Cascade, Idaho. Is consists of eight segments and has a total length of about six meters. It has three industry tracks with a total of about 14 spots, a three meter long passing siding and a wye to connect a to a branch or turn trains. The prototype Photo: RICHARD STEINHEIMER, 1960s, private collection Photo: LEE RUSSELL, 1941, LIBRARY OF CONGRESS The Module Trackplan for the Cascade module (dark) with two extensions.

Close to the deadline set by our participation at the US Model Railroad Convention 2019 in Rodgau, I ran out of time and kits. I had the kit for a small diner at hand but I had seen this structure on at least two modules in our group and wanted to create a different version of it. So I had to improvise a solution to fill some spaces on my module.

Like every second modeller, I had bought a sample of the Walthers “Co-Op Storage Shed”. I have seen it on some modules before, sometimes modified, sometimes not. I needed a ground level storage shed for a small business on my Cascade Module. Today the “Lake Cascade Sport & Marine” is located at that place. I have no Idea what has been there in the 1950s, but I chose this kit as a base to build my shed.

South of East Mill Street in Cascade Idaho are some interesting buildings. At the far south of the town there is a Rodeo arena with its stables. Due to space limitations I decided not to model it, but I added a freelanced workshop and wanted to add the diner I already had bought. >  >   <>   < The workshop is completely scratch built and freelanced. I just created a structure to use the left over plastic parts for a roof and some windows and doors I had lying around.

Northeastern Scale Models offers a nice Structure “One Story Section House” in its Small Trackside Structures (STS) Series. I got three of these. I used them to kit bash two neighbouring houses, that look very different. The long one The kit contains parts for square house with a veranda at one end and the entry to the basement on the other end. I used two of the kits to create a longer version.

Due to the selected level of compression, the lots are smaller – most of all shorter – than in the prototype. But even in the prototype some of the lots are quite narrow and accommodate a small house and a garage. I wanted to capture this look and feel and found some kits, that would help me to achieve that. The smallish house with the garage is Kit No. 698 “Company House” by American Model Builders.

Opposite of the Cascade Depot there are multiple lots with either small business or private structures. The houses in Cascade near the railroad tracks are an interesting mix. Most of the houses are quite unique and do not repeat along the street. A few years ago I bought a few laser kits for different houses. Some of the kits either contained two or three samples of the same house or I simply bought multiples of them.

The Hallack & Howard Lumber Company Sawmill is the main industry in Cascade and on my module. It has two tracks and generates about 6 to 9 cars incoming and outgoing traffic every day. Let me show you, how it was built. Hallack & Howard Lumber Company >   <>   < Hallack & Howard Lumber Company, Images LOC & Idaho State Historic SocietyThe sawmill was torn down, but in the 1960s it was quite busy and is the main industry on my module.

I wanted to capture the look of the prototype as close as possible but I could not find any kit that came close enough. So I decided to create the depot my self. I constructed it in 3D CAD and got it printed by Shapeways. The Depot was built in 1914 for the Oregon Shortline Railroad. It functioned as a freight room, baggage and ticket office, and waiting room as well as a second story home for the station agent.

After the successful test of this module I continued on building the scenery. I used static grass and fine turf in various shades to create an interesting structure. >  >   <>   <>   <>   <>   < Cascade used in Vögelsen and Waldenburg in 2017.Some areas are still kept free for the structures I intend to add. The key structures have been built as paper mock ups to add a third dimension and give an impression of the future look.

After woodworking it was time time to add ballast to the track and cover the plywood pacific with something that does a better job in imitating nature. First I painted the surface in colors to match the later usage (brown for dirt and grass, gray for gravel and roads). The next layer is sprinkled over most areas with colored, flexible gap filling putty (like Lugato Universal-Fuge-Flexibel). You can get it in different sized bags and multiple colors which can be mixed to create an interesting and varied surface cover.

The whole module required 8 segments. Four straight modules of 90 x 40 cm, two straight 60 x 40 and two curved modules with a track radius of 160 cm at 30 ° each. The total length is about six meters. The segments are built from 12 mm multiplex birch plywood. The heavy stuff with 6 mm pine plywood on top. I would not use this material for a complete module anymore.