Impressive Scene


GDSmith

Member
This is NOT my layout - I saw it at the Model Train Show in Ranson, WV today and really liked it. It was more impressive at the show because of the flashing red and blue lights :eek:

FireScene_zpse61645d1.png
 
Hopefully the fire fighters can keep it from spreading to those tank-cars full of iso-butane and jet fuel! :eek: :)
 
I hate to say it, but I get tired of seeing burning buildings on modular layouts. Seems like most of the display layouts I see at train shows have such a scene. When was the last time you actually drove past a burning building? I've only driven past one in my 48 years.

Steve S
 
I'm a bit tired of fire scenes but it's not due to unrealistic frequency. Heck, the whole point of modeling trains is to see what you want to see when you want to see it. I just think they're overdone.
 
I'm a bit tired of.________.overdone.
Just fill in the blank. I've been saying for years that most model railroads end up showing the exceptions and unique rather than any sort of statistical normality. In many instances it is just the number of little people scattered all over everything.

The museum has not one but 2 fire scenes (not counting the hobo camp fire) that glow and flame and of course smoke. The public love them. I believe we go through about a pint of smoke fluid a week.
 
I think the boxy module itself has really outlived it's novelty. When modular layouts were new, it was acceptable, but now, it's almost boring to view a layout at a show and everything on each module is in alignment with ghe shape of the module.
Freemo is a good attempt at capturing the natural flow of the landscape near railroads.
 
The most "unusual" modular layout scene I've ever seen was at a show in St.Louis. Wasn't a typical fire scene, or accident type scene.

It was a module that had a thunderstorm with thunder and lightening, then a twirling tornado came out of the bottom of the storm, moved across the module, then lifted back up. The scene had a lot of "damage" to the structures on the modules, with debris scattered all around.
 
The most "unusual" modular layout scene I've ever seen was at a show in St.Louis. Wasn't a typical fire scene, or accident type scene.

It was a module that had a thunderstorm with thunder and lightening, then a twirling tornado came out of the bottom of the storm, moved across the module, then lifted back up. The scene had a lot of "damage" to the structures on the modules, with debris scattered all around.
I saw that at the NMRA national convention when it was in St. Louis. I thought it was a cute concept but the implementation felt toy trainish to me.
 
At Trainfest in Milwaukee last year they had a ton of disasters, that and flying saucers in the trees. Its funny how trying to be different, everything can end up being the same. My son and I started to make a game out of finding the Atlas switch tower on each layout. I think you are required to have at least one!
 
I would never put something like that on my personal layout, but it seems fine for a display layout. Many train show attendees are not model railroaders and enjoy fanciful displays like this.
 
My son and I started to make a game out of finding the Atlas switch tower on each layout. I think you are required to have at least one!
Our Youth in Model Railroading layout has one, and it is on my daughters module.

I always look for the Atlas snap-switch and 18" radius curve. Seems like those are almost "requirements" as well. I actually found one on the museum's layout a couple months ago. Really surprised me since the minimum turnout on the main is a #10.
 
Fire scenes are not all that unusual in larger cities. Most people never get to drive by one because of the way they get roped off and traffic diverted. If you want realism, it's far more likely to park an engine company, ambulance and squad car at a car accident.

So, what "city" are you modeling? That can help provide your answer. In addition, there are a heck of a lot more fire fighters in this country than there are model railroaders, so a fire scene would not be unusual to them.

Disclaimer: My dad was a volunteer fireman and I sold fire trucks a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. So, as far as my prejudiced opinion goes, you can't HAVE enough fire stations on a layout!

I don't have a problem with Atlas towers. I have a couple of old AHMs myself, and they will be nice when finished-one is getting a bare bones interior someday. As a "requirement", why not? Reflection of reality!

Photoman475
 
My favorite scene on a module that is always at Timonium is a simple small farm scene. The builder included some interesting details like the housewife shooing away the vacuum cleaner salesman. I even like how the builder made the roadway go around a curve and down hill where it meets the backdrop to help make an challenging scenery situation less obvious. Every time I look at this little scene I notice some new detail. I'll be looking for this HO scale module at Timonium again this weekend.
You may recognize the house as a snap together plastic Bachmann kit and the barn is the Revell plastic barn kit/ Summer Stock Theatre kit that was around from the late 1950's up through the 90's (re-boxed as Heljan or Con-Cor).
 

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In a world where no matter how much we try to be prototypical, we can't escape the fact that a single scale mile of track in HO is about 60' - or about 200% the width of the average basement. So basically any but the very, very largest of layouts cannot even remotely model a tiny portion of the space it would take a real train to go from standing stop to low speed... We model horseshoe curve in the space less than a reality-based train-length would take. We model Sherman Hill in the space an actual Big Boy would take for sanding and (maybe) watering facilities...

So is there anything prototypical about a module that has a building go up in flames every 10 minutes? Of course not. Is that "toy train-ish"... Yes, for sure. But is that really any less "realistic" than creating a layout that has four industrial sidings, a "classification yard" and some "mainline" run in 1/4 mile or so of scale distance? Nope. Is that any less prototypical than modeling a "branchline" in a scale half-mile, or a coal mine 100 scale feet from a power plant that nevertheless runs a full complement of full/empty hoppers back and forth?

Essentially, no matter what we aspire to, we all work in "illusion" rather than modeling reality. Even the largest of "club" layouts model only a ridiculously-small portion of prototype line. The most "realistic" layout I can imagine would be a straight mainline with no turnouts, no sidings and no curves for the length of MANY football fields (real, not scale). Snooze.

So if our illusion is simply some compression between the quarry and cement plant... or that we have a burning building and/or roller-coaster in a ridiculously small space with unrealistic frequency, or that we model an entire "city" in the space that a corner of an actual town square would really take up... Who's to say that's "wrong"?

Really, it's in the eye of the beholder.
 
I think one thing I would like to see more often, are structures that don't quite fit completely on the layout or module, such that the structure is cut away at the leading edge of the layout revealing the interior.
These pictures are of an HO circus train layout that is completely self contained in an enclose trailer and is sometimes displayed at Timonium.
 

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Heres a couple fire scenes that are usually displayed at Timonium and will probably be seen at Timonium this weekend. Then theres the Drive In Movie Theatre operated by a DVD player. I've been seeing these display on a lot of modules over the last several years. This may be something that attracts attention at train shows but probably not something most modelers would want on their layouts at home.
 

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Fire scenes, accident scenes and so forth ... not for me on my layout. We talk about scale and realism and trying to achieve as much realism as possible. How realistic is it to have a perpetual burning building or accident scene?

As a separate module for a show, I think they are fine and do provide interest, just not on a layout.
 
Fire scenes, accident scenes and so forth ... not for me on my layout. We talk about scale and realism and trying to achieve as much realism as possible. How realistic is it to have a perpetual burning building or accident scene?

As a separate module for a show, I think they are fine and do provide interest, just not on a layout.
Ahhhhh, come on Tony. You're just too serious. :cool:
 



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