Thursday, June 13, 2013

Proviso Highway Overpass (or How to Hide a Hole in the Wall)

   I have quite a few cases on the layout where trains travel through walls.  The biggest hole is just west of Proviso where the hole contains the mainline, staging tracks and a yard lead, seven tracks in all. 
   To hide the hole, I modeled the Manheim Road overpass right next to the wall.  Helping the overall effect is a mirror and parking lot.  The mirror is from Lowes.  It is 20"X24" and cost $14.  I had a local hardware store cut it to 20"X16" so that it fit the location better.  In my visits to Proviso, I noticed a number of parking lots surrounding the yard that are used for storage of unused containers and trailers. I decided this would be a great location to add one of these lots. 
  The bridge itself is made from styrene sheet and Plastruct structural I beams.  I laminated four styrene sheets to make the bridge supports.  There are a bit odd looking but prototypical as you can see from the prototype picture. 
   For the parking lot I first used regular plaster to level out the area and then applied a coat of Woodland Scenics Smooth-It for the finished parking lot surface.
   I still need to paint the bridge and weather the parking lot.