Donahue - Stunning Progress!

The Dohonue yard relatively empty by a warm day of May

Once in a while, we surpass ourselves without knowing it. It seems that several months if not years of discussion have finally yielded results. As I move forward with scenery, I finding my own language using various media such as ground foam, gravel, dirt, grout, static grass and dead leaves. When looking back at what I considered my best work one year ago, I can see a huge difference. Surfaces are no longer treated as carpet, but have a lot of variation in cover, color and texture. These progresses wouldn't have been possible without the strong influence of Chris Mears whose experiments modelling grassy tracks seem to have percolated into my work (to my great pleasure).

The electric pylon in the background add dynamism

At this point, I consider the end of Donohue yard is now completed. Some ground work is still required at the other end, near the warehouse and office, but for the most part, we can consider that the only things to do are adding small details to add life to the scene and finish some buildings.

Grass is a complex assemblage of textures...

Lessons learn with this project will certainly be applied elsewhere on the layout, with my intended goal (unlikely to be reached), to finish ground cover in Donohue, Clermont and Wieland by Christmas. At that point, the only parts of the layout to be left unfinished will be the Villeneuve and Maizerets scenes, which have been on hiatus for a few years now and need some love.