Dunham Studios fantastic, fabulous four-level layout (she said modestly!)

Delighted you folks are posting your efforts.  Have enjoyed your public displays greatly!

That is certainly getting a lot of action in a small space.  Very nice city scenes!

Outstanding!!!!

I have always admired the work of Dunham Studios Layouts. They are always   tastefully done and fit the theme of the customer.  I believe that most forum members appreciate your layout artistry and we appreciate you sharing it with us.

Very nice. An enjoyable layout.

Thank you for that treat of seeing a Dunham Studios layout. What is under the layout? Is the view to the underside obstructed by cabinet-work or fabric? I ask because I noted that near the end of the video that the harbor "water" appears to go right up to the edge and over the edge for approx. an inch of the layout with a view to its underside available.

That layout looks great.

I was very sad this past summer driving through Pottersville NY on the way to our family cabin in the Adirondacks to see that Trains on Parade was closed. It really was a first class operation. I spoke with you a few times on my visits there.

I was happy that my children got to see the old Citibank Station Layout. That used to be a highlight of my holiday in the city. Once I was in the area to pick up something at the Barnes and Nobel there on the week before Thanksgiving and as I was passing through I saw your team unpacking and setting up the layout. It looked like a fun and well planned out puzzle. I hope that the layout have gone on to good homes and can be visited by the public somewhere.

Thank you for your work.

Fabulous!! Thanks for the video. It's a special treat to see these amazing creations before they are installed in their new homes. 

Great video. What are the steel looking trestles made out of for the upper deck> Is it wood or MDF weathered to look like steel? Very nice.

JoeG

I love the fact that you included the LILCO power-plant just west of Port Jefferson Harbor.  It wouldn't be complete without those four stacks!

Jon

Great video, and a beautifully constructed layout !!!!!!!!!

Alex

Nice!!!!

Someday soon I'll learn how to reply to individual posts, but right now it's going to have to be a list-form reply:

First, thank you all for all the kind words.  We tend to work in isolation, though that's clearly going to change with these conversations.  Also, Great questions:  I'll take them one at a time.

Joe G:  The steel-work on the elevated structure is a visual composite of the Third and Ninth Avenue Elevated lines in New York City (The first thing you learn in doing the research is that there is no "standard construction" at all--the lines were built by three competing companies over nearly half a century.)  We picked what details we liked and what worked best for the situation.  The elevated structures are made using two key processes - three if you count the 3D Design Program.  First the legs and spreaders are (2D)Laser Cut from 1/8 inch Tempered Hardboard (a Masonite-like product).  The Feet and Corner Bracket Hardware are 3D Printed to amazing tolerances.  Everything fit together literally like a glove. Finding a "true" color for the Elevated was another bad joke.  After scanning nearly a hundred color photos of the many various NYC Elevated Structures, the answer was basically "anything that looks good". I finally picked a colored postcard from the 1930s because it was a "kind-of" amalgam of a lot of images.  The Single Elevated structures on the upper track level are a visual reduction of early Twentieth Century single-track uprights from downtown NYC.  These were CNC Router-Cut from 1/2 Plywood with Routed Bases added for both looks and strength.  In terms of the weathering, my daughter Pamela is a second-generation (I'm the first) Union Scenic Artist currently working on TV's "Madam Secretary".  We conscripted her for a couple of weekends when time was getting tight.  She's good, too.

MONSOON:  In terms of "What's under the layout?" the answer is that no Dunham Studios layout leaves the shop without a complete finished base.  In this case the base is made up of duplications of NYC Subway Maintenance Cabinets, which will continue throughout he entire basement when Phase Two of this project is completed.  Normally, the Finished Base is made of T-111 grooved plywood.  The "overhanging water" is simply a technique that we use for situations of that sort where there is no sensible way to frame a "free curve".  I personally dislike any of the other possible solutions for this situation, so "it is what it is" (and I like it that way--I'm allowed).  That overhang is at least six inches or more, but the overhang always rejoins the frame at each end of the curve.

Silver Lake:  Everything from Railroads On Parade is safely back in storage here at the Dunham Studios Shop facility here in Pottersville, waiting for the next 'call-to-service'. 

Keep the questions coming.  We'll get you answers ASAP.

Clarke

Wow Clarke!

Thanks for the detailed description. It is awesome. My Dream layout when I retire it going to be kept in a bedroom as we have a small home. It will be about 12' 4" x 7'6" approx with multi levels. Since I lean for towards city scenes and want to incorporate both standard a ogauge levels. I am hoping I can get it to look half as good as this!!

Love your work,

JoeG

Amazing work! What a great layout - and so close to where I live! It's too bad I don't really know many local train guys as I am on the younger end of the demographic. I had no idea the legendary Clarke Dunham crew was in my neck of the woods! I'm lucky to have seen the Citibank display in Manhattan a few years ago and still have the poster next to my desk. Clarke is also very nice to speak with at York and is a true asset to the hobby.

This is very inspiring to me being a LIRR fan and ex-employee. NYC to Pt. Jeff. is a great locale to model - as long as you don't want mountains, well, the Port Jefferson branch is jokingly referred to as the 'mountain division' among the crews, so you can have some creative license there .

fantastic job as always!

Wow!  The attention to detail is Amazing!  As a fan of the LIRR/NYC trains I am behind impressed!  Well done! 

Silver Lake posted:

That layout looks great.

I was very sad this past summer driving through Pottersville NY on the way to our family cabin in the Adirondacks to see that Trains on Parade was closed. It really was a first class operation. I spoke with you a few times on my visits there.

I was happy that my children got to see the old Citibank Station Layout. That used to be a highlight of my holiday in the city. Once I was in the area to pick up something at the Barnes and Nobel there on the week before Thanksgiving and as I was passing through I saw your team unpacking and setting up the layout. It looked like a fun and well planned out puzzle. I hope that the layout have gone on to good homes and can be visited by the public somewhere.

Thank you for your work.

If you're heading North again, let us know and perhaps you can stop at the studio (which is 2 miles from where Railroads On Parade used to be) and see what's going on. (Dunhams Loop is right off Stone Bridge Road 3/4 mile before the deadend at Natural Stone Bridge & Caves.) The layouts from RROP are all here in storage which makes them inaccessible. But we're working on several different projects in the studio and will have work at different developmental stage all through the summer and beyond. Just send an email and we'll get back to you.

Barb

Trainlover160 posted:

Wow Clarke!

Thanks for the detailed description. It is awesome. My Dream layout when I retire it going to be kept in a bedroom as we have a small home. It will be about 12' 4" x 7'6" approx with multi levels. Since I lean for towards city scenes and want to incorporate both standard a ogauge levels. I am hoping I can get it to look half as good as this!!

Love your work,

 

JoeG

 

 

 

Trainlover160 posted:

Wow Clarke!

Thanks for the detailed description. It is awesome. My Dream layout when I retire it going to be kept in a bedroom as we have a small home. It will be about 12' 4" x 7'6" approx with multi levels. Since I lean for towards city scenes and want to incorporate both standard a ogauge levels. I am hoping I can get it to look half as good as this!!

Love your work,

 

JoeG

 

 

 

You'd enjoy that we're doing a layout for a guy whose present layout (mostly track) runs the length of his whole second floor and going through 3 rooms including his bedroom. The problem, aside from the fact that he didn't leave himself any living space, is he built it but it never ran properly. We also built a basement layout, some years back, for a finicky model railroader whose home-built layout took up his whole living room into which, to keep the layout untouched, he neither allowed his wife nor his dog! (No comments, please!)

 

Silver Lake posted:

That layout looks great.

I was very sad this past summer driving through Pottersville NY on the way to our family cabin in the Adirondacks to see that Trains on Parade was closed. It really was a first class operation. I spoke with you a few times on my visits there.

I was happy that my children got to see the old Citibank Station Layout. That used to be a highlight of my holiday in the city. Once I was in the area to pick up something at the Barnes and Nobel there on the week before Thanksgiving and as I was passing through I saw your team unpacking and setting up the layout. It looked like a fun and well planned out puzzle. I hope that the layout have gone on to good homes and can be visited by the public somewhere.

Thank you for your work.

If you're heading North again, let us know and perhaps you can stop at the studio (which is 2 miles from where Railroads On Parade used to be) and see what's going on. (Dunhams Loop is right off Stone Bridge Road 3/4 mile before the deadend at Natural Stone Bridge & Caves.) The layouts from RROP are all here in storage which makes them inaccessible. But we're working on several different projects in the studio and will have work at different developmental stage all through the summer and beyond. Just send an email and we'll get back to you.

Barb

Nicely done

Clarke,

Would you be able to post the video again? I'm getting playback errors here and on YouTube. 

Thanks,

Andy

As soon as the crew gets back from the Florida installation, I'll see what we can do.