Stoneman's Switch (Station)

Here are some views of the Stoneman's Switch (or station) area of the layout. This is one of the deeper scenes on the layout. The backdrop images are intentionally small to show more perspective. There will be good opportunities to use smaller scale figures and details to convey distance.

The striped pieces of wood are some of the laser-cut 1/8th inch aspen plywood roadbed sections.











The southern end of Stoneman's Switch cuts through a small hill. The backdrop treatment of the hill was tricky. I used a section of Brian's artwork with some hand painting to integrate the hill into the Stoneman's scene.









This is the southern side of the hill. One of the things I wanted to achieve with the backdrop is to show some "vacant" countryside in between the Union army camps. During the winter military units camped all along the line, but even a 100,000 man army would not have a line of camps 13 miles long. So the scene between Falmouth and Stonemans will be one of these. However, there will be a small camp scene with Union pickets guarding the bridge over Clairborne's Run. I haven't decided if I'll include a blockhouse or not. Right now I am leaning toward only having some rifle pits and not a blockhouse.

I have been painting tree stumps on the backdrop since the soldiers frequently cut down the trees for firewood and winter cabins. They also used fence rails, barns and other sources of wood for their needs. I recently learned that after the war, citizens could file claims for such damage if they were "loyal to the Union" during the war. I wonder how many claims were actually paid.