Hey guys! I'm about to begin planning my layout. I'm planning on doing a shelf style with a couple of peninsulas and a helix for multiple levels where I can get the most out of the space I'll have to work with. Of course I'll be modeling the Northern Montana Line. Right now, I'm thinking Lewistown to Great Falls, or perhaps even on to Agawam. Lots of bridge building on this line. Should be a lot of fun. I'm just wondering what the best way to "shrink" the miles are. I sure don't have full scale miles to work with. Thanks in advance.
(sorry so late!) Good to hear you're building the NML--will be nice to see some of those monster trestles on a layout. What kind of space do you have? Shrinking miles is easier if you can separate scenes with view blocks. Tunnels, treelines, ridges, etc. You have all 3 prototypically at your disposal on this route. The HUGE trestles east of Geraldine will prolly not scale down well for a small layout, but the Belt Creek canyon area should scale down a bit better. 2 large trestles, deeeeeeep canyons, cuts and fills, 4 tunnels, curves and a steep grade to dig outta the hole. The whole area from Waltham to McKinnor Rd is about 4 miles. With view blocks and tunnels, you can build part of that and maybe Spring Creek or Denton, a large trestle, a couple elevators, and tunnel 1 or 2 as well. Building a few signature scenes in high fidelity, separated with view blocks seems to be the way to go. My HCD layout is built the same way. The hill at Crescent is the view block for Tunnel 18 and 19, while the mountain at Tunnel 25 separates Tunnel 26. Makes the whole (tiny) layout look much bigger.
Thanks for the feedback, Hemi! I have been pondering your advice and think I have my general plans in mind. Features will of course be the 3 big trestles. I went to look for your photos from a couple years ago and all the links are broken. Are your photos of the area posted elsewhere?
