Do Zombies Attend Church?

Don't know where this figure came from.  None of the others have the pin in a foot to stick into scenery!  But the color of this guy brought up thoughts of zombies:

Used a tannish marker to give a little better color to the guy; hard to see since it's a "bit" out of focus, but his tan IS more life-like.

That's him between the two ladies by the white picket fence and the milk truck.  So, this "converted" zombie appears to be headed for church.  Also more permanently attached Reverend Jeff hailing his flock on a warm Fall evening along with Deacon Williams standing by the steps while Finance Committee Chair Compton already has the plate out standing there beside the Right Reverend.

Fighting the Weeds

Broom straw or broom sedge might be one of may favorite weeds -- somehow it reminds me of my childhood!  I've had some Woodlands Scenic "grass" for some time.  It is WAY too long for broom straw and when cut to something even close to scale length/height, it gets real hard to manage.  I've used some, but gave up on it.

Well, just recently I found a method to cut it closer to proper length AND made it easier to handle.  Cannot remember exactly where I found it but on the Internet somewhere!?!  Here are the steps in photos:

OK, maybe not quite as obvious as hoped.  Instructions had called for just one set of popsicle sticks, but that might have been O scale.  So, WS grass was laid down with two sets of sticks and cut down the middle.  Instructions used rubber bands, but clothes pins or paper clamps worked fine.  The cut ends are dipped into a line of white glue and let dry.  Resulting "rows" need to be pulled or cut apart to get reasonable clumps.

All was going well, until compared to an HO scale figure.  Much too tall, still.  But a little trimming and the bunches came into line for height -- problem is, each "straw" is the same size, which is not quite prototypical.

Still better than earlier efforts, so a few were applied to the layout with just a dab of white glue on the bottom.

As luck would have it, the very next day Trackside Scenery showed up on my PC -- with another approach to broom straw!!  This looked fantastic.  So, I cut the Woodlands Scenic grass to lengths close to "real" broom straw and rolled some weed.

OK so far, then pull a clump apart and dip in patches of white glue (well, he actually used a spray adhesive of some sort).

I wasn't convinced, so I added a few of the prior effort

Well, we tried.  Not totally satisfied with either but maybe from 20 feet away, they'll look OK.

Adding (Back) a Few Details

The three Easley train show boxcars made it to the layout and look right at home.  Some effort was made to weather; looks like C&O needs to have its rust dulled a bit. . .

Also, the motive power for Blacktop Crossing is lined up with engines idling.

Tried to create a scene at the team track.  Seems one guy is claiming to have done all the unloading work from the LCL car at the dock while another is just about to pass out and needs a rest on the steps.  We could ask the supervisor who really did the work, but she also knows who's bragging and who's working!

Moved the milkman and his truck from the Company Store to the Mill Village.  The youngsters in that house probably consume gallons of milk a week.

The Doc's Buick is parked in back of the Doctors' Office, and a wagon load of recently-picked cotton enters the Cotton Gin for processing.  Maybe that panel truck at the Gin is picking up some cotton seed for oil production.  And maybe that same truck will be stuck there for the duration -- funny what a little compression will do for realism!!

A couple of vehicles are parked at the Cotton Office and a delivery truck has pulled into the back of the Company Store to unload.  A couple of stray cats have found a viewing spot on the short fence.

Beyond the end of the Blacktop and across the tracks are the rolling hills in the background.  The Rural Church parking lot is filling up, but a few more "parishioners" are needed to complete the scene.

On the other side of the Cotton Factory a few bales of cotton are left on the dock to be brought inside.  [a bit out of focus!]

And on the other side of town, the greasers are still talking cars and trash, folks are having hot dogs and conversation, and life goes on in a small Southern town on a balmy September afternoon.

Tying Off a Few Loose Ends

Small amount of grass was added between the Cotton Factory and Company Store so continued some work next door at the Cotton Classing/Broker office

Before and 

After

Adding a parking area out front for "customers" and working on a little grass at the rear. Left a path between Cotton Office and Country Store for easy access!

Then moved down the blacktop toward the Cotton Gin to cover the shoulder.  Fine earth ground foam mainly, but tried static grass again.  My eyes may not be all that good, but I don't see the grass standing up too well. Even changed the batteries to make sure the applicator was working.

On a roll, so took on the Doctors' Office.   Added a parking area for patient (not plural; not enough room) out front.  Some flowering shrubs on one side and "boxwoods" on the other. Also added some sanding grout in the rear to make room for unloading at the team track ramp.  To divide Doctors' Office from drive, placed a row of white flowering who-knows-what that had been made long ago in bottle brush style. Probably had thought about one route to cotton plants before going to lichen for that.  Decided that these Docs are well-enough off to have some relatively nice grass.  In process:

Plantings complete.

 Office in place.

Then worked on the shoulder just behind the Rural Church.  May need a little more weed growth here and there.  But, the light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter.  Will need to move to adding people and smaller details before too long.

Between Two Spurs and Then Some

Just a minor amount of scenicking between the Cotton Factory and Pulpwood Yard spurs.  Enough to have something other than bare ground.  First photo is just the first little bit of ground foam, earth after painting with 50/50% white glue.

 Just a hint of grass or weeds between the spur lines plus some near the power plant and patches in the rutty entrance to the Pulpwood Yard.  Just couldn't stop with that. so moved on to the Company Store.

Again, just a light dusting of earthy grass foam and a couple of weedy bushes at the interior corner.

Can hardly tell the difference!

Figured the little crossing tower wouldn't be safe with the bottom of the steps exiting right into the blacktop road like in earlier post, so maybe rotation like this:

May have to straighten the legs a little. . .

The Crossing, Itself

So, if this is going to represent Rock Hill in some sort or fashion, probably should have some rocks.  Actually, it might have been flint rocks that led to the name, and these aren't.  In any case, a before and after again at the crossing.  Including crossing arm and temporarily placed crossing shanty.

Between the Branch and Main

Not real sure what goes best between the branch line and the mainline, but tried several ideas.  Started with the "bare ground":

Brushed with 50/50% white glue then sprinkled some fine turf, mixed colors but heavily leaning toward brown and not green.  Sprinkled a little greener fine turf, added some polyfiber sprayed with extra hold hair spray and sprinkle with dull fine turf.  Used something that was like polyfiber but already had some fairly greenish ground foam included.

Then, for the coup de gras, added rocks toward the back/blacktop crossing that The Wife had given me.  Some full strength white glue was used for adhesive with some 50/50 added just in case.  Some few clumps of bushes in a couple of colors and some wild flowers heavily in orange and yellow, some red.

Armory is in better focus in second picture and also has a tree with some dull fine turf for highlights with extra hold hairspray.

Making progress, but still finding other spots that need finished scenery/ground cover ;(

Working on Branch Line Scenicking

Well, dang!  There's about 1 1/2' of track yet to ballast, right in front of the passenger station.  Let's get that taken care of between more scenicking for the branch line:

In real time, this last ballasting with the medium size gray ballast was after working on two section of the branch line.  Some of the little used siding for the branch line has been displayed.  Here is a group of pretty scrawny trees to add "interest":

Oh, and as mentioned before, some coal has spilled out at the conveyor over time:

Tried static grass again between mainline and branch line, but still not very satisfied.  Started with 50/50 white glue:

After working in that area, moved to the Quonset Hut/Armory location with some more 50/50 glue.  Then a little medium foam, somewhat lightly spread.

Some of the static grass can be seen in this photo, above, as well at the photo of the last bit of ballasting by the passenger station.  It's OK (the static grass), but doesn't stand up quite like it should.

And here is Quonset Hut/Armory a bit out of focus.  This looks OK to me when in focus!

Might just finish up the area between branch and main line with some "talus" along the way like this photo from a Virginian layout.  The rock was a gift from The Wife.  Gotta use a little more than I have already. . . .

Then it's the crossing tower and Doctors' office, and that should just about do it.  A little finish work along the blacktop across from the Cotton Factory, also.