Primavw

Part of my layout includes the mainline crossing over the yard elevated at about 3 inches. I decided to do a viaduct-to-tressle setup because I imagined it would be aesthetically pleasing. I will be canting the yard about 25 degrees from its current angle to its (most-likely) permanent position. The viaduct will cross above it somewhere near the front, sort of visually dividing the layout. One thing I want to accomplish with this layout is to use landscape and other means to obscure parts of the track work to make the trackplan a bit more "visually confusing", that is to say, hide the fact that it is a figure-eight roundy round.

Anywho, I picked up Atlas' viaduct kit x2 (another cheap ebay find), and waited patiently for it arrive. Upon breaking it out, I compared it to the Starucca Viaduct in Pennsylvania.


Turns out Atlas must've used a similar design as a proto, becuase they are suprising similar. The only difference I could see is the Atlas kit uses a uniform brick construction while the Starucca used localled-quarried random ashlar bluestone (thanks wikipedia). Unsure how to replicate it, I just decided to hand paint random bricks to be the "oddball, whatever was left laying around from previous construction projects bricks". Yes, I said handpainted. It took forever, and was a pain on the eyes. Overall, I'm pretty happy with the results though. A little Bragdon weathering powder and I called it complete.





Overall, this a good quality kit. Everything matches up very well without leaving too many seams. The brick and masonry looks textured and realistic. My only gripe is the verticle seam near where each upper section meets. Unfortunately, they did not line up causing a bit of a "hump" where they meet. I hit them will 100 grit and it satisfactorily levelled everthing out. The seams are by no means "hidden" though. Ahh well.

So thats off the list... now I just have to work it into the layout, and acquire a single track tressle and I can continue laying track. Until next time...