I want to model an abandoned part of CNW’s Alden sub from the juction near Gifford Iowa northwards to Eldora. The fragment of a USGS map below shows the descent into and climb out of the valley of the Iowa river.
The group I belong to doesn’t want actual grades on the modules.
The height difference from prairie to river is 100 ft, 90 ft to the track which gives 19 and 17 cm in N scale respectively.
So, how can I model the grade without actually modelling it? Having the landscape rise slowly makes for many modules, an abrupt cliff next to a (nearly) flat module is not very convincing.
You can create the look of grade to a degree by having the scenery around your track rise up and drop away. That’s how some our clubs modules create the look of mountain scenery. Remember that the railroads tried to flatten the grades as much as they could so it is very realistic to have higher and lower areas around track.
How long is the prototype section you want to model? How many modules do you plan to build? These factor into the question you ask and the answers you will recieve. If you just plan to build two four foot modules and the prototype section is 10 miles long (that’s 330 feet in N Scale) you would only be modeling just 2.42 per cent of the 10 miles.
One thing that says, “This track isn’t level,” is the fact that all the telephone poles, signposts and fences are vertical - and not at right angles to the rails. \\\ ||||| ///// and you’ve dipped down, crossed the watercourse and climbed back out of the valley - while the track is, in fact, dead level.
Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - where I don’t have to fake the grades)
Basically the modules are 40 cm wide and as long as can be stowed in a vehicle of choice for transportation. In practice this means 100 cm or at most 122 cm / 4 ft.
I have not yet figured out the grade as I do not have the scale of the map handy. Should probably ask info over at the CNW historical society.
I plan to model the river crossing and half of the grade both ways on a module consisting probably 4 segments and in a 90 degree curve, just to make things interesting. The upper half of the northbound grade to Eldora can probably another 100x40 cm segment.
Don’t know yet what to do at the south end. A fictitious station with a gravel or sand loader on two segments would be nice. I may skip the southbound grade for the station with a cliff that gets progressively lower or farther away (and drop / curve of the module) as background.
BTW you might get more responses in the MR “Layouts and Layout Building” or “General Discussion” forums, this one is geared more for questions relating to real railroads rather than “how to” issues re model railroads. [:)]
Since the prototype attempts to keep grades as low as possible you may be making a mountain out of a molehill all in the name of “prototype accuracy”. The grade would also be imperceptible across a module or two. The leaning of the telegraph poles would also be imperceptible in N for such a grade if done in the correct angle. Just using the the scenery contours with level track should be enough to give the impression of a grade. Just a few things to think about, is this a Free-Mo or N-Trak group?
I am fully aware of the smallness of the scale versus the prototype grades and what that means for modelling. However, before committing saw to plywood I thought to ask around. You see, at the moment there are not many modules with appreciable scenic height differences in AmericaN and I want something that has a bit more above the tracks than a small cut now that someone else has done one with scenery below the tracks. See the link to modules, module 50 Two Trestles (last one).
For a group where most modellers are interested in western prototypes there is a lack of height, scenerywise. Which is probably common to all modular systems, regardless of their themes, certainly also with our FREMO HO-USA friends (but we are building right now a canyon scene here in the Netherlands: www.gilariver.nl).
However, “flat desert” scenery simply doesn’t motivate me (flat Iowa farmland however does but is a definite minority in the group[;)]) and a scene where the train disappears in canyonlike scenery while the engineer walks from one station scene to another might just give a bit more illusion of distance.
It seems likely however that I will simply try other tricks to mask the abrupt change in height, with trees of differing heights is one that comes to mind. Also, I am going to play around in 3 dimensions to see what I can do with the placement of the cliffs, if the do not go to the end of the module than a lot of the problems may simply not exist. After all a meter in N is 160 meters in the real world and that is a lot of landscape.
