A Diorama

Gary Beatty, who hosts an annual get-together for On30 and other small-layout enthusiasts at his home in Riverside, issued a challenge to this year's participants -- to build a scene or micro-layout in 100 square inches or less.

A year or so ago, when I was building the San Emigdio Canyon mini, I built a Campbell pony truss bridge -- an HO scale model that I modified slightly for On30. After a couple of weeks of work, it was a thing of beauty, if I do say so myself. I took it out to test-fit it on the layout ... and dropped it on the concrete garage floor, breaking it into several pieces. I rebuilt it, which is never as much fun as building it the first time, but I got it done, almost as good as the first time, took it out to test-fit it ... and dropped it again. At that point I concluded that the gods were against me, set that bridge aside, and built a different one, a Campbell deck 

I always had it in the back of my mind that I would eventually do something with the pony truss--maybe a small diorama. So when Gary issued his challenge, the pony truss was an obvious choice.

Here's a work-in-progress picture of the resulting diorama.

Even more that the San Emigdio Canyon, this diorama is like a little postcard. I'm not an artist like Gar Beatty or Dave Meek, but I have enough of an eye that through trial and error, I can get to a point where things look right, and when I think about it, I can figure out what that "right" is. An example here is the pine tree. I stuck it in there on a whim, and was immediately struck by how the strong vertical adds drama to the scene.

1/6/26: Here's a little more progress. The abutments and retaining wall are made from coffee stir sticks and a little stripwood. The piers are loosely based on plans in the Model Railroader Bridges & Trestles book.