in my other thread about “Laying tracks” Frank and I discussed a little bit the possibility to swop German and US prototypes on my originally Germany centered layout.
When I run my German protos, then it looks like this:
Last night I took off all my German stuff and “replaced” it with my TT-Scale US prototypes and now it is looking like this:
And at night:
Would this look like somewhere in the US or is it really too much European?
What would you unify to make it more applicable for both sides of the ocean?
Because of the way the layout is “terraced” and the architecture of the buildings and tunnel portal, it has more of a European flavor to it - at least to me.
I will say that I like what you’ve done. The grass and wild flowers in the first couple of picture look great.
I think it looks good, like US New England country side. You have to remember,that the Us is made up of immigrants from all over the world and they all brought their culture with them, You still see houses near the east coast that have a European flair to them… Maybe if you have them, try a few US vehicles,from the 40s and 50s. Then take a look at it,
Sorry I can’t help you with the vehicles. I’ll do a search in a bit and see if I can find anything. If no one comes up with a solution or source on this thread,start another thread in general discussions on this forum and ask your question about vehicle scales there’
Knuddel - while you may find landscapes in the US which are very similar to your German layout, the buildings, vehicles and figures are not. If this does not bug - heck, go ahead and run your US prototype locos and stock over you layout. If I were you, I´d do it.
I found a supplier that specializes in TT scale, rolling stock, buildings and figures, vehicles…
www.goldcoastrailway.com That is their web site. they are in the US. OR.and ship all over the world. They even have a forum site if you would like to check it out, www.ttnut.com…
Here in Minnesota there’s a couple of towns that were settled by German immigrants who built buildings in the style of the “old country”…New Ulm, Hamburg and Young America MN for example.
Thanks a lot gentlemen! I will check out your ideas and links!
And yes, I have been in Leavenworth and have seen the Bavarian like village. I have to admit that they copied it very well, but it still seems to be too artificial and out of place… [:)] But you get good German beer and food, so it is well worth a trip!! [Y][B]
Yes, you are perfectly right. I will do a quick test run to see, if I could completely swop out my German trains with my US one during operation by using the staging area underneath those two modules.
And it would be fun for operating it too. 1h German trains and then switching over to American without taking any off the layout. Here is a short video where you can see the helix going down to the staging area:
A cover of Trains Magazine circa 1961 showed a (first series) Southern Pacific KM testing in the then West Germany. RS style units have run in Eastern Europe and I believe Spain and Portugal, obviously hauling European rolling stock…
First off, some very nice work. None of the below comments is meant to cut you down in any way on your modeling skils, which are superb. This is just a game to pick out the features that make this scene European. Sort of like a “find the differences” cartoon in the paper.
North America developed largely independently of Europe. Even though most of North America was settled by recent European immigrants many things are subtly different . Neither culture is better or worse, just different. Even within Europe there is a vast differene in architecture between northern Scandinavia and Italy. Going through the pictures:
The VW van can stay if it’s a late 50’s to early 60’s layout. Our cars of that era look much different than contemporary European cars and there would probably be more of them. Throw in a few of that very American vehicle, the pickup truck.
The fence around the sawmill would more likely be chain link or wood than stone and wrought iron here. Also, the entrance sign over the gate is very rare here.
The sawmill would likely have one roof line with corrugated metal roofing. The siding would be either wood or corrugated metal. The shed in the back would not have an arched roof, those are very rare here. The short logs on a trailer behind a tractor would more likely have been on a truck of some kind here.
The sawdust shed would more likely have a straight peaked roof than the hip roof on it. If the sawmill didn’t have a boiler for steam the sawdust and wood waste would likely have been burned in a “wigwam” burner unless there was a local use for it.
The loading dock with the Alco locomotive would have more likely been a wood deck with wood pilings or retaining walls than stone. The railroad would have put their name on the locomotive. The barrels would have more
thank you very much for your great explanations and the amount of background info!
That’s great and more than I hoped for and I’m perfectly fine with it.
With all what you and the others have said I will leave those two modules like they are and get back to my drawing board to add 2 new modules on the other side of my layout for “Little US”. I have to check on the theme and the availability of accessories and buildings.
Do you guys know any N-Scale (Buildings which are a little too large for “N”) or HO-Scale (Buildings which are a little too small for “HO”) US structures and buildings which I could use on my TT Scale layout? It could be some older stuff back when the makers didn’t 100% care about the exact scale.