Coal Tipple and Forest

The Paducah and Lake Erie was conceived as a coal-hauling short line set in southwestern Pennsylvania, and this is the first and primary loading facility on the railroad. The tipple was purchased several years ago at a sale in which the modeler was getting out of HO scale.

The forest behind it was created with a combination of Scenic Express Super Trees, MicroMark poly fiber, and Timberline Scenery Co. ground cover/foliage, all mounted on the pink insulation foam board. This process is very similar to that described by outstanding modeler Dave Abeles on his blog about building his Onondaga Cutoff.

The rock walls in the scene are carved into the pink insulation board material, and then painted with acrylics. Ground cover is a combination of Woodland Scenics fine ballast cinders, Scenic Express fine natural soil and dirt, and the ground cover/foliage as used in the forest. Mounds are made by carving stacked pink material. The track is painted with black semi-gloss Rustoleum.

To the right of the top photo is the entrance to the helix, which will be covered primarily with forest and several company houses.