Kamakura

[bill937ca]

54 minutes ago, JR 500系 said:

I like how this layout is almost catered just for 4-car trains ~ perfect! Now all you need are some residents to populate your town ~  🙂

Thanks Sammy.  The residents are coming. I tend to work in batches.

[bill937ca]

For the back of the layout I am considering hemming the back wall tracks in with Tomytec structures.  Railway fences would be added to define tha ballast line. A couple of examples onthe Seibu Shinjuku line at Shimo-Ochia.

 

https://goo.gl/maps/fuJvuxjbK48xv6BS7

 

https://goo.gl/maps/cgxRa7ruUqowSKKA9

 

https://goo.gl/maps/UVeYNvc1SVW9JVcd6

[railsquid]

The ballast doesn't always go all the way to the fence/property line, usually only as far as it's needed, there are typically patches of bare earth or grass in the remaining space. Though so far on my layout(s) I prefer to keep the running lines as compact as possible so mostly the fencing runs along the edge of the ballast anyway.

 

You also don't always need a fence; certainly on the Seibu Shinjuku line (which I am very familiar with), in many places the railway company hasn't erected a fence where the bordering property has its own solid fence/wall (conversely there are a couple of properties with poorly-maintained fencing where a parallel railway fence has been erected).

[bill937ca]

Thanks for the guidelines, Squid.  I found a front view video that helps the inner  section of line. Work is underway to underground the Seibu Shinjuku line as you can see in this video from 8.2018 The nearby Keio Main line will soon also no longer be surface running.

 

 

Edited June 12, 2019 by bill937ca

[bill937ca]

The housing cluster is largely finished. I added some WS foliage clusters to hide the balsa base. The first track fences are in. There are more trees amongst the houses too.

[bill937ca]

I've added a five story pagoda in the back corner.  This will probably end up as a stand alone pagoda. later I will add some trees and ground cover, but right now I have other locations I am  working on.

[bill937ca]

One of the problems with using tram track in the center of the layout is that there are places where you need a transition from street level to train track level. I did this by glueing a 5/16  piece of strip plastic along the edge of the tram track to create a curb effect. Then I sloped some material down to track level creating a slope covered with WS green grass tonight.

 

Next step is to complete the ballast in leftover spots, but that requires a trip to the LHS this week.

 

Second photo is an overall view as of June 16, 2019.

[bill937ca]

Tonight's project, a Greenmax 2553 pre-painted Storehouse.

[bill937ca]

Working on the lower end of the layout.

 

[bill937ca]

Keikyu 2100 in the station.

 

[bill937ca]

For the most part the major projects I have been working on are nearing completion.  For the last week or so the trio of steam locomotives have been shifted around as I worked on the layout. There is still some spot ballasting to be done, along with adding couple of overhead masts and more foliage. Details like figures are still to come. Next project is detailing the railway museum tracks.  The upper end of the layout still does not have a focus. It may just stay a dusty earth tone.

 

After a cleanup on the weekend of tracks and any leftover tools or landscaping, it will be time to run some trains. For today some photos of the steamers usually parked at my railway museum.  These are Kato C12, Kato C11 and Kato C56.

Edited June 21, 2019 by bill937ca

[bill937ca]

More work on the railway museum where I park some non-standard train items.  Because it is a railway museum there is a path from the street to the engine shed.

 

[bill937ca]

A little more work on the lower curve and the hemmed in structure background.

 

 

[bill937ca]

I took a photo yesterday and did not like the contrast between the roadbed and the rails, trackbed and ballast.  So I added some brown paint to the roadbed. I would have prefered Tamiya red-brown, but I didn't have any on hand.  Before and after photos.

 

 

 

[bill937ca]

Running another train for the first time tonight.  This one is second hand from Mandarake.  It's a Tomix 98610 Toei Shinjuku subway 10-300 traIn. This gives me three subway trains, kind of a subgenre of my layout. The Shinjuku 10-300 is also found on the Keio Main Line. I believe it is the first 1372mm gauge train in my collection.

Edited July 4, 2019 by bill937ca

[bill937ca]

Overall view of my layout as of today. A place to run my Japanese trains. 🙂

[Sean]

It really looks great!

[bill937ca]

The Toei 10-300 running on my layout.

 

 

[bill937ca]

Another view of the Toei 10-300 showing the lower end in the background.

 

 

[bill937ca]

A closer look at the residential area on my layout.

[caffeinatedgeek]

This is truly fantastic especially those stores and houses. 

[bill937ca]

A couple of steamers at the railway museum.

[bill937ca]

At track level looking towards the station and the museum.

[bill937ca]

This is the status of the layout. I consider it complete but not finished. I can run trains as planned and do often during the long night months. Most of the layout has a neutral earth tone base color.  The provisional bristol board backdrop will probably stay as people like it. I plan to add some left over trees to the Pagoda corner behind the big curve. I'm not anticipating any big investments as my condo seems to need some mid-life work after 16 years. I think the layout looks better at track level. From above I see more flaws but I need money  for things other than trains.  I'm slowly settling into retirement. Still lots of fun ahead.

Edited November 25, 2019 by bill937ca

[bill937ca]

I haven't done much with the layout since last summer.  Two reasons paying for an European trip last fall and becoming preoccupied with local history after watching a TV show.  Now there is time for the layout.

 

Thinking about making some changes. More on that later.

Edited March 23, 2020 by bill937ca