California Fires....

mtntrainman Oct 29, 2019

  1. DCESharkman

    DCESharkman TrainBoard Member

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    More to your point, if solar panels are melted by the fire, you will have a lot of toxic material draining on the ground and even worse toxic gases along with the fire smoke. I untold story of solar cell is the nasty chemicals that are used inside them and to make them. They are essentially mini Superfund toxic waste containers.
     
    BarstowRick likes this.
  2. sams

    sams TrainBoard Member

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    Hi everyone ! I'm new here and just wanted to say hello. I myself am from California and I do a lot of driving for work out here. I'm constantly going through the sepulveda pass as well. It has been pretty charged lately. I also have a few family friends that were affected and had to evacuate there homes with pets. One place in particular is up in modoc county. It got burned pretty bad up there. I got lucky though... All the wine they were giving away I took and put it in a shelter .... haha I wish !!

    Everyone is ok though and we just keep our eyes out. I do have to say though after scrolling through this thread I saw this post and couldn't stop laughing!!! Fire is burning around and we gotta make sure we have power to run trains !! hahaha Now I thought I was addicted !!



    With that said I recently got back into the hobby and am in the process of building a nice N scale layout. Just so happens I'm theming it off of all the fires out here. With all this driving I see all the land and how it looks especially up north and I thought how neat would it be to model the burnt land into a layout ?? We are talking burnt trees burnt and charcoal covered ground. Creeks that have been covered with burnt trees. Stuff like that. I don't plan on modeling after any particular railway. This is a fantasy run which I don't seem to see to much of.

    Check it out !



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    Anywho youll be seeing more of it as I have to finish the center where the creek is to realistically put down track since all of the bridges connect everything. I am going to put something up about wiring as well as this is my first DCC layout. I want to make sure I have everything planned before I start running wires !

    Cheers from the fire pit !!
     
    mtntrainman, Atani and badlandnp like this.
  3. Maletrain

    Maletrain TrainBoard Member

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    Rule #1 is that it is your railroad and you get to model it the way you want to model it.

    But, I have to say, to me, at least, it seems kind of depressing modeling just an area that was severely damaged by fire. I am wondering how others who will view your railroad will feel. Have you thought about making an edge to the fire damaged area, with more verdant conditions on the other side of that edge?
     
    sams likes this.
  4. sams

    sams TrainBoard Member

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    Thanks for saying that out right. I believe the same and everyone has a different type of creative side to them.

    It is sad of course, even to me since I have friends and family that were involved but at the same time looking at it in from a different perspective it is pretty powerful. Just like the ocean or snow. It looks amazing but it can cause severe damage and kill people.

    I'm glad you brought that up. Yes I do plan on blending the burnt areas with verdant conditions. (static grass too) I think it will be nice to show a good blend. It will be some small fire areas in certain spots and then go back into the lush green areas that everyone loves. The burnt areas will just be another dynamic of the layout and to me makes it a bit mysterious and spooky which can be a cool effect.
     
    mtntrainman likes this.
  5. NtheBasement

    NtheBasement TrainBoard Member

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    BNSF FAN and sams like this.
  6. sams

    sams TrainBoard Member

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    I cant either. Earthquakes are bad enough. When I was a younger kid my father had property in romona and One week we were there a fire started right on the hill behind our house. Just walking outside to leave you could feel the heat from 50 ft away. Its very scary and bring senses to light you never knew you had. I'm not doing this to mock anyone but I think it would bring appreciation to fire if I can accomplish this mix. To me it'll be more of a historic/serious layout if that makes sense.

    That is a really cool idea !! I'm going to keep that in mind (y)(y)(y)(y)(y)
     
    BNSF FAN likes this.

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