Our 2003 project was a 16’, three module diorama of northwestern
Oklahoma, with the Cimarron River, Oklahoma red earth buttes and an
Oklahoma oil well and tank battery as scenery features. In 2002,
an old 4’ retired module was scraped to bare wood and the frame
re-enforced. Steve (Razor) G. reworked the module to depict a
semi-prototypical scene modeling the terrain found on US 412 west of
Orienta, Major County, Oklahoma, near the ATSF line. Two red earth
buttes with gray cap-rock rims rise 80 scale feet from the basin floor
behind the three standard N-Trak lines. The side of one of the buttes
is cut out for a western Oklahoma oil well location.
The scene was so well received that it inspired the construction of two new 6’ modules representing the area just East of Orienta where the ground turns from red to tan as it crosses the Cimarron River and the terrain becomes hilly. On these two 6’ modules, the blue line works its way to the back of the modules. The red and yellow lines angle slightly back, spread apart and share a 9' long (¼ scale mile) common siding that can be switched to select power from the Red line, Yellow line or off. The three tracks (red, siding and yellow) meander through serpentine cuts in the rolling hills. Although the modules are complete, operational and have scenery, we still have to build and install the equipment for the oil well tank battery and put a little water in the Cimarron River bottom.
The
red earth used on the modules is real Oklahoma red soil collected from an
oil well location near Woodward, OK.
