Article & Photos By David Yadock
Dry Gulch & Western, Update 5
Moving along from my previous posting of the Wapwallopen area on my layout we find ourselves looking to the mountain mining town of Alpine. This town finally saw completion early on during the Covid-19 stay-at-home mandates. I decided to get this town completed since it is poised along the north wall of my layout. Due to its location, it would be more difficult to install scenery once many of the other areas are completed in front of it. Alpine required some scenery and several structures including its distinctive station. Unfortunately, I do not have a very good “pre” shot of the Alpine area. The ones I have included in this update will give you an idea of the scenery changes that have taken place. Overall, the addition of two mining complexes and the witch’s hat station give this town its unique appeal. Yes, this town is tucked way up high on the layout which makes switching the mining areas a challenge for the operators. This town along with some of my other towns are located in what I consider my central mining district of the layout. The Betterby mine is located on the west end of the town while the larger Izzit mine is located on the east end of the town.
The town of Alpine had some difficulties with both scenery blending and the many varying details needed to complete the scene. This small section of the layout containing Alpine is only about one foot wide and 8-10 feet long. There is not much space for large structures even though it has a long combination passing siding and ore loading area. Building flats would not look or work well in this area of the layout. Additionally, that pesky mountain scenery background chews up most of the real estate for structures!
Photo 22 gives you an idea of the space and location. Alpine is just to the upper right of the stone arch bridge. In this “pre” shot I had several structures just placed in the area. None of them were permanent. As you can see, scenery was still taking shape.
Photo 23 gives you a straight on view of Alpine and the lack of scenery. This needed to be remedied with more trees, ground cover, and structures. A nice train station would help too! The building at about the center top of the photo is no longer at Alpine since it was too large. That structure was crammed into the available space and its placement looked very awkward.
Photo 24 gives a close-up view of the new station and some of the surrounding structures. The station is actually quite compact but the turret spire with its witch’s hat roof makes it appear much larger. The station fits between the mainline track and the siding. It was completely scratchbuilt. For those John Allen fans, the station mimics his “Angel’s Camp” station. You can also see Jim’s structure in the background too! Can anyone guess what item I used to top off the witch’s hat spire? Don’t worry, I didn’t shoot my eye out with it!
Photo 25 is an overall view of the Alpine area. The Izzit Mine complex is off to the far right of this photo. Alpine has quite a few structures. Please note that the central section of the layout just below the station slides upward to allow access to the Alpine area for maintenance. The stone arch bridge is also removeable to allow access for switch motor maintenance.
Photo 26 shows the western side of the Alpine area. Just above the steel arch bridge is the Betterby Mine complex. It boasts a long siding which helps for switching and car storage. The small white line about dead center in the photo denotes a fixed uncoupling ramp. These are positioned throughout the layout to help operators know where the permanent ramps are located. These rods can be removed for photos of the layout.
Photo 27 is a close up of the Betterby Mine complex. It was constructed from a Campbell kit. Again, this location has just a tiny amount of real estate for an online industry.
That concludes the tour of Alpine. Next time we will look at the waterfalls and gulch area west of Potter Flats. This location had lots of scenery that needed to be added or completed. It also mimics the famous “French Gulch” scene from John Allen’s layout. This was a key scene I wanted to have on my layout.
David
Great work David. It has been a very long time since I was last there, and will undoubtedly be a long time before I get there again. I am enjoying your “tales” regarding your layout and your references to John Allen.