Nature's influence..

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DakotaLove39

DakotaLove39

Always Improvising
A thought hit me just a little while ago..

I've recovered from it, and now I'm posing a few questions.

Is it common for people to set up the lighting in their layout room to allow for night time operations? Do people even -run- "night" sessions?

How about seasonal changes? Do you have, or have you seen someone's layout represent several seasonal changes on the same route?

To garden railroaders, how do you take the seasons? Do you enjoy running trains in the autumn leaves and winter snow?
 
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fall is my favorite season, so it will be fall all year round on my layout. ultimately i plan on some simulated night time action. but thats a long way off for me. there is a guy here with a gazebo in his downtown scene that has some amazing night shots. cant remember exactaly who...
 
Fall is also my fav time of year so early fall it is!
I'll also have a snow scene on part of the upper level, and I run twilight op sessions, just enough light to see where you're going.
Still working on the garden layout... way too many rocks to move! Looking forward to working plows and such tho!
 


oh!OH!

there's a model train place that is open to the public not too far from here. its HUGE, and lives inside a quonset building.

They go through an entire day of operation during their one-hour demonstrations. early morning, through the day, into evening, and they finish up with darkness. All the little lights come on, on the track, in the cars, on the streets, and in the houses. even the airplane lights come up overhead!

its really wonderful. total blackness, and all those lights twinkling as the trains run along.

maybe its more than an hour. in any case, its too short. I could spend days in there.
 
latenttrainfan said:
they run everything from a tower.
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Is that the one at St. Jacobs? Next time up that way I'll have to visit and see the show.
I've always liked the Fall (my favorite time of year) however way back in the 60's there was an article in the Model Railroader about a 4x8 layout, depicting an early spring scene. It was done by a teenager and was so impressive I've never forgot it.

Cheers
Willis
 
CBC, no, but I can't quite remember exactly where it is. its open from spring to thanksgiving? and might be near Guelph. I'll try to find out.

if you visit St. Jacobs, stay in touch! i'm just 15 miles west of there! :D
 
nothing that complex, but my dimmer on the room lights helps it become "night".

....i guess the tracklights COULD be moved around to represent the lower/higher sun...nah, too much work.
 


ope this link works. they're only open a few weekends a year. its FABULOUS.
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A long, long time ago, many years ago (60's or 70's) the Model Railroader did an article on the Aberfoyle club layout, all I can say is it's fantastic. How times change MR stated it was in the Toronto area, guess they hadn't hear about Guelph yet :D

if you visit St. Jacobs, stay in touch! i'm just 15 miles west of there!
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We plan on going to Calgary next year and on the way back plan on dropping down into Southern ON. We're kind of like turtles or gypsies :D When my wife decides on where and who she wants to visit then I'll plan the ON portion of the route.

Cheers
Willis

Oh! BTW, did you read the last post on your thread " so. how do I even get started?" http://www.modelrailroadforums.com/forum/showthread.php?p=97546#post97546 It has info on the HO display at St. Jacobs an a link to the Waterloo MR club pages.
 
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Seasonal changes are pretty common on a lot of layouts. I like fall too and some of the trees in my town are turning while the there are more fall colors in my dinky range of hills. :) I've seen layouts that are done for every season, including the dead of winter. I've also seen layouts with quite complex lighting systems that can simulate dusk to dawn and noon. Like LTF said, some include almost every effect of a 24 hour day. Just having your lights on dimmers allows you to simulate twilight. I have lots of street and building lights so I enjoy running in twilight or darkness. Nothing like seeing the headlight of you train lighting up the cut before it hits town.
 
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