Work continues on the upper level scenery base. About 80% of the upper level now has a layer of plaster cloth over the painters paper and cardboard web. I prefer plaster cloth from Scenic Express. It is cheaper and better, in my opinion, than that of it's competitors.
I did get sidetracked for a couple of days while the geography around thee "new" Grayson-McClure load out was modified. The load-out, built from a Walthers kit, has moved around the layout from one future load-out site to another for over a year. Finally, it was decided that the small 1 or 2 car load-out at the end of the aisle was the best location.
The location did involve a rework of the existing scenery base. The painters paper and cardboard webbing were cut away from behind the load-out and a access road built from styrene was set into the side of the hill. The spur was also moved about a inch forward, towards the aisle, to make room for the road.
And here is the end result..
Turning around, the mainline on the lower level, crosses a bridge, enters a tunnel and wraps around a horse shoe curve towards the summit. Again, several days were spent making changes in this area.
Originally, the Rockwood Branch crossed over the mainline, passed over the entry door, and terminated in a short 2-track staging yard. While I liked the operational aspect of the branch, I never liked how it looked.
Here's how it now looks.
A bridge was also added. The 2 Atlas RS-11's, shown here drifting down grade after helping a feight up the hill, will eventually be renumbered and sub-lettered for the MBG&C. Actually, the Southern only rostered one RS-11: it was owned by the Carolina & Northwestern, a Southern subsidiary. The spur, that shows up just above the locomotives is a remnant of the trunkcated Rockwood Branch.
The tracks wind around the horseshoe curve leading to the summit and emerge from this cut.
Location & Name Changes
My recent YouTube video's have bought in a lot of useful comments. About a week ago, I received a comment about the area I am modeling in Tennessee. As a result, Palmer, TN is going to replace Coalmont on the layout and Monteagle is goiing to replace Grundys. In addition, The Union Coal Company mine will become the Tennessee Consolidated Coal Company.
The Palmer depot and Tennessee Consolidated Coal company store.
The Tennessee Consolidated Coal company store at Palmer, TN
As far as I can tell, coal mining all but disappeared from Grundy County in the late 1950's and the rail line was abandoned during the 1990's. Fortunately, on my version of Palmer, coal mining in the region is still viable during the mid 1970's.
The Tennessee Consolidated Mining Company processing plant. Date unknown but probably, based upon the rail cars, during the 1930's. A modernized version would make for a great model.
As always your comments and suggestions are welcome.\
sdepolo@outlook.com
And, if you haven't seen them, I have 4 videos of the layout posted on YouTube
Search "Madisonville Sub"
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