This and That for May

About all I actually got done on the layout this week was getting just a little bit of scenery materials put down, basically in around the gate area at the end of the scrap yard.  A bit of gravel, some sifted sand and a couple of colours of ground foam all glued in place.This came out looking pretty good.  I had lifted that "sheet metal" fence out to glue down the scenery.  It's really just made of printed paper, and if it gets wet at all the colours will run. I gave the fresh scenery a full 24 hours to dry before putting the fencing back in place.

While I waited for that glue to dry, I stood for a while and stared at the area that I've been thinking of as a trans-loading facility.  But what it really has become is a kind of catch-all where several different kinds of freight cars have been being spotted.  I'm trying to figure out how I might be able to make it look and work a little better.

There's a ramp here for boxcar loading, a loading conveyor for a covered hopper, and 3 large oil tanks for tank car spotting.  I think I want to kind of refine this area next.  That shadowy area at the bottom of the photo is from the highway overpass above.

A different view of the "trans-load".  I'm thinking maybe I'll narrow it down to just tank car and pellet car unloading.  There's already plenty of other docks on the layout for boxcars to go.

In the meantime, I've found a few really little projects to catch up on.  In the photo below there's a weathered whale belly (remember those) tank car that I never use, so I think maybe I'll try to sell that one.  Those two gondolas need one coupler each painted so I'll get to that, and the Ferrous Metals scrap yard sign somehow had one post broken off and needing painted.  The yellow thing in the middle is a piece of painted rail that Iwill be a few feet of safety fence once I get it repaired, 

Also, a gondola scrap load that has had a couple of pieces come loose, a wooden crate that I quickly weathered, and a piece of copper pipe that I painted to perhaps use as a stack on a building somewhere.  That tacky glue is great stuff, as it dries clear.

That's what I've got going on for now.  More about these things another time.