The West End Of Lake St In Zenith

The city scene in Zenith is one of the oldest parts of my layout, now about 35 years old, begun in an earlier location. I had originally intended to put trolley tracks in the streets, but then I discovered that most model trolleys and interurbans won't take the model equivalents of the sharp curves in prototype street trackage. However, I did use cast plaster street-sidewalk-corner sections that were designed to be assembled around track, and I left space for track between them, filling the gap with Sculptamold that I could chisel out in case I changed my mind.

Several years ago, I did change my mind and began the process of chiseling and dremeling out a channel into which I could install track. This would allow at least a short single-track run into downtown Zenith via Lake St. This was tedious, messy work that I kept procrastinating. I finally got it finished this past week:

Everything is white plaster or Sculptamold, so it's hard to discern in the photo. Below is the slot with track installed. The next step will be sanding down the crown of the street to match the railheads, then filling things in with spackle. The track is connected to the DCC bus, but it will be isolated from other layout trackage.

Here's a brass Suydam Pacific Elecric "ten" that I painted 50 years ago. Shouldn't be hard to add a decoder and capacitor.

I "finished" the scenery in this area 25 years ago, but I never had a clear idea of how it should finally look. As a result, it kept shrubbery and ground cover, but it was scenically blah. Adding the new trolley track has brought my attentioin back to the area. I'm going to cut through the hillock in the foreground below and extend the line onto private right of way:

Another detail I'm including in the area is a Walthers subway entrance. I drilled, chiseled, and dremeled an opening for it.

Here it is installed. I had trouble with the focus so close to the subject.

I still need to bring sidewalk components up to it, as well as have the sidewalk cross the track. This will finally begin to provide a believable end to the detailing of Lake St, as well as open the area to greater scenic interest.