It's a Small World

 I stayed home and worked hard on a lot of projects today. It doesn't feel as if I made a lot of progress, but if one keeps doing small bits, they do add up.

I'm still working on processing photos from the 2010 Philadelphia Flower Show. I found one of the miniature displays that didn't win any award, but it was by far the best job of modeling on any of the entries. I suspect the judges expected a better balance of the plants and other elements. Here's the long shot- an abandoned car with a tree growing through it beside a garage. You know it's a miniature because you can see my reflection on the plexiglas in front of the garage.



That looks very good, but take a look at the interior of the garage. This is modeling to perfection. Still some reflections, but not bad.

Some of you may remember that I love modeling. However, all my own stuff is packed away until such time as I either: 1) can't hike 2) have more money 3) have more space. Maybe I'll need all three of those. (ho hum, OK, probably time too)

Meanwhile, here are a few pics of my own modeling attempts. The first one I've shared before. Front of a gas station, year depicted about 1948. The building is scratchbuilt. That means it did not start as a kit.



This is a layout edge scene. I never got a backdrop behind it, but the "town barn" is made from cardboard and corrugated cookie boxes. The grader and bulldozer are kits, and the pipes and stuff are a combination of purchased modeling details and junk.

This is a night scene. All these buildings are from kits. Some of them aren't quite finished, but you can make kits look great if you are careful with paint and details. And "kit-bashing" is a good technique too. For that, you start with a kit and then change things around a bit. The tanker truck on the street is kitbashed. I took one truck chassis and added the tank to the back.

This is sort of kitbashed. It's really a bit too late for my chosen model time period, from the mid-1950s, but I hate to give it up because I think it came out really good. Keep in mind this truck is, in reality, just over 2 inches long.

This was a piece of my tiny layout that I was pretty happy with. Except the field is too small, of course. But I was experimenting with techniques. The plowed field looks pretty good, but it should be more level. The trees are all natural material. I sort of prided myself on realistic looking trees.

If you look in the upper right of the above picture, you will see a tiny house on a hillside. That is scratch built. My first such attempt. A lot of the structures I did I built as "modules" which means when I do a different layout, they can be dropped in (with making good transitions at the module edges, of course) and they don't have to be completely re-placed in the landscape.

For sure, if and when I get to take this out and play with it again, I will figure out some way to rig a dust cover over it all. HO scale, for those who care.

Meanwhile, I edited, I wrote a chapter in Vacation from DMS- 565 words that I'm not crazy about, but I can figure out what they need another day, I worked on pictures, I did some other stuff.

See Model Train Layout 2001-2018 See more pix of my small layout

Hometown "Stuff"

  I went to my home church this morning. Lots more pictures at the link below.

And the interior. They only use this big sanctuary in the summer because it's too expensive to heat in the winter.

I took a little walk out front to take a picture down Main Street. Not very many viable businesses left, but it still looks like a small town rather than a ghost town.

No pictures of people today, although there were interactions. I spent the afternoon with Diane... you'll see her tomorrow. Today you'll have to make do with her model railroad. We drove around a little bit looking at local history stuff, and then we did trail talk.

She also keeps the cemetery records, and we walked around there. You may recall that it was Diane who found out that my adoptive grandfather Jack Leary had Seven Sisters. One of the two that I ever met was Cora. And Diane showed me where she is buried. She married a man named Levi Beach.

Tomorrow, we are going to roll out and have a fun activity. See you then.

See Home Church

To the Library and Beyond

The day began with my program at the Interlaken Library. This is where I had my first library experiences, reading my way through the entire children's section. There was one book I took out so many times that when the library discarded it (many many years later), they sent it to me!

Now the children's section is that whole new wing off the back left, which was where I gave my program. Someone took a picture of me doing that, but I don't have it yet, so you'll just have to imagine it.

Then a lady, Diane, had planned a luncheon at her house for a few of us who all went to school together. She has gotten interested in hiking. She's been doing some pieces of the North Country and Finger Lakes Trails, and is so excited that she wants to do pieces of the NCT in each state. We have a lot of interests in common, and it's fun to discover we might end up as more than childhood acquaintences.

The picture shows Diane and her granddaughter, Dani, who likes to hike with her. Hooray for the next generation of hikers! You can see the great pile of food that was spread out for us.

One of our other common interests is history, especially railroad history, and she also likes model railroads! She has N scale. You may remember that I play with HO (except it's all packed away now). Notice the Lehigh Valley theme. You may recall that's my passion, too.

You've heard about Diane before, but you may not remember the name. She is the person who found out where my biological grandmother is buried. See Finding Ada.

Finally, Marie and I were on the road for our campsite for the next week. We got set up just before dark.

Diane gave us mac and cheese (homemade), and Marti gave us a huge bag of veggies, so we had a wonderful dinner.

Then we took a little walk around the campground in the dark, and now we are crashed in the tent. We do have electric.

Tomorrow we hike!

See Hometown Time

Northlandz- A Few More Pictures

 
Today was awesome, but I'll show you more about that tomorrow because I want to share a few more pictures from Northlandz model railroad. These aren't any particular grouping, they just show a little more of what's there.

First of all, the roundhouse. Unless you have a really big layout there isn't room to make one of these look right. You can see this one fits nicely- not too crowded.



Next we have one of the jokes. See the quarry pit all around that tall column with the houses on top? The sign said, "Grandma's Pit. Everyone sold to the quarry company except Grandma, so the quarry company dug around her and gave her a bridge to get out."



Every big layout has room for a serious train wreck.



I liked this country corner. I have the same kit as the house in front.



A view down one of the deep valleys.



A town clinging to the cliffside.



And, on any layout, when you have to change the elevation of the track and you don't have much room you need a spiral. Instead of hiding this one out of sight, they made it part of a quarry operation.



I think this has been enough to give you a good idea of what this place is like. Definitely worth a visit.

In other news: You'll have to wait till tomorrow to see what I did all day today!

	See Northlandz- Big Picture
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Northlandsz Model RR - The Big Picture

 
Today, I'll try to give you a sense of the scale of this place. Look at all the layers of trestles, and a viewing window in the back wall. Keep in mind that this is only one room.



Here is another room with lots of bridges. This is supposed to be over a river or bay- water at the bottom at any rate. Look at the size of that high bridge.



This is the train yard where engines and cars not currently in use rest.



And here's the control room. We weren't allowed in, but at least they let us look. 130 train loops. It was really neat that there were so many and they were so long it was very realistic in that you didn't see the same train over and over as it went around some small circle.


In this room, you can see the blue railings of a walkway for observers.



And just to give you a sense of how massive this is, Marie is standing on the walkway in this one. It really messes with your head.



Believe it or not, I actually have no dreams of ever doing a layout this big. But I would love to do one whole room.

In other news: I did quite well at the Caledonia Craft and Vendor Show today. My buddy Robert came near the end and we went out to eat and visit. Now I'm crashed at a another friend's house because I need to stay in the area for one more day.

	See Northlandz Details
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Northlandz Model RR - Details

 
As you can imagine on a layout of this magnitude, not all the models were fully detailed. Although most of it was the work of one man, I believe that some sections were done by others, including Scouts. But I have no idea who did what.

These are just a few of the really nice details that I managed to get good pictures of.

This is a coaling station. It might be either a high-end kit that I'm not familiar with, or scratch built. Nevertheless, it looks very realistic.



The layout was filled with humor, often with accompanying "explanations" so observers would get the joke. I thought this farm tucked in an impossibly deep cleft of rock was funny.



The "ivy" growing up the walls of this building is exceptionally fine detailing. I want to do some of this when I get to do my layout.



This house undergoing demolition is an example of the kind of work that can take hours and hours, but results in a totally believable scene.



The bins at this gravel sorting facility are nicely done. Just paying attention to the fact that each bin would have a different grade of gravel is a small thing that makes a big difference.



There were also some historical scenes tucked into corners. This is a Civil War battle. My train buddy, Kevin, wanted to model this era. He is deceased, and I miss him.



It was a lot of fun to see what they had done with many of the kits I am familiar with. Most of the large buildings were scratch built. One is not necessarily better than the other. In my opinion, everything depends on how well you do the final detailing.

Tomorrow- some of the broader views that show more of the overall structure of the layout.

In other news: I worked on the book all morning and part of the afternoon until my brain was fried. I have a really busy weekend coming up.

	See Northlandz
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Northlandz Model Train

 
Today and for the next few days, I'm going back to a place I visited in March, but I never had a chance to show you pictures. I was there on the same trip as the Philadelphia Flower Show, and this stop got lost in the shuffle. That's saying something, because this place is overwhelming on its own merits. This is the largest model train layout in the world. It has 8 miles of track, and even a self-guided tour takes 2 to 3 hours. It's in Flemington, New Jersey and the name is Northlandz. This is HO scale, and it's all indoors.



You walk from room to room and look down or out on valleys, fields, mountains, etc. There are about 130 train loops. I asked how many were running the day we were there and there were about 90 making the rounds that day. Some parts of the layout are more finished than others, but no matter, it's all very impressive.

I'll start with some general pictures taken with the goal of blocking out things that remind you it's a model. Every layout needs a city or village. Of course Northlandz has room for many.



A big layout gives you room for industrial complexes that look more real than what an ordinary amount of space can provide.



For most people, if they decided to collect all these carnival/circus structures, that would be the extent of what they could do. Here, it's just tucked into one little corner. Kind of like the real world.



On the other hand, a lot of the spaces at Northlandz include impossible cliffs and steep-sided valleys. But that adds to the fun, and the challenge of getting the trains up and down.



The vast scale means that there is room to detail a small island in the middle of a huge river with its own population and buildings.



Tomorrow, I'll show some closeups. A lot of my pictures are crummy. Not entirely sure why- well, most had to be taken through plexiglas, but I have some good ones.

In other news: I wrote in the morning. Then I did a bunch of errands in the afternoon and continued to work on formatting the book. Sent one more sample to the printer for approval. If it comes back as acceptable, then I have to get seriously busy with editing and formatting.

	See My Layout
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