I started my empire back in June 2012. By September of 2012 I had my "Plywood Prairie" and was actually quite happy just running trains. Then it happened ! I had a few buildings scattered here and there. THE WIFE wanted some buildings for her side of the layout (Jeans Valley) and she bought Woodland Scenics 'Town In a Box' ! Which by the way I had to assemble ! The Genie was now out of the bottle and as they say...you can't put that Genie back in that bottle...LOL ! 10 years later and I am still finding things I want to put on the layout. The thoughts just won't stay out of my head. In 2021 I made a video of what I thought was the final project. Here it is 2022 and the layout has come a long way even since that video. Scenicing is an addiction ! Trust me...once you start scenicing it never ends. I have enjoyed THERR everyday since I first bought THE RV back in 2012. I hope and pray I have many more years left to enjoy it. You can follow the 10 year progress in my layout build thread... https://www.trainboard.com/highball/index.php?threads/t-h-e-r-r-reborn.64636/ Or just peruse my albums here on TB.... https://www.trainboard.com/highball/index.php?media/users/mtntrainman.9898/ Enjoy.....
Too bad the early images don't work. Or they don't for me. I want to see the beginning photo's like the one above, or even earlier? Is it just me or other's don't see them either? On the Scenicing, and I guess that includes, buildings, trees, vehicles, signs, jersey blocks, packing stops, etc... also? Cause I don't really have any static grass ( fake large grass mat's I do have ), even some new signs from Tichy Train Group I haven't even opened yet. But I really haven't started what you call Scenicing, or what I think of it as? Watched a ton of videos on how too, and not how too, but can't get motivated, or figure out what I really want to be honest. Your layout is awesome. Hope you can reupload some of the early photo's, or get them to work somehow?
I dread adding scenery to my railroad. It's something I've not enjoyed in the past; I'm not much of an artist and I hate the mess it makes. Yours turned out great @mtntrainman . Are you available for hire? We can work up a rate based on pizza or hamburgers, plus beer according to your preference.
I've always enjoyed seeing pics of your work since I first came to this board a couple years back. Good to see a comprehensive walkthrough. I too come across structures and other scenery that get me thinking about how I could get them to work on my coffee table layout. So much so that only a couple of structures are original to when I first constructed the layout. Unlike me though you have all kinds of room to work with and there are so many cool subjects out there to keep the imagination going. I see a few model power structures in your downtown (~11:00) which I had in my original layout. The only one that survived and is slated to go on my next layout is the firehouse.
When I started my build thread I wasn't sure how to post the photos so in the first group of posts...the pics didn't show...BUT..the pics that should be there are in my albums here on TB at the link in my original post. THERR RV starts on this page... https://www.trainboard.com/highball/index.php?media/users/mtntrainman.9898/&page=13 Click on the page views at the bottom...in descending order...to see more of the early build pics.
When I think of model railroading, I think of more than just the basic benchwork with trains. Some enjoy the bare bones minimalist approach, like Dave Barrow, while others enjoy watching trains operate as a real railroad in a realistic setting. There is no right or wrong answer. It all hinges on what the modeler wants out of the hobby. If it becomes stressful, it becomes counter productive. I have enjoyed watching the THERR progress over the years, and agree with "mtntrainman" that scenicing is an addiction. I held off on detailed scenery on my layout until I had it operating reliably and operational changes were made to improve the track layout. At first the thought of scenicing such a large layout was stressful for me, but I decided to give it a go and try out what I have seen other do. Once I started making progress, I learned from my mistakes and have re-done earlier areas I was not happy with later on. Seeing my trains rolling through somewhat finished scenery adds to the operational enjoyment for me. Your mileage may vary.
I very much enjoy the scenery that is shown here. And enjoyed helping with some in the past. But there's things that do get in the way now. So it will have to be simple.
THERR is one of my favorites George. I have enjoyed following along and really like how you continue to change and improve. It's inspiration (to me at least) to keep on finding more to do on my layout as well. Each person is their own worst critic and I am no exception and scenery can be fun if you just go with what looks good to you and not worry about it. To steal a line from an HO guy on another forum "It's not scenery, it's an operational enhancement!"
Unfortunately the topic was created before we changed to Xenforo software. In doing so, a lot of links were broken.
Yea...those where some of the first buildings I got. They are now relegated to 'Georgetown'...which is the oldest town on THERR. I couldn't see throwing them away...
I really liked mine and would still have them except they got destroyed during a move. I still have a lot of the paper decals that came with the kits though.
I make buildings i've no space for, for my friends layouts and help with scenery. It's my favourite bit!
I still wish somebody made spray cans of "Scenery Be There", kind of the opposite of "Weed Be Gone". Doug
The did but unfortunately the government has banned that. Studies have shown that use of Scenery Be There often leads to Train Acquirement Syndrome or TAS. Sufferers often exhibit weight loss as they spend their money on trains instead of food and often can be recognized by pale skin and Vitamin D deficiency since they don't see sunlight much in the basement. Ambulance chasers are starting to crop up to pursue these cases, 1-800-GOT-TRAINS?
Try building in the yard or garden. I got huge Pines, big Oak tree and lots grass. House, out buildings, vehicles and a lot of wild life
I think I'm the opposite of my esteemed Atlas First Generation expert colleague here. I just want "everything else" done so I can work on what I really enjoy: scenery. But the Wilmington won't rebuild itself...
I am actually envious of you guys who like to do scenery because I love seeing the trains travel through it instead of just over plywood. It's just a matter of doing it, with me. I won't put my dislike of doing scenery quite up there with my dislike of, say, housework but... Doug
Hmmm... Maybe we could do some sort of a blue-screen (or green screen nowadays) to electronically insert virtual scenery on our layouts... An enterprising commercial entity could create CGI graphics that we purchase, and when we video our layouts for others to see, we overlay said scenery on the video, and voila! We only need a can of the right color spray paint for our layout. Want to change seasons or weather? No problem! Change the scenic era to match equipment we are running in this session? Yep! Maybe this could be a new feature for JMRI?! While we are at it, we can insert realistic sound (via Virtual Sound Decoder) in the video. Virtual Scenery!!!
Maybe starting on scenery, and many people's version of what that is, is like wiring. For the life of me I watched ton's of videos and could not figure out what worked for me. Then people on here helped me along with a terminal board, getting the correct Momentary Switches for turn outs, ( I had no clue I needed that and it kept a lot of sparks from flying, thanks everyone ), and I did it very, very slowly one set of prewired joiners at a time. Maybe I need to do the same with scenery? An area at a time, or even better a diorama?
Good points... I don't know if anybody learns how to do scenery the way they really end up wanting and liking it, a whole layout at a time. There are so many different aspects of scenery (and not all desired by everyone on every layout) that experimentation is almost necessary for success by any measure. So, yeah, an area at a time, or a diorama or three, to hone and perfect scenery techniques that can later be applied to a whole layout, is a good and reasonable suggestion. Wiring is a bit different, since the whole layout should (hopefully) be wired similarly per purpose (track, switches, signals, status panels, etc.) Techniques that may work (if they apply) to a diorama may not work well when expanded to a whole layout (whatever that is). In fact, the larger the layout, the more aspects come into play, especially WRT track wiring, that need not be applied to smaller layouts. On the other hand, most of us can look at the results of our scenic efforts even for a diorama, and decide what we dis/like about it for the layout. The same is not usually true for wiring... Maybe all these things are the very reason many build multiple layouts over the life of their hobby, applying the lessons learned to successive layouts.
