The home page of MR Forum has a link to a video of George Sellios' layout.
Amazing. Just amazing!
I have seen numerous photos of his layout. This is the first video I have seen of it.
Truly remarkable!
GARRY
HEARTLAND DIVISION, CB&Q RR
EVERYWHERE LOST; WE HUSTLE OUR CABOOSE FOR YOU
If it was on the right hand side..those are rotating ads ..so you will have to get there at the right rotation to see the link...so far I have not
This should make it easier:
http://mrr.trains.com/Videos/Layout%20Visits/2011/01/George%20Sellios%20layout.aspx
Tom
Life is simple - eat, drink, play with trains!
Go Big Red!
PA&ERR "If you think you are doing something stupid, you're probably right!"
Where's the video?
sundayniagara Where's the video?
I think you have to be a subscriber to see many of the videos. And it IS fantastic!
Would have been a lot better with a better music selection or none at all.
I found the music very distracting. It was like hearing the Boston Pops Orchestra while watching a boxing match.
Just my 2ct.s worth.
Happy Railroading
Bob
Don't Ever Give Up
superbe Would have been a lot better with a better music selection or none at all. Bob
I'll second that motion -- who picked the racket, George Sellios or someone on the MR staff. A silent movie would have been better.
superbe: Would have been a lot better with a better music selection or none at all. Bob
This new deluxe gadget I have called a computer has volume control with a zero setting!
And since somebody decided the dingy cocktail-lounge music was more important or easier to produce than the sound of George's locomotives and rails, you're not missing anything.
What a layout!
TWO QUESTIONS:
1. If you can't be yourself, whom would you rather be? George Sellios or Rod Stewart?
2. If you had to replace your own layout with someone else's, which of their layouts would you rather have?
The St. Francis Consolidated Railroad of the Colorado Rockies
Denver, Colorado
I sat down and read through this month's MR article entitled "Adding operation to the Franklin & South Manchester" about George Sellios's famous F&SM layout. I was delighted to read and hear that George had decided a couple of years ago to make his layout more "operationally-friendly".
From the article, it stated that there was a number of sections of hidden track that made operator's nervous because the trains were "hidden from view" for inordinate periods of time; "exceed[ing] the operator's comfort level", as it were.
I thought it interesting to note that George realized his own "limitations" as a modeler (as his strengths are noted for "structures and scenery") and incorporated his friend's Richard Josselyn and Tony Koester to "analyze" and to "define and implement the operating scheme". Nice having friends of that caliber to help get a project of this magnitude off the drawing board and into reality. George was no slacker though as he, himself, tore out old sections of trackage and scenery and installed new sections to help bring these changes into fruition.
This is also the first time that I've seen video of George's layout and it is pretty amazing to look at. George is undeniably a very talented modeler and designer of craftsman kits.
As much as I could learn from seeing and studying scenes depicted on George's F&SM layout, I still would have to say that I would choose not to model to the magnitude of detailing that he does. While times were indeed difficult during the Great Depression of the late 20's and 30s, I just can't get past the "plausibly factor" that every square inch of a city was/has to be/needs to be filthy, grimy, rusty, and disheveled looking.
I think Richard Josselyn's own words from the MR article best describe George's style of modeling on pg. 35:
"Its gritty weathered realism and heretofore-unseen level of tar paper-to-trash-can detailing might have threatened sensory overload, but it certainly pulled visitors right into his vision of Depression-era New England." [Underscore mine]
The author goes on to say at the bottom of pg. 36 that George's completed layout was "highly regarded as a stylistic masterpiece". [Underscore mine]
I personally think that that's a pretty fair assessment of the F&SM. But - then again - that's just my own "vision" of what I enjoy seeing and prefer to see on a layout.
Anyhow, despite my own preferences in modeling that may be different from another person's tastes and "vision", I can always learn something from someone else. And I would dare say that George could probably teach me quite a bit about how to improve my own modeling skills.
Thanks for the article, MR!
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.
St Francis Consolidated RR " alt="" onload="resizeImage(this);" /> superbe: Would have been a lot better with a better music selection or none at all. Bob I'll second that motion -- who picked the racket, George Sellios or someone on the MR staff. A silent movie would have been better. This new deluxe gadget I have called a computer has volume control with a zero setting! And since somebody decided the dingy cocktail-lounge music was more important or easier to produce than the sound of George's locomotives and rails, you're not missing anything. What a layout! TWO QUESTIONS: 1. If you can't be yourself, whom would you rather be? George Sellios or Rod Stewart? 2. If you had to replace your own layout with someone else's, which of their layouts would you rather have? Well St Francis you got me on this one. RE the sound I couldn't see the forrest for the trees. How could I not thought of the volume control ! ! If I had to pick one or the other I'd go with Rod Stewart but really wouldn't want either one. If it isn't built by me I don't want it. Happy railroading Bob
" alt="" onload="resizeImage(this);" /> superbe: Would have been a lot better with a better music selection or none at all. Bob
Well St Francis you got me on this one. RE the sound I couldn't see the forrest for the trees. How could I not thought of the volume control ! !
If I had to pick one or the other I'd go with Rod Stewart but really wouldn't want either one. If it isn't built by me I don't want it.
Happy railroading
I don't know what's your guys problem is - I liked the music :)
trainsBuddy I don't know what's your guys problem is - I liked the music :)
At least it wasn't that awful bluegrass/country/hobo music that seems to accompany almost every train video.
Matt from Anaheim, CA and Bayfield, COClick Here for my model train photo website
Or something by Boxcar Willy.
Gee Fellas,
I'm really shocked and dismayed to hear that every one doesn't like Blue Grass, it's so American and down to earth. It breaks my heart that it isn't enjoyed by all.
I'll be depressed the rest of the day and it's my wife's (39th) birthday or so she tells everyone. I know different, she's only 19 cause I'm a couple of years older.
Here's two songs that you will enjoy. Be sure to listen to the lyrics, turn up the volume and let er rip.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCw_cZqPjtM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_n9prNixjbg&feature=related
I'll leave it to others to select appropriate music for the G S video. Music for a coal drag vs a K4 pulling passenger cars etc would require quite different background music so what's best for the video is beyound me.
Have a good weekend and
They must think we're like toddlers with the music. You put little ones in front of a tv and mix in the happy music and they're glued.
Springfield PA
An urban model railroad setting accompanied by Urban Jazz piano music--what's not to like? I'm a professional musician and the soundtrack worked just fine for me.
With that aside, the layout is an absolute mind-blower!!
Tom View my layout photos! http://s299.photobucket.com/albums/mm310/TWhite-014/Rio%20Grande%20Yuba%20River%20Sub One can NEVER have too many Articulateds!
George Sellios F&SM layout is NCE DCC but evidently with no engine sounds. Glad I know where the volume control is located.
Other than the music being a very bad choice the RR is terrific and would be a lot better if the majority of the weathering was not so heavily done.
Wadda ya mean I'm old ? Just because I remember gasoline at 9 cents a gallon and those big coal burning steamers.
It's a Depression era layout, so heavy weathering is very appropriate. I'd venture to guess that during Great Depression reailroad companies payed a little bit less attention to the cleanness of their equipment.
I'm glad everybody had fun with the thread. The music did not bother me at all, but I suppose those who do not care for themusic can turn off speakers.
I used the wrod "see", and I sould see one of the most highly detailed layouts anywhere. Every square inch seems just right, and this is a large alyout.
It is very inspiring in my opinion.
Amazing layout!
The picture quality at this end was pretty bad. I'll not blame my computer nor my connection, as I've seen some very nice and "clean" model railroad videos. Also, I just went to the BLMA site blog and looked at the La Mesa club video. It looked very clean.
Too much compression? Not enough server??
Ed
Some people doesn´t have optic line to the Web, and that makes a HD video useless to most people. You can´t demand high quality in a medium like this.....
Swedish Custom painter and model maker. My Website:
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trainsBuddy It's a Depression era layout, so heavy weathering is very appropriate. I'd venture to guess that during Great Depression reailroad companies payed a little bit less attention to the cleanness of their equipment.
The stock market crashed in 1929 and magicly in a year or two everything man made fell apart?
I think not, and the photographic evidence from that era says clearly not everything went to ruin.
Sheldon
Neither thank you, both are very nice but do not reflect my interests or modeling style one bit. Tom (tstage) hit the nail on the head with his reply to this.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/2179045622/in/set-72157603671370361/lightbox/
Check these out...I did not see that many images of that type as displayed in so many layouts....
Any argument carried far enough will end up in Semantics--Hartz's law of rhetoric Emerald. Leemer and Southern The route of the Sceptre Express Barry
I just started my blog site...more stuff to come...
http://modeltrainswithmusic.blogspot.ca/
There are a number of photographic sites with stuff from that period...even the local public libraries around have special collection rooms filled with it ....
Oh look, a picture of something that wasn´t there
(No copyright!)
....and so?
Try finding nailholes here....
BTW...I did not say there was not ANY photos...just that there was not the massive amount of weathering ...
trainsBuddyIt's a Depression era layout, so heavy weathering is very appropriate. I'd venture to guess that during Great Depression reailroad companies payed a little bit less attention to the cleanness of their equipment.
Sorry, TB, but I have to disagree with you. A "little bit less attention" to cleanliness during hard times I would call appropriate. Making essentially everything run down looking, dirty, and/or disorderly is not; nor is it realistic.
The Great Depression may have been a difficult financial time for the US (as well as the rest of the world), but people - even RRs - didn't neglect all facets of their life. People still used brooms to sweep floors with and hung clean clothes out to dry on the line. Even the 25% of the population who were out of work at that time, some would still try and make the most of what they did own or rent - even for their own sanity.
I just don't buy the idea that, because you are modeling the Great Depression, all buildings, cars, streets, trains, businesses, establishments, etc. have to be soiled and/or falling apart. If that's how one wants to "stylize" a period of time by modeling it, that's one's prerogative. To call that approach "appropriate" or realistic for that time period? No, I can't agree with that at all.
The F&SM is indeed an amazing layout. It is, however, a stylized layout and George Sellios' "interpretation" of the Great Depression; not necessarily what it was in reality.
P.S. As a musician myself - like Tom - I enjoyed the background music chosen. Jazz was THE music in the hey day of steam, although it was undeniably Big Band rather than Urban Jazz. I could come up with a lot worse choices for music than what was included on the soundtrack.
You don´t have to go back to the great depression to find decay in the urban environment.
Look at this and see:
LINK