Recently I began work on the park for my layout. This is situated on a 2 inch thick square of white bead board that is a lift out area. This is my progress to this point. There’s a covered picnic area, plenty of space for traditional picnics on the grass, a playground for the crumb snatchers, a mailbox, antique phone booth and assorted trash cans. There’s also a magnificent looking K4 as a centerpiece which will eventually have a fence around it.
Now for the K4.
I took this old beat-up loco and cleaned it up:
And now it looks like this:
Here’s a birds-eye view of the scene. The open areas around the section will be covered by strips of cardstock covered with bushes and assorted clump foliage.
I love the idea of a park with an old engine. It needs some kids hanging around, to remind us that there’s another generation of model railroaders growing up right now.
I was inspired by your pictures last week, and I glued a couple of pigeons to the Civil War statue in my park, and added a couple more to the fence nearby.
After years of sitting in the weather, WM202 was given a protective shed a few years ago.
She’s recently been painted, and the lettering and striping will be restored this summer. She currently resides in Hagerstown Municipal Park along with a couple of cabooses.
Nice scene, Jeff. You might want to add some shade trees…
The AC unit in the background is lager enough to cool a LARGE city, where did you find it and how did you move it? Did the power company build a special power plant to power it? That thing is about 6 or 7 story’s tall.
Well for your information that AC unit is in fact a protoypical representation of the real thing and if you look real hard you can see one downtown Atlanta Georgia. (I think that one is 12 stories high and cools most of the inner city).As you well know it gets very sticky and uncomfortable in Georgia about 6 months of the year.
Neat job…You might want to run your finger over your toothbrush a few times after using it, above the loco, for an authentic park look. Maybe even add a couple of the pigeons sitting on it! Also some dullcote on the rest of the equipment too. Neat idea, though…Kudos! jc5729 John Colley, Port Townsend, WA
I’ve been following this on the other thread, and I really like what you’ve done–especially the cosmetically ‘restored’ 4-6-2 as the centerpiece. I especially like the way you’ve blended the grass colors to represent areas that are well-used by park-goers. Really nice job so far.
Just a thought–if you’re going to have shade trees, take a look at the Scenic Express “Instant Trees”–I just got some, and you can build some really realistic looking ‘see-through’ foilage with them.
Thanks Tom. I have some trees here but none of the are big enough. I’ll have a look at Hobby Lobby the next time I’m in Alexandria. Right now I’m working on a chain link fence to put around the loco.
Hey Jeffery, That is a great looking park, but I still don’t see any camping spots for trailers.
When you are putting up the foliage around the outside how about putting some in on an angle along the outside edge with a road in front so CN Charlie and I can back our trailers in there for a winter break. We won’t even ask for pull throughs. Maybe showers though and maybe a fire pit if that is allowed in that area. A convenience store would be nice too so that we wouldn’t have to go too far for the wieners and beans and bubbly.
By the way, how far would we have to go to catch some Catfish ??
This gives me an idea for what I could do with an old Bachmann John Bull set I received as a gift from someone who didn’t understand what era modeling is all about. Maybe I could even model a small railroad museum. If I could just find the space for it.
Good idea! I have a few old steam locos, maybe one of them could be in a park! The problem would be explaining a C&NW 0-4-0 switcher in New Hampshire…guess I’ll use the 2-8-2 instead…[swg]
Looking good jeffrey, can’t wain to see the finished park. I am planning the same thing on my HO layout when the time comes. I have an old 0-4-0 (No motor or tender) that will be in the park with a fence around it to keep the keds from climbing on in and getting hurt. I plan on getting some playground equpt. and a small pond and a place for campers and hikers, if I can and have the room.
Looks good Jeff. Reminds me of the top of the Horseshoe Curve when I was a kid and the K4 they had on display there.
Word to the wise, you better put a fence up around that before the hoolagans get to it. Someone stole the bell from the K-4 at the HS. Cabeese are also good for parks. [;)]
OK, I’ll be the mensch - the mailbox & phone booth should be sitting on concrete or asphalt pads, or at least be near a paved walkway (we won’t mention phone lines, as we can pretend the electric/phone conduits are underground). Actually running some paved (or gravel) walkways between the playground, picnic area, and utilities (i.e. the phone & mailbox) would look good. And finally, big lid-less steel drums (often painted dark green or brown) have been very common park trash cans for decades now (even more so than wire iron baskets or blue plastic drums), so add a few of those.
The phone booth is on a raised concrete pad. That may not have been evident in the photo. The mailbox has since been moved to the concrete foundation of a VFW monument. The pathways haven’t been added yet though they will be eventually. As for the big lidless trash cans, they have those in the parks here and most people think of them as hideous eyesores. I didn’t want them in this park so I opted for the square covered trash cans and some smaller brown trash cans with lids.
Chutton, I hate to tell you this but you’re missing using the word ‘mensch’. Mensch is a yiddish word meaning someone to admire or emulate, someone of noble character; a doer of good deeds. I not saying you’re not a mensch, just that is being misused or in the wrong context. Being a mensch could include pointing out the areas in which one could improve their modeling.
Along those lines, the park looks a little too sterile, too bland. Some people would help. I think its a little unusual to have a mailbox installed next to a monument or marker. Some more paths would help. A little variation in the green grass, looks too monotone. A good start, but still along way to go.
Nice job, Jeffrey! It does look a little vacant. But it won’t be too long until kids, dogs and parents notice a nice and inviting park like that. Does any one make a 2-4 rpm motor to power a merrygoround? Don’t forget flying a kite. If you can’t find thin enough wire that will look both prototypical and support a kite, you can just put it in a tree with the line slaked and leading to a crying kid.
