Focusing On The Scenic Part Of Model Railroading, Rather Than Industry Starting Out.

Model Railroader Layouts and layout building
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Modeling the various industries that the railroads service to transport their goods from place to place, from mine to refinery, from factory to depot, steel, coal iron and various other commodities is something that is replicated in model railroading, along with passanger services.

This in turns leads to having activies in which model railroaders can role play the various opperations that happen in real life scale, thus adding to the hobbies immerse appeal.

Where I live in New Brunswick Canada, the railway tracks are a respective one hour (Canadian National Mainline) to an hour and a half (NBSR Shortline), and I dont see any industries beings served, other then switching at the junction or just using a passing siding, and the occassional NBSR excursion train. Not to menion that the major indjustries are blocked off with not much accesable views, and watching for too long might be a issue of concern for the railway police/security force.

I realize that one of the major reasons I am facinated by trains, is waiting for them, and the site of finally seeing one immerge out of the woods going by on the tracks. When ever I aim to visit the nearst railway tracks, that are surrounded by tall forests and trees, it seems mystifying to look down the track hoping for something to come, almost like being on a safari or birdwatching, as you might see something, you might not.

My idea for a layout would combine the best scenic parts of the NBSR (New Brunswick Southern Railway), and scenic areas on CPR and CN I like, thus making a mostly scenic layout that models my favoruite Canadian railway scenics. I do feel that as times does on , I will model various industries to give the layout more meaning and opperations to immerse in, which adds to the experiance.

I learned in the 2019 issue of Great Model Railroads, that you dont need to start on operations starting out, as watching trains is better, after dealing with work, as adding the complexity of mimicking thes

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I like to focus on my trains going over, under, around and through things. I like “tight” model railroading, typically not wide open spaces. Bridges and tunnels are great, but also trains passing behind buildings only to reappear further down the line.

I usually build one industry at a time, or just an urban building that complements or fills out a scene. But, I have a pile of scenic stuff, from trees to Envirotex to Gypsolite and static grass, always ready to finally finish a scene.

I like to think about and place the large industries first. But then, the scenery around is just as important.

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Designing a track plan, laying the track, then creating the scenery around the track are all enjoyable aspects of the hobby and you will likely enjoy watching your trains creep through the finished terrain. However, you will eventually finish creating your terrain and the only remaining part of the hobby will be to run your trains through the finished landscape. It is at this point in the hobby that most of us start to get bored with just watching our trains roll by. Is that all a layout can do? Heck no! You may not be interested in building industries now, but you may want a few in the future to continue to keep you interested in your layout. For this reason, I would at least plan for specific areas of your layout to eventually host track spurs and industries for future modeling. You can landscape these areas now but these reserved spaces could later be cleaned off and redone with the new industry. Such industries could be small to better fit your rural landscape. Maybe something like a coal dump where trucks from a nearby mine or quarry can dump their loads into waiting hoppers or gondolas for more distant diliveries. How about a milk can platform where local farmers can deliver their daily milk production to the railroad. Such “industries” would give your trains a reason to exist as well as opportunities to work these industries (switch cars). The compactness of these “industries” would not take away from your rural landscape either. Good luck and enjoy!

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I decided to model part of the west end of Rio Grande because I really like the scenery of the deserts and canyons, in particular, Ruby canyon.

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My new layout will be about 1/3 urban with industries, yard, and passenger terminal, a model of a small Appalachian piedmont city that is a division point on the ATLANTIC CENTRAL.

The other 2/3rds will be the rural country side leading to and from that small city.

No attemp to model both ends of anything, trains will appear on the scene from staging and disappear from the scene returning to staging.

At the city there will be interchanges with the B&O and C&O, elsewhere a short section of the WESTERN MARYLAND will be modeled, and will connect off stage with the ATLANTIC CENTRAL.

The layout will fill about 1500 sq ft, the visable double track mainline will be about 300’ long.

Sheldon

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There was a man named Paul in Iona Park, Florida, that had a scenic layout. It filled a purpose built 22 by 22 foot room. The layout only had two turnouts for one passing track on the visible layout.

Paul just liked to watch trains run.

He had over ten tracks in staging, and it took about 5 minutes for a train to go over the whole layout. It was a scenic wonder and Paul enjoyed building and detailing all the scenes for more than a decade.

-Kevin

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‘Just like the real thing’. [:D]

The number of times I have stood beside a rail line, or on a bridge, looking down (or is it up) the tracks. Birds are singing their songs. A whisper of warm air. Wild flowers in full display. The peace and the serenity.

A train rushes through the scene. Maybe a blast on the horn. Trees rustle as the birds fly up into the air in annoyace at being disturbed.

Then they settle back in the trees and calm once again descends.

A few more minutes of peace and solitude. The magic of bringing the real world indoors. I switch the electric off on the layout before I must return to the rush of modern life.

Happy modeling.

David

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I forgot to mention that Paul’s layout was N scale.

It was a great place to watch trains, and it proved that Model Railroads really are personal creations. Few people would like a model railroad layout with zero operational potential, but Paul loved it.

-Kevin

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This comes down to personal preference, and neither approach is therefore “right” or “wrong”.

However… if you plan to maybe have operations “at some point” it’s best to plan the layout to include for them as well as some scenic “railfanning” type scenes. Trying to add realistic operations to a layout that was never planned for them, can sometimes work out, but can also be awkward, or require some changes to the layout to accomodate. Just food for thought.

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Now that yoy say this, I understand now, and realize I want to model industries as well. Thanks.

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I’m a big fan of urban scenery. When I made the decision to model the city where I live, it was because a lot of my “railfanning” was done in an urban environment: while I like a train weaving through mountains and tunnels, blasting through desert or prairie, or puffing through a forest as much as the next foamer, most of the time I railfanned by watching trains going through cities. My other point of reference was riding light rail or long-distance trains through parts of town that were architecturally, culturally, and aesthetically appealing and beautiful, although many would call them “the wrong side of the tracks.” Whether they were passing through historic districts of Victorian architecture or acres of industrial red brick that looked just like the models in the Walthers catalog, I liked the view from the train. So I modeled a city, that just happened to have a bunch of railroads running through its heart: Sacramento Northern’s belt line through Sacramento, CA, which I have posted about here plenty of times before.

This view shows a switching yard shoved into an alley, rapidly descending on a 4% grade from a waterfront wharf on a levee to street level. I made a conscious decision to put the trains behind a row of buildings, with the neighborhood blocking the view of the trains, to emphasize the congested and claustrophobic nature of an urban railroad.

This photo of the wharf warehouses and track serving the wharf, actually very much simplified from the original, was where Southern Pacific and Western Pacific steam trains switched alongside Sacramento Northern and Central California Traction electric trains on Front Street. I just included the SN tracks. The wharf building is a repeated plaster casting made from a silicone mold of a 6" master section. Switches on this street are hard to reach from the layout’s edge, so I added manual c

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Different strokes for different folks, as the saying goes. I prefer having scenery determine much of the layout over a specific industry. It’s kinda cool getting “lost” just looking at the layout even withou any trains running.

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Jetrock: Thank you for sharing all those interesting pictures of your layout.

I would love to see you begin to share your efforts in the Weekend Photo Fun and Show Me Something threads in the General section of the forums.

Your work looks great.

-Kevin