see what comes of it.  I will need to paint the white sheeting.  I was thinking to paint them black, but other thoughts include cream, grey, green, or just leave them white or a combination?