A really cool, well crafted and compact layout

[John]

Here is another nice door layout:
http://chartiers.50webs.com/
(I checked all bridges before posting   )

Nice work .. Dave .. look at those Alkem signals

[Dave V]

Here is another nice door layout:
http://chartiers.50webs.com/
(I checked all bridges before posting   )

Nice work .. Dave .. look at those Alkem signals

Yeah, Jim and I have been e-mailing each other about those.  I need to get me a ballast resistor before I can put mine together.

[MichaelT]

I won't begin to speak for others, but this would sure give me cause not to post pictures of my novice work with the thought of getting raked over the coals for oversights or mistakes that others deem important enough to lambaste on the forum.

Michael, I just went back and looked at all his work .. most of it is pretty good, and his layout has a level of detail that many of us can only wish for.  What you may see as "raking over the coals" is honest feedback to others. None of us likes to have our flaws exposed, but when you put them out there on the net, you have to expect that there will be good and not so good comments.
I think the comments are valid. The bridge is just so out of place on an otherwise well done layout. Maybe it was just a placeholder, maybe not.
Cheers

John,

When someone admonishes anothers work with the statement of "I was doing that when I was nine", without even giving any consideration that there might be a decent reason for the faux paux,.....I consider that more than just honest feedback. But that's water under the bridge; I enjoyed the link, I think the gentlemans work is very good; I just felt a few comments were a tad bit unwarranted.

Anyway, back to the forums, I've got to study Dave Vollmer's feed mill updates some more. I've a feed mill in my stock, and the State Line Supply building as well...might consider doing a copy of his work for my next layout.

Michael

[MichaelT]

Here is another nice door layout:
http://chartiers.50webs.com/
(I checked all bridges before posting   )

That's a nice layout as well. I do have a question for the group concerning these door layouts. I was reading through my N Scale Railroading book last night, and was looking at the Carolina Central layout build which was also on a hollow core door. That layout used a scenic rise and a forest to hide the back tracks used for staging.

Were I to build a Missouri Pacific Arkansas division door layout, the central part of Arkansas is mostly flat with minimal hills until you get into the northwest part of the state. What would be some other ideas to hide any staging tracks on the backside of the layout?

Michael

[davefoxx]

Were I to build a Missouri Pacific Arkansas division door layout, the central part of Arkansas is mostly flat with minimal hills until you get into the northwest part of the state. What would be some other ideas to hide any staging tracks on the backside of the layout?

Michael,

In a word: trees.

My layout is loosely designed off of the Carolina Central plan.  I also did not want to emphasize a ridge on my layout, so, while there is one under there, I used tall trees at the bottom of the ridge and short trees at the top.  To me, it helps reduce the visual impact of the ridge, while still hiding the staging area.  Remember, trees are generally taller than most modelers think.  Here's some examples:





If you want an idea of how tall that ridge is under there, take a look this these final pictures:



This last shot shows that the ridge is approximately eight inches at its peak on the area over the tunnel, which is yet to be forested:


Hope this helps,
Dave Foxx

[asciibaron]

I won't begin to speak for others, but this would sure give me cause not to post pictures of my novice work with the thought of getting raked over the coals for oversights or mistakes that others deem important enough to lambaste on the forum.

bring the pain:



-Steve

[John]

bring the pain:

The sky is made out of wood

[asciibaron]

The sky is made out of wood

keeps it from falling.

-Mr. Little

[wm3798]

Steve made me laugh...

I love that Chartiers Branch layout.  The author turns up periodically on the A-board.  Another good layout example.

Lee

[3rdrail]

I won't begin to speak for others, but this would sure give me cause not to post pictures of my novice work with the thought of getting raked over the coals for oversights or mistakes that others deem important enough to lambaste on the forum.

Michael, I just went back and looked at all his work .. most of it is pretty good, and his layout has a level of detail that many of us can only wish for.  What you may see as "raking over the coals" is honest feedback to others. None of us likes to have our flaws exposed, but when you put them out there on the net, you have to expect that there will be good and not so good comments.
I think the comments are valid. The bridge is just so out of place on an otherwise well done layout. Maybe it was just a placeholder, maybe not.
Cheers

John,

When someone admonishes anothers work with the statement of "I was doing that when I was nine", without even giving any consideration that there might be a decent reason for the faux paux,.....I consider that more than just honest feedback. But that's water under the bridge; I enjoyed the link, I think the gentlemans work is very good; I just felt a few comments were a tad bit unwarranted.

Anyway, back to the forums, I've got to study Dave Vollmer's feed mill updates some more. I've a feed mill in my stock, and the State Line Supply building as well...might consider doing a copy of his work for my next layout.

Michael

The age comment was made because I did build a curved trestle bridge on my American Flyer S gauge layout when I was nine. Of course, to do unsupported track, I would have had to glue the ties as the track only had four metal ties per section. With the quality of the work elsewhere on the layout we were discussing, I would have thought that those two sections of unsupported track would have been obvious to the builder as well.

Dave Vollmer does excellent work because he is observant of his surroundings and can see when a scene looks "right". He also steers clear of garish colors.

[James Costello]

mmmm....... build a bridge and get over it 

[MichaelT]

Dave F,

Thanks for the comments and the pictures...that does make some sense and shows a different aspect of hiding a staging area...some good stuff to save in my layout ideas file for future consideration.

michael

[espee2]

Hi! I'm the fellow who made the layout "http://tunnel13.com/newberg/newberg.html. Yes it was an Atlas track plan layout and that bridge was part of the plan. I always hated that bridge. Basically, I fell in love with modeling after going to a show at Thanksgiving '95.  and compleated Phase1 by April '96. It originally had the horrid Atlas automatic throws but looked hideous, so I found the Caboose(?) throws. I wasn't that much into scratchbuilding so they were fine for me. I did scratchbuild the backyard fencing (with laundry)and the semaphores (very close to scale).
The "Portland Yard" was added later to make room for a growing fleet although not all cars/locos were ever on the layout at one time. I came up with the "Museum" idea so I could legitimately show different eras ie steam,'40s, '60s, '90s etc. on the same layout ... "hey it's time for an excursion run" LOL
My proudest day ever was receiving the news that my site was chosen for the http://www.nmra.org/main/webleadpast/past12.html NMRA Website of the Month. And not just the modeling part but the entire rails portion of tunnel13.com
No hurt feelings here, lots of great compliments, thanks,

(Favorite shot)

[John]

Hi! I'm the fellow who made the layout "http://tunnel13.com/newberg/newberg.html. Yes it was an Atlas track plan layout and that bridge was part of the plan. I always hated that bridge. B

Welcome to the forum .. I just went back and looked at your pictures .. and I still came to the same conclusion .. great work .. but the bridge is sure wrong .. but hey .. have fun with it

[wm3798]

Any plans to rebuild? Or do you have something underway already?

Welcome aboard...

Lee