So far, so good. I’m impressed with the Arizona Rock & Mineral ballast I bought in Denver in May. The only tricky thing is fighting gravity, as it is heavier than normal ballast, so profiling is not as easy.  I’m having to put a layer of glue on the slope of the trackbed to hold the first layer of ballast, then using that as grip for the next layer.

But in the end it is ending up looking quite good. See for yourself in the photo below. More updates to come soon…

Have a look at the Scenery Gallery to see the first bit of scenery on Rochelle Intermodal.

The first section I am working on is the ground between the main tracks and the edge of the layout. The space between the main tracks will be ballasted, so no use putting any ground cover there. I will add some bits and pieces after the ballasting has been done there, but nothing drastic…a few weeds and other detail bits (old ties, parts fallen off trains, etc).

At the moment I am looking at getting a mix of Arizona Rock & Mineral Co ballast which will be close to the colour of the ballast at Rochelle (a mix of Chicago North Western Pink Lady and CSX/SP grey). It looks like Caboose Hobbies in Denver stocks it, and I am hoping to go to Denver at the end of May, so will bring back some ballast from there. I will only be able to bring back a bit at a time, but at least I can then get started on the ballasting.

I am also about to start laying the concrete apron for the intermodal yard. I purchase sheets of styrene yesterday, along with strip wood for support, and I will hopefully be able to start on that over the weekend.

Right, time for bed…I would rather stay up to do some more scenery work, but some of us have to work…no fun