Since i model an eastern RR the scenery is a big job lots and lots of trees grass shrubs
et all
We figure my friends layout will take 5,000 Trees to complete
Thankfully mine is smaller
Next time I’m going to model a western RR
A box of rocks and a bucket of sand and i’m done !
[swg]
You’ll still need scrub, cactus, pines of about 15 different varieties, modelled hoodoos, washouts, trailer parks, casinos,…lots of stuff to make it look convincing. [:D]
You’ll still need those 5,000 trees. But you’ll need 5,000 full trees, instead of the just 5,000 tree tops. [:P]
Nick
You could always model the MIDwest. Lots more rail potential in IL or IN than in OK or TX, and you only need a few trees. You do have to figure out an effective way to model 15,097,316 cornstalks though…
Depending on the part of the West you mean, you may or may not need a lot of trees. Here in SE Arizona, just 30 miles north of Mexico, at an altitude of 5,400 feet in the Sonoran desert, there is a lot of mesquite, desert oak, pinyon, various varieties of pines, and manzanita.
In order to need only sand and rock, you’d need to model the Mohave desert along the Arizona/California border region.
Of course, you could make it a freelance railroad going through a fictitious desert region.
Ray, I don’t know how much is in the midwest, but the UP/SP/BNSF shared mainline heading out of San Antonio through west texas, tons of operation and modeling (if you like mesquite trees). 20 + trains daily…Maybe I should think about modeling it…just playing a little devils advocate here.
Yep Ray you’re right !
When i made a trip to see my sister in AZ i didn’t see any trees
past San Antonio just rocks and sand and a few Cacti but a little green spray paint on a
popsickle stick should do it !
Ok I give up
What’s a hoodoo ?
IIRC the Russians in WWII laid some track on an iced over lake. So a large sheet of frosted glass and scenery’s done. [(-D]
Enjoy
Paul
A hoodoo is a rock formation which is caused by differential resistance to erosion. This means that some parts of the hoodoo are harder than others and these hard parts last longer. In the hoodoos the tops are the hardest part and they protect the soft rock below from wearing away.
In other words they are the cool rock formations that can look like mushrooms, or big arches, or other odd, even bizarre, shapes.
I’ve been putting this off for quite some time but, after reading your repl I have to ask. Terry where are you in texas? Just curious how far away from my location you are? And the question for all is has anyone come up with a way to model Mesquite trees? I probably need a few dozen or so. LOL[:P].
Chris
Just a few dozen ? I model far west Texas and Southern NM. I figure I need hundreds ! You guys talking about desert being desolate need pictures, per square foot of land there are more bushes (mesquite etc) than there are trees in the East, they just aren’t as big !
That may be true of today, but I’m thinking of the 1920-1960 period. You want action? How about 50 trains a day on the IC through Gilman, Illinois? Or 30-36 passenger trains from five different roads through the interlocking at Lafayette Junction, Indiana? I’ll leave the 400+ train movements a day in Chicago alone…
Even today, the diamonds at Rochelle, IL see 30+ trains a day, from three different roads.
Remember: there’s more miles of track in Illinois than there are in most countries.
Well, if i was modeling a certain place to be prototypical then yeah ,hundreds and hundreds would be needed but, I am looking for variety only, and I cant recall anyone making any mesquite trees here , so that was just a question.I have tons of other trees already that I have made so the added change would be a welcome.[:)]
C&O fan, don’t move west because you want to be lazy; I’ve got a thicker forest up on the Mogollon Rim than you have in any comparable area in the east.
And by the way, I am a freelancer intent on modeling the Appalachian region and I’m already constructing my trees although I will probably never need five thousand.
And a hoodoo? Look at some pictures of Bryce Canyon Nat’l Park; those are hoodoos.
I live in Houston Chris
Houston to Del Rio is why they invented Cruise Control
As was mentioned in another thread, the nature of railroading between east and west is somewhat different.
Certainly the density of tracks out west is much less than back east, even after the Conrail trackage divestment of the late 70s/early 80s.
I was very impressed with the UP transcon through Cheyenne. But I’ll take Horseshoe Curve or the Northeast Corridor any day![;)]
AHHHHHHH yes, I love Cruise control[(-D]. Thanks just wondering.
Chris
Where the heck is the Mogollon Rim , RT ?
Are those the mountains in NM ?
Pick your West with care. There’s more than one of them!
Don’t like the modest trees of the Northeast? Have some Ponderosa pines, or a couple of redwoods!
Strapped for space? DON’T model any of the real deserts. If the landscape dwarfs full-size intermodals but doesn’t give them anything to hide behind, imagine how pathetic two units and two five-well articulated stack cars will look. (At least in forested areas, it’s seldom possible to see the entire train from ditch lights to FRED. Here in Clark County, NV, the trains have no place to hide.)
As has already been noted, there are just as many plants per acre in the desert as in West Virginia. The difference is that you can see every one, so you need to model every one. No blobs of Brillo dunked in ground foam out here.
As for me, I’m content to be stuck with the future necessity of modeling a partially-clear-cut cedar forest. I live in a desert. I prefer NOT to model one.
Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)