Backed Up at the Backdrop

While it's true that layout progress has lagged these past two months due to other projects, another (and maybe even bigger) reason is that I allowed myself to get stuck trying to create the backdrop at Wethersfield.  My problem is essentially that I know too much about the prototype, how it's supposed to look. And I don't have any photos that come anywhere close to that - nor do I have the painting or PhotoShop skills to make them up.

Maybe you can offer some advice that'll help me get past this roadblock.

By way of background (excuse the pun), when you're standing in the aisle looking at the Wethersfield scene, you're looking west. North (to Hartford) is to the right and south (to Middletown & Old Saybrook) is to the left. The Silas Deane Highway (aka "New State Highway" during my era; aka Route 99 today) runs parallel and to the west of the Valley Line anywhere from 200 to 1000 feet away, though typically around 500 feet away.

Adding to the challenge are 3 roads I model that cross the Valley Line and head straight back into the backdrop (and intersect with the highway). Going from south (left) to north (right) those roads are Wells Road (Valley Coal), Church Street (Gra-Rock & station), and Jordan Lane (Wethersfield Lumber & Ballantine's).

Here are a couple of maps showing the relationship between highway and road:

Wells Road & Valley Coal

Church Street, with Gra-Rock and the station

Jordan Lane, with Wethersfield Lumber and Ballantine's

 And here are a few recent photos to show you how things look today:

Wells Road - Valley Coal was on the far side of the tracks, off to the right. The highway is at the stoplights (click on image to enlarge).

Church Street - the old Gra-Rock building is still there to the left & the station is on this side of the tracks off to the right. The highway is at the stoplights.

Jordan Lane - Wethersfield lumber was on the left on the other side of the tracks and Ballantine's was on the other side of the tracks to the right. The highway is at the stoplights.

Now, admittedly, things are much more built-up now than they were in 1948. But the topography is the same as is the location of the highway in relation to the railroad.

By way of comparison, here are some shots from the other extreme - about 20 years before my era (and, incidentally, taken around the same time as the Sanborn maps above):

Wells Road (was Robbins St in 1929) - Valley Coal office is there on the right, just on the other side of the tracks.

Church Street - Note Gra-Rock building on the left.

Jordan Lane - heh, just a country lane & looks nothing like what it would even in 1948, much less today.

That's all the prototype/primary source material I have on these roads and backgrounds. The only other info I have are reminisces/memories from John Wallace & Dave Messer - that in the late '40s you'd see it a bit built up, with a smattering of commercial buildings, houses, and trees (though the trees weren't as prominent then as now). The only photo John had that was taken looking west from the highway was this shot of the (old) Wethersfield High School, just south of Church Street and west of the highway:

Wethersfield HS, taken from the Silas Deane Hwy, looking west. Church Street is just off to the right. John Wallace photo.

(edited to add): Thanks to Bruce Wilson over at the AML Nation, I was reminded that I also have this overall view of Wethersfield, looking north in 1938:

Click to enlarge.
Landmarks highlighted, north to south: Wethersfield Lumber, station & Gra-Rock, high school, Valley Coal.

So far I just have a mockup of some backdrop photos that, while taken in Wethersfield, don't look anything like the area west of the mainline (or how I imagine it to look in 1948).

Note the mock up of the historic Church Street photo.

Note the photos on the fascia (click on the images to enlarge), many of which were taken around my era and give at least some sense of the right look and feel of the area.

Trying to figure out a way to reconcile all this information into a credible backdrop for Wethersfield is what has me well and thoroughly stumped. I even started trying to PhotoShop a background for Jordan Lane (using - incredibly - a screenshot from a color video of Cortland, NY filmed in 1960. Click here for the result of that experiment).

I guess the easy - and perhaps only - resolution would be to just put a low treeline on the backdrop, contriving it as screening the highway from view. But I still have to deal with those pesky roads heading straight into the backdrop, and the intersections with the highway that would be obvious to anyone familiar with Wethersfield. And of course there should be at least a hint of "something" back there - house roofs, commercial buildings - might even try somehow to include that nice color picture of the high school.

Oh to have a drone - and a time machine - to go back to 1948 and shoot the color photos I need from the height I need them!!

A guy can dream.

But I also figure I'm not the only one that's ever confronted this sort of challenge. If you're one of those folks, I definitely want to hear if/how you prevailed. Actually, I'd love to hear from anyone that has some advice for getting me past this obstacle.

In the meantime, the Missus came up with a temporary solution: "You have three whole rooms of layout in the basement," says she, "and there's a lot of it that is just foam and plywood - not even any ground goop or basic scenery. [ed. note: yes, the Missus knows about "ground goop"] You've made lots of progress doing that - why don't you do that on some other parts of the layout while you're figuring out what to do with the Wethersfield backdrop? At least you'll still be making SOME progress and your operators won't have to run trains over bare foam and plywood."

Why, indeed.

Yes, I married a smart Missus, for sure.

So, while I continue to mull the backdrop - and wait to receive what I hope will be lots of sage advice - I think I'll move on to the Dividend section of Rocky Hill. It's the next section south that's only plywood & plaster (and now foam) and I already have all the buildings that go there.

In the meantime, I hope you'll have some fun trying to help me around my Wethersfield roadblock.

Thankful Thursday: Hubbard Homes Billboard

It's been almost 3 years(!) since I got this package in the mail from my friend Dave Messer. Here's what I found when I opened it all that time ago . . .

Click on the image to enlarge it. For more about Hubbard Homes, click here, and especially here.

Now that I'm making so much progress in Wethersfield (finally!), it's high time I figure out where to put this little nod to local history. Unfortunately, Dave's not here in person to confirm the location, but according to his letter, it should be about here . . .

Dave mentioned that it faced the tracks and, since it was nowhere near a street, presumably only train passengers could see it. The housing development was constructed primarily during the 1920s, when there was still passenger service on the Valley Line (commuter service between Middletown & Hartford continued until 1933). However, while this may be prototypically correct, it doesn't really look right.

So I tried it here...

And here . . .

And here . . .

And in a bunch of other places . . .

But I may end up settling on here . . .

This is Church Street and, traveling "east" (toward the aisle) you're driving into the heart of Old Wethersfield and the Hubbard housing development.

So, in a lot of ways it would make sense to put it here. But the Pull of the Prototype is strong - not to mention Dave's legacy in not only insisting on Prototype Placement (see Wethersfield Lumber), but also in providing such a cool story that I can share with others when they inevitably ask me: "So, what's the deal with that misplaced billboard?"

I think prompting such a conversation would be just the sort of thing Dave would enjoy - and it makes me smile to think of it.

Tuesday Tip: Level Foundations & Grass Glue

With the scenery north of Church Street being at a level of "done-ness" it was time to turn my attention south and to the Gra-Rock building area. (I also wanted to avoid diving right into the backdrop for a bit longer...)

View looking north past Church Street & the station area. I posted before how I raised the Gra-Rock building to track height using foam core board, but downside of using this material became apparent after I'd started scenicking around the area.

The moisture from the scenery process caused the board to warp slightly, resulting in an unsightly gap between the building's foundation and the "ground." Now, most folks would just add bushes or other ground cover around the foundation and call it a day. But that wouldn't address the gap underneath the steps leading up to the door - and I wanted to lower the building a tiny bit more anyway.

 So, out came the utility knife and putty knife and up came some of the foam core board. Thankfully, it's pretty easy to modify and/or remove. I wonder if I would have had this problem if I'd just removed the paper and used only the foam core itself...

Now THAT's better - or maybe I'm the only one who will ever notice....

Once further recessing was done (I needed to remove some board below the back addition as well), I hid the white areas with brown paint and it was time to start grassing - starting with the area around the sidewalk.

So, after protecting Church Street, I decided to try some Woodland Scenics static grass I had on-hand. I figured a different color of grass might be nice.

I also started grassing the area behind the building - using its being obscured to do a direct comparison test between the new "static grass glue" I'd purchased and plain, straight Elmer's white glue (I was about to run out of "wood glue max" and needed to decide whether to order more or just use the Elmer's I had on-hand).

Grass going in - and you can see I got a little too close with the vacuum on the grass around the sidewalk. You can see where it hit.

I continued grassing along the back until I ran out of the "wood glue max" and from that point on I used straight Elmer's.

I also decided that something looked "off" about the grass/lawn between Gra-Rock and Church Street.

So I decided to shoot it with some hairspray and add some of the same grass I used for the lawns on Fernwood St. Bonus: the "crop circule" just about disappeared.

By the way, in case you're interested in the mix of colors and lengths I use for the "grassy fields" in Wethersfield, see the pic above (or, if you're not, then this is just for my own reference). I use approx 50% of the Heki 3378, then 15-20% each of the Heki 33701 & 33711, and then 10-20% of the Noch to give it a dying look. Shaken & stirred.

Note masking tape "dam" added to the front of the layout to (try and) keep the static grass from falling to the floor.

I continued the static grass on both sides of the mainline south to Wells Road, using straight Elmer's white glue. I couldn't detect much, if any, difference between using it and the "wood glue max" I mentioned a couple weeks ago." Both adhered the grass the same & they both dry clear. The white glue is a bit easier to spread, since it's not as thick & tacky as the wood glue. The white glue is also much less expensive (and sold by the gallon) and more versatile than the wood glue (e.g. you can use it for ground goop, ballast, other scenery, etc).

So, going forward, I'll be using Elmer's White Glue. Unlike past times though, I'll be sure and use the white glue straight, with no dilution, and spread thin. YMMV & the wood glue max is a great product (and definitely thicker/stickier), but IMO it's not SO much better that it justifies the extra cost and hassle of having to find/order it. Elmer's can be found just about anywhere by the gallon.

I finished the Gra-Rock site (well, brought it to a level of "done-ness") by adding some medium height (4-6mm) grass around the base/foundation. I'll also be adding some additional vegetation to further cover any remaining gap. And I'll glue down the stairs when I'm ready to fix the structure in place. But for now, I really need to get to that backdrop!

April Showers Bring Layout Progress (4/18-4/19)

Between the stay-at-home orders and the rainy weather, April turned out to be a very productive month on the Valley Line - at least with regard to scenery progress in Wethersfield.

The last progress pics showed the "grassing in" of the landscape west of the mainline between Jordan Lane and Church Street. Next, I moved east of the line - focusing primarily around Fernwood Street and the residential area there (including John Wallace's house).

Having glued in the sidewalks I made previously, and taped them for protection, I brushed on a layer of glue and added 2mm green static grass with the Noch applicator. It looks especially light here since the glue hasn't dried yet.

I should have done the Cape house first, practicing on that before tackling Wallace's yard. As you can see from this distance, even the fine ground foam in the Cape yard looks good and realistically varied.

The first application was a bit thin, and I also had to complete the back yard as well. So the tape went back on the walks, and I added some cardstock "masks" to protect the surrounding area, and sprayed on some hairspray and added another layer of grass.

Here's the result. You ESPECIALLY want to be sure to cover/mask things when using the hairspray.

I used the same technique for the "Cape" yard and while that was drying, I added my field grass mix to the area between the lawn and the dirt bulk track area north of the station.

Overall view of the area looking south between Jordan Lane and Church Street. Note the iPad showing a Zoom meeting of other model railroaders staying connected.

Closeup view of the Cape house set in place. Still need to add the picket fence and shrubbery around the foundation. And probably a tree or two.

John Wallace's house will definitely need some shrubs and climbing roses (hopefully still ok for late Sept/early Oct)

Moving from the residential to the industrial, here's how Wethersfield Lumber - and the ROW - is looking with the grass in and dry.

I'd mentioned earlier the problem with the built-in base for this structure (which represents the Ballantine's beer distributor). It looks much better here with the base removed - and some judicious weathering applied.

And speaking of weathering, here's the Ballantine's office - a little more worn than I'd expected it to come out (and a reminder to take frequent breaks to check weathering progress. It's much easier to add more than to remove too much).

Also played around with some bumping posts on the sidings. Thankfully, I sent this photo to John before going any further. And he let me know the only "bumper" there was at the end of this siding was a large pile of ashes from the station's coal stove. Oh - and there was no ramp either by the late 1940s. SO nice to have some first-hand knowledge of the area!

I don't think he recalls how the end of the Wethersfield Lumber Co. siding was protected (why on earth would he?), so I decided to just use these wheel stops. However, he DID let me know that the company office was in the north end of this shed, rather than in a separate building as I'd first thought (and modeled). No worries - that model may end up elsewhere. And not having it here saves some precious space between the shed and the backdrop.

Overall view of the Fernwood Street neighborhood, looking northwest.

So that's the progress-to-date north of Church Street. Definitely needs a LOT more work: more textures, bushes, some trees, details like fencing and such. But it definitely has reached a level of "done-ness" and definitely looks better than the plain plywood and foam (even if it's painted).

The next & final "big" task (as opposed to detailing task) needed here is the backdrop. So it's back to (re)learn PhotoShop Elements..... not to mention hoping that I've taken the right landscape photos!