Well, I have about a month of work (the nitty-gritty fine track tuning)before I start in on the scenery on my 4x12 layout. Unfortunatly I have “modelers block” and can’t think of what exactly would work withthe space I have. (Did not take that into account when I first started[:(])
Got any ideas I can go off of? I think I was going to go for a small town in the central area, but with the cutout (to be a lake) and the way the track spacing turned out, I’m not sure that will work. See photos.
These photos were taken about a year ago. Nothing track-wise has changed. Don’t look at the rolling stock, please! I am embarassed that I had such crappy stuff last year![:$]
A 4x4’ extension now leads off the outside track of the small yard and off the far end of the long straight (side with the bridges). Big blank area in the middle of the 4x4’ extension. Haven’t decided what to do with that, either.[:(]
Hummmmm!!! The term “plan ahead” comes to mind, but I think you are in the majority, as many of us come to come up with operating layouts. Operating WHAT?? The trains run, but what are they doing?
You could put a view block between your yard side and the switchback. The end of the switchback where your caboose is now could be a mine or similar industry. Need a hill or such between the caboose and table lamp to justify the switchback. Your yard doesn’t offer much industry serving, more an interchange type yard. Even though it would lower your yard capacity, if your mainline when around the outside of the yard, it would offer more uses for the yard.
Since you haven’t done much scenic work, have you concidered redoing your track plan?
WHat part of the country are you in, as far as modeling. Rural New England? The Great Plains? A valley in the Rockies (Sierras, Cascades…)
Scenery in a flatland area might be nothing but buildings, meandering roads and trees. If the flatlands are in my neck of the Mojave strike trees and add low bushes and cactus (but not Saguaros - they’re farther south and well east.) OTOH, New England would probably have hills - up to and including serious mountains. Parts of the Rockies and Cascades, and most of the Sierras, stand on edge; steep, stark rocky slopes with foliage hanging on by its rootlets.
So, why does your railroad curve. Is it following that micro-river crossed by the two bridges, with a rocky palisade between it and the corners of the table? (There’s a stretch of highway east of Nashville, TN, which does that.)
What’s the reason for that switchback. Is there something (lake, hill, old cemetary?) that required that track configuration?
To be honest, what you have is a classic case of, “I’ve built a layout. How do I make it look like a railroad?” After many years and much living and research, my approach is, “Here’s this ## kilometers of prototype railroad through this contour map’s terrain. How do I fold and compress it to go onto benchwork that will fit in my layout space?” With that approach, basic scenery is as automatic as putting paint or shingles on a structure designed to accept them.
Think of this layout as a learning experience. Your next one will build on the things you learn - and so on until you can say, “This will be my last layout.” Having reached that point myself, I can tell you that it has been a tough climb.
Since your sidings and yard are all down at the other end, on the extension sie you could build a nice small town, with the businesses down at the other end, so you would put some industries served by rail along those sidings. Yard office (maybe made from an old passenger car) for the yard. Since tehre’s a decent size open space, you could make your town an older ones, with tree-lined streets and sidewalks.
Ideas I have, it’s the execution where I stumble. Aside from building structures, scenery just isn’t my thing.
Put a large packing shed on that tail track, put a shook dealer on the remaining spur which could serve as a team track l, that’s it for industries, fill the open space adjacent with cirtus groves and gently rolling terrain. That river could also supply water to the grove, not too often modeled I dare say.
You could also use the run around siding as additonal yard/interchange, run a scenery divider , behind my proposed paking shed, you could then accomidate a small town on the opposite side, and to convey a sense of distance, use the aforementiond groves to minimize the continuous run effect and perhaps a modest hill as well in the upper left side to serve the same purpose. On the extenstion I would do a couple of tracks to suggest a connection with the outside world, but avoid over cluttering the space with structures.
I see no need to tear up what you already have down, the above theme would make a challenging and interesting bit of railroading!
Well, I disagree with Dave (West Coast S) on this one. And to make sure we’re clear up front… a lot of people don’t like my brand of blunt advice, so let me assure you that I’m calling it as I see it, and not intending to offend or insult.
What I would do is to use this as your “dry run” and just experiment with making various types of scenery, or making elevated flat areas for structures using extruded foam.
In the mean time, start designing your “real” layout. When doing so, consider the following:
Sawhorses in the living room isn’t going to serve as a permanent layout (even if you don’t care, your significant other or roommate will soon get sick of it). You’ll probably want bench work that is more than the 30" high that sawhorses provide, for one thing (mine is 44 to the bottom of the subroadbed).
Do what a real railroad does, and connect existing, or potential, stops. In other words, plan your towns, industries, raw materials, or whatever you’ll be hauling FIRST, then connect them with track (obviously, you can tweak the location of these items to get your track in, unlike real roads, who have to deal with what nature and other people left them(. This will make your railroad work more like the real thing. Even if you feel the need to preserve the “circle” (I do), make your trains go places and do things.
Consider dividing that 4x8 space somehow, so that you don’t see the train on one side, then immediately watch it go down the other. Some ideas (as have been mentioned above): use a view block (large hill or structure), a scenery divider (backdrop in the middle), or actually cut it in half and use 2 2x8 sections (or add more). 30" in from the edge is about all most of us can reach, but there are limitless possibilities in that configuration.
This only scratches the surface – there are lots more things you can do to develop a layout that will, in my opinion, give you much more satisfaction.
Thanks for the ideas so far! I will have to sa yone thing…
Thes photos were taken right before we moved, my layout now sits in my room on permenant 40" high legs and additional bracing, no more wobble! But yes, I do see your point.
Good – you had me worried there for a while. The requirement to be “moveable” does change the equation of layout design somewhat as well (although I believe you said you don’t plan on moving again).
Ok, I like the idea of this being sort of a ‘test layout’. I have a basic shematic of it drawn out, my project this weekend it to play around with locations for buildings, roads, landforms, etc.
Thanks for the help! I’ll post my ‘final’ draft when I’m finished.
Look around you. WHat do you see? Try modeling that.
Here is what I would do if I were you:
1} pick an industry/industries to go in the center of the “oval” near that curved siding. Make that your industrial area.
2} on one side of the straight “siding” opposite the the curved siding near the lake I would put in a residential development with houses and such…I would make a nice “park” around the lake area…though a park like area would generally probably NOT be around RR bridges…BUT “selective compression” comes to mind.
3} on the OTHER side of the straight “siding” opposite the residential development side { and on the side where the switch controls are} I would put a “downtown” with a street/cross streets of downtown store business type buildings.
Here is an idea, which may or may not catch your interest…
I think the obvious thing to do wojuld be to have some scenic feature that fits in the space between tracks-- a hill, a town, a factory district.
I would suggest the UN-obvious-- a scenic feature that DOES NOT FIT in the leftover area. For instance, a hill that seems to go beyond the allowed area, modeled as if a cut had to be made for the track, and scenicking as if that hill continues across the track and off the layout.
Doing a town? Model it as if what is modeled is only PART of the town. The outside corners can have back fences of subdivision lots, perhaps with a partial structure modeled.
I’m going to use the TOP photo as my point of reference.
Shortly after the inner of the 3 tracks on the left side leaves the main, tear it up and start it climbing up a modest grade. You’ll never have more than an engine and a few cars here, so you can handle 2 or even 3 percent easily. Continue the slope all the way up until just before it straightens in the middle. Keep that flat all the way across, but make the final siding on the other side of what is now a switchback even more of a slope up.
Place a viewblock from the middle of the left side, just inside the 3 tracks, to the top (“north”) of the whole switchback, all the way to the other side. The track on the grade will pass through the viewblock just about where it levels out for the switchback.
The lower half of the layout is a logging camp or a mine. The switchback and grade serves the mine or camp at the top. To the lower right I would put another hill, and perhaps a lake or river.
The upper half of the layout can be a town, separated from a large industry by the graded track cutting across.
Alternately, run the viewblock to the “south” of the logging/mining siding, and a bit more diagonally. That puts the “natural resources” and forest / hill / river on the top half, and the town and industry at the bottom. That may work better, with the yard already located there.
i would advice you to redo part of your track-work as well. The triple curve at the left is a bit much, double tracking would do.
A bridge just before a turnout where two tracks meet is weird. Probably it is more common to have the bridge behind the turnout.
I would go for a road and a river a long the tracks in the centre. By choosing the buildings cleverly you could get a more urban or a more rural scene.
Yes, but note that the “triple curve” at the left is NOT a triple track operationally. The center track of the three is a main track, the outside track is a yard lead and the inner track is a branch. They are arranged so that a train leaving crosswise from the yard must make one full circuit before taking off up the branch.
It is a pretty easy modification, and the modifications Byron Henderson has done to ye olde Red Wing plan will give you a layout that will both look good and operate far better than the original Red Wing plan.
