Freight depot

I've decided to start working at the area around the station in Grimstad. After all this will be the area of most importance, and a signature scene on my layout, so I'd better get it going now :) A couple of days ago I received a freight depot from the dutch company Artitec (the yellowish building in the center of the picture). This is one of two buildings for the Grimstad Line I don't have to scratchbuild, the other being Rise station. It all looks a bit "toy-like" in this state, but it helps to visualize the whole scene before anything is glued down. Even the track is still not glued down so if I need to make any changes - this is the time.

Changes in concept... and a new loco

The real Grimstad Line was closed down in 1961, but already in 1959/60 there were talks with private interest to take over the line from the Norwegian State railways (NSB). Sadly this never happened. But in my world everything is possible, so I've fast-forwarded my model clock a little bit, and now it's suddenly 1965 in my loft, and the railway is now on private hands as it was in the start from 1907-1912. And it's yet again called Grimstad-Frolandsbanen (GFB). This opens up a lot of possibilities for me with regards to rolling stock, so until I get enough correct pre 1961 NSB equipment, this will be the story.

This opens for use of this lovely steamer from HobbyTrade, which was owned by the Danish State Railways (DSB). Pure coincidence this loco was in real life taken out of service in Denmark in 1965. So the story goes that it was sold to GFB where it found good use.

I will modify the loco so it looks more norwegian with a different lighting arrangement, and with black paint on the smoke stack. It will also get it's own GFB number.

Trees, trees and more trees

I've started planting some trees now. I think correctly coloured trees in great quantities can really make a layout stand out. So I'm hoping to be able to add hundreds and hundreds.

More scenery III

Whoops! How did this happen? Wasn't the hill only brown two days ago? Well... I got a little inspired. And this is just a very small area that's complete. Let's recap tonights events.

I started out coloring all the rock castings using Woodland Scenics pigment colors. They are great for making good looking rock faces, and it's very easy to get a good result.

I then added som basic greenery by using Woodland Fine Turf in two different shades; blended green and burnt grass.

Then I added some low bushes, tufts and static grass. Starting to look ok now...

And this picture, and the one on the top shows how it looked in the end. Still I haven't added the trees and all the twigs and branches on the ground that comes with the trees.

More scenery II

Now it's about time I get some color on this layout! I started to paint everything a light brownish color, but made sure I avoided the rock castings. It's easy to get tempted to paint the areas where there's gonna be grass eventually a green base color, but a brown color makes it easier to achieve the right look in the end. And after all, the stuff under the grass in real life is not green...

While the paint was wet, I sprinkled on sand I collected from a pile of sand outside my house. Where there are big holes in the foam I put small stones which I picked up from my backyard. At this stage of the scenery construction, there are a lot of useful scenery products to be found right outside your door. And it's free too!

The hillside on the end of the peninsula as it looks now. The next task is to color the rocks with Woodland Scenics pigments, and then multiple layers of greenery.

More scenery work

I've shaped the construction foam and added several rock castings from Woodland Scenics and some home made ones. It wont be long now until I actually can start adding color to this area of the layout.

My main goal as of now is to more or less finish the scenery at the end of the peninsula seen here, so it'll look nice and "tidy" when you enter the layout room. The room is in the center of my loft with bedrooms at either end which means I can't close the door to the layout room to hide all the clutter. Therefore it's important to make the layout as nice as possible so it'll play a part as a "furniture" in this room.

Prototype scenery

I took this picture early this morning of a norwegian class 69 railcar set on it's way from Arendal to Rise on the Arendal line. The picture was taken just some hundred meters from the station Rise where the Grimstad Line ended, and it shows the kind of scenery I will try to replicate on my layout.

More mountain work

After the foam had dried thoroughly over night, it was very easy (and fun) to start making the basic shape of the hill.

Then I added more foam to the top of the hill.

And for fun, I had to test fit one of the two wonderful small signals for Rykene. They are scratchbuilt for me by modeling friend Jon Einar Vistad.

A foam mountain

For my basic scenery I'm trying out a new technique with styrofoam covered with insulation foam. This stuff expands to 3 times it's initial size when it's dry. After it's dry I'll cut away the excess and add rock castings.

Scenery test

I've laid out some styrofoam sheets to get an idea how things will look when entering the layout room. I have to try to figure out a way to visually seperate the two lines going very close to eachother here to avoid it feeling like the same place. It doesn't look right like the way it is now I think...