Ravine Block

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The tunnel portal leads to Quincy block, invisible and inaccessible, which bypasses a large portion of the layout before it emerges far in Victoria. The main line is in the middle distance.

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Track level view of Proctor Hill. Note the nicely ballasted and rusted track.

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All of this scenic work was done by a member who is no longer with us, leaving me to blend in the remainder. The pine trees were bought in bulk and a box of 100 still remain.

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South portal (P1). The stark white spot at the apex of the arch itself used to bear a round DMIR herald. I'd like to use that herald again but this particular keystone is shaped like a keystone.

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Front side of Ravine South itself; the drop is sheer to the fascia. I'm not sure why any of this is green.

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Mostly, it presents a very picturesque vista. My chief criticism is not just that the trees are sparse but that they are too evenly distributed. I question that the actual ravine is dry. Either it should have some water running through it -- or the country is too dry for pine trees.

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From this angle, it's even more apparent that the trees are sparse and rather regularly distributed. Upslope should be more heavily forested, to the point of obscuring the ground; downslope other tree species should take over.

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North Portal (P2). This might be a better choice for the Mesabe herald. In foreground, pine trees and ground cover.

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The actual ravine is dry, passing under the bridge. The fascia is cut away here as in few places on the layout; generally the main line is at the same level as the top of the benchwork subroadbed.

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South portal (P3). Note the arch well-sooted by steam power of yore.

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Directly below is Greeley. I'll need to be careful to avoid dripping, particularly into the control panel for the narrow-gauge turntable down there.

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Construction is plaster-soaked mesh with a coat of "flesh" tone paint. May replace the lone tree with a juniper.

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The plaster coat is very light and in many places the mesh texture is visible. With heavy grass or ground cover, this is fine; when more bare areas are left, some replastering may be wise.

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Clearly, there's much to be done. The major challenge is to blend the upper, mountanous region as it spans old and new work.

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North portal (P4). Besides the scenic to be done, there is an ops issue with this turnout: the usual position of the switch motor is blocked by a benchwork support.

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Mountain area of Ravine North. Should be heavily forested.

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This is, for me, what fixes the entire block in Colorado (or perhaps Nevada); this appears to be a small abandoned silver mine.

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The tailings strewn in front puzzle me; I should have reserved that work for much later.The track nearest the mine is switched by the dead turnout.

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Mine and high meadow area. Meadow should be tall, light brown grass with much wild shrubbery. The miner's campsite to the side of the mine entrance may be a spot for a small structure.

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The campsite presents a challenge; it's very small. The rock face to its rear is nearly vertical, an opportunity for some nice rock work and a good contrast to the meadow. The camp should not hide this.

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Challenges include the vertical rock wall at rear and what are very likely too many tailings strewn in front. The step leading down from the entrance suggest that the mine was too small for even a narrow gauge, hand-pushed ore cart; very likely it never proved. To the left is the small, flat area -- perhaps only tents were pitched there but some remnants of structure should remain. Also, a continuous footpath from campsite to entrance must have been beaten.

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Heavy industry including the cement plant serviced by hoppers from the gravel pit in Jacksonville. To get a decent transition from Ravine foothills, I'll either need to grass toward Silicon or cut down the foothills themselves.

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Before attempting anything else, I determined to break up the solid "flesh" color with a little underpainting. I tinted paint thinner with a little light brown enamel and made a number of quick strokes, switching up to dark brown and eventually black.

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Trackside rise is painted with a 50/50 mix of white glue and water.

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Dave F. demonstrates static grass application in Kaos. The body of the machine is rather like a flashlight; the white plastic canister is filled with flock and covered by a wide mesh grill. The ground lead is connected to the layout and the entire unit is shaken or tapped. High voltage makes each individual "blade" of flock repel its neighbor, forcing them to stand straight up. When the glue is thoroughly dry, excess flock is simply vacuumed up.

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Trackside rise with green grass. Note ground pin and lead to left. Of course, this particular spot gets no flock.

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After first pass of static grass. Of special note are a few squiggles of flock left on the backdrop. Those are careless splashes of paint thinner with just a hint of black enamel; obviously, they are not connected to the glue layer by any conductive path. Apparently the static grass machine is very strong. It may not be necessary to insert the ground pin directly into the glue layer at all.

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As promised, the static grass provides a solid and even cover. However, the underpainting does make itself felt. A second pass with longer grass will probably obscure it entirely.

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As the static grass fades towards the mine, the underpainting becomes more visible. I assume that habitation will so destroy the grass roots that the old campsite will be invaded by weeds.

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As the grass fades into the tree line, it will of course disappear altogether under the shade of massed pines. I may work around towards the south slope with the grass, though.

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High meadow with light brown grass. The slope just above the retaining wall will require much more work but at least the grass gets us started. Higher up, the coverage is reasonably realistic

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The main fault of static grass is that it is too uniform; wild grass shows more variation in color and especially in length. I plan to attempt variations with multiple light passes on top of spattered glue; later, I'll break up the meadow with wildflowers and the occasional clump of shrubs.

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The grass flock is available in a range of colors and lengths; with suitable blending, I hope for excellent results.