Drivel time!
Sometime ago I posted these pictures to various places here at OGR. Now I can't remember where. Seein' as these photo mini-essay's deal strictly with my KC&G Ozark Sub theme, I thought it good for me to place here in this thread so they're where they belong: In my KC&G thread.
Of course, I can't just post a pic. Nope, as typical, there's drivel that goes with the pics as I spin some yarns based on my prototype railroading career, incidents of railroading friends, etc, etc.
For those of you that haven't previously seen the pics or read the yarns, I hope you enjoy!
Dateline: 1964...
On this crisp, overcast autumn day, a rather road weary Kansas City & Gulf #255 sits burbling alongside the engine house at the small town of Ozarka, Arkansas.
Ozarka is deep in the heart of the Ozark Mountains and has the distinction of being situated at the foot of the worst grade on the entire Kansas City & Gulf: The 2.5% - 2.9% climb up through Possum Creek Hollow, then into Buck Hollow, and onto the side of Buck Mountain for the final assault to Piney Gap.
Many's been the time #255 has done battle with that grade, either as the lead unit, or a trailing unit, or as a helper... and it's pretty much a done deal that it won't be long and it's going to get into yet another struggle to get tonnage up to the summit of Buck Mountain. However, for now, there's a brief respite as the old Alco sits and idles the time away for its next assignment.
About the pic:
The basic scene (engine, track, engine house) exists on my current, 100% functional, HO scale "Ozark Sub" layout. The engine house is comprised of simplistic photos I pasted to poster board, then cut out and assembled. Start to finish, maybe 20 minutes for the engine house?
I can't remember where (or when) I got the foliage photo. It was simply one I had in one of my "Autumn" folders. I ended up de-saturating it so it wasn't so garish, for it seems that, typically, aspiring photographers like to "enhance" the colors in their autumn landscape scenes. The end result looks spectacular as an art subject, but way too intense and unrealistic for a model railroad layout. Thus, the de-saturation.
To be continued...
