Hi gang. Just thinking how I want to build my next layout town. I'll start with a hotel, a corner market, a bank, a cafe', a barber shop, a post office, a fire station, a school complete with play ground, a church and grave yard, a gas station, an undertaker and several houses as well as a water tower. I just hope it turns out the way I see it in my imagination... Does anyone out there have any ideas on how I might improve my plans?.
It sounds pretty ambitious to me, but you may have a lot more room than do I for such niceties.
marksrailroadDoes anyone out there have any ideas on how I might improve my plans?.
I'd suggest some business opportunities for the railway. You don't mention the era you're modelling, and many rail-served industries changed over the years, so you may have to give us a little more info, or simply fill-in those blanks yourself.
I model the late '30s, and would include a train station, perhaps a grain elevator and a team track or, if the size of the town merits it, a freight house. An industry big enough to handle a boxcar or two could be a furniture factory, or a food processing plant.
In my era, every small town had at least one coal and ice dealer, and there could be any number of rail-served industries peculiar to your particular locale.
Such industries give you a good reason to run trains, and not ones which simply blow for the crossings and pass by, but ones which you actual have to operate in order to service the town.
Wayne
When envisioning & planning my layout town I drew up an old school style scale sketch and then a close to size cardboard and construction paper mock-up of structures and streets. Gives me good perspective on what does or doesn't work.
I've aways to go, but an exceptionally fun journey so far.
Regards, Peter
Good advice, esepcially if you plan to have a very busy town. Your railroad supplies it and depeicting how that happens is good guidance. Likewise, being willing to try different ideas and arrangements can result in creative breakthroughs not always evident from more formal planning methods.
These are not incompatible concepts. Plan it, build it and then don't be afraid of makeovers is pretty much how I do things. Here's an earlier version of Red Mountain.
Here it is after several more changes and additions.
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
Ok, here are some shots of a small town that is busy.
Roger Hensley= ECI Railroad - http://madisonrails.railfan.net/eci/eci_new.html == Railroads of Madison County - http://madisonrails.railfan.net/ =
I'm sorry. I did fail to include an era didn't I. It will be the transition era of the mid 1950s. I also forgot to mention that it will have a depot or station.
Ah, small town america, love it. Becoming immersed in the aspects and history of prototypes when modeling a scene or structure is truly one of my favorite parts of the hobby.
Visiting small towns armed with intense interest and a camera is a great way to garner modeling ideas, not to mention the tremendous value in stopping by the local museum to learn of days gone by thru aritfacts, photos and curators. The diverse character of the older parts of town can be so interesting and thought provoking.
Photo taken in Grass Valley, Oregon
As a matter of general perception, I always think the main street of a small town looks best when its perpendicular to, and crosses, the main line. I think when the main street runs parallel to the tracks, it tends to represent a larger town.
Very general perceptions. Either is fine of course, I'm simply describing as how I would perceive a small vs large town.
As has been mentioned, your list of businesses and other buildings may get to the point of looking like a larger town, as I would define it.
- Douglas
DoughlessAs a matter of general perception, I always think the main street of a small town looks best when its perpendicular to, and crosses, the main line. I think when the main street runs parallel to the tracks, it tends to represent a larger town.
I think that a main street perpendicular to the track implies a larger town, (especially if it runs off the front edge of the layout) it implies more town not modeled.
I tried to sell my two cents worth, but no one would give me a plug nickel for it.
I don't have a leg to stand on.
Wheatland CA
Weatland Downtown by Donald Schmitt, on Flickr
Generally small towns tend to have the busness district close to and parallel to the RR examples Wheatland CA, Live Oak CA, Soledad CA
With a station? Ah, yes.
When I was describing perpendicular vs parallel, I had a town like Mlehman posted in mind for the small town and perpendicular street. The towns posted by others look larger to me.
It depends on what you call small and large. Maybe Mike's is better called a village. I don know. Anyway, Mike's has fewer buildings, fewer space for buildings because of how its laid out.
Are you basing the town off a specific location or area in the US?
No ATFSGuy. It's just an imaginary place. The layout table and track are already built. All it needs now is a town with typical Saturday afternoon traffic.
Most small towns have these customers that were/are rail served...
Bulk oil/fuel dealer (maybe than one)
Lumber yard
Beer distributor (at least towns out west).
Also most towns that were built during/after the construction of the RR will be laid in a grid pattern, with hotels, cafes, bars closest to the station and/or engine facilities.
I also like the idea of making mock-ups to position structures.
In this case, most of the buildings are DPM modulars, so the mock-up, made with cardstock, really helped in the design of the buildings themselves, not just the positioning.
I used to just cut out footprints for the buildings, but found that making 3D mock-ups helped me get the sight lines I wanted, too, particularly when creating a crowded scene like this with the buildings close together.
The suggestion that you think about rail-served industries is a good one. One issue I discovered with my layout is that I had great looking town scenes, but they provided no "industries" for the railroad to switch. I tried to remedy this as my layout expanded, but it's better to plan it in from the beginning.
marksrailroadI'll start with a hotel, a corner market, a bank, a cafe', a barber shop, a post office, a fire station, a school complete with play ground, a church and grave yard, a gas station, an undertaker and several houses as well as a water tower.
The only thing in your list that does anything with the railroad is the water tower. I've got most of these represented on my layout, too, but you're putting a lot of layout real estate into non-train structures.
Look online to see what's available in structure kits, if that's the way you plan to go. Remember that you don't have to use the kits "as designed." I've got an old "bank" kit that I've made into a hotel instead.
The City Classics grocery is one of my favorites. I personally look for shops with large windows so I can illuminate and detail the interiors.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.