Prolog

Leading up to this new scenery was a LOT of construction work. Click here to look at the under-the-covers construction of this area.

The bridge over lower Bear Creek

In August and September of 2019 the BC&SJ and I were hard at work painting backdrops, adding static grass and other ground cover, ballasting track, adding static grass, and making and installing about 120 trees over a 16 foot stretch of layout between Bear Creek yard and Oakhill. That many trees looked impressively large while sitting on the layout benchwork in pink-foam holders. It's always amazing how quickly trees are used up when planting them. It's hard to not be overly optimistic about about the area they'll cover!

This strech of track includes the deck girder bridge carrying the mainline over lower Bear Creek and the Siskiyou branch. Construction was finished just prior to the Sept 14, 2019 BC&SJ op session (sorry, no photos of that session - I had the camera ready to go but a shortage of crew resulted in my becoming the South Jackson yardmaster where I had no time for photography).

It's always a bit nerverwracking trying to get scenery mess cleaned up in time for an op session but everything went off without a hitch.

Emerging from the cut above the Siskiyou staging yard throat

Part of the scenery plan for this area was to raise up a hill at the fascia above the Siskiyou staging area yard throat allowing for better visibility and access of this area.

As a result of this the mainline between Bear Creek yard and Oakhill runs behind the "bulge" and through a cut at the up hill end of this track.

Moomaw Dairy

It's official. The farm area will become the Moomaw Dairy. There is now backdrop behind the site of the Moomaw Dairy. This area will eventually sport barns, milking sheds, a silo, of lots of dairy cows. At the moment the farmhouse (assembled by Jim Moomaw), a shed, and a static-grass hayfield, and a meadow for some horses (no they don't plan on milking the horses) are all that are present. Nevertheless, the backdrop made a huge difference in the appearance of this six foot stretch of layout.

New Locomotives - 2019

The 32nd Avenue paint shop delivered two Alco RS-2s and a RSC-2 in a new paint scheme in time for the op session (and this photo shoot).

Summary

There's still a lot to be done before this area can be considered finished.

• Lower Bear Creek needs a creek bottom and water
• More ground treatment
• More buildings to finish the farm
• Shrubberies

I'm hoping that scenery in this area will be complete by the end of 2019. More finished scenery for trains to run through is always welcome. At least that what Abe Euhnett and the other railroad crewman say.

Charlie