Using Google Maps as Research for Backdrops

I am very nearly ready to begin painting my backdrop, but before I did, I wanted to gather some photos of the area around Ione Washington so that I could accurately recreate the mountainous vistas of the region.

Gathering photos using the Google Maps street view is an easy way of obtaining accurate images of your chosen prototype, but finding a good angle to view distant landscape features may be difficult because Street View photographs are often obscured by buildings and large trees. The following image shows the area where I acquired most of my reference photos for the backdrop.

As you can see, I ended up having to capture many images from across the river, looking back on the town from a distance. I found it helpful to start in areas where the tree line was sparse.

I plan on using these shots and many others to help identify and create a plausible mountain ridge line when it comes time to slap paint on the backdrop.

Well, That's all for now!  I've purchased my supplies for painting the backdrop and now it's just a matter of getting up the courage to start throwing down some paints!  Wish me luck!

Great Reading on the Internet #2

I've spent the last week or so reading through some really great model railroad blogs and wanted to quickly share them with you.

The first of which is Bernie Kempinski's amazing Civil War era model railroad. His modeling is outstanding and his blog is extremely detailed, interesting and entertaining.  Here is a railroad that is about as opposite of what I am modeling as you can get and I found that I was absolutely riveted to his blog. (I was up till 3:00 in the morning reading it on my iPad in bed.)

Next up is a series of really awesome picture heavy articles of various historical New York city railroad spots including 28th street yard, Harlem Transfer, Rikers Island, and many many more. The research is exhaustive and the gentleman "Phil" who gathered the information should be commended for his work.  I find it so interesting that I am eyeing a spot in the corner of my basement that would make a perfect location for an N-Scale 28th street yard...

Finally, we have the website for a Model Railroad that is in my mind, the gold standard of the type of small, freelanced railroad modeling that inspires me and that is the Washington Northern by Kevin Kiettke.  His site is so beautiful and so much fun to explore.  I highly recommend everyone take a look at the amazing work that is on display on Kevin's site.

Look At Your Lighting

I mentioned in a recent post that I needed to address the lighting on the layout. I don't have a great great camera and the lighting was just not bright enough in the room to compensate for my lack of skill at taking quality pictures. And so I decided to replace that old light bulb hanging from the ceiling with something that might throw a bit more light on the layout. I ended up getting a cool looking track lighting fixture.

I chose this fixture because I have very low ceilings in the room and I was worried about clearance.  I also thought it might be helpful to be able to focus light on specific spots on the layout. Upon turning it on I immediately noticed that by focusing the light directly on the layout, the rest of the room appeared pretty dark in comparison. This does a good job of "framing" the layout and really giving it a dramatic appearance when viewing the layout in person.

So it seems to be an overall improvement but how does my camera like it? I set up a nice little side-by-side comparison test.

Immediately right out of the camera the picture is brighter and crisper. The photo is in better focus and the color is more accurate as well. With a little post processing, I think the image looks pretty good. (although the reds are WAAAAY off. I've gotta figure out how to compensate for that.)

One major upside of the track lighting is that I can focus the light on key scenes, however one major downside is that it casts multiple shadows on the ground which is highly unrealistic. That may need to be addressed before it's over with.

I will continue to investigate ways of improving the lighting and improving my photography, but I gotta say, this is a pretty good start!

Joint Bars and Hills

This weekend I started the slightly tedious work of adding a large number of Details West JB-921 joint bars to my track.  I started by measuring and marking off rail every 39 scale feet. (approx. 5 3/8 inches)  I then carefully attached the white metal bars to both the outside and inside of the rail using liquid Medium CA. I also attached my fingers to basically everything in the layout room in the process.

I have not notched the tops of the tracks at the "joint" yet and I am unsure if I will.  It seems like there would be a tradeoff of more noise and a rougher ride for rolling stock for what seems like a very minor detail in my mind.

About halfway through the process I came to realize that I was going to be woefully short on joint bars.  It takes a surprisingly large amount of them to complete all the trackwork on a layout as small as mine.  I've ordered another 12 packages and am currently waiting as patiently as I can for them to arrive so that I can complete the job and glue my fingers together once again.

I noticed while taking pictures that a few of the bars are bent a little bit.  The white metal is very flexible and it is kinda difficult to apply them to the rail perfectly straight.  Even so, the results look very good and I can't wait to paint them up to see the final result.  It is a project that has turned out to be far more expensive than I had initially thought. Given that this is a detail that perhaps 5% of the modelers out there would notice and appreciate, I am not sure it was completely worth it.  That said, if I didn't add these little details, it would have bugged me for years.  So, at the end of the day, I am happy to have put forth this extra little bit of effort.

I also finally figured out what I wanted to do with a large empty area in the front of the layout.  Given that I would have to reach across this area to uncouple cars at the paper recycling company located on the rear tracks, I knew I would be unable to place a delicate structure here.  I had a bit of an epiphany when I realized that lowering the fascia and building a small slope would allow me to work the back of the layout in a more relaxed manner and allow for more arm clearance as I reach across scenery.  It also gives me a good snail's eye view of trains passing by, so that is an extra bonus!

I am excited to finally start into the scenery!  Creating scenery is my favorite aspect of the hobby and it feels really great to finally get that going.  More to come very soon!

Metaline Falls Revealed

Youtube user abekinney brings us this great view of the Metaline Falls revealed for the first time in 27 years as the Pend Oreille river reaches a historic low point behind the Boundry Dam.

It's fun to dig through Youtube for little gems like this while researching information on the area I've chosen to model.

If you are interested in learning more about the falls, here is a nice article about the falls from last year that is full of fantastic historical photos like the following:

What did you do on your Thanksgiving break?

What did you do on your Thanksgiving break? I finished my staging yard.

I have been inspired over the last few days to finally get around to completing the track work for my layout. The last component being this little three-track staging yard above my work bench. The construction when pretty painlessly and was done in a couple of afternoons. While photographing the construction process, I realized that I desperately need to upgrade the lighting in my train room, but that is a project for another day.

(Note: Click the images to view them at a larger size)

The first step was to remove the decorative molding from the wall and install the brackets which would support the base. The overall length of the yard is eight feet so I spaced four brackets appropriately and added a fifth to the layout directly underneath the hole where the trackage would emerge.

I then cut 2" thick foam core to the appropriate shape and rolled on flat black latex paint to the visible sides which included top, bottom, and front edge.

After the paint had dried, I fitted the two sections to the layout ensuring that everything was clean and level.

I then measured and carefully glued  the track and cork roadbed to the foam using Elmer's white glue and held it in place with thumb tacks until the glue had dried.  I decided to lay both the track and the cork at the same time, which I find helpful in ensuring that everything is aligned correctly.

The cork may be an unnessicary step, but in my opinion track laid directly to the foam base tends to look a bit unfinished.  I like the clean, purposeful look that the cork provides.

The final step (after running wires to the track from the main bus line) was to install a couple of Caboose Industries ground throws.  I've always wanted to use these as I like the idea of throwing a switch in a manner that mimics the real thing, but I find their size to be a bit of an eyesore for realistic modeling purposes.  The staging tracks turned out to be a perfect excuse to sneak a couple on the layout!

Here is a pretty bad photo of the far end of the staging tracks.  I had created a number of these bumpers about a year ago in preparation for the yard going in so attaching them now was quick and easy!

And finally we have another terrible photo and a view of the overall view of the yard.  I'm really pleased with the look of the final product.  It looks good above my work bench and makes the rest of the layout look pretty unfinished in comparison.  I guess I've got my work cut out for me!

Learning Points:

• Have plenty of thumbtacks on hand when laying cork and track.  This allows the process to go quickly and minimizes the amount of stopping and waiting for glue to dry before continuing on with another length of track.
• a quick coat of paint to cover the foam base goes a long way to making a staging yard look good.  Staging may not be the focus of your model railroad, but who says it needs to look bad?
• Doing small projects (such as assembling and painting track bumpers) as time permits helps to speed up the time investment of a build and is a great way to maintain momentum on a project.

Maintaining Momentum

BNSF Unit Train headed west out of Spokane Washington July 2011

So, looking back at my previous posts I see that the last major construction push on my layout was back in February of this year when I completed laying and wiring my track-work.  That was ten months ago. Progress has been terribly slow.

I knew going into this project that this would happen.  For me, model railroading is just like any one of the many other hobbies I enjoy.  It's a hobby that maintains my interest for decades, but the passion for getting my hands dirty and actually actively working on the railroad tends to ebb and flow. (Which is yet ANOTHER great reason to design and build smaller and better, not bigger and quicker.) This is my first layout in a decade and I don't want to stumble down the basement stairs a decade from now to find that my layout is in the same unfinished state that it is in currently.

For a new model railroader, getting past these dry spells in our hobby intrest can be difficult if not impossible.  Maintaing momentum can be a tricky thing especially when you feel as if you've expelled so much energy getting to this point and looking down the road, there is a long way yet to go. What can one do to maintain momentum when trying to scrub caked on plaster of paris off of one's arms is just not terribly appealing at the moment?

First know that you are not alone. I take comfort knowing that everyone goes through these periods of disinterest. For me, the endless amount of information available through blog posts, magazine articles, Youtube videos, and forum posts keeps me excited. Following along with other modelers as they shape and mold their own little railroad empires keeps me excited. Knowing that yes, my intrest in getting my hands dirty may wane from time to time, but I've got my own railroad empire waiting patiently for me in my basement. That, more than anything else, keeps me excited.

For further reading, check out this article from the May 2011 issue of the Model Railroad Hobbyist Magazine. Thanks goes to dfandrews for pointing me to it!