Do your trains tell a story? Since my layout is a bit, uh, out there, I wanted to do some sort of history piece to set the scene.
So I've been experimenting with running my photos through a comic style filter with the idea of making a short graphic novel.
Below are a couple of the first tries. If you are interested in something a bit edgy and out of the mainstream, check out my blog for more test photos of my sci-fi mining themed layout.
https://smallurbanrails.wordpress.com/
Let me know what you think.
-rich erwin
(these are actual photos of my layout with a filter applied)
I've always been a Sci Fi nut, but my interest in that genre and trains don't mix. They stay compartmentalized in my mind.
I do remember MR magazine had a train on the moon feature around 30+ years ago, but it was kind of wierd and just a static scene and didn't operate.
My story is I became interested in western railroading in my teens and twenty's in California and trips to and through Utah and Colorado so became interested in modeling the D&RGW during the 70's and 80's.
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
My layout does tell a story of operations in Southern VA. Some prefer a total theme while others do a hodgepodge of different themes put together. Heck, I've seen layouts that depict a part of a person's childhood. Whatever works!
Coola about the sci-fi theme. Whatever works. I bet some even do the Old West with iron horses rolling through.
I was never much of a Sci-Fi guy, but I ever did go off on a tangent, I thought steam punk kind of stuff would be cool.
Speaking of an old west lay out, where's Space Mouse been?
Mike.
My You Tube
I'm also a Sci-Fi nut (I'm actually nuts about a lot of things!). I think the solution for me some day will be to build a portable layout of some kind of futuristic city, with commuter trains that run through modern buildings, with some launch pads for cool flying vehicles. The second Star Wars movie is really inspiring for that... It would have to be N scale to make it easily portable and self-contained. Although I do check the old Tyco turbo trains on Ebay from time to time and dream about converting some of these for a Sci-Fi scene... This hobby can go in so many different directions!
Simon
My railroad used to have a story, not so much anymore. I have made it as generic as possible. USRA and EMD locomotives, standard freight car designs, "anywhere in America" scenery, and no prototype interchanges.
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-Kevin
Living the dream.
Wow... what a coincidence!! I'm modeling the very same thing, except in narrow guage. You should see my Shay operate in Warp Drive!
Go for it dude!
Jim
Well, Shays certainly sound like they are in Warp drive!
The Lone Wolf Railroad was started with government subsidies during the California gold rush of 1849. It operated on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada mountain range and in the mineral rich desert. It was centered in the town of Lone Wolf, on Wolf Mountain, where the saw mill was located. The railroad got rich off of lumber from the mountains and minerals from the desert. It connected to the Santa Fe in southern California. The mill closed in the 80s. (It was modeled in the 1970s version of the layout.) In the modern gold boom of the 1980s the railroad bought out the Santa Fe, becoming the Lone Wolf and Santa Fe Railroad.