My newest project just arrived from the good people at Wiseman Model Services - a Surrey Parker Log Loader in O scale, complete with winch and boiler kits. It'll look nice up at Camp #1. But after glancing at the instructions, it's not for the faint of heart. I'll share pictures once it's built and in place above the log loading track.
Salmon Run Lumber #6, a Bachman 0n30 Climax with sound decoder, is rounding the curve behind Fensters Vegetables & Produce, a wonderful Bar Mills Models kit, on its way to Camp #1 from the town of Salmon Run. The scene isn't quite finished yet, but most of the features are there. You can see the Salmon Arms Hotel near the upper right corner, meaning this picture was taken at right angles from the one in my previous post. The water car immediately behind the engine is scratchbuilt.
What a difference two weeks make! This is the same tunnel entrance as in the previous post, although I took the shot a bit closer, as in right at the edge of the finished scenery. The little engine is a scratchbuilt conversion from an HO Davenport switcher. It has a decoder and runs, but not well (neither did its HO incarnation!). I'll be adding more weathering in the coming days and she'll become part of the scenery - an abandoned logging diesel parked on a siding because the company couldn't get replacement parts. I'll do the same with another of my conversions at the logging camp. Why not make unused, unreliable engines part of the scenery, right? Even the real deal would have some sitting on a RIP track. And yes, the reefer says Rio Grande, a long ways away from Vancouver Island. It's a Bachmann 0n30 product that will, eventually, be repainted and receive "Salmon Run & Robson Landing Railway" markings. Oh, and I switched the enclosed water tower with the Salmon Arms Hotel, the blue-gray building at the right edge of the picture. Another scratchbuilt structure. I'll post a front view of it at some point.
For the first time in years, I've done a spot of plastering on the layout, as in creating the tunnel into which the mainline vanishes and becomes the staging track. The picture shows #40, a C-19 by Broadway Limited, emerging from the new tunnel and taking on water in Salmon Run. The enclosed water tower is scratchbuilt, as is the Salmon Arms Hotel of which you can see a small sliver on the right. Of course, the tunnel will be adorned with proper wooden retaining walls on either side and a proper wooden tunnel entrance once the scenery is completed.
