My Layout - ATSF BRSD

[trainwhiz20]

Howdy. It's been awile since I've last posted some photos, and with some new members here venturing into the layout stage, I'd figure I'd share some more modelling accomplishments I've made thus far.

This is my layout, the Black River Subdivision, a fictional branchline of the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe located somewhere west of Chicago. Era is the early 50's, before the ATSF was completely dieselized. Locomotives are decked out with the Zebra Stripe scheme, and local mixed trains are evermore apparent. However, with ridership declining, the town of Black River, Ill, decided to construct a brand new depot to service the branchline.

Thus far, this depot has been the centerpiece of my layout. It's a kit, Walther's Cornerstone City Station. It's a beauty. I only wish I'd installed lighting, as it has a full interior.

And, now, ladies and gentlemen, the Black River Subdivision.

Before I release the pictures, feel free to ask questions. On my layout, the attention to detail is important to me, because of the layout's small size. There is a story for EVERYTHING.

This picture is a little blurry, but this is the left side of the layout, before detailing. The platform (styrene), lights (Model Power), and Blair Line wood crossings for foot traffic are all in place at the depot.

Here is the station, trackside. Ballasting on track 3 has since been completed. This is before people were added. Yes, this place is a mess!

Here is the road crossing. The signs are in place, thanks to Val and his site for the sign. The post is your average, ordinary toothpick painted with acrylic paints. Tall grass/weeds are WS. Other cars on the layout were purchased yesterday at Wal-Mart, thanks to Shaygetz for his heads up on that matter .

The populated platform. Heh. Sorry about the picture quality, wasn't using my best camera.

Here we have the WS newsstand. This occupies the far right of the platform. Business is booming, after all, it is rush hour, and people want some reading material on the express to Chicago.

Here we see a porter placing some final bags on the baggage cart on the center of the main platform. And who's this hunnie in the red dress? Apparently, she's not the type to carry her own bags...

This is where a smile brightens on my face, bringing a scene like this to life. Here we have a trainman helping to load some passengers. Unfortunately, the conductor hasn't given the boarding call yet, and the first man in line is glancing at his watch. Obviously, he has somewhere to be. I think those passenger asst. steps are the coolest things, and really help the overall scene.


More pictures to come. Please, let me know what you think. Any type of comment or criticism is helpful! You guys have helped me to get this far!:thumb:

 

[yellowlynn]

That modeling and scenicing is really great. The only thing I could add for you to do, is, in the last picture, with the boarding steps (great idea), is the car door should be open so the passengers can get in. :thumb: :thumb: :thumb:

Lynn

 

[zedob]

NICE, quite impressive! Looks like you are moving along great. I wish I were to that point. The only thing I see, or don't see is a cover for the passengers on the middle platform, but that's not mandatory. There are plenty examples of open air platforms, but if you are modeling more recent times (last 100 yrs) most railroads still moving passengers had installed covers. However, It would be a shame to block out all of those LPBs and the stories they/you are telling.

Other than that maybe some telephone/graph poles or other lineside details like signal boxes, rail holders, typical railroad junk, etc, but that can be done over a period of time. It looks great.

The only other suggestion I have is for diaphrams between the passenger cars. I remember an article in MRRer where someone wanted to install some on a set of passenger cars that he had, but the cost was prohibitive, so instead, he cut some black custruction paper strips and folded them into an acordian and glued one end to one car and the other to the opposing car's end. He said it worked great and that they were much more flexible than the comercial ones. They didn't look bad neither, from the side (the illusion is better portrayed if the eye is closer track level), but were a cheap alternative to what is offered.


I've always liked the lines of that station and was going to purchase one for my present layout, but it's a tad too big for the available space. I'm glad to hear that you like it. I may still get one for a future project.

 

[trainwhiz20]

Thanks for the comments guys.

Yellow--I wish I could, but none of the passenger cars I own have open doors... (I'm not even sure they MAKE that commercially... hmm...) Good thought though.

Interesting you say that zedob. I actually have about 1/2 my passenger fleet, the ATSF heavyweights, with diaphargms. (Forget the make, but they were from LHS.) The construction paper sounds like a decent alternative, for the cars I'll have permanately linked, like on my AOE. The problem, obviously, is that the cars can't be coupled in different orders as they're attached. There's probably an alternative...

About the roofs, the platform is open aired, as it allows more detail to be shown, and I like the looks of it better. Besides, because the layout viewing isn't from track level, it's just one more roof you don't have to look at.

And, yes, thanks for reminding me. The lineside details will come, all in good time. I just got the people in place today.