Right now the center of attention on my layout is the Behemoth Helix, seen here as you enter the room:
(Y'all gettin' tired of seeing this thing yet?)
When I'm a little farther along it SHOULD be the refinery in Cody when you enter the room, which will be to the right of the helix in the above photo (the helix will be hidden behind a sky backdrop).
As you turn left into the aisleway next to the helix, the focal point should be the Wind River Canyon on your left - one single track snaking about twenty feet along through the canyon, against mountains which rise from the river to the ceiling.
Mark P.
Website: http://www.thecbandqinwyoming.comVideos: https://www.youtube.com/user/mabrunton
Since my layout is a version of Spacemouse's, the hill is the first thing you see. It also probably has something to do with the fact that my room is tiny. You have to look at the hill first! You don't have a choice.
Well my layout is farly small.(4x8 cut into a L. HO scale) And you see the whole layout right as you come in the door (it's a pretty low layout). It's dosn't have 2 side because one side is facing the wall. So the cnter of attention for my layout is, well, the layout. But I would like to add diffrent details to the buildings and streets that let people say, that's pretty cool. Such as power lines, people working, a building getting demolished, railraod workers, a abonded boxcar, ect.ect. So there is no main foacal point, but the layout it self.
But I have desnied the Railroad so it goes through these scenes. So the attenion isn't jut to the buildings and streets but to the railroad too. I'm going to do this much in a way Dave V did. My line is going to be a Former Milw line. Well, Milw had White ballast(In the area I'm modeling[Central Wisconsin]). Which will draw alot of attention to the trains. Even though WC's colors were't that drab. But all in all, the layout is the center of attention.
EDIT: This is your veiw at the layout right when you come in the room. To me I can't seem to find the big center of attention. Maybe you guys can?
(This isn't the most Up to date picture. But I havn't done much. Just set some more power poles and lines up. And removed the tape and weathered the roads.)
My Youtube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/JR7582 My Flickr Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wcfan/
Without doubt the focus of my layout, and the area that I derive the most pleasure from, are the structures. For me modelling places that my guests immediately recognize and can reminisce about is what it is all about. Places like the Coliseum ballroom that family members have frequented over the last 70 years are the real focal points.
Most of my viewers have little relationship to the trains, so they are almost just a moving actor in the scene to add some visual interest.
Simon Modelling CB&Q and Wabash See my slowly evolving layout on my picturetrail site http://www.picturetrail.com/simontrains and our videos at http://www.youtube.com/user/MrCrispybake?feature=mhum
For me, so far it's actually four five things:
I model a NYC Freight stop and (re) fueling facility in the early 40s. When facing the layout, the servicing tracks are angled at ~45 degrees to the mainline. The dual servicing tracks are also lighted down the middle with scratch-built light poles.
Between the angle and the lights, your eyes are drawn along that area. Along with that, my small yard (that faces the opposite direction to the servicing track) is angled as well.
My NYC Freight station is the largest structure on my layout. Along with detailing the interior and exterior with wood plank flooring, sliding doors, painted figures, and trimmed windows and doors, I've recently added interior and exterior lighting to it. When the 4 outside and two inside lights are glowing, it invites you to come in and stay awhile.
As far as uniqueness. I have not been able to collaborate that the NYC definitely had a ball signal in their system. However, I have a lighted 2-ball version on mine because I think it's cool looking.
I do have to change the signal manually whenever a train wants to enter the mainline from the interchange, but the lights and balls are visable at all times and gives a very unique look to that particular junction.
Tom
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.
There's a difference, I suppose in a table layout and a room layout. In my table layout, it was relatively easy to create two focal points, the first being a mountain and the second being the valley. You see the mountain first, but as you approach the mountain, the valley takes over as the focal point.
With the room it is different. I wanted the focal point to be a high trestle over a waterfall canyon, but to place in the only viable corner, other scenes, etc. come first as you enter the room.
From an artistic standpoint, I see numerous scenes on the layout. Each one having a center of attention and purpose for it's existence, and operations is a biggy. But I also find that in creating the scene, the engines and the rolling stock have the least flexibility in terms of creating the environment. I can take the same train and it would be just as appropriate in the woods as in the town or in the yard. So other than mucking it up a little--the train is set.
So the layout comes from everything else. The structures the scenery and the figures. With that in mind, I do everything I can to create the drama of the railroad.
Chip
Building the Rock Ridge Railroad with the slowest construction crew west of the Pecos.
What's the center of attention on your layout?
Seems like a silly question... but it's not. Each modeler has his/her own idea of what the "message" is that he/she wants to convey. This is often done by having some part of the layout be the center of attention. For some it might be a steel mill or a coal mine. For others it might be the scenery. Still others build their layouts to showcase their structures.
For my layout, I wanted the center of attention to be the trains themselves.
To that end, I wanted the layout to be a 3-dimensional backdrop for the trains.
But, there's a problem... In 1956 (the year I model), the PRR (and many other eastern roads) used drab colors that don't draw attention to themselves. Locomotives were mostly a black-green (known as Brunswick Green or DGLE) or a Tuscan red. Freight cars were variations on the boxcar/oxide red theme. These colors, against a backdrop of trees and brick structures, don't exactly stand out. So how can these trains be the center of attention?
The solution was in the ballast. My previous layout had used a brown colored ballast (Highball Brown) with cinders-it looked very dark. It made the overall layout almost too drab. While the colors were similar to ones I'd seen on PRR coal branches in photos, it made the layout seem dark and unfriendly. Plus, the trains did not stand out.
The current layout uses a much lighter colored ballast. I used Woodland Scenics' fine gray blend. It's a bit on the coarse side for my tastes, but the color was similar to some of the mainline PRR photos I'd seen from 1956. Fortunately, the "Standard Railroad of the World" didn't really have a standard ballast color (photos show every color from brown to black to gray to almost white).
I then framed this light colored ballast with a cinder shoulder. While prototypical for 1956, the cinder shoulder served a second purpose: it frames the track area like a picture frame or an outline. Now my dark, drab trains can be seen against a lighter gray background, framed by a black outline that says to viewers that "this is the center of attention!"
How do others project the center of attention for their layouts?
Modeling the Rio Grande Southern First District circa 1938-1946 in HOn3.