Edit post

Edit your reply below.

Post Body
Enter your post below.
It's important to have a few showcase or feature items that set the theme for your layout but when space is at a premium, most of your industries and towns can be compressed or only partially modeled with good results. That's where each needs to be studied for what stays and what goes. I'm modeling the Adirondack Mountains in the early 1900s. The main industries are logging, sawmills, an iron mine, a blast furnace, a paper mill and some early tourist traffic. Also some smaller manufacturing businesses. What stays? Rail operations related to these. What goes? For most of the industries, the bulk of the structures related to the industries. Example: paper mills can be huge propositions, but the related rail operations can be represented in a proportionally small area. Much of what doesn't make the cut can be represented on background flats. Example: Even small logging operations would be enormously huge on a layout. What stays? The bunk houses, shops, cook shacks and dining halls and also the log loading areas. What goes: Many thousands of acres of clear cut woodland, some of which gets depicted on backdrops. Example: Iron mining operations could eat up a significant portion of the layout. What stays: The mine hoist shaft and some surrounding support buildings, and downhill , the scintering plant where ore gets its final heat processing prior to loading into ore cars for shipping to the furnace. Also the power house stays since it brings in coal traffic. What goes? Mountains of tailings and much of the space-consuming separator buildings which can be off-stage or on a backdrop. Similarly, a sawmill can be compressed or selectively modeled, though my N scale sawmill complex occupies a 2'-8" x 7' piece of real estate. It's my "showcase" industry though and I decided to give this model as much space as it needs. In fact, the space wasn't adequate and a "company town" is springing up on the next section down the line. What I've found in building a mock-up of the sawmill town, is that a hillside town may appear larger and more interesting than even more structures on the flat. Focus on the rail operations of the industries you're interested in. Represent the bulk of the industry either on backgrounds or by an illusional trick such as a conveyor that disappears over a hill (as if to an off-layout coal mine, for example.). Use off-layout staging to reduce the real estate needed for interchanges. Super detail what you do model and few will notice what you've ignored. Scenes set very close to each other benefit from having a visual separation, such as a small hill, from its neighbors, such that if you move your position to the new scene as your train enters it, the proximity to the previous scene should not be noticable. Wayne
Tags (Optional)
Tags are keywords that get attached to your post. They are used to categorize your submission and make it easier to search for. To add tags to your post type a tag into the box below and click the "Add Tag" button.
Add Tag

Update Reply

Subscriber & Member Login

Login, or register today to interact in our online community, comment on articles, receive our newsletter, manage your account online and more!

Model Railroader Newsletter See all

Sign up for our FREE e-newsletter and get model railroad news in your inbox!

Subscriber & Member Login

Edit post

Post Body

Tags (Optional)

Subscriber & Member Login

Users Online

Search the Community