Scenery around railroads

Francine, I don't think that the way you were doing a layout was wrong, you should do the scenery the way it pleases you. Don't let someone else dictate what you should have after all your the one who will live with it.

Ray

Francine posted:

I have recently come to the conclusion that I am building layouts incorrectly, they were towns with railroads going through.  After seeing Ray Pul's and others, I have realized it it better to do a railroad with scenery around it.

Better?

Isn't that subjective?

Yeah, if you modeled a specific town, you could say a layout looks more like it in regard to the locations being accurate for that specific place, but railroads were built in almost any kind of terrain you can imagine. Yes, even the Class I lines, too.

Heck, the Florida East Coast RR had a line that ran down the Keys, and you could be on a passenger train out on a trestle so long that you couldn't see land!

Now, think on that and tell me again how railroads only were built in one type of place!

Now, I model a specific place and time (very rural mountain area in the 40s). So, a lot of staples of model railroads are out for me if I'm looking to model the area/time with any interest in authenticity. No sidewalks, brick buildings or well paved roads. So a skyscraper would look awfully strange on my layout.

But that's only because it's based on a real place and time.

If you're just doing a general layout and not a stickler for time/place, put any darned thing you want. If it was physically possible, I'm sure a RR went through such a place at some point.

p51 posted:

Francine posted:

I have recently come to the conclusion that I am building layouts incorrectly, they were towns with railroads going through.  After seeing Ray Pul's and others, I have realized it it better to do a railroad with scenery around it.

Better?

Isn't that subjective?

Yeah, if you modeled a specific town, you could say a layout looks more like it in regard to the locations being accurate for that specific place, but railroads were built in almost any kind of terrain you can imagine. Yes, even the Class I lines, too.

Heck, the Florida East Coast RR had a line that ran down the Keys, and you could be on a passenger train out on a trestle so long that you couldn't see land!

Now, think on that and tell me again how railroads only were built in one type of place!

Now, I model a specific place and time (very rural mountain area in the 40s). So, a lot of staples of model railroads are out for me if I'm looking to model the area/time with any interest in authenticity. No sidewalks, brick buildings or well paved roads. So a skyscraper would look awfully strange on my layout.

But that's only because it's based on a real place and time.

If you're just doing a general layout and not a stickler for time/place, put any darned thing you want. If it was physically possible, I'm sure a RR went through such a place at some point.

I can see it now with the Aragon Ballroom on one of the islands blowing bubbles across the right-away.

Bogie

Rayin"S" posted:

Francine, I don't think that the way you were doing a layout was wrong, you should do the scenery the way it pleases you. Don't let someone else dictate what you should have after all your the one who will live with it.

Ray

Hi Ray,

Nobody's telling me the layout was wrong, but, to me even though an accurate representation of 3 towns along the Reading Lansdale Line circa 1960, there was't room for all the sidings and train related activities that make train watching fun.  Going around a dog bone gets boring real fast, as does looking a a prototypical town.  Having the train drop off cars, pick up cars, crossovers all that type of thing makes it interesting.

I guess I am just looking at how to keep it entertaining.