Rural??

[Razorclaw]

What should one include in a rural layout? Era time 1940's to 1960's. The state doesn't matter, well expect for Alaska. I can't imagine during several ice shows and designs all over the layout. Thanks, Stephen

[Anonymous]

well, farms, ranches, coop grain elevators, silos, some livestock. Would this area have a town or two or would it be just farmhouses?

[PennsyHoosier]

Hill country or plains? Desert? I grew up in the rural Midwest cornbelt. My wife grew up in rural Pennsylvania with lots of hills. All I ever saw was corn--and the grid system. All she ever saw were hills--and roads that twisted all over the place. But we were both "rural." Then you throw in the rural south and west, and, well [#dots]

[Anonymous]

Drive around Texas, it won't take long to find out. A few cows, tractors, a cafe with a couple of pickups out front and haybales in the back. Gain elevators and implement dealers both add great effect to a rural layout.

Have fun,
Okie Greg

[ericsp]

Depending on what types of crops are usually grown in the area, there might be some type of food processing plant. West of Bakersfield, CA. Frito-Lay has a plant in the middle of nowhere, it seems to have nothing to do with the crops being grown there either. Some other plants I have seen in rural areas are tomato processing plants, sugar refineries, natural gas fractionation plants, railcar repair facility, feed distributors, feed mills, ethanol plants, carbon black plants, petroleum coke calcinators, fertilizer manufacturing plants, pesticide manufacturing plants, ammonia plants (frequently part of fertilizer manufacturing plants), ag chemical distributors, water pumping stations, petroleum pumping stations, oil fields, steam injection facilities (for enhance oil recovery [EOR]), fruit/vegatable packing plants, and I am sure there are others. For the most part the above industries will have existed in your time era. However, the tomato processing, ethanol, and EOR industries have experience large amounts of growth since then, so these may not be good ideas for your layout.

[Anonymous]

1954 is recognized as the year when half the farms in America had tractors. Depending on location, a good number of them had fowl, a few pigs, and maybe as many as 20 dairy cows. A small creamery, a barn and a few other out buildings. Tilling of the soil, cutting grain were most often mechanized but there were still a number of farms whose main motive power was still horses. Machines got better, farming methods became more scientific, and small farms were being sold to large farms or housing developements, Certain farm products became mechanized and understood well enough that we begin to see what would later lead to what we now refer to as factory farms. I knew of some farms which had no ties to the Amish or Mennonites that routinely used mules in the early '70's. Again location, location, location. Draft horse clubs and old tractor clubs are great sources of finding out about farming in any given decade. Also a lot of state historical societies have great collections of pictures, some even on line, that can give you a pretty good idea.

[orsonroy]

I'm modeling a rural central Illinois railroad, on a shelf layout. Most of my layout's no more than 1 foot wide. I'm modeling the mainlines, passing sidings, and small towns where they exist (mostly as flats along the backdrops). For the rest of the layout, I'm going with plains and croplands, rather than farmsteads smack-dab along the tracks (which isn't all that common; farmers like to sleep soundly too). Lots of nothingness will help convey the reality of the area I'm modeling, wheras lots of buildings just looks busy, cluttered and Eastern.

[Ibflattop]

Hows about some cows that got loose on a dirt road or along a track that you werent going to use? Have some deer along a woodline just coming into a field. Goats standing on the Old car that is up on blocks behind the barn. Let your imagination go.
Kevin

[Jetrock]

One thing to think about is where the goods of this railroad go--generally if a railroad didn't have a city at one end or the other, it connected to another railroad that did.

Also, geography and state is very important--is this a Midwestern farm setting, or high desert, or Northwestern mountains, or the Deep South? Some things won't change too much (pickup trucks, diners, etc.) but terrain and region will affect what you model--you don't find too many grain elevators in mountainous country.

Why not Alaska? In winter it's a bit chilly, but Alaska has lots of scenic terrain--forests, mountains, plains, etcetera--and industry (such as oil!) and of course railroads. There's no reason why you can't model the summer even in a place that gets cold.

Heck, if you think about it, plenty of the northern U.S. would make a very snowy scene if modeled in winter, including railroad-heavy places like Illinois.