In-ko-pah Railroad: Spring in the desert


Hi! It's been a while since I've been to this forum. I've been busy working on some model buildings. But I needed a break from that, so lately I've been doing some work on the layout. (It's a 1/24th scale outdoor model railroad.)

I'm "fine-tuning" some of the rock work on older areas of the layout, and also creating and installing hundreds of miniature, scale plants. And, I'm working on improving my photography, trying out different camera angles, lighting, etc. Here are a few of my recent photos:

This first shot is one of my favorites... A train crosses the Serenity Canyon Viaduct, as the setting sun casts long shadows on the ruins of an old mine:

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The fireman of this locomotive takes a moment to enjoy the view as the late afternoon sun highlights the rocks and plants:

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A bird's eye view as a train traverses the cliffs of the In-ko-pah Railroad:

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A view of the abandoned Monolith Mine, as seen from a train on the Serenity Canyon Viaduct. Note the red-tail hawk on the headframe:

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Another view of the train on the Serenity Canyon Viaduct:

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Scraggly ocotillos, prickly cholla cactus, brittlebush, and other desert shrubs dot this rocky ridge as a train passes in the distance:

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The train struggles upgrade in the shadow of the cliffs:

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Ray was wondering what you were up to, the railway's looking good!
I'm still in the planning stages, hoepfully the shovel will hit the rocks next month...:rolleyes:
 
Looks great - you've really done a good job of finding and positioning the rocks so that they look to scale, not like a model train running through clunky boulders. Very cool model plants, too.
 
Thanks! I've added a couple new things to the layout....

One of my long-term goals is to build a through truss bridge here:

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Until I can build the permanent bridge, I decided to put in a temporary bridge. Not very fancy but it looks much better than that old plank:

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I also finally made some signs for the rock shop in the town:

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Dang, Ray, I'm just blown away every time you post new pictures. Those various cactus are amazing, especially the ocotillo in bloom. Great stuff.
 



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