Union Pacific Transfer Yard.

Today's project was to start ballasting the transfer yard in Grants Pass. I started with pouring out my ballast onto the tracks and spreading it out with a small paint brush. When I do an area that has a lot of turnouts I only do up to them, they will be done individually later. I then add my 50 50 white glue mixture, don't forget to add a couple of drops of dish soap to the glue mixture. Once all the ballast has been glued I apply a thin coat of blended turf along the edges of the ballast. The excess glue and water help pre-wet the turf holding it in place to spray it with water and applying glue. I always respray everywhere I have glued so no glue puddles on the ties or foliage. The yard looked good, but lacked a signature scene. A curved area between the yard and the mainline called out, "I'm flat and ugly." A little maintenance shed, a rack of old, rusty rails, a pickup and a couple of people and "voila". Hmm, a little triangle outside the curve is just sitting there, a great spot to add some elevation to the scene. A small rock casting set on top of the otherwise flat landscape filled the spot. There is very little flat land in nature so I jump at the chance to add hills or gullies where I can. More items are still to be added, it will be left to dry for now.

Note. I like to pose people like they are doing something like talking, as in this scene. Yellow grass patches. and small clumps of bushes also add interest.

The rock has been mudded into place, and is waiting to be painted when it dries. When adding molded rocks like this, I try to continue and extend the shapes out from the casting. This helps ground it into the scenery.