Model Railroad Blog

Capturing the Essence of a “Place”

Topic: Model Railroad Design

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The ultimate model railroad design goal? Capturing the essential elements of a scene successfully enough that you have the sense of “being there”. It’s an elusive target because hitting  it is hard to break down into a step by step, “how to” sequence.  At the root of the problem is the harsh reality that a scene we want to capture may be thousands of feet or even miles long and the space we have available is  measured in feet.  Picking which elements to incorporate, which to omit, and compressing the scene so the basic essence is communicated is an art.  Even so, there are some general guidelines which can help.  Employ the guidelines as a rough starting point, edit with the eyeball test, and with experience your results will gradually improve over time.

As a beginning point we need to identify those elements that put the signature stamp on a scene.  What makes it unique and says, “This is LA not, Miami”.  Scene composition is tricky because often it is the mundane, not the extraordinary that is the largest contributor to the overall effect we are after. Without the plain vanilla background canvas there is no contrast to make the signature elements stand out.  Mundane elements are nondescript warehouses, industries that aren’t rail served, abandoned tracks, single story plain white homes, vacant lots, things that comprise the majority of the acreage we are used to seeing when we are out in the world.  It takes an enormous amount of self discipline to draw a line in the sand when it comes to the mix of ordinary vs. signature elements, to put that gray warehouse or vacant lot where you’d love to put the newest, over the top offering from the Walthers catalog.

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What is the ideal mix?  Nobody can give an exact answer but a reasonable starting point would be a ratio of twenty percent signature structures to eighty percent mundane.  Mock your scene up using this as a starting point,see how it looks, and adjust from there.

In the case of the Los Angeles Junction Railway layout I had a few hard limits going in.  Limitations are good as they reign you in.  I only had room for a narrow, nine and half foot long shelf with a four foot L on the end.  No wiggle room for any other bench work shapes.  I want to model the modern era, modern being defined as something in the last four or five years.

After literally months of pouring over aerials of the prototype, I settled on  a spur called “The Horn Lead”.  While other regions of the LAJ had the distinctive spaghetti bowl, concrete canyon, and complex track work that is so appealing,  I didn’t have the width to make that work.  In addition, most if not all, of the industries in the “interesting parts” of the system are no longer rail served.  The Horn Lead is a straight east to west shot that fits well on a shelf and is an area that still has the older architecture.

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The Horn Lead

Given my extreme space limitations, I decided to follow the strategy that worked so well for East Rail, go with a proto freelance approach.  Stick to industries that actually exist in the area but allow myself some flexibility to shuffle things around a bit.   As just  mentioned, the trick, the art form, is to pick a combination of elements  that provide a good balance of signature and mundane.  The map above highlights some of the key structures and streets.   You have to take a really hard look, examine hundreds of photos to eventually put your finger on what makes the Horn Lead what it is.

  • An arrow straight, east to west, three track right of way consisting of a “main” and spurs on each side.
  • Virtually all of the spurs have been abandoned.
  • Remnants of track and turnouts still remain where track has been abandoned
  • Palms lining the right of way.
  • Concrete pavement that has taken a severe battering and contains a spider web of cracks
  • Unique gray, white, and pastel one story brick structures.
  • Although the street/sidewalk side of the industries are old they are in immaculate condition.  Walk around to the rail side of the same structure and they are ragged beyond belief.
  • The iconic Federal Cold Storage structure at the end of the line to the west.

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Facing west down the Horn Lead while standing in District Blvd.  Note the three track wide right of way, abandoned spurs, and palm.

 

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Near the western most end of the line facing east. 4722 Everett Ave. is visible in several YouTube videos.

 

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Corona Avenue facing east.  Note the distinctive, one story,  art deco look, and palms.

 

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Gifford and 50th Street.  Note the battered pavement and one story art deco. architecture.

 

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As tidy as the public faces of the structures are, the rail side is another story.  Call it “multi-textured and modelgenic”.

 

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Looming on the western horizon is the iconic Federal Cold Storage structure.

 

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Here’s how I’ve interpreted and pulled it all together.  My space only allows the “L” to bend to the right/north as opposed to the left which would be more prototypical.  The space you have is the space you have.

 

Layout Sound

Topic: Model Railroad Sound

Hierarchy, Vantage Point, and Why We Are Approaching the Whole Shebang the Wrong Way

 

There are two reasons we build model railroads, the satisfaction of assembly and the desire to be transported, transported to a time, place, or operational system that evokes strong emotions.  The better our modeling, the more effective we are at immersing ourselves in our miniature world.  The nature of railroading is such that sound is a major player in this quest.   This is particularly apparent when rail fanning where the sound is so distinctive and overpowering that it becomes the dominant sensory experience.   Sound isn’t an afterthought, an accessory tacked on at the last moment in the same manner you might treat carpeting for the layout room .   Modelers tend to view it that way though, either they ‘have sound’ or they don’t with no real thought or care as to the acoustic quality.

Sound Hierarchy

Good modelers are taught that the key to realism is to model the ordinary.  Model the typical.   It’s the best advice you can be given.  The same applies to sound.  You don’t model the acoustic trick of the month, you model the dominant sounds and  ideally you model them to your utmost ability given the confines of current technology.  Realistic sound is not a cacophony of birds, sawmills, car horns, waterfalls etc.  Taking that approach is analogous to the layout with the band in the square, carousel, pier, and coal mine jammed into a spaghetti bowl four by eight.  Prototypical sound is essentially the sound of a prime mover occasionally interrupted by flange squeal, the horn, and the bell.   Even if there are other sounds in the vicinity, the primer mover unloads so much audio power that everything else is drowned out and become irrelevant anyway.

We need to look at the sound spectrum from a different point of view.  Not all sounds are of equal value or importance.  They aren’t, some are much more important.  By far and away the sound of the locomotive prime mover is at the top of the list.  A distance second would be the horn, bell, crew radio chatter and perhaps flange squeal.   It’s not a game of how many sounds your system can produce,  it’s a game of how well your system can reproduce the dominant sound, the prime mover.  In fact, you could live with less fidelity from the horn, bell, etc.   Prime movers require bass and we need a system, a method that can deliver it effectively.   Note that I said method, not decoder.

Vantage Point

The second area that needs a hard look is the vantage point we have when experiencing sound.   The time we are most focused on prototype operations and experiencing sound is when we are rail fanning (in person or via video).  In this instance we are generally within a hundred feet of the prime mover, stationary, not circling overhead in a helicopter.  And this is critical,  nine times out of ten we hear one train and one train only.  We don’t hear our train plus trains and locomotive in the neighboring cities.   Even if there is another train nearby, the one closest to us is so loud it drowns the others out.  The point is this, hearing the sounds of locomotives in multiple trains in multiple locations is very unrealistic.  On layouts where there is a problem of too much sound in close proximity the owner will combat the issue by turning the sound of his locomotives down very low.  To me this sort of defeats the purpose.  Now we have a problem.  We want to model one of two perspectives, a rail fan within a hundred feet of the track or a member of the crew working in or near the equipment.   On board speakers simply don’t do that.

We’re approaching the whole shebang the wrong way.

When sound first came out it seems that without so much as a second thought a delivery system was selected using onboard locomotive speakers.  Nobody questioned it then and nobody questions it now.  I question it because frankly onboard speakers simply can’t deliver the same sound experience as other methods.   Under table speakers are a step in the right direction but there is a big problem there and it’s sound direction.  It becomes very apparent that the sound and locomotive are in two different places.

When it comes to layout types,  large, multi-train/multi-operator layouts are the most well known.  However, on a national basis they aren’t the most prevalent.  The most common situation is the person that operates by themselves or one or two others the vast majority of the time.  Given that’s the case, maybe we should target the most common layout type and operating situation when it comes to sound.

 

Headphones

The more I play around with headphone sound the more I’m convinced it’s the way to go for most situations in terms of acoustic quality and the vantage point issue (they aren’t practical for the large layout with frequent op. sessions with numerous attendees).   When compared to onboard speakers, high quality headphones are in a different world when it comes to quality .  In addition, the wrap around/cupping effect of headphones produces a much less compromised path to the ear drum than going through a plastic locomotive shell, through the air, and then to your ear.  The directionality problem is solved because the sound goes with you as you walk.

Until recently, I viewed the sense of isolation as the biggest drawback with headphones.  You can’t hear anything else.  It’s you and the prime mover.  You can’t hear your crew, you can’t hear your guests, and you can’t hear your wife yelling downstairs that it’s time to visit the mother in law (drawback or blessing, you decide).

There’s a solution to the isolation problem and I think it will be a game changer.  It’s called a mixer.  By inserting a mixer before the headphones other sounds can be ‘mixed’ in.  Crew radios are one big example of something that could be cut in and heard through the headphones.  That solves the isolation problem as everybody with headphones hears the show.  Headphones aren’t cheap but we need to be realistic.  How often will you need more than one?  Four times a year? Six?  Even then it would probably on be one or two extra people.

Another advantage of headphone sound, if we ever move in that direction, is that we are no longer confined to the small space inside an engine shell for the components.  Going off board means we have space for larger, higher quality audio components such as amplifiers.  Instead of sound decoders we could have dedicated sound processors.  Going this direction would be an economic boon to the sound decoder manufactures.

Fighting Gravity

Gravity

Fighting gravity.  In modeling terms it’s the subconscious, omnipresent, urge for order and uniformity.  We can get away with it when modeling man made features such as structures, roads, and rolling stock.  We can’t get away with it when comes to scenery.  If we can’t overcome this innate urge, our results will indeed look like something man made, a park, a lawn, or a golf course.  This was recently brought home to me when I was putting some vegetation in front of a backdrop.  When I was done, I took a step back, and  the results simply weren’t convincing.  The trees we fairly close in height, shape, texture, and spacing.  I had to force myself to go back, fight the gravitational pull of the need for order, and break things up.  I was surprised how hard it was.

Overcoming this natural tendency requires two steps.  First, we need to be aware of it.  Second, we need to train ourselves to be a good observer and work from photos.  Take a look at the image above and make note of some of the signature features we should try to incorporate.

  • The stream isn’t straight but rather a series of S curves.  On the outer side of the curve the bank is undercut, on the inner side debris accumulates
  • The tree trunk diameters vary greatly
  • The tree spacing isn’t uniform (as modelers this something often overlooked)
  • The stream depth is very shallow with the stones on the bottom clearly visible.
  • Although it’s winter, green patches still exist and provide striking color contrasts
  • The wash has produced a shallow rock island on the inside of the S curve
  • Branch debris is everywhere
  • Underbrush and brambles are everywhere
  • Exposed roots show where trees have fallen over (scale tree roots can be modeled by uprooting the grass or English ivy in your lawn)
  • The soil colors vary.

Fighting gravity and adding the natural chaos found in nature will make a dramatic improvement in our scenery results.

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LAJ Update

Los Angeles-Junction-Railway-Trackplan

It’s been a productive month on the LAJ layout.  Progress being: made a visit to the actual site in Vernon, solved the lighting problem, finalized and tightened up the track plan, laid all the track (half of which is permanent), wired in the track and activated the control system.

The LAJ is proto freelance.  It draws heavily on the lead to Federal Cold Storage but doesn’t model it exactly.  Freelancing has the advantage of giving some flexibility but you need to choose your elements carefully so as to capture the flavor of the area and not give the impression that you “cherry picked” .  You do cherry pick, you just don’t want to be obvious about it.  All of the structures and industries are either on the lead or within a mile or so.  Sabor Hispano is a small food processor that used to take an occasional car.  On my visit a few weeks ago it was clear it is no longer rail served but I’ll bend the rules a bit and assume it still takes a car now and then.  .  Federal Cold Storage is no longer rail served but is an iconic structure on the skyline.  General Mills is the major customer on this lead.  The problem is grain hoppers aren’t really car spot dependent so you lose some operational interest.  I needed to find a replacement industry that would be more interesting to switch out.

I spent considerable time deciding what to select as the major industry.  The answer ended up being Sweetener Products, a corn syrup processor  located about a mile away and served by the UP.  The advantage of a corn syrup facility is that it is highly dependent upon car spots since each grade of syrup needs to be placed at the appropriate discharge hose.  In the plan above the numbers 55, 200, and 300 indicate the syrup grades.  I also like the fact that the 17,600 gallon cars are typically an understated uniform flat black, an appearance that just “looks right” for what I’m trying to accomplish.  The cars are also pretty short which also helps.  In the plan above an incoming train will have five cars of various grades that will need to be sorted. The areas blocked in red to can be used to that end.  Once the cars are sorted a grand pull is performed removing the empties and then spotting the loads.  The slot between the Sweetener Products gate and Everett Avenue can serve team track duty thus adding one more industry.

I tend to take a time oriented approach to design.  It will easily take forty five minutes to work Sweetener Products which is about as long as I car to run most days.  The layout will be fairly detailed so should keep me pretty busy for at least a few years.  Again, two years is a good chunk of time, and a lot of play value per square foot.

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The photo above is of Sweetener Products in Vernon.  I like the understated look and short length of the cars as well as the fact that they are car spot dependent.  For the actual structure on my layout I plan to get away from the totally modern steel look and go with a slightly older brick.