MHO Junction - HO scale - Lloyd

[Lloyd(MHOJunction)]

MHO Junction stands for Hawkesbury being the junction between Montreal and Ottawa. My layout is 40' x 20' and is Freelance in the 1970's. The layout got started on November 22nd 2015 and is about 40% finish today. When I say finish, I mean 68' out of 170' of main line completed with scenery.



This is my Hawkesbury yard which is far from being finished. I still haven't done the wiring for the tracks and I need to install a turntable.



This is my town of Hawkesbury. Every building has interiors and have lighting.



This section of the layout is late autumn and one of my favorite scene for pictures. The bridge is scratch build and prototypical to the oldest covered bridge in North America. It is called the Contoocook covered bridge and is situated in New Hampshire.



This area is where I'm currently working on. I need to put trees and create my backdrop to fit this area.



This section hasn't been touch in 4 years. This is my spring season and should be the next area that gets work done.



This is going to be my winter section of the layout. This section hasn't seen any work in 5 years.



This will be the signature area of the layout. It measure 7' x 7' diagonally and covers the helix. A brewery will take the whole area with 6 tracks going into the building, arrival track, departure track and a grain track. The garage doors will be animated (video on my Youtube page) and there will be a few trucks running around like the Faller system, but all done with Arduino (a rabbit hole I fell in).



That's it for now and will try to post my progress as I go along.

[Paul S.]

Thanks for the tour, Lloyd. Just tremendous for your first model railroad.

The covered bridge is sure an eye-catcher. When you get more time, some closeups would be welcomed! I think I see some board-by-board technique on it.

Is the tipple for zinc or another mineral? It's a good adaptation of the Walthers kit. And the weathering, nice!

[JerryZ]

Looking great Lloyd! You have accomplished a lot in 5 years.

Regards,
Jerry

[Lloyd(MHOJunction)]

Thanks Jerry.

[Lloyd(MHOJunction)]

Thanks for the tour, Lloyd. Just tremendous for your first model railroad.

The covered bridge is sure an eye-catcher. When you get more time, some closeups would be welcomed! I think I see some board-by-board technique on it.

Is the tipple for zinc or another mineral? It's a good adaptation of the Walthers kit. And the weathering, nice!

Thanks Paul,

The mining building is for ballast and the tipping is for ore. The entire kit was covered with rusted metal sheeting from a company in Europe followed by weathering.

The covered bridge was all done with scale lumber and yes, the siding was done board by board. I did a clinic for that bridge, will try and find some pictures that were used in the PowerPoint presentation.

This was the clinic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRUI-CWvCRs&t=33s

[Allen]

Absolutely impressive Lloyd, thanks for sharing your layout here on RMR.

[Michael Whiteman]

Definitely what Allen said above.

[Lloyd(MHOJunction)]

Thank you Allen and Michael.

[Lloyd(MHOJunction)]

Trees are very time consuming. This section of 8' is completed with 50 pine trees and 12 autumn foliage. This is the result.

[Allen]

Aaaah! That's the same software I have and use. It works pretty good.

[Michael Whiteman]

Beautiful fall colors ! very nice.

[Lloyd(MHOJunction)]

Thanks Michael

[Paul S.]

Spectacular, Lloyd. What a "wow" factor!

The right of way is just so convincing too. Well done!

And as you've no doubt already discovered, model railroads gobble up trees.

[Lloyd(MHOJunction)]

Thanks Paul, you are so right about the trees. I'm glad my layout is on average 18" deep.

[Lloyd(MHOJunction)]

Just tried something different. I'm probably sure someone tried this before.
I drilled holes in a 45 degree angle every 1/2" on all 4 sides of a chopstick and then inserted tiny branches from super trees.
I then gave it a coat of spray paint, added a bit of fine turf and finished it with super leafs.
I didn't pay to much attention to the branches length and position because I just wanted to see how it would look and how the building of it would go.
What do you guys think???

[Paul S.]

What Allen and Warren said!

[john_plsn]

I like the results Lloyd. A bit arid to tease what may be behind it.

[JerryZ]

Looks outstanding!

[Warren K]

I think that looks spectacular!

[Lloyd(MHOJunction)]

Thanks Allen, I'll be trying a different type of trunk soon.

[john_plsn]

On the trunk issue, have you tried finely sifted sawdust? I use it on my N scale Joshua trees with good results. With a dark wash and light drybrush the depth comes out nice.

[Lloyd(MHOJunction)]

John, you're absolutely right, I was going to add a few roots and curve the base of the tree, first with putty, than sawdust. Thanks for the reminder.

[Lloyd(MHOJunction)]

This section of the layout is done, except for a backdrop and more trees. Now, I'll be working on a section to the right which is my "Heavy Metal" workshop.

[Allen]

That is some great looking work Lloyd! Looking forward to seeing more, thanks for posting!

[Lloyd(MHOJunction)]

Thanks Allen

[craigtownsend]

How did I miss seeing this when it was first posted? Wow, that's some incredible details and scenery work!

Do you have a track plan?

[Lloyd(MHOJunction)]

Thanks Craig,

[Lloyd(MHOJunction)]

Craig, there's been a few modifications, such as their is no intermodal, it is now a yard, one of the entrance to the helix has moved and where there is a speeder shed, it is now a gorge,

[Paul S.]

Lloyd, if I recall correctly, you mentioned this is your first model railroad. I have been very impressed with the quality of your modeling. And now seeing the track plan, I'm even more so.

[Lloyd(MHOJunction)]

Back working on the layout, ....... not really, I should of said fixing.
I have 2 section of track to remove and replace.
One has 1/8" of missing track causing derailment, I thought it would be no problem, but was hugely wrong. Supposedly we learn from our mistakes.
The other is a section I have to remove near the covered bridge because at the exit it goes into a small curve which makes longer cars hit or get stuck in the bridge, again, we learn from our mistakes.
Boy i hate mistakes.

Oh well, in the mean time, I decided to take some pictures of trains on the layout, no not from my mistakes, too ashamed....lol

[Greg]

Mistakes are what makes us masters of our universe! If no errors or mistakes are made then we are not learning.
I agree with Allen, Great shot!

[Lloyd(MHOJunction)]

Thank you both.

[Alan B]

This looks great! The level of detail is impressive! And the mistakes are part of the fun! Show them off, we all make them and it may help someone else to not make the same mistake!

[Paul S.]

Boy i hate mistakes.

I hear you. I try to mentally frame mine as "opportunities to make improvements. " Still ... sigh.

[David]

Very, very nice Lloyd! Love the covered bridge scene in your first post.

[Lloyd(MHOJunction)]

Thanks David