NTRAK Modular Railroading Society, Inc

The Falls Module

The railroad is based on the West Virginia Coal industry in the late 1950's and early 1960's. The prototype is the infamous Norfolk and Western Railroad. My name is Bob Utley and I enjoy running and watching the hugh Mallets as well as the all black diesels of that time period. I tried to combine the high mountainous and deep ravine terrain often found in the Appalachian Mountains. I have also modeled a mid-size West Virginian railroad town.

My module consists of three 4ft long by 3ft wide sections. The left section is a large mountain with tunnels and part of a long bridge which spans into the center section. The bridge in this section consist of a through truss (Kato) and deck girder (Micro Engineering). One of the deck girder spans is removable to span the gap between the two module sections. The center section consists of a deep ravine with large water fall. The ravine is span by three bridges, a concrete arch bridge which carries the mountain line and the yard tracks, a deck girder and deck truss bridge (scratch built) which carries the red and yellow lines and a deck girder bridge which carries the mountain line and connects to the left section by-way-of the removable span. The right module consist of a typical mid-size West Virginian railroad town and the interchange between the red, yellow, and blue with the mountain line. The town is on the upper level and is served by the mountain line.

Design was done on a ComputerVision CADDS4X workstation. A high end drafting/engineering design computer. The rails on the left section are red, yellow, blue and optional blue. The optional blue runs a 2.8% grade to the mountain line on the right section. There is low clearance on this line (NO DOUBLE STACKS or AUTO RACKS !!!). The Blue line splits from the red and yellow lines and runs to the back of the module under the mountain to emerge on the right section. The Red and Yellow lines run parallel to the front of the module, through the mountain and over the ravine to the interchange on the right section. The mountain line does not continue off the left section. It does, however, continue from the right section, through a mountain yard, loop around the mountain and down over the ravine and to the interchange on the right section. The mountain line also continues off the right section on the upper level as an optional mountain line, 1 1/4" in front of the standard mountain line. The rails that continue off the right section are red, yellow, blue, mountain, and optional mountain. The turnouts for the mainline rail are mostly long radius PECO while the mountain and yard turnouts are medium radius PECO. There is a 25 degree crossing on the yellow line which allows the red line to interchange with the mountain line. A helper siding is provided on the center section just into the ascent of the mountain line.

Scenery considerations. The two end sections are at the standard height. The center section is 6" lower to provide for the ravine. The back of the center section is built up to the standard height to allow the blue line a continuous uninterrupted run and also to provide storage for miscellaneous equipment. The right module has an elevated section in the back at the mountain level to provide for the mountain town and industry as well as the support for the mountain line.

Construction began with 1x4 inch pine outside frame and 1/4" underlayment screwed and glued with 2x3 inch and 2x4 inch glue blocks. This provides a light but sturdy benchwork. The next step was to take full size plans printed from my computer and trace them to the underlayment with the use of carbon paper under the plans. 2x3 inch studs provide risers which were glued to the top of the underlayment, NO screws in the risers. All elevated sub-roadbed is 1/4" underlayment glued to the risers. The glue of choice is Elmer's Wood Glue. The screws of choice are drywall screws of various sizes.

Scenery technique. Primary scenery contours were provided by shaping styrofoam. Blue styrofoam is the best I have found. Any thickness will do, I prefer 1" thick. First, rough contours are cut from the styrofoam using a steak knife or a hacksaw blade. Then the styrofoam is glued down. I have found that by scoring the styrofoam with the knife I could use white glue with strong lasting results. The next step is to use a Stanley® Surform® tool or a woodrasp to shape the final contours. Patch the cracks and large holes with plaster, as little plaster as possible (it gets heavy fast). At this point I place rock outcroppings into the styrofoam. Wet the styrofoam a little and plaster the rock into place. Spray the rocks with a very dilute solution of Woodland Scenics Black to give an idea of how the rocks will look, I found this to be very useful in visualizing the rock ravine. After allowing the plaster to dry for several days, Using Woodland Scenics colors, I painted the rocks using a brush and allowing this to dry, it doesn't take long. Next I use a thin wash of Woodland Scenics dark colors to highlight and weather the rocks.

Once all this dries (several days) a thick coat of brown latex paint is used to cover everything except the rocks and river bed. while the paint is still very wet sprinkle a large thick layer of blended green fine turf ground foam, this provides a sub scenery base. Allow this to dry at least over night. Brush off the loose ground foam. Next I soak the ground with hair spray and sprinkle a blend of coarse turf ground foam, this represents thick bush. Blended coarse turf ground foam formula: 2 light green, 1 burnt grass, 1 medium green, 1 dark green, 1 earth brown I then use the same dilute glue mixture that I used for ballasting and dropper it onto the ground foam. Spraying another coat of hair spray seem to puff up the coarse ground foam and allow to dry overnight. Repeat this process of spraying and sprinkling as many times as needed for the desired effect. Spray again with hair spray, soaking the ground foam, and sprinkle a very THIN layer of blended green fine turf ground foam (VERY THIN !!).

Now comes the trees. Trees may be pre-made for individual trees or just the trunk and limbs for a large forest. The large forest is constructed by poking many holes into the ground using an awl, gluing the trunk end, and inserting the tree trunks into the hole. Allow the trees to dry over night. Next I add the green tree tops using Woodland Scenics foliage clumps of various color greens spanning a few trees at a time. I then spray these trees with hair spray and sprinkle a very THIN layer of blended green fine turf ground foam (VERY THIN !!).

The ballast is fine WOODLAND SCENICS ballast gray and limestone. A bead of glue is spread along the side of the cork roadbed and the ballast is sprinkled over the entire track. I the spread the ballast using a paint brush to reveal the track and ties and give the ballast a prototypical contour. I soak the ballast with a fine spray of water and rubbing alcohol. A mixture of water, rubbing alcohol, white glue (or matte medium) is dripped onto the ballast and allowed to dry over night.

The roads are made of plaster and spread with a putty knife. I then paint it Woodland Scenics SlateGray, allowing it to dry, then glue Fine Brown earth ground foam to the road surface. After this dries I paint the roads using Woodland Scenics SlateGray.

Final details:

For the floor of the falls and river I crushed plaster down to different sizes to represent large boulders and small river rock. I glued all the rocks to the floor using white glue. Next I sprayed a VERY thin wash of black to highlight the rocks. When I was satisfied with the rock locations I painted them with Woodland Scenics StoneGray using a sponge brush.

The waterfall is done using GE clear silicone sealer as described in Nov/Dec 1995 N-Scale Magazine. I found that the thinner the silicone is spread the more translucent and realistic it looks. Also when water falls over a lip and away from rocks there is not much turbulence, so it will not need to be stippled. The silicone will need streaks and I did this with an acid brush. After allowing the silicon to dry over night I carefully peeled it off the plastic wrap. I then sized the silicon waterfall up to the area where the falls would go. Because the water is falling free from the rocks it needs a backside with texture. I simply squeezed out some silicon on the backside of the already dry silicon and added streaks and texturing. After allowing this to dry over night I used some silicon to secure it in place. I also use silicon to dress up the sides of the waterfall, usually I do this after the waterfall has set for an hour or so. I used silicone at the base of the waterfall to represent splashing and turbulence.

Water. For water I used ENVIROTEX epoxy. It is easy to work with in a well ventilated area, just follow the direction carefully. Before pouring the water I applied silicon to the bottom of the river to simulate rapids. This worked well when I made the silicon thick, but if spread to thin the silicon looks more like algae when the water is poured. I noticed when I poured the water over a rocky bottom that many small bubbles appeared. A much thinner layer may be needed to seal the rocks first then a thicker layer may be poured. All in all, the thinner the pours the better the water will look. Before making a second pour, I added some more silicon to the water fall area to create more splashing effect. The second pour was thin and used to fill in any remaining gaps.

NOTE: A lot of procedures in creating a realistic scene take a long time, even over night, but the results are definitely worth the wait. Besides there is always other things that can be done in the time waiting for stuff to setup or dry.

If you have any questions about the railroad or any of my techniques please feel free to write or call me. My name and address is: