After dismantling my
garden railway in August of 2007 and then moving to South Carolina that
October, I put my G-Scale stuff in storage and thought I would be out of the
hobby for the foreseeable future. I had other hobbies like writing and
photography competing for my time plus a demanding work schedule. Save for the
yearly Christmas layout, trains were pretty well out of the picture. That was
until May of 2008, by then I had a much better job at the state welcome center
in Hardeeville, SC. Each year the state’s welcome centers host National Tourism
week in which various business put out displays and give out goodies and whatnot.
I decided trains seemed a natural fit. I dug some of my G Scale gear out of
storage and built a temporary garden railway.
The garden railway display was a success, enjoyed by
visitors and even featured on the local news. The other thing it did was re-ignite
my passion for model trains. By the time September 2008 rolled around I was
seriously thinking about re-entering the hobby. Unfortunately I was still
living in my parent’s house and had to share a room with my brother when he
came home from school, so whatever I built had to be small and portable.
However, I realized that if I went N-Scale I could build a small diorama on a
sheet of foam core board (20’ x 30”). Also, when I started researching N Scale equipment, I found engines were $50 - 70 a piece instead of $160 and up like G. Compared to G, N scale was a bargain! That left only one question: what to
model.
Inspiration came when I was stocking my brochure rack at
work and came across Table Rock State Park in Pickens County, SC. It had
everything, a mountain, valleys and water. Fiat Acompli!
Now that I had inspiration I needed some track and some
knowledge. I had learned a little about scenery during my time at COL but as
for hands-on experience all I really had to go on was my experience as a kid
back in the 1990s. That’s when a DVD entitled Dream Plan Build, arrived from
Kalmbach publishing. I popped it in and gave it a watch. It was loaded with
useful information. It showed me that this stuff ain’t rocket surgery. It’s actually quite simple. With that in
mind, I decided it was time to get serious about model railroading, no more
“grass mat,” tin can oil storage tanks, prefab styrofoam tunnels, and the like.
I started out by buying
a few sheets of foam-core board. I stated with a blue one for the base. Next I
took a green one, cut out the shape of the lake and laminated it to the botom
sheet. I took a third sheet and used that to build 2” risers to raise the track
up off the base. Yet a fourth sheet was used for a backboard.
For track, I initially contemplated Bachman EZ Track namely
because it was the first thing to come to mind. However I balked at the cost. I
then turned my sights on Atlas. They offered both Code 80 and Code 55 track. I
toyed with using Code 55 because it did look more realistic but Code 80 was
cheaper. I bought three pieces of Code 80 flex track, a plate girder bridge and
a Warren Tuss bridge. For roadbed, I went to Michaels and bought a few sheets
of craft foam and cut out roadbed. Once the track was laid, I started building
the mountains. I began by salvaging boxes from work and then cutting strips of
cardboard out of them. Next I built a lattice structure out of said strips to
form the shape of each mountain. After that I laid Woodland Scenics plaster
cloth on them. Once the plaster dried, I painted it brown for a base color and
green for the grass areas. I used DAP patching plaster to make rock formations.
I cut weeds to make trees and glued dirt to the ground to make turf. I used
paper cement for the lake water and that’s pretty much it.
In an ironic twist this layout went on display at the
Welcome Center too. It was quite a crowd-pleaser too. However, it was only supposed
to be for a few days but ended up being there for the month of November 2008.
During that time I acquired more freight cars and locomotives to run. By the
time December came, I had outgrown this pipsqueak of a layout and decided I
could get away with something bigger. This layout did help me hone my skills at
building scenery and made me realize that I enjoyed the building aspect of the
hobby more than anything else. This would ultimately give rise to my second
N-Scale layout, The Port Royal & Yemassee.
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