BASIC MOUNTAIN GRADE BACKDROP

I continued to play “artist” by painting the basic backdrop for the mountain grade.  This totaled around 120 feet of wall length as I addressed both the long pair of walls for the grade plus the upper and lower lines in the McCredie Springs nook.  This is just basic backdrop with minimal detail, but it shows where I am headed on this area. 

I began by “sketching in” the landform outline with gray paint.  This is the profile for the landform as it reaches the wall.  Next, I added the distant ridgeline to several locations.  Finally, I painted a deep green swath representing the nearby forest.   A feature of this color band is that its upper profile has a representation of Douglas Fir tree tops. 

Wall area behind and above Wicopee.  Gray band represents the landform profile.  Two tunnels will appear on the upper (rear) line here.  Blue tape on the subroadbed spline indicates the portal locations.  The distant ridgeline is above the landform profile.  The nearby forest green band is advancing into the gap.

Cruzatte basic backdrop “completed.”

Basic backdrop painted for Salt Creek Trestle and the track between RR-West Wicopee and RR-East Cruzatte.

Basic backdrop painted for the McCredie Springs Nook. 

McCredie Springs backdrop.  I will add detail here, as most of this scene is fully against the backdrop.

Future site of Tunnel 3, the summit tunnel.

Though I am tempted to add artistic detail to the gray landform profile area, I will resist for now.  Once the landform is built (still deciding on technique), I may want the neutral gray on the wall under the scenery.  For now, I have transformed the space from bare walls and plywood to something representing the area through which the track climbs.  This is the Cascades!