Thanx Scott, thanx Larry C., and thanx Mike !!! Well, I'm getting down to some of the more fun stuff (at least for me). Today I painted all the track and ties, double checked the operation, promptly had a nice 4-6-0 tumble off the arch bridge into the dried waterfalls, (knocked the front wheels off the tender and popped off the arch bar side frame) but no biggie; I took 'er over to the yard at Blackrock, and 1,2,3, a little dab o' CA and she's all good to go. Tested her out and put 'er back in service. Took 20 minutes. It was rather strange though, I keep seeing it in my mind happen all over again, and it's as though an invisible finger reached out and 'poked' the thing as it was nearing the end of the bridge, and it just went over sideways into the cliff, and down to the dried up river bed at the upper level of the falls. Lucky for me it didn't bounce one more time and tumble over the edge and into the river painted on the concrete floor !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh well, all's well that ends well. Next up I grabbed a little ballast and put some down (just to check the color) and went ahead and bought some more since I only had a little left. I also painted all the area where the trackage goes around 'OL FLATHEAD. Lastly, I added a new light above '2 HORNS. Out of nowhere pops 'BUBBLES" the friendly T-REX. Ya'll remember BUBBLES, she works for the RR. Anyway, she shows up with her date for the open house next week. Apparently, this is her new "main-squeeze". She said his name, but I was still getting over his looks, so anything after that was lost......I think she said something about not getting him wet, and no food after midnight????????? Oh well how bad can he be????????????? Tomorrow I'll finish up what little bit of plastering is left to do, and start adding the dirt (ground cover) to the whole rebuilt section. I always put down the ground cover before I ballast. First, in real life, the ground was there before the RR, so that's how I feel it should be done. Secondly, it looks better and more natural; if you notice, or look hard enough you can tell when the ballast was done first, because the ground cover edges overlap the ballast. Thirdly when you ballast last, after everything else has dried, the ballast edge just naturally falls onto the ground cover. Believe it or not you will also use LESS ballast because you can 'mound' up the ground cover or dirt into the roadbed, and this makes for a narrower right of way to have to ballast. I also use a small thin paint brush to 'swab' a little semi-diluted elmers glue onto the bevelled edge of the road bed, which also 'grabs' the ballast as it spreads. I've tried every tip I've ever heard, or been shown, and for my money the way I just described has always given me the best and most natural looking trackwork. But that's just me. I know most folks just can't stand looking at all that 'unballasted and incomplete' appearance of their railroad. I hated it, but I also always wondered why my finished trackage didn't look quite right. Then one day I was over at a friends house who had just finished painting all his track. I said want some help ballasting? He knew I enjoyed that part of the hobby. He said "sure, come back next Saturday, and I'll have all the ground work done, and you can ballast to your hearts' content. I guess I must have had that 'DUH????' look on my face, because that's when he showed me a diorama he'd made for a clinic on the subject at a train show. He had double track main line on a 2' x 10" piece of plywood. One of the set of tracks of the main line was ballasted before ground cover was added, and the other tracks were done after ground cover was added. It was really cool looking, you could actually tell which was which. So ever since then I've done the dirt first. Like I said though, that's just me. Now for some shots of todays' work; .............Thanx for checkin' in, and hangin' out. More to come.............................................. .

KYLE CREEL
SUPT., GMBCRR


First the accident location photos, next the accident documentation photos.................the orange arrow shows direction of travel. The red arrow also shows "direction of travel" right over the side, and down to the eventual landing spot..........

what a mess.................


Now the days' work photos.......................
Track painting and ground debri coloring......................



Now for the shots of BUBBLES and 'FRIEND'.......................................... ........

She has such a nice smile...........and a real hard worker.

OH YEAH..... I almost forgot, I painted in where the road will go through Scavenger.................


That's all for now.....Thanx again....................................

Nice progress Kyle. The layout is looking good! ~mike

Kyle,

You are right about the order of things when ballasting. In the past I did ballasting before scenery, but after reading a "how to" that 'Dutchman' Bruce wrote for the NMRA Beginner's Guide, I started doing the opposite. Much better results. In my opinion.

That locomotive tumble is very strange.

Beautiful track and scenery work you're doing.

Mike

Thanx Mike, thanx Michael; I started the ground cover bit today and got the entire section done. I have some before and after shots, thought they might be interesting. Instead of plastering the white spots and repainting them, I mixed up some diluted elmers, added some color and thinned it down with some brown wash. Next, I dipped paper towels, (I save all the ones I use to mop up small spills in the work area) and covered the offending areas. When time came to add the dirt, it adhered really well to the damp paper towels; and since they were dipped in a colored solution, there's no white showing, and the glue grips the sand. GO FIGURE !!!!!!!!!!!!! Any ways here's some shots of the days' work. I still have to wet everything down with 'wet water' and apply the diluted glue fixative. All for now, keep those cards 'n letters comin'............................

KYLE CREEL
SUPT., GM BCRR

before, with everything removed........... after

before........... after......

before......... after..........

before........ after.....

before....... after......


I'll glue it down tonight, and ballast the track tomorrow..................All for now..........................................

Great idea.

Kyle, thanks for another new technique.
The results speak for themselves.

That's a smart way to go, Kyle. From your photos it appears that the towels fill gaps as well.

Mike

Kyle,
I love bubbles knew friend. Isn't there something about not letting the sun shine on them?
Cool accident diagrams, glad the damage to your loco wasn't too bad.
Thanks for sharing tips on ballast and dirt!
Your ground work looks great!

Scott

Thanx Mike, thanx and welcome Big Lars, thanx Rick, thanx Michael, and thanx Rick (hope you're enjoying your trip); Today Mark and I started the final scenery stuff. All the dirt is glued and dried; ballast has been put down on the Scavenger side and the road is in. Both will get glued tomorrow after I finish putting down the ballast on the Dilapidated side. After that all that's left is sprucing up GRIZZLY and wetting and glueing down the ground cover and road. Tuesday and Wednesday will be final cleanup of the train room / garage. I will also continue test running the 2 or 3 locomotives and consists I've chosen for the show. Here's the shots of todays' work, hope they look ok; you never can tell with my flip phone.
Thanx for stoppin' by.....................

KYLE CREEL
SUPT., GM BCRR

OH YEAH; I forgot here's some bonus shots........................................

Kyle,
Nice shots! Once your all ballasted, you'll be upright and ship shape!

Scott

Looks fantastic, Kyle.

Hoo ah! Old army statement meaning Hoo ah awesome work!!

Looks great Kyle wonderful progress.

Thax Scott, thanx Michael, thanx Phillip, and thanx Jerry; Well I got my first call to make an apt. to see the layout today. The guys name is Mike and he's fromAZ. He will be going to the show and wanted to come by and see the BCRR @ 1:00pm on Thursday, (I think) I was finishing up the ballasting when he called, so, it might have been 1:00pm Friday.......oh well, I'll be here. Here's some shots of todays work.............................................. ...

KYLE CREEL
SUPT. GM BCRR


here's all the junk we cleared out of the garage / train room


n0w here's some RR stuff, the last of the ballasting !!!!!!!!



Well that about does it. All that's left is sprucing up GRIZZLY, cleaning all the track (I have an HO track cleaning car I 'On30-ized' in my MOW train), test running all the locos and consist I plan to use, and sitting down on my very tired and abundant ASS and kicking back with a cold one. BRING ON THE SHOW !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!