The End is Near...

No, not the end of the world. And the title doesn't even refer to the end of 2017 although that is rapidly approaching. It's the end of the poly fiber trees that is near. Over the past week or so I finished covering the Styrofoam lift-out behind the engine terminal at North Pierce. I waited to cover the lift-out until all of the tracks were operational in service area and the ballasting and scenery was finished. The photo below shows how this area has looked for a long, long time.

And the photos below show the results of the recent work.

A quick observation about the light green colored trees- that color will fade over time. I assume it's due to the fluorescent lighting, but it has happened all over the railroad. The colors all fade slightly and end up with a subtle variation that works well in my environment. Also, there will be another post soon on how the engine terminal was ballasted and the momentum is has provided for structures in this area.

So after what feels like fifty years and tens of thousands of trees, there is only one, small stretch of hardshell that remains to be covered. The photo below shows the hillside by the to-be-built Austin Coal tipple in Nelsonville. While I'm close to the design of the structure, it hasn't been finalized yet. And I want to wait until the plans have been developed before I start scenery in this area.

While a large number of projects remain to keep me busy, and as we all know, a railroad is never finished, for the very first time it has begun to feel as though the layout is approaching the point where it is largely complete. And that means it's time to seriously start planning for the expansion into the crew lounge. Stay tuned.