I built a Module

[bobthebear]

My local Club in Gosport recently had a member leave (he moved out of the area), and he took his modules with him. We were therefore a bit short! We had a spare blank module - bare board with straight track - as an emergency fill-in. With a Public Show coming up I offered to do something about it. So this is the result. Just one thing missing : some "telltales" (Tichy Trains) which are somewhere mid-Atlantic!

[EMD F7A]

Fantastic work!! Sharp detailing, and the #3 tunnel pic is by far my favorite. I can almost smell heavy grease and hear the tunnel echoes....

[John Moore]

The homesteader's cabin gets my vote with the tunnel next. The vehicles really define the era nicely. I spent my youth out in the Mondak area as the Dakotas and Eastern Montana were referred to then. Saw more than my share of homesteader's cabins that had the original sod roof collapsed and a number of log houses still exist here and there. I grew up in one and the red color is especially prevalent in the Western Dakotas and Eastern Montana due to old burnt out lignite coal veins. A lot of that was used to surface secondary roads back then. The whole overall scene gets an A+ in my view. The old abandoned vehicles captures the flavor even more. I used to see small gullies behind barns filled with old vehicles like in the scene, that when no long able to be repaired, were just shoved there and forgotten. Heck I even used to drive a truck like the one the young lady is getting a delivery from. Of course gas was just 19 cents a gallon then.
This module has really captured my fancy and brought back a lot of memories. All that is missing is Northern Pacific or Milwaukee on the tender.

[Grey One]

Nice! I like the detail within the detail.

[BoxcabE50]

Seeing how well this one has been done, your club needs to supply you with more modules!

[bobthebear]

Many thanks Guys! I have never been to the U.S. so if I have captured the look then I am very satisfied. One day I am hoping to get over the "Pond"
Cheers, Bob.

[John Moore]

Many thanks Guys! I have never been to the U.S. so if I have captured the look then I am very satisfied. One day I am hoping to get over the "Pond"
Cheers, Bob.

A few more trees and a Norfolk & Western on the tender and you could also place this at a few locations in Virginia. If you decide to cross the pond I would suggest to fly into Chicago and catch the Amtrak Empire Builder out to Glacier Montana, stay a few days at Glacier Park get a rental car and hit Yellowstone Park next and then into Wyoming. I would also try for the month of June, still get snow up into May in the mountains, or September and very early October. By the end of October in that part of the country you can end up with some right good snowfalls and cold weather.

[bobthebear]

Many thanks John.
That sounds really good. Must work on Kathy for next year!

[robert3985]

Nice work! However, to increase your module's "authenticity" it needs a couple of details added. The most important are telegraph poles (or "utility poles"). Almost every mainline or branchline in the USA has telegraph poles running alongside it...sometimes on both sides. String some E-Z Wire on them for added effect and durability.

Once again, almost every mainline or branchline in the USA has a maintenance or "service" road running alongside it too. Sometimes there is a "mini-scene" at a tunnel portal with a shack for the "tunnel-keeper" who checks the tracks for rocks and other obstructions inside the tunnel. Although these were becoming more scarce by the 1950's, there were still some left during the transition era.

Also, an "escape" for speeders would almost be a necessity somewhere near the portal with a platform made of ties between the rails and two long ties perpendicular to the rails and a cross tie at the end to allow the speeder crew to get their little service vehicle safely off the track in a hurry. These platforms were once all over the mainlines, but they don't show up in eye-level photos very prominently.

You could run a grade crossing from your dirt road already on the module across your track, then run the service road on the fascia side of your mainline, terminating at a "turn-around" near the tunnel portal. Wouldn't involve much extra scenery work since there's plenty of room there for a single-lane dirt road there.

Another detail that would probably be important for the inhabitants of the log house would be a fence near the railroad property line. They wouldn't want their milk cow to get hit by the passing local. Since it looks like a pretty primitive place, it might be made of split rails. GHQ makes some nice N-scale ones which are found in their Civil War military figure sets.

If you do decide to add a fence, and a grade crossing, it would be logical that a wooden stock barrier on the road before the crossing and in line with fence would be in place. That would be a nice little scratch-building project!

A tree with an old tire as a swing for the kids is almost a must...and a chicken coop, and power poles along the dirt road...and a...hahahaha...yup...a module or layout is seldom "finished"!!

Just some suggestions!

Cheers!
Bob Gilmore

[bobthebear]

Thanks for the suggestions Bob.
I was going to add the utility poles as I have a stack of them plus some e-z-line, but as the modules either side change for each show it would cause a problem as it would look as if they went nowhere! I would have added a crossing and other stuff, but as I live in U.K. I couldn't get crossbucks or a speeder etc quick enough. I had some fencing but strangely it didn't look right so I removed it. I will have a go after the show to improve the look eg. the barrel has not been weathered.