model train for hobby

Ron Einarson's first February model display entry

South Madisonville Extension

By Ron Einarson

   The South Madisonville Extension was built exactly as the prototype around the 1950's & 60�s, following construction methods at the time and with all the associated equipment and transitions from Madisonville to points south.  The display is typical of those along the L&N lines built during that period.  The display was built with the idea that it was getting towards the time when repairs & painting might be in need.
 
   I started with a 1'x8' pine board and added track, scenery and a line side MOW facility. I added a turnout that connects the mains through town with the single track southbound. The area is set as a rural area with pastures for cattle and some scrub brush land paralleling the right of way. I used a piece of 1'x8' lumber six feet long for this section with a 1'' piece of Styrofoam glued on top that I painted brown. Next I laid the Atlas flex track and one #6 Atlas turnout on top of cork roadbed. I carved out ditches using a cordless Dremel tool, various files and knives. All this was done outside with my Shop Vac handy. I touched up the exposed Styrofoam with brown paint.
 
   Next came some ballast and ground foam glued down with diluted white glue. I used coarse foam and foam clusters to add a rough look to some of the area. On the right side I fenced off an area for cattle, using bamboo skewers stained with my steel wool stain and cut them to size. Next I strung the nylon thread along the fence using fine fishing line, which I stained by dragging a cloth soaked in Polly-S Rust along the line. I added the cattle, an old bathtub with resin water in it for watering the cattle, trees, some junk parts & pieces plus a still.   
   At the turnout I added a shed, vehicle, motorcycle (custom built & painted), Acetylene tanks (hand painted) and a parking area with gravel and added lots of junk parts details and a MOW crew. Telephone poles (bamboo skewers made with RIX cross arms) were added along the right of way as well as trees and bushes. Also added was a gravel country road with a wood board crossing.

   I'll be adding a backdrop created using personal photos I stitched together on the computer to create the 6 foot long rural mural.  I printed it on a colour plotter. I'm going to mount it on a 1' x 6' piece of Masonite and paint it sky blue. Lastly, I added some junk parts and pieces around the area to give it more of a lived in look. Besides the fenced cattle area, I added a forest area with scratchbuilt trees from Spirea & Sedum bushes, dirt from the garden covered with various textures of ground foam (both homemade as well as commercial). I added lots of underbrush details with broken twigs and piles of rocks, etc. to add depth to the area, plus a moonshine still that I built from an old cast metal kit. I crushed up some fine shale I had found along the road at the lake, sprinkled it in one of the ditches to add support to roadbed. I then took some Poge material my daughter Louise had during her younger days and applied about 10 coats to give an appearance of water in the ditch.