Freight Train Switch

It had to happen, the FA unit I was using to pull my New York Central freight train broke down. I need to get it repaired, so I had to make a decision. I could wait until I got it fixed or model a different railroad. I had a few different Ann Arbor Railroad locomotives from various time periods that I could use. I decided to go with a current day Ann Arbor Railroad System freight train. I will be using 2 GP38's to pull the train. I have 3 boxcars, 2 center flow hoppers, 5 smaller covered hoppers, a flatcar, and a drop end gondola, and 4 coal 55 ton coal hoppers. All in all I feel it would make an impressive freight train so as of today I have made the switch from New York Central to the Ann Arbor Railroad System. The passenger train will still be New York Central.

Sandy's Artistic Talents Join The Effort

It's no secret who the artistic talent in the family is. Sandy brought her talent to the table literally as she landscaped the residential area, and added a forest area near the transformers to give them a more natural look. She began to layout the farm house and barn with more forest next to them. the look is very realistic. Sandy used twigs she found outside as dead fall in the forest areas and colored sand to serve as the forest floor. I am really impressed with the job she did, so I have included pictures. tell me what you think.

 As you can see the work is still very much in progress but I am so pleased with what I see so far.

Downtown is Starting to Take Shape

No city is complete without a downtown. I have started to pour the roads and sidewalks. and began to layout the buildings. main street has a number of shops, an apartment building, a synagogue, a hospital, and fire station. I also added a site where construction is underway complete with workmen, a construction sign, a generator, a truck, and a large crane. I used a sheet of sandpaper as the ground. I am using the Smooth it product from Woodland Scenics for the roads and sidewalks. The roads will be painted with asphalt top coat, and the sidewalks will be painted with concrete top coat.

Again a lot more detail will be added at a later date. As you can see from the photo, the sidewalks still need to be poured, sanded, and painted