This is a shot from the project layout that I built for CTT. It will be featured in the Dec., Jan., Feb., & March issues. I thought you guys might like to see it.
Dennis Brennan
Dang, that is one beautiful harbor, tug and bridge. The one nitpick I have is with the grade of the road leading up and away from the harbor. That looks like about a 40% grade and takes away from the amazing realism of the rest of the scene.
Wow! can’t wait to see more…That is “wet” water…Cox 47
Great Scene !!! [bow]
Love the water ! Wish mine looked that good !!
Great pic. You pros do this very well. It is an inspiration and challenge to us all.
C’mon, C’mon, that’s a real photo, you can’t fool us ! ! ! we know !
Wow!!![bow]
I suppose the road isn’t that bad, autos can go up much steeper grades than trains, and in the tight confines of a working harbor, that might be neccicary.
Yes, cars and trucks can go up steeper grades than a train but an 8% grade on a road is considered very steep. Sometimes you’ll see 10% or 12% grades on mountain roads but almost never higher on a paved highway. I’m not trying to knock his modeling skills - the scene is amazingly realistic - but that’s what makes that road stand out so much. Imagine you are in a loaded truck and trying to control it going down that grade. Just like we have to meet civil engineering standards for our railroads if we want them to work right, there are standards for roadways as well. This roadway is way out of any normal standard.
if you visit pittsburgh or even parts of philadelphia (manayunk) you’ll see roads with that kind of grade
As much as the third rail down the middle of the track?
What third rail? Is this supposed to make sense?
Roads leading out of an industrial area where you expect use by heavily loaded trucks? Could be, I suppose, but I’ve never see one. There was a road that led down to the old NKP freight house in Cleveland that was built in a helix because the space was limited and they were trying to keep the grade to 10%.
I recall some small towns on ice at a red light on a grade beyond reason trying to hold the load in one spot using power at the drive wheels rather than the brakes.
I loved the picture over all… how does one make that water look wet? I need to understand that before I go running off to make a harbor of my own.
Actually, gentlemen, the grade is 25%. That’s all the space I had for the ramp into the harbor area so that’s what you get.
Yeah - it can be a pretty - umm - interesting experience taking a bus or a heavy vehicle up or down a 10-12% grade road.
We still have a few paved highways (in the mountains, to be sure) with those kinds of inclines over here in Norway - e.g. national route 9 from Setesdal to Dalen in Telemark, which has about 12% grade, climbing out of one valley and back into another one.
Trollstigen (“The Troll’s path”) out of the Romsdalen valley is about 10% - thanks to a large number of switchbacks - it looks like this:
For some reason, signs posted at the top of the hill warn tourists to change into lower gear, go slow and be nice to their brakes, so they don’t get too warm at an inopertune moment [:)]
Worst place I’ve ever driven was the road between Aurland and Laerdal on the west coast. Less incline, but the switchbacks was so close together that each curve was a challenge - you had to wait for vehicles going the other way through the curve.
That road was bad enough that nobody minded replacing that mountain crossing with a 24 kilometer (15 mile) long tunnel under the mountain instead.
Anyways - 10-12% incline on a road is pretty
There was a few roads in excess of 16%, one at 18% and several close to 20% that Ive seen. At those percentages one approaches the engineering limits of Desiel and courage… now where did I leave that bottle? LOL. All I know is horsepower/torque is king along with cooling.
What about that water?
Yeah, that is really something. Amazing work !
So how was the water made to look so good ?
Stein
The OP says the layout wil be featured in CTT(Classic Toy Trains). I believe most toy trains run on 3-rail track. If I’m wrong, I apologize.
Well, duh, I get it now. [:I] I just missed that reference to Classic Toy Trains. If that’s a picture of a “toy” train layout, I’d sure like to see what he could do with a scale train layout. It also makes the roadway issue a little more understandable since toy train layouts tend to take some liberties with scale.
They sure don’t look like toys to me from the OP’s picture, it looks a whole lot less toyish than some I’ve seen posted here that are supposed to be “models”. If you’ve never seen a steep road, I think you might want to get out on the road more often, because there are plenty. For the record, only you are making the modeled road an issue, it doesn’t seem to be bothering anyone else.
To the OP:
That is some great modelling you did there. I especially love the water, just as everyone else did. If you can sneak us a peak a couple more pics that’d be awesome.