CTT Article On S.D. 3-Railer Layout

[dougdagrump]

BRAVO !
As a frequent visitor there I really enjoyed the article. Never fail to see something I missed last time there.
Thank you.[bow]

[rlafrance]

Doug,

Thanks for the comment. We are hoping to have our coal mine complete and running by July. Come back and see us then.

[Buckeye Riveter]

After the Rose Bowl in 2001, my wife and I visited Balboa Park in San Diego. We saw all of the layouts and then found the 3-Rail layout in the back of the building. We were awed, and this was their old layout. That summer we started building our layout.

I must admit the trip to Balboa Park was well worth the drive from L.A.

Thanks again for the inspiration.[tup][tup][tup][tup]

[Anonymous]

The visit to the 3-railer layout in San Diego was the best $5 I've spent in a long time. [8D]

[Anonymous]

We go there every year, and it's true what the article says. 2 HUGE HO layouts, a WONDERFUL N layout and a pretty neat O layout. I wish it were a HUGE O layout and not the way it is. Too small and you can't walk all the way around the layout to see things. Oh well...I suppose I'm just picky.

[FJ and G]

I haven't finished reading the article but did glance at the pictures. There in the picture was one of my heros, Brenda Bailey, whose lovely scratchbuilt locomotives have graced the pages of The Warbonnet (SF modeling & historical society). I think I heard she'd been hospitalized. Hope everything is OK now.

dave vergun

[rlafrance]

Sorry Dave. Brenda Bailey died in the hospital on April 14th. She just never recovered from her stroke and resulting coma. It's a shame she never got to see the CTT article in print.

[FJ and G]

Sorry to hear that, Roger. She died before press time, apparently, because no mention was made in CTT.

--------------------------

Regarding the nice article, some comments:

Notice the layout map; although there's a lot of track, it is not overcrowded with industries and structures and accessories, so it looks very realistic. And, each industry uses a lot of space, a technique called "decompression."

Case in point: the oil refinery on photo #6 and the road scene in photo #9.

(compression is good for toy train layouts but for hi-rail layouts, decompression is the way to go, IMO, if you have the space---a big IF).

Next, looke at Steve Crise's photography. Outstanding.

He uses indirect lighting in photos 5, 6, and backlighting in photos 8 and 9. Way cool! Not that often seen in a toy train mag.

Next, go to photo 8 and see the dusk setting, where there's enough daylight but you still can see the night lighting. Way cool again.

And in photo 9, notice that the telegraph poles are wired. No mention on what material they used, unfortunately; perhaps someone can enlighten us. Too bad more space not devoted to the "how-to" aspects but understandable due to size constraints.

Also in scene 9, notice there are people in the vehicles and in scene 10, passsengers in the surfliner.

Go back to photo 8 and glance down the road to see the center line and pedestrian markings. The markings are faint and subtle. Again, peachy.

Great fence in photo 6 as well and a nice ROW gravel road trackside; usually not modeled.

In photo 7, there's a way cool stream trackside with happy tubers.

Great stack train scene in photo 3 and interesting purple trees in group photo---yes, they have those in LA.

I'm sure there are more scenes that just couldn't fit in. A book could be written about the project, I'm sure.

Dave Vergun

[dougdagrump]

Dave, I would love to see a book/mag with the construction history and how to's that were used for this layout.

[papachoochoo]

We have a member who has documented with photos since the first nail was driven.
He has hundreds of photos, there is talk at the club of compiling them into an album,with a few discriptive words. I don't think that we have the ability or resorces to publish a book. However we will be making a video next month, talking about the layout and, talking with members from the design,construction,track layers,scenery builders,and of course electronic committees. Of course there will be many more views of the layout that CTT didn't use.
I also wi***o thank Dave V. for his outstanding review of the article.

[dougdagrump]

***, What about a CD or DVD of the construction, could also be used as a fundraiser.

[papachoochoo]

That is what the video is for, it will be professionally done by Joe Lesser, who is a member of our club. I don't know what the format will be as of yet, Whether VCR or DVD.We are all getting excited about it.
By the way we just completed our new lighting system that goes from night to day every 15 minutes, the effect is really dramatic.

[dougdagrump]

The first tuesday is coming up, I'll be there !!!!!!![:D][:D][:D][:D][:D]

[Anonymous]

Just finished reading and re-reading the article. A great story, wonderful layout, but with a somewhat bittersweet twist. Sorry to here about Ms. Bailey. Looking forward to my next trip out to one of my favorite places with a new destination in mind. Bob

[papachoochoo]

Dave in response to your question about what was used for the power lines, I was at the club yesterday and ask the member that did them, he said that he used heavy black thread, while he was stringing them he pulled the thread thru a piece of wax, which gave it a more wire like appearance(doesn't hang like a limp dishrag), he just tied the end and wrapped the thread around the insulators on the poles. I hope this answers your question.