It just struck me that I have been seeing pictures posted for an alot of really outstanding N Scale railroads lately.. More than have been registering in the mainstream magazines.... Layouts like Daryl's Rochelle Division, Alan's, the Colonel's pike, and others whose names do not come to mind..... Lots of LINEAR railroad, uniform high standards of scenery, weathered track, etc... and by the looks of most, set up to Operate, not just run trains. I am really encouraged!!! N SCALE RULES!!! of course, I am admittedly a little biased... but we have guys from the Dark Side in the office too, in case any HOers are lurking..... Charlie Galesburg & Savanna Rwy. Co.
Perhaps I should get my New River Gorge layout underway, and snap some pictures when it's done. If it goes as planned, it'll be impressive.
Looking forward to the pics. Don't wait till its finished, take plenty along the way. In progress pictures can be just as inspirational as completed ones. Daryl
Thanks for the compliments Charlie but what you say is correct, there are a lot of layouts out there that never get seen but thankfully due to the web these layouts are more accessible. When I first started back into model railroading 6 years ago I used the net to learn about N scale. As a matter of fact Daryls layout was one of the first I came across, I still have pics of his original layout and it was these pics that inspired me to build a layout of my own. Of course with increasing products of high quality from all Manufacturers gives us an opportunity to model what we desire. I originally designed my layout just to run trains but as my modelling matures I have changed my focus to more realistic operations. I have almost completed the second stage of the layout but am already planning another major extension. This extension will further progress my move to realistic operations. It is a shame that the major magazines only seem to capture the mega layouts that people only dream about but I believe it is paramount they also focus on the average layout and smaller ones as well. You are correct in your comment that "N" scale rules we have the space advantage over most of the other scales
Charlie there are lot's of pics of my N scale layout in the picture galleries on my homepage. Even my layout is rather nice than awesome I hope you'll enjoy the images. The layout is Digitrax DCC controled. Motive Power consists of 78 Kato, 22 Atlas and 2 Life Like. The 800+ cars ar from Micro-Trains, LBF, Intermountain, Atlas.
What is the success rate for getting photos published in magazines, e.g. Trackside Photos in MR? It seems like a good way to get a little money for the layout, but I've been reluctant to try because most of their photos look so professional.
Some of us are actually dual scale. I have an N-Scale layout built into the living room coffee table. Guests, grandchildren, and wife (!) love to operate it. If the digital camera request ever gets approved (wife again), I'll post a few pix. I also have a "Horribly Oversize" layout in a corner of the garage, mainly due to fat fingers and failing eyesight (I actually thought ants were extinct until I got new glasses.) As the quality of N-Scale steam locomotives improves, I often contemplate magnifying glasses and tweezers....
Hank, I do agree with you that there doesnt seem to be much encouragement for modellers to send pictures to magazines. MR does have a section of model pics but maybe a section called viewers layouts and the ability to email good quality digital shots. The Kato site has a customers page where you can send pics of Kato products. I will have to take a shot one day and send it to Charlie [ 03 May 2002, 18:30: Message edited by: Colonel ]
I have been reading this post with interest, for the most part I agree that it can be difficult to get an article published. The main reason is in the photography side. Most publishers like to have large tiff files (Tagged image files) of around 5 meg per picture in digital form, or in 35mm slide film. It took me around 3 years to get my first publication in a model magazine. After that, the doors were open if you like and to date I have had 30 such publications with 12 being in Model Railroading magazine. Don't be put off, believe me, taking good publication photographs can be done providing you have a reasonable camera. Correct lighting/exposure is the key. If I can help in the photography side, just ask me, and I will do all I can for you. Cheers Paul
Charlie, I see you dropped into our "Lonely Hearts Club Band" and checked us out. Lots of great pictures there, and a lot to help in the motivation. I don't envy you or Paul Graff at Atlas (both N scaler's), I gather you both are in the early stages of a lay out and the pressure is on, psychologically, to have a great (not good) layout. We have around 3 weeks left to post in our "Lonely Hearts Club Band." But I have been impressed with how successful it has been. For me, I accomplished more work in the last month than in the last year. Where this is leading to is this: I am planning another similiar exercise starting in September. I will probably call it "Lonely Hearts Club Band - Part two." Again another 8 week commitment to work on the layout, more than normal for most of us. I am planning to invite Paul Graff (perhaps under an anonymous name and hotmail account so that he doesn't have to answer Atlas questions) to join our merry band of thieves...lol. I would like to invite you now, so that you have all summer to plan on what you will be doing in the fall. This invitation is open to anyone of course at trainboard.
Wednesday my NTRAK crew came over and we just about finished up the mud on the drywall in the south half of the layout room. Tonight my Amrail construction division crew is coming over and we may even get some primer on the walls. So progress is slow but regular. The north half will get finished after the south half is painted out, carpeted (stack of carpet tiles in the way in the north half). Estimate benchwork start by end of July!!! Charlie Galesburg & Savanna Rwy. Co.
Once a year MR runs a Photo Contest - many of the Trackside Photos that you see the rest of the year comes from the contest. Their requirements are clearly defined in the entry rules each year. The same requirements also apply to images submitted with articles. And yes, Model Railroader has very high technical standards for image publication - and this high standard is largly why MR is the leading model railroad magazine. Like Paul T has posted - the digital requirements for publication are very high - most of the mags will accept 5x7 or larger prints from negative film however slides are preferred. The biggest problem with most model photography you see on the web is lighting. The second is depth of field. Do you want to see YOUR layout in MR - check this link out - this is Model Railroader’s article submission guidelines
G&S Rwy.Co. Progress Update Wednesday crew made good progress on drywall on South Half of Layout Room... Friday crew started prime painting. Saturday and Sunday made trips to Home Depot for more Primer, Finish Paint, rollers, roller covers, paint brushes, floor scraper (to help remove the two tubs of compound that didn't make it to the ceiling or wall joints) and 16' lengths of wood base. (need supplies to keep the workers from griping about lack of things to do since they wore their old clothes to the "work" session..... May have to actually build the layout if things keep moving like this! Charlie Galesburg & Savanna Rwy. Co.
Charlie, How big is the layout room? Single or double deck layout? Staging? Going to be ops oriented?
The layout room is a full basement under a two story colonial. Other than a crawl storage space and a closet, the basement is MINE! Fictional Minneapolis – Indianapolis Class I railroad. Modeled portion: Farmington, IL (south of Galesburg) to just beyond Dubuque, IA (Dyersville) Era – Late Transition DCC operation. Target freight car capacity 1000-1200 cars in play. Mainly single track railroad with passing tracks spaced out three or four train lengths. Two deck linear track plan. Transition between decks accomplished in combined scene room with unfolded bi-directional helix. Central division point yard (Savanna, IL) located in center of Minneapolis – Indianapolis main. Staging yardmasters make up and deliver trains to visible layout at Farmington, IL from points South and Dyersville, IA from points North. Trains are broken down and made up in staging (working yard jobs). North and South staging are inter-connected to allow continuous running if desired; may be interchanged staging to staging to simulate off-line roaming. CB&Q has joint trackage between Portage, IL and East Dubuque, IL (G&S exists through East Dubuque tunnel and crossing of Mississippi River – there is no IC line in this area). CB&Q and CGW trains can loop to staging for live foreign overhead traffic. Relaxed timetable operations are contemplated. Fast clock ratio to be determined for average four hour operating session. Flexibility in crew size part of operations schema.
Charlie, Might I ask what inspired you to choose Indianapolis as an end-point? Most model railroads I've seen use famous places on the west or east coast, so it's pretty cool to see one that uses our little 'ole state.
Charlie, You must be related to Richard Weyand (see his picture of staging in MRP 2002, p. 80). Over a thousand cars in operation. You will have an operating crew with smiles on their faces. Double Decked, so you will have a long mainline. I didn't quite get your helix idea, but it might be related to my next point. In N scale, helix's don't make sense if you have room for a nolix. A nolix is a helix in function, but the track is made visible, as much as possible. In MRP 1998, p. 34, John Armstrong designed an area that gained in elevation, but was opened and sceniced - he jokingly refered to this has the "nolix" area. You will see that term on the layout, and in the article written by Jim Money ("The Athabaska: Working with John Armstrong"). The reason a nolix works better in N scale is because of our requirements for smaller diameter curves (but still broad in N scale terms). So a nolix area can be contained in an L shaped area, or oval area, or whatever shape you want. Mine is accessible only from one side - it is L shaped. John Armstrong's is accessible from two sides and is visible from either. It came about because John originally designed a track plan with two helix's. The client - Jim Money - didn't want a helix, so the nolix was born instead. If you haven't heard of it; I'm not surprised. I seem to be the only one on the planet pushing nolix's. But as I said, in N scale they make a lot of sense. I use mine as a mountainous region dividing one half of the layout from the other. My train starts out in a flat coastal area in British Columbia, goes through my nolix (the Fraser and Thompson Canyon) and then on into farming community in mid-British Columbia (also relatively flat). So it adds to the distance. Since it is 80 feet in lenght (20 inche elevation gain) about 30 feet of it is not visible (this is broken up into bits as the train passes around the back of the mountains, out of sight) but 50 feet is visible. Cheers
Whew!!! When you referred to Rich Weyand standing in front of his staging it took me a while to realize you were linking me to him by the helix and not our physical resemblence! giggle giggle (Actually, we are in an operating group together and are good friends) My transition between levels could also be called a nolix..... I just had to give it a fancy name to make it sound complicated. It isn't. The two levels pierce the wall of my office in one corner of the basement separately and slightly offset as far as the track location. When they come out of the wall in the office they are in the same scene (on a built-in bookcase shelf 48" above the floor which runs all the way around three walls) separated by slightly less than the nominal 18" rail to rail clearance between decks (I cheated and started the grades down on the upper deck a little and up on the lower deck allot so the separation is less than 12"). Within the office the lower line continues to climb, the upper one continues to drop, until they swap upper for lower and lower for upper. Leaving the office they come out on their own separated decks again. A live interchange (at the point of equal height or down the line where the levels cross, I haven't decided yet) allows dropping cuts of cars or continous running on the upper deck or the lower deck ends go to staging and could also be operated independently through a connection there. I haven't figured out how to post images from my CorelDraw upper and lower deck trackplan, if I figure it out I will post them next week and it will be clearer what I am building.
After I started in N Scale a good friend also got into the scale and named his railroad the D&P after Doug (his name) and Pat (his then wife). To make it sound more railroady he called it the Danville and Peoria. My Galesburg and Savanna connected to the D&P at Farmington, Illinois. Later Doug remarried and I inherited the D&P...not wanting the reference he started the Illinois & Missouri. The second marriage took but he got into Lionel. The D&P extended to Indianapolis becoming kind of a Peoria and Eastern; the G&S extended through East Dubuque to Minneapolis to become a TP&W/CGW. The two combine make a good bridge road to the Northeast and Indianapolis is a better hub than congested Chicago. At least that's what our Traffic Department Salesmen tell our customers!
When I compared you to Richard, I was thinking of the number of rolling stock he will need (or already does) to own on his layout. I did a rough calculation in my head of what his layout must cost, and it wasn't a low figure. I did the same with yours, just in reference to your rolling stock of between 1000 and 1,200 freight cars and came up with another not low figure. In the late 60's and early 70's I went to college in Elmhurst, Ill, then moved downtown in the New Town area (2121 N Freemont St or Ave - can't remember) while attending Roosevelt U. I worked At Rush, Presbyterian, St. Lukes Medical Center and dated some one from Cook County Nursing school. I also attended an "institute" in Evanston, and another "institute" in the old IBM building on Michigan Avenue. I used to hang out in the Chicago art gallery (it was a cheap date) and listened to Solti at the symphony.
