Coxy's N Scale and Railroad Blog

The units are coupled to the cars in the siding. Something was problematic in making the hook today. The crew were conferencing around the connection to the lead car. It may have been an air hose that was not cooperating. In any case, they took fifteen minutes to get it sorted out and be ready to pull forward.

Modelers notes

• The semi-even cyclone fence and retaining wall on the other side of the train. I like the rust streaks on the retaining wall below the fence and noticeably below the base of each post.
• The land either side of the tracks is moderately flat but not like a sheet of plywood. There used to be track to the right of the train. You can see some track that remains in the distance that is still in use for car storage. The track that was on this end of the Safeway yard has been removed for some time and the right of way and the space remains. It would be tempting to fill this space in when modeling, a temptation to be resisted.
• RPRC keeps their right of way pretty clean of debris, trash, track materials or piles of dirt and ballast. There are a few ties to the left of the units against the retaining wall. I did see an abandoned baby seat on the ground in front of me too.
• The ballast beside the tracks has a lot of subtle variation in color which is an essential element in order to replicate in model form.
• Vegetation between and near the track has recently been sprayed and has yellowed off. Not so long ago it looked like a carpet of lawn!
• The reinforcing ribs on the outside of the switch stock rail adjacent to the points would be fiddly but a nice feature to model as it captures the light.