Long story short, my 2'x16' section switching layout has been packed up for long term storage (pending a move in the next few months and I'm reasonably sure it won't go back together correctly anyhow).
While I love hulking industrial megaliths and low rise commercial buildings in an urban setting, I've decided to build a module, for general tinkering purposes, and want to go for a more bucolic setting. To this end, I have decided to drift towards the "rural grade crossing house cluster" that I'm familiar with from my youth and early adulthood in the deer infested leafy parts of Pennsylvania.
This brings me to the question at hand for the early phase of my planning phase: there HAS TO BE some sort of article(s) about yards of the grassy kind, not the metal and wood kind, and possibly even home-houses not round-houses or engine-houses. Yet...these terms confound the search. Does anyone know of anything in the Archives that can help me?
This won't help you one tiny bit, but RMC did an article several years ago where the author described in detail several model residental back yards he had along his mainline, one yard being very neat with walks and fencing, one yeard with a big garden, one yard being messy and unkempt, and so on, and the various methods he used to detail the yards.For you, might just be easier to decide what you want to see in the yards you wish to model (check for any backyard photos in your or your relatives albums - it is your youth after all you want to model), then head to Walther.com to start and work backwards - there is a tremendous among of garden, trees, flowers, lawn material etc from Woodland Scenics and JTT to start...not to mention the bucketloads of residental yard details available from Busch, Faller, Noch, et. al. (or, quite frankly, the stuff you can make on your own - some stripwood and you can reproduce picnic tables, decks, trellis, etc).
If I was going to model a yard I would look out my window and start with Woodland Scenics "summer grass",a shade tree and maybe a wooden flower box by the porch...
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
One mistake that a yard moddler might make is to make the yards flat with grass across all of the lots, and then adding the houses.
Each house sits on its own lot. Each home owner has his (or her) own ideas about gardens, landscaping, lawn arrangements. Many communities forbid fences in the front of the yard, so fences only begin near the front edges of the house. In older neighborhoods, you will find no such restricions.
Tall trees will tower over even a two story house.
Most Family Activity will be in the back yards which can be fenced in, usually with a fence that allows visual privacy. A BBQ and or a pool may be appropriate.
Keep each lot unique and it will be more interesting.
Some suburban lots do back up against the railroad and will have vine covered fences to block sights and sounds. A dog or a cat may be normal, but you may run into problems with the authorities if you try to keep a LION in your back yard.
ROAR
The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.
Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS
I swear I remember MRR Did an article on backyards several years ago.
(My Model Railroad, My Rules)
These are the opinions of an under 35 , from the east end of, and modeling, the same section of the Wheeling and Lake Erie railway. As well as a freelanced road (Austinville and Dynamite City railroad).
BroadwayLionMany communities forbid fences in the front of the yard, so fences only begin near the front edges of the house. In older neighborhoods, you will find no such restricions.
Another thing to remember boats need to be kept in the drive way or backyard..According to our city laws a boat in the front yard is a "eye sore" and must be kept covered in the drive way or its to be stored in the backyard--even if there's no alley access to your backyard..
If your into detail you might try having someone cutting the front yard with a lawnmower, use green ground foam for the cut grass and then use static raised grass for the uncut portion. I have a gravel driveway in one of my yards made with fine ballast and in the middle grass growing. May God bless.
I can't remember if it was MR or MRH where the modeler showed a grass area in the town square and had a man mowing it.
Fred
The November 2005 issue of MR (page 46-51) has a scenery article by Low Sassi that includes an insert on "fantastic front yards".
I have the right to remain silent. By posting here I have given up that right and accept that anything I say can and will be used as evidence to critique me.
Thinking again about the RMC article about backyards I mentioned (and a concept which Brother Elias obliquitely touched upon), what the author did was come up with back stories for each of the (5, IIRC) property owners, such as income level, laziness, gardening skills, handyman skills and so on, and designed the yards keeping those profiles in mind - hence the lazy household had unkempt grass material, some junk in the back yard, and bare spots (dirt ground cover) in the lawn. The garden-friendly household had flowerbeds around the house, nice paved path, a trellis and so on.One thing - in general, the more young kids (3-->12) around, the more bare spots in the lawn* and the more discarded toys strewn about.* From outdoor play - I have no idea if this still applies to many young kids nowadays.But as I said before - get some images and plans, make some designs; there is more than enough scenery items available that you should readily be able to replicate the designs without any difficulty.
"To this end, I have decided to drift towards the "rural grade crossing house cluster" that I'm familiar with from my youth and early adulthood in the deer infested leafy parts of Pennsylvania."Was that the 1960s? 70s? 80s? When?The answer will determine the ratio of metal toys to plastic toys, the general count of plastic garbage cans vs metal (and whether there is a plastic garden shed in back), the size of backyard decks (these seemed to grow in average size to humogous dimensions by the 1980s) and the corresponding decrease in plain concrete patios, the presence of backyard vegtable gardens (which IIRC reached a peak in the late 1970s - my dad was definitely big into gardening, and he did pretty well, except the huge amount of tomatoes and cucumbers in late summer that he struggled to foist upon everyone around (Corn, OTOH which I would have liked more of, well the squirrels were more nimble in snagging those ears).If you go really far back (1950s?), maybe you'll need a backyard incinerator.
I remember that RMC too and specifically remember that I didn't buy it. Probably should have.
I'd intended to go contemporary, as the part of Pennsylvania I know best has a vaguely timeless quality. Lots of houses still have antennas on them, even though they've had cable for 20 years. Kids never wore out bare spots in the yard, probably because there was more area to spread out in (or maybe our grass was made of tougher stuff), although the dirt circle where the dog was tied up was very common. And you still have your burn barrel (no one was fancy enough for an "incinerator") although now that's where the paper strips that come out of the shredder go.
So many of the scenery articles and books are devoted to the wilds (as they should be, most of the Earth is that way), that it seems the groomed and kept parts are overlooked. Although maybe I'm overthinking it and making the groomed parts is much easier than it seems.
NittanyLionSo many of the scenery articles and books are devoted to the wilds (as they should be, most of the Earth is that way), that it seems the groomed and kept parts are overlooked. Although maybe I'm overthinking it and making the groomed parts is much easier than it seems.
As a point of thought..I always thought most layouts is to well groom(perfect perhaps?) to be realistic..I've seen some photos where the country side looks like a well manicured lawn instead of having a "wild" look. Even our streets are to clean-no wheel marks,oil trails,man hole covers etc.
Perhaps more wild grass,weeds,trash etc would make our scenes more realistic?
There are a lot of details available for yards. Besides the lawnmowers, you can find backyard grills, picnic benches, bicyles, oil and gas tanks and bulkhead doors, all of which greatly enhance the look of a yard as a model.
Also look for hedges and rows of flowers. Think about the placement of ornametal shrubs when you plan driveways and sidewalks.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
I've been slowly working on a residential area on my HO layout:
Going for a late 1950s Southern California look, so not exactly the leafy Pennsylvania you're looking for. But I hope it can give you some ideas for modeling a residential neighborhood.
Here's an under construction look:
Matt from Anaheim, CA and Bayfield, COClick Here for my model train photo website
Contrasting front yards. Junky left, would-be yard of the month right, nondescript far right.
A quick bibliography of articles and plans re residential houses.
Just spent about five minutes with Google Maps/Earth, pulled rapid descent to helicopter viewing altitude over several communities west of Philadelphia. You can actually see quite a bit of detail - one house had one of those circular above-ground pools with puddles (from recent rain?) on the covering tarp.
Amazing differences in the same neighborhood. An obvious vegetable garden next to a car collector (several in the back yard, plus a detached garage and sheds.) Nice flower beds vs well worn fence-to-fence lawn. Quite a few mature trees.
Don't ask where. I just pulled a 'zoom and boom' to get there from Southern Nevada.
(Now I'll have to try Central Japan...)
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
Don't forget to include the overflowing septic tank.
Dave
Just be glad you don't have to press "2" for English.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQ_ALEdDUB8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hqFS1GZL4s
http://s73.photobucket.com/user/steemtrayn/media/MovingcoalontheDCM.mp4.html?sort=3&o=27