Model Railroading > Dairy Ops! Major Scenery Progress on the Onondaga Cutoff

Now and again we're able to make enough progress on the layout that you can look at the same spot over a month or two and it's a night-and-day difference. Thanks to amazing help from my buddy Jason, there's some great news from the Onondaga Cutoff - and the mainline run looks a lot more like upstate New York!

One of the longest-standing industries in upstate New York, including Onondaga County, is dairy farming. To this day there are many different family dairy farms and a number of those dot the route of the Onondaga Cutoff. To tie the fictional route to the actual territory, I planned for a dairy farm to be constructed some day. Once Jason understood my vision for the project, he generously decided to jump in full bore, and so someday came much sooner than it would otherwise have come!

We measured the spots, and worked together on the general idea. Jason handled construction off-site and I prepared the substructure, backdrop, and wiring to accept the new scenes. Many locales have some of the general feel of this scene, of course. But once you factor in the NYC standard signal bridge, the GRS 'SA' searchlight signals, the NYC tombstone milepost, and the ROW that used to hold more than the current 2 tracks, it's clear that this is upstate New York on the former NYC. One of the fun things about more modern modeling is using details to tie the railroad to its history.

I am thrilled with the results, taking a location that was without any scenery save backdrop and making it a key scene on any mainline run east of Onondaga Yard.

1. ML401 brings his autoracks west behind three Conrail units in October 1994, passing the farm behind and its requisite cornfield in front.

2. The farm, during its original placement on the layout, before any blending into the benchwork.

3. A test fit of the field, making sure it would fit and not obstruct the view of the background. This is a critical step for scenes constructed off-site.


There's more! (moo?)

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Continued...

4. Once Jason started on the field, I moved ahead and finished the ballasting and benchwork for the field area, and wired up the lighting for the farm (24-hour operations including dark night operations make this a pre-requisite for scenery installs). Ballast curing under a sea of diluted matte medium.

5. The field set in place, with ballast now curing on the Cazenovia Industrial Track in the foreground.

6. Once the ballast had set, I constructed a private farmer’s crossing to allow access between the farm and its cornfields. The ditch was crafted from sculptamold and then painted and detailed accordingly.

It’s a thrill to see scenes come together, and even moreso when it’s such a coordinated effort. Working with other modelers and railroad professionals has been a boon to the Onondaga Cutoff, so many elements of which are better because other experts are involved.

Thanks for looking!

~RGDave

http://onondagacutoff.blogspot.com/

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Great teamwork. Nice set of photos.

Looks great! My grandpa had a dairy farm in NY state . . . he had mostly Holsteins, as you do, but also a few Jerseys and other breeds.

This layout is quickly becoming one of my favorites. This scene looks great.

Wow, looks great, and far enough south to miss that nasty lake effect snow in winter! Hah hah.

Cheers, Jim Fitch

RGDave Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Continued...
>
> 4. Once Jason started on the field, I moved ahead
> and finished the ballasting and benchwork for the
> field area, and wired up the lighting for the farm
> (24-hour operations including dark night
> operations make this a pre-requisite for scenery
> installs). Ballast curing under a sea of diluted
> matte medium.
>
> 5. The field set in place, with ballast now
> curing on the Cazenovia Industrial Track in the
> foreground.
>
> 6. Once the ballast had set, I constructed a
> private farmer’s crossing to allow access
> between the farm and its cornfields. The ditch
> was crafted from sculptamold and then painted and
> detailed accordingly.
>
> It’s a thrill to see scenes come together, and
> even moreso when it’s such a coordinated effort.
> Working with other modelers and railroad
> professionals has been a boon to the Onondaga
> Cutoff, so many elements of which are better
> because other experts are involved.
>
> Thanks for looking!
>
> ~RGDave
>
> http://onondagacutoff.blogspot.com/

Nice touch having a Cortland built Brockway tractor.  That tractor would be roughly 20 years old on your layout.  (Last ones built spring of 1977.)

what a great looking scene! I can definitely tell that it's upstate NY given my countless travels on I-90 between Erie, Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse - very easily identifiable.

Great looking scene!

Mike Mautner
Maryland Hts., MO

Looks great! Are those rocks commercial products?

Looks like things are moo-ving along just fine!

Posted from Android

Great eye for that Brockway, yes that's another upstate NY detail that helps set the tone. Manufacturers of regional vehicles like that are a subtle but effective addition to any scene.

Thanks for all the support! It is a lot of fun to share progress with the TO family.

~RGDave

I miss how much fun the Water Level Route across NY used to be... Former Conrail units are getting quite hard to find, everything nowadays has a pair of filthy dark blue GE's on the point, the signal bridges are gone, the stone mileposts are slowly disappearing... Not the same railroad it was 20-some years ago...

Your layout does an excellent job capturing how enjoyable it used to be... Also provides me with inspiration to get back down on my layout and run some trains or continue work on some other project... Thanks for continuing to share!

Looks great, Dave. Looking forward to my next visit. -- Sully

Winter's coming John Snow, er RGDave!

Those l-o-n-g central NY winters will be a good time for you to make more progress on the Onondaga Cutoff! It will help fight cabin fever (otherwise known as Seasonal Affective Disorder) something I was prone to and went to the Carousel Mall to fight off!

Cheers, Jim