I am at the point where I must start deciding what season of the year to model. If straightened out my layout would be roughly 6’ x 63’ long. It is however bent in a “U” shape to fit the room. Roughly 1/3 is going to be based on a west coast terminus, 1/3 a through the rocky stretch, and 1/3 a prairies setting. I cannot decide on the time of the year as I like so many things about the different seasons. Things like the colour of the trees in fall, or the stage of the crops growing, that could be modelled on the prairies (planting or harvesting) or somewhere in between. Or if the rivers will be raging or have low end of summer levels.
For those of you that have a defined season. Why did you choose that particular one? I need help here. Thanks.
I’m basically looking at September on my layout - I’ll have a mature cornfield, but the weather is still very nice, and I don’t have to worry too much about the trees changing… although if I want a few early ones, I can.
Besides, August is too bleedin’ hot! [8D]
I model summer although the autumn with the leaves changing colors would also be a nice season to model. As for the winter and snow, not for me although I’ve seen some nicely done winter scenes.
Well i have been think about this too, on my small layout. but withyours being such good sized why can’t you model a couple different seasons. Say spring on one end, going in to summer then maybe fall or summmer in the middle . just a thought wonder if it would work .
ray
My layout is set in the fall, although it looks much more like summer…
I built a winter diarama too, and realized it would be too hard ot do the whole layout that way. It would look cool though…
Hi,
My layout is summer oriented, as I guess most layouts are. But you have an opportunity to have a little of everything, given the size and the fact that you have both sea level and mountainous terrain. You could make the lowlands be late summer, the upper areas fall, and of course the highest levels could have some snow.
I drove from San Francisco to Lake Tahoe and then down to Reno a few years ago, and it seemed like I saw all 4 seasons in a couple of days.
ENJOY,
Mobilman44
My layout is set in September, because that was the timetable I had and the month I took most of my photos. I had once considered working in a snow scene at the far end of a visually isolated branch (prototype was a ski resort,) but abandoned it because of problems with cleanliness. The prototype didn’t have dusty snow.
You could model your mountain pass as spring thaw - wet looking, a little snow here and there, raging rivers trying to wash the bridge footings into the Pacific… Then go ‘more spring’ as you proceed eastward until it’s summer at your eastern terminus. You have enough length to do it gradually, and it could be a really nice effect.
Just my [2c], other ideas will differ.
Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
My Yuba River Sub is set in one geograhic area–the higher elevations of the Sierra Nevada of Northern California, so I decided on a peak fall season which arrives in October so that I can contrast the colors of the aspen, poplar, maple and seasonal oak with the large cedar, fir and Ponderosa pine trees. Early September/October rains would have come, so the streams are beginning to be full, and possibly a light dusting of snow at the extreme high elevations from the colder storms that generally start coming down from Alaska and Canada at this time of year. In the era that my MR is set–1940’s–it was not uncommon to have snow as early as September on the higher peaks.
However, since you’re using three distinct sections on your layout, you might want to consider modeling in three distinct seasons. Perhaps harvest or prime growing seasons on the plains. Is your ‘rocky area’ going to be mountainous with a mixture of evergreen and deciduous trees? If so, fall is a good season for color in the vegetation, and makes for a fine contrast to the exposed rocks. For your west coast port area, I know that spring is always a particularly colorful season on the Pacific Coast with all of the deciduous trees coming into flower.
Just a thought.
Tom