Old and New
Evolution
I don't have many photos of the layout my father and I built when I was growing up. It was a large oval (about 20 x 20) with a centre blob containing a yard. There was a branchline and a second short branchline into the basement bedroom. We completed about 25% of the scenery but laid most of the track.
The track was Peco Code 100 and the Power was DC with power blocks. My father was very adept at electrical work so we had switch machines for most of the turnouts.
The rolling stock mostly Athearn - some kits and engines from the 1960's and some rolling stock I bought in the '90s. Some of the rolling stock such as Accurail boxcars still see service on the Aston Spur.
Anyway, this post is really just an excuse to post old photos.
Scenery
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| Trees and rocks |
Base scenery on the old layout was window screen covered with plaster cloth (thank you GDH) and wallboard compound to smooth it out. I'd paint the plaster and apply ground foam on top.
Trees were dried goldenrod, spray bombed with green paint, with foam added and hair spray to seal.
Background "puffs" were either pillow case material spray painted or dyed lichen bought at the hobby shop.
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| A Budd Car headed down the branch |
Rocks and cliffs were just plaster cloth/joint compound painted grey.
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| Rocks in the background |
Everything has got better since the 90's. Some of the scenery basics remain (ground foam, puff ball background trees, plaster/wallboard compound). But:
1. "Super Trees" have become the standard for trees providing finer detail than goldenrod. Although the foliage method is the same (spraybomb, cover with foam and then spray paint).
2. Rock molds (which existed in the 1990s but I didn't use them) coloured with paint are far better than my old method. In my mind, the paint is much better now since acrylics are cleaner and easier to dilute than solvent based paints.
3. The insulation foam method for building a scenery base allows for more control over gradients than the plaster cloth/screen method. Moreover, it is much easier to incorporate rock molds into insulation foam because you just cut into the foam. I'm not sure how I would do it with the screen/plaster method.
4. While ground foam has improved, the real revelation is with grass.
The above photo is not from my layout but it shows how fine grass detail has become. You can now simulate varying lengths of grass (i.e. wild grass vs a well-kept lawn) very easily using different grass mats.
5. Finally, although not scenery per se, artist chalks/powder have replaced paint as the go-to weathering medium. While I like paint for giving on overall effect (i.e. using a black wash to draw out rock detail), chalks and powder allow for more variation - and if you use too much, you can blot away with water and start again.
Rolling Stock
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| The Tenshodo F9's |
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| Atlas S-4 (the boxcar on the right is seen below). |
The best piece of equipment on my old layout was a brass F9A and F9B unit made by Tenshodo - a Japanese company. The engines are beautiful (I still have them) and ran well, although only the A unit was powered. There weren't accurate CPR units - there is a difference between a F9A (not owned by the CPR) and a FP9A (owned by the CPR) The Atlas S-4 wasn't as pretty, but could crawl along the layout at low speed.
The engines were also DC-powered. With a DC power system, only one engine at a time could run in a wired block, unless you ran them together in a consist (far from fail safe). No sound either.
With DCC, sound-equipped locos, the difference is stark.
In terms of old rolling stock, it ranges from the generic...
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| Repainted Athearn Box |
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| Accurail wooden boxcars. |
I'll save a full descripton of the Aston Spur's rolling stock for a future post, but as with scenery, the options have improved significantly. CPR specific rolling stock is now available (at least on E-bay) which is a big morale booster.
Before I leave this post, the best picture I have from the old layout:
