Storytelling on the layout - scene "nuggets?"

[randgust]

Ed's 1656 thread got me to thinking - and I'm kind of hoping this could turn into a 'best of' thread if we'd work at it.

There's a lot of great modelers here and I've seen some really good 'nuggets' out there.   The kind of stuff that rewards layout viewers with really studying a layout for detail and getting a surprise in a scene.   It doesn't have to be an alien attack or a cliche', originality counts.   

The one I've seen lately that I think a lot of people at Altoona got enjoyment from was Lee Weldon's "Abbey Road" on the Cumberland T-trak module, but I don't have a photo.  Ed's 1656 idea sure counts.  DKS probably has a bunch if we nudge him.    A lot of the Woodland Scenics figures and mini-scenes are designed that way, there may be some original applications for those as well.

I also remembered seeing the HO layout up at the Conway Scenic Railroad, it looks rather ordinary on the surface, but if you really studied it, there's little stories everywhere, hikers in the woods, animals, people doing everyday things, but not over the top either.    Another that stuck in my mind was a laugh-out-loud modeling of the "grumpy old men' movie scene in O scale at the Twin Cities Model Railroad Museum - accurate to the buildings, figures, and the International Scout....

I'll put one of mine up to get started, but I know that there's a lot of far better stuff out there...so lets see it.



Perhaps my sentimental favorite is one that long-time Atlas Forum members will get a chuckle from - if you remember 'Adventures of N Scale Norm" from Verne Niner - when we were doing the Arizona Outlaws stuff - when Verne went to On3 I got a package - with N Scale Norm, Sue, and the dog and cat in it - and a request to give them a nice place to permanently retire to outside Flagstaff.   Vernes' layout was in 1948, mine is in 1972, so the 50's car is parked as a derelict beside the trailer... All sitting on the porch to watch the trains go by in permanent memorial to Verne.

[wm3798]

Since you mentioned it...


This is actually a reprise from the original office switching layout I started but never quite finished.

One of my all time favorites was John Armstrong's rendering of Edward Hopper's "The Nighthawks" in O scale on the Canandaigua Southern.

I'm also responsible for this Railwire/CRHS favorite, which now resides in California...



Lee

[C855B]

Ah... vignettes! An important component of my long-term plan. Not all silliness or forced humor, mind you, but little glimpses of life that might elicit a smile or two. Sad to say I'm not at that point in layout construction, but hopefully will be far enough along in the next couple of months to maybe stage a scene or two. I'll be watching here closely.

[Dave V]

"You may not want to go in there for a while..."



Rio Grande Southern Railroad passenger depot "water closet" facility, Placerville, Colorado.

[MichaelWinicki]

[dem34]

Right in the feels. Pedaling to the Hobby shop around the corner and seeing that in the 3 days that you weren't there the whole place was boarded up and put on the market. Makes me think of the fact that when I was a kid, my immediate area had like 4 LHS within biking distance. Now I need to go almost across the entire state for the same experience.

[cbroughton67]

Here's one of many stories told on my layout. I used to live near the Southern Indiana Railroad (SIND) in Jeffersonville, IN. Their crossbucks were the old, wooden style until they replaced them with modern, reflective ones. My buddy Jon happened to notice this when he came over for "train night," so I called their office and inquired about the old crossbucks the next day. They said they were on a junk pile outside their engine house, and that we could come get them. So, Jon and I ran over there on our lunch hour and got 4 sets between the two of us. So, SIND's engine house, caboose/office, and junk pile were eventually depicted on the layout, including a couple of sketchy guys looking for crossbucks.

[DKS]

Peter and his girlfriend (a German exchange student), who'd been necking on a moonlit porch, are interrupted by Henry Preiser.




A young railfan photographer is lining up his next shot near the Canal Street crossing relay box.



   
Tom, Lee and Ed have a little accident as they wrap up renovation work on a light pole at the station.




Dot's Diner is doing brisk business on a somewhat gloomy afternoon.




A late night at work... and Jim Greene is finally on his way home, long after the sun's gone down.




Wouldn't you just love to pick through that pile of stuff under the abandoned coal trestle?




Who's that waiting at the station? It's DKS! (This one doesn't count since it was photoshopped, but it's fun anyway.)




These were all from my Z Scale James River Branch, now gone. Lots more info here: http://davidksmith.com/modeling/JamesRiverBranch/index.htm

 

[craigolio1]

A late night at work... and Jim Greene is finally on his way home, long after the sun's gone down.

This one really spoke to me. I like it.

[spookshow]

Jim Stockwell heads out for one last fishing trip -



Sadly, it's a memorium now. Jim passed away in 2004 and his 12' Northern vanished shortly thereafter 



-Mark

[DKS]

Jim Stockwell heads out for one last fishing trip -



Sadly, it's a memorium now. Jim passed away in 2004 and his 12' Northern vanished shortly thereafter 



-Mark

That brings a tear to my eye. Lovely sentiment.

[randgust]

Great stuff, and I suddenly realized where I got the inspiration for my 'guy under the light' at my shops, maybe a photo later.

This is one of my fun ones - it's a traffic stop scene right at the "Welcome to Winslow' sign on my layout.  Welcome indeed!



Cruiser is Classic Metal Works, Woodland Scenics figures (including the cop with the donut), resin '62 Corvette.

Jim Hinds made me a custom lighting package for the cruiser with a flashing red gumball and alternate flashing headlights.

[wm3798]

A few more from the old layout...













I've always had a weakness for the interaction between the machines we love and men who work around them.
Lee

[thomasjmdavis]

Thanks, everyone, this is great inspiration as I start on the "Great N Scale Basement Empire"- which I think will need a "Pat and Mario's", a "T&H Hobby" and a kid with a brownie camera hanging over the rail of the overpass, just south of the station, shooting a photo of a passenger train....

A few more from the old layout...



I've always had a weakness for the interaction between the machines we love and men who work around them.
Lee

Hopefully the crew will get her up and running, or at least in shape for the local museum.

As luck would have it, my pike also had a 3484.  The Old 3484, remember her well.  When the local railroad (then the "Test Loop & Unfinished"- like many small lines it was taken over by a larger class 1 line before completion) modernized passenger power to F-units, our #3484 got a complete overhaul and was shipped out to serve a new (model) railroad in Brazil.  Or, at least was shipped to a cousin of the owner of the Brazilian line, in Miami, for trans-shipment. 

[Roger Holmes]

Meeting under the Clock to view the Christmas windows at Marshall Field's on State Street.