Discuss: Things every layout should have.

[Left Coast Rail]

Excellent ideas, people! I'm saving copies of the lists into a file to go into my 'Details' folder (under my "MRR stuff').

Since my (fictional freelance/bridge line) 1950's RR is set in the Four Corners area of the Southwest (UT-CO-NM-AZ), my 'water feature' will be a dry creek bed with (possibly) a small trickle down it, plus some low (piling) trestles (built fairly sturdy so the flash floods don't wash them right away). 

Other things I will likely have:

• trackside details as mentioned (telephone/utility/telegraph poles, turnout switchstands, etc.)
• hints of a mesa or two in the background (I have several photos of wind/water eroded cliff edges to use for coloring and texturing details)
• various tumbleweeds, cacti, and ruts leading off to that prospector's shack up on the mountain
• a small flock of sheep with a shepherd (and where can I find some mongrel sheepdog figures? The ones I see in catalogs look to cityfied for my tastes)
• some well-rusted pickups and cars (with the cars maybe having 1 tire whitewalled and the others plain black)
• assorted junk piles a bit back from the roads/highways
• tires in ditches
• driftwood pieces at the edges of that dry creek bed
• some hawks, and maybe some vultures, if I can find a suitable HO scale figure
  

I also will need to learn how to make the clothing on figures look rather weathered and worn... Hey, I like Southwestern rural style!

Jim in Cape Girardeau

I've traveled in the four corners area quite often over the years. Spent several weeks houseboating at Lake Powell and hot air ballooning in Albuquerque. You might want to add a trading post and a couple of hogans. Another cool feature I've seen on a southwest oriented scene is a giant thunderhead in the distance with a camera flash hidden behind a hill. You could almost smell the ozone.

[MStLfan]

Excellent ideas, people! I'm saving copies of the lists into a file to go into my 'Details' folder (under my "MRR stuff').

Since my (fictional freelance/bridge line) 1950's RR is set in the Four Corners area of the Southwest (UT-CO-NM-AZ), my 'water feature' will be a dry creek bed with (possibly) a small trickle down it, plus some low (piling) trestles (built fairly sturdy so the flash floods don't wash them right away). 

Other things I will likely have:

• trackside details as mentioned (telephone/utility/telegraph poles, turnout switchstands, etc.)
• hints of a mesa or two in the background (I have several photos of wind/water eroded cliff edges to use for coloring and texturing details)
• various tumbleweeds, cacti, and ruts leading off to that prospector's shack up on the mountain
• a small flock of sheep with a shepherd (and where can I find some mongrel sheepdog figures? The ones I see in catalogs look to cityfied for my tastes)
• some well-rusted pickups and cars (with the cars maybe having 1 tire whitewalled and the others plain black)
• assorted junk piles a bit back from the roads/highways
• tires in ditches
• driftwood pieces at the edges of that dry creek bed
• some hawks, and maybe some vultures, if I can find a suitable HO scale figure
  

I also will need to learn how to make the clothing on figures look rather weathered and worn... Hey, I like Southwestern rural style!

Jim in Cape Girardeau

Hey Jim,

That is the area I am interested in after the Midwest. After Steamboat Rock in Iowa I think Mexican Hat is the coolest placename in North America. I hope you post pictures sometime.

Don't forget to make a cliffdwelling or two.

Also, don't forget the native americans living in the area.

Maybe a couple of Mormons trying to convert someone?

greetings,

Marc Immeker

[JimRCGMO]

Excellent ideas, people! I'm saving copies of the lists into a file to go into my 'Details' folder (under my "MRR stuff').

Since my (fictional freelance/bridge line) 1950's RR is set in the Four Corners area of the Southwest (UT-CO-NM-AZ), my 'water feature' will be a dry creek bed with (possibly) a small trickle down it, plus some low (piling) trestles (built fairly sturdy so the flash floods don't wash them right away). 

Other things I will likely have:

• trackside details as mentioned (telephone/utility/telegraph poles, turnout switchstands, etc.)
• hints of a mesa or two in the background (I have several photos of wind/water eroded cliff edges to use for coloring and texturing details)
• various tumbleweeds, cacti, and ruts leading off to that prospector's shack up on the mountain
• a small flock of sheep with a shepherd (and where can I find some mongrel sheepdog figures? The ones I see in catalogs look to cityfied for my tastes)
• some well-rusted pickups and cars (with the cars maybe having 1 tire whitewalled and the others plain black)
• assorted junk piles a bit back from the roads/highways
• tires in ditches
• driftwood pieces at the edges of that dry creek bed
• some hawks, and maybe some vultures, if I can find a suitable HO scale figure
  

I also will need to learn how to make the clothing on figures look rather weathered and worn... Hey, I like Southwestern rural style!

Jim in Cape Girardeau

[shayfan84325]

I couldn't resist this forum question because one of the things I think most layouts should have is an American flag (if appropriate).  ...

I've got one on mine!

 

That's a pretty natural looking flag.  Good job!

[tomikawaTT]

I couldn't resist this forum question because one of the things I think most layouts should have is an American flag (if appropriate).  Does anyone have any ideas about finding or creating a N-scale American flag (circa 1950)?

Creating a 48-star flag is easy, since the stars were eight wide and six deep.  It's the 50-star version that's a pain.

Do any of the pre-1912 modelers have accurate (46 or fewer stars) flags flying from their flagpoles?

My own modeling is much simpler.  No stars, no stripes, just one big red polka-dot on a white field.

Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)

[tomikawaTT]

You could always have a causeway or viaduct.

 

On a model of UP's LA&SL route through the Dessicated Desert?

Or maybe a model of present-day Kinzua Viaduct (flattened by a tornado...)

Or maybe not.

Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - with short bridges and long tunnels)

[CSX_road_slug]

I couldn't resist this forum question because one of the things I think most layouts should have is an American flag (if appropriate).  ...

I've got one on mine!

 

[gunkhead]

What if you used a piece of very thin cloth to make the flags? That would act more like a real one.

[BlueHillsCPR]

I couldn't resist this forum question because one of the things I think most layouts should have is an American flag (if appropriate).  Does anyone have any ideas about finding or creating a N-scale American flag (circa 1950)?

Hey that's a good idea!

Lots of people up here fly the US flag right alongside the Maple Leaf.  Now if I can just come up with a way to make the flags wave in the breeze...

[twhite]

Okay, I've been reading this for four pages and REALLY like the ideas and discussions. 

Here's mine: 

Netting to catch the trains in case the track fails under one of your trains on a sheer cliff (in my case, six actual feet of it to a concrete garage floor).   

Tom

[yellowducky]

Add a building that is common locally and very recognizable, but one that is not on

everybody's. I have a Pizza Hut on a 3X5 foot N layout. The hit of the layout.

I do hands-on trains at shows; a passing track with the close switch manual, and the far

switch auto, is always a hit. Animals that can be put in or on rolling stock are a must.

And always have one fast lone engine that will roll off the track on a curve!

[Varney]

A "newbie" opinion -

I don't have a list, but I'll be happy if my right-of-way looks like it was built into the landscape rather than the land built around the trains.  I plan to have a bridge or two over a stream, but without a lot of elevation change in the track plan, tunnels and tall trestles are out.  Obviously that's just my preference, though.

[LocoMtnMom]

Thank you.  I ran downstairs to my son whose computer has a color printer and turned the problem over to him.  There are actually quite a few pictures of semi-extended flags that might work well because I agree that a fully extended flag would look too unrealistic. Since I am modeling a mountainous area and you know that they are almost always windy (I live at 8000 feet so I am familiar with the almost constant breeze)  I think a slightly extended flag could look pretty good.  The problem now is the flagpole although my son suggested the shank of a t-pin and I think I will try that to see how it looks. I want the flag for a park on my layout that has a Jupiter steam engine surrounded by a fancy fence. 

[shayfan84325]

I think the reason that we see so few flags is that it's hard to model a flag and make it look right.  A paper cut-out stuck to a pole looks toy-like; most of the time a prototype flag hangs beautifully from a pole because it takes a pretty good breeze to get it to stand out.  A limp flag is full of with loops folds that are really hard to get right in miniature.  I'd love to see a few pictures of realistic limp flags, and tutorials on how they were made.

[IRONROOSTER]

I couldn't resist this forum question because one of the things I think most layouts should have is an American flag (if appropriate).  Does anyone have any ideas about finding or creating a N-scale American flag (circa 1950)?

The best answer I've seen in this thread.

You could probably take any flag picture and shrink it down to size and print it. Search Google on 48 star flag for lots of hits.

Enjoy

Paul 

[LocoMtnMom]

I couldn't resist this forum question because one of the things I think most layouts should have is an American flag (if appropriate).  Does anyone have any ideas about finding or creating a N-scale American flag (circa 1950)?

[MStLfan]

On my Midwest modules I want a creek in a valley with the track partly on fill, trestle (say 3stories high) and a girder bridge over the creek and parallel county road, red barnsand grainelevators, coal sheds.

[MStLfan]

What I remember from my trip to Japan in october 2000 is:

- buildings very close to the tracks (less than 5 meters Mark, Chuck?),

- rundown looking platform shelters made of cheap looking materials.

- large infrastructural works (high speed train or road) with a lot of stabilising of mountainsides,

- if possible a historical district with wooden houses of tradional design clashing with modern ugly concrete architecture (did I mention blue tiles on the roof?) next door,

- the appearance that things are in a rundown state (might be the effect of weathering on certain materials),

- rice paddies in the middle of a city,

- Pachinko parlours (and the noise!),

- Track numbered 0 in Nagasaki station.

greetings,

Marc Immeker

[trainnut57]

On my RR, along with all the usual things associated with it, i.e. crossings, signals, cars, people, I have also added:

A Train Park (with apologies to New Rochelle), a hospital, a post office, mountain tunnels and my own version of the Rat Hole, two small towns and a quite large swimming hole in the middle of a central park-type set-up, with more to come as my retirement moves on and ideas come out.

[doneldon]

You could always have a causeway or viaduct.

 

[azamiryou]

If I ever model Japan I'll be sure to stick in some timber cribbing just to rock the boat! 

Kevin, there's only two people on the forum who'd know you were rocking the boat. Chuck's one, and I'm the other - and I don't think either of us would give you hard time about it!

Bzzt! There are at least three, and maybe more.

 The thing I think every layout should have is a model railroader who enjoys it.  Beyond that, it's all icing.

[Autobus Prime]

I think the underlying point AP was making is that we should think carefully about what the signature elements of our particular prototype are, and use them so our layouts tell a story that is recognisable to non-modellers, or to modellers who aren't familiar with our specific prototype.

mn:

Probably some of that point, and some thought about "showmanship", but generally a vague and half-formed notion that I stuck to the board in hope that the other participants would come up with the points. I've gotten lots of ideas for my own railroad from reading this thread, too.

There are a lot of things that a railroad set outside some specific setting doesn't need, but one set in it absolutely demands.

For instance, if your railroad is set in western PA (and, I think, the adjoining tri-state area of NY and OH), and it contains a free-lanced diner, the name should definitely be spelled "DINOR", with an O. Not every diner there is spelled that way, but many are, and it's a fairly well-known and odd regionalism.

A diner is something I think every US-prototype model railroader should consider having (if appropriate) They're widespread, but still have individuality, and they don't look out of place down by the tracks. Diners are also quite appealing to nonmodelers, and don't need a big lot.

Modelers who have the common 2-story brick storefronts should consider adding a sign for a dentist office, portrait studio, law office, Odd Fellows hall, or some other such tenant, by the second-floor entrance, maybe with lettering on the upstairs windows. The second floor is already there, so it's free except for the signage.

There's even some railroad clutter that we don't often address. A lot of small railyards or stations have a stockpile of various small parts in a handy location...brake shoes, kegs of spikes, coupler knuckles, and stuff like that. Usually there seems to be a sort of chaotic order in evidence. Generally these are small parts that can be picked up and carried, so there won't be monstrous things like wheelsets. You can suggest them with some crates and barrels, weathered heavily to look like they've been out for a long time.

[howmus]

I think every layout should have something that is sort of toungue-in-cheek.  We've seen a few on the forums; one of my favorites is the Heartbreak Hotel, complete with Elvis and a hound dog.  On my layout, it's the Stave Brothers Cooperage (barrel factory).  John Allen had a bunch, but I liked Hangman's Bridge the best (it's where a diesel salesman was lynched, according to legend).  These little gags are a way of expressing the fun that the hobby represents.

While I really think everyone should at least have some track, a locomotive, and some RR Cars.........  I too like the Tongue  in Cheek gags, especially sight gags.  Several of my businesses are named after family members and located where I get in big trouble with one of my sister's who "gets" the gags....  If your layout happens to be during Prohibition in America, you probably should have a moonshine still somewhere....

along with the Pink elephant.

[marknewton]

The original post has some problems. if you model ATSF in the desert what are you going to use for a water feature?  If you model the east not many wood trestles there.  And so it goes. For every suggestion there is a railroad that didn't have that feature.  The critical element if doing prototype modeling is to be true to the prototype.

I think AP addressed your problem in his initial post, where he wrote:

"Of course, not all of us will have the same list."

I agree absolutely that if you're modelling a prototype, you should be true to that. It's something that I strive for, but a lot of what I do is really only recognisable to me. I think the underlying point AP was making is that we should think carefully about what the signature elements of our particular prototype are, and use them so our layouts tell a story that is recognisable to non-modellers, or to modellers who aren't familiar with our specific prototype.

It's something I haven't really given much thought to before now, and I think it's a great idea. In my case, it's made me think more about just what exactly makes a layout based on Japanese prototype distinctive, apart from the trains. Listing my "should have/must have" features has clarified a few things in my mind, and helped me develop some ideas that I've had for a while.

That being the case, I'm sure I'm not the only who thinks this a great thread!

All the best,

Mark.

[gunkhead]

Well, on a Sodor layout, for something tongue-in-cheek, try the A.W. Dry workshop.

[ndbprr]

The original post has some problems. if you model ATSF in the desert what are you going to use for a water feature?  If you model the east not many wood trestles there.  And so it goes. For every suggestion there is a railroad that didn't have that feature.  The critical element if doing prototype modeling is to be true to the prototype.

[jecorbett]

I don't think there is anything EVERY layout should have other than track and trains. For my layout, these were the givens.

1. Lots of passenger traffic of all types. Limiteds, accomodations, commuters, and even a mixed train. I am old enough to remember when train travel was the norm even for long distance trips. I'm not sure when air travel surpassed train travel for long distance trips but my guess is the late 1950s or early 1960s.

2. Several passenger stations of various sizes.

3. A large urban area. So far, mine is still on the drawing board with lots of plywood space to fill. I intend to double the apparent size with a strategically placed mirror.

4. A large classification yard.

5. A locomotive roster with late steam and early diesels.

6. A turntable and roundhouse for servicing the steam fleet. Also all the other servicing facilities for the steamers.

7. A coach yard to allow for switching of passenger equipment instead of simply running it through with no consist changes.

8. Staging yards at both ends of the layout to enhance operations.

9. A branchline to create some interchange traffic with the mainline. This one is still on the drawing board.

10. Details that will establish a latter 1950s time frame.

[shayfan84325]

I think every layout should have something that is sort of toungue-in-cheek.  We've seen a few on the forums; one of my favorites is the Heartbreak Hotel, complete with Elvis and a hound dog.  On my layout, it's the Stave Brothers Cooperage (barrel factory).  John Allen had a bunch, but I liked Hangman's Bridge the best (it's where a diesel salesman was lynched, according to legend).  These little gags are a way of expressing the fun that the hobby represents.

My club has Hoffa Cement Plant.

Wasn't Hoffa Cement one of the sign options supplied with a Walthers kit? (I think the default one was Medusa Cement - which I just found via google is a real (and large) company).
Anyway I find these punny names a bit cringeworthy (back in the day, I had a Lifelike funeral home, one of the many derivatives of the Farm House, labeled 'W.E. Snatchum' - ugh).  However, I also realize that many businesses in decades past had such punny names (and various snippets in magazines like Reader's Digest that listed them), but not sure how common that is nowadays - doesn't seem too common nowadays here in NY, although I'm sure there's a few out there.

I haven't been to New York in a long while, but here in Utah we still have a lot of fun with names of businesses.  I'll grant you that prototype tongue in cheek names are only seen once in a while, but there are prototypes.  In Logan, we have a real aritsan bakery named Crumb Borthers' Bakery.  I know of a real dentist named Dr. Payne.

Like most things, moderation is a good approach when it comes to this stuff; I admire fun little touches that express some lightheartedness, but don't detract from the realism of the scene.  It's a tricky balance.

BTW, one other industry on my layout is Spock's Wingnuts.  They advertise that their products are "the logical choice" as they have "bigger ears for a better grip."

[chutton01]

I think every layout should have something that is sort of toungue-in-cheek.  We've seen a few on the forums; one of my favorites is the Heartbreak Hotel, complete with Elvis and a hound dog.  On my layout, it's the Stave Brothers Cooperage (barrel factory).  John Allen had a bunch, but I liked Hangman's Bridge the best (it's where a diesel salesman was lynched, according to legend).  These little gags are a way of expressing the fun that the hobby represents.

My club has Hoffa Cement Plant.

Wasn't Hoffa Cement one of the sign options supplied with a Walthers kit? (I think the default one was Medusa Cement - which I just found via google is a real (and large) company).
Anyway I find these punny names a bit cringeworthy (back in the day, I had a Lifelike funeral home, one of the many derivatives of the Farm House, labeled 'W.E. Snatchum' - ugh).  However, I also realize that many businesses in decades past had such punny names (and various snippets in magazines like Reader's Digest that listed them), but not sure how common that is nowadays - doesn't seem too common nowadays here in NY, although I'm sure there's a few out there.