Tehachapi, BC

[basementcalling]

Edk, what printer?

Gary, everything you do is amazing. What's your MP size on those street images from Google? How big can you enlarge them and still have the quality needed for a good backdrop?

How will a switch crew in the aisles at that new location impact human traffic flow?

I assume your double track main can handle the local parked on one track while setting out and pulling cars? Could you get the industry and cars both ON the backdrop? Might be easier to set the mood that way than model it. But if the track in on the backdrop will you try to apply ballast a grain at the time to blend it with the foreground scenery? 

[CRL]

Honestly, I’d eliminate the spur siding. As long as the mainline track maintains a fixed parallel distance from the background, your minds eye can adjust the forced perspective between the train and the background scene. Putting any rail cars into a full sized siding that encroaches into the adjustment space destroys the effect created by the forced perspective. If you laid a dummy siding that tapered in both the vertical & horizontal, it might very effectively reinforce  the established perspective. Same thing with vegetation between the tracks & the background getting smaller towards the back.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Edk, what printer?

See: https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=53567.0

I got an Epson SC-2170.
https://epson.com/For-Work/Printers/Large-Format/SureColor-T2170-24-Inch-Wireless-Printer/p/SCT2170SR

I did the math: it was about price competitive with getting my full backdrop commercially printed, but having it in my house allows me to do just what Gary's doing here: iterate until I'm happy.

[GaryHinshaw]

Gary, everything you do is amazing. What's your MP size on those street images from Google? How big can you enlarge them and still have the quality needed for a good backdrop?

Good question.  The screenshots I harvest from Streetview are about 3 MB each and ~1500 x 2500 pixels at 144 dpi.  For the Kern scene I took ~30 frames with significant overlap and imported them into Gimp, making a project file that was ~200 MB.  By them time I processed them down to one image, the exported image file (.png) was ~19,500 x 1350 pixels at 144 dpi, but the file size is only 10 MB.  I think the sky data compresses extremely well.  The printed image was increased by 20% so it's rendered at 120 dpi which I think is fine for this purpose.  I don't really want too much detail, as it might distract from the foreground.  It remains to be seen how well this works with actual 3-d scenery.

I'm pretty happy with the composition of the Kern side now (aside from the gaps noted above).  On the Edison side, I'm still just playing.  I think I need to flesh out the rest of the background scene down past Edison before I commit to anything, since it all has to flow together.

[C855B]

Roll feed?

You guys have convinced me I need some degree of photo backgrounds, but I am having a devil of a time finding a desktop printer with roll capability. That used to be almost assumed. Everybody pushes you to their commercial large-format models now.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Roll feed?

You guys have convinced me I need some degree of photo backgrounds, but I am having a devil of a time finding a desktop printer with roll capability. That used to be almost assumed. Everybody pushes you to their commercial large-format models now.

Get the Epson I did. It was like $700 and worth every penny.

[C855B]

Thanks. OK with Epson. I mostly like my Stylus Photo 1400, but it's very thirsty and of course, doesn't have roll feed. And the feed rollers are showing their age (16 y.o.!). I take it the 2170 is a little more reasonable with ink consumption.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Thanks. OK with Epson. I mostly like my Stylus Photo 1400, but it's very thirsty and of course, doesn't have roll feed. And the feed rollers are showing their age (16 y.o.!). I take it the 2170 is a little more reasonable with ink consumption.

Ya know, I don't really know. I know I haven't had any reason to complain. And there aren't great alternatives.

[robert3985]

I chose the Epson Artisan 1430 several years ago mainly because of the Clarion inks, combined with Epson Matte Presentation Paper was considered "archival" and I was printing smaller numbered prints of my art.  It's an old printer now, but still prints excellently at a maximum of 13" wide, so, if anybody is interested in buying a larger-format printer, I recommend Epson.

Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore

[GaryHinshaw]

From the "one thing led to another" department: I wanted to get a better sense of the backdrop possibilities further along the lower deck, as the line approaches the Tehachapi foothills.  I don't have a good Streetview option (yet), so I tried a panorama taken on my 2019 trip:



This is not quite right either, both in composition and image quality (it was quite a cloudy day, despite the photo-shopped sky - unusual for June, so the scene is rather muted and the sizing is wrong).  I then decided I couldn't go much further until I had a better sense of the foreground scene, which includes a tricky compressed transition from Sandcut to Caliente.  So I switched to some foam sculpting, when my wife happened to wander out to the shed:



No further comments your honour.   

[Ed Kapuscinski]

From the "one thing led to another" department: I wanted to get a better sense of the backdrop possibilities further along the lower deck, as the line approaches the Tehachapi foothills.  I don't have a good Streetview option (yet), so I tried a panorama taken on my 2019 trip:



This is not quite right either, both in composition and image quality (it was quite a cloudy day, despite the photo-shopped sky - unusual for June, so the scene is rather muted and the sizing is wrong).  I then decided I couldn't go much further until I had a better sense of the foreground scene, which includes a tricky compressed transition from Sandcut to Caliente.  So I switched to some foam sculpting, when my wife happened to wander out to the shed:

I'm assuming you know how to play with stuff like saturation and vibrance, right?

[Scottl]

I can see more carving in your future.   You appear to be having too much fun making a mess

[C855B]

...So I switched to some foam sculpting, when my wife happened to wander out to the shed:



No further comments your honour.   

I showed this to Robyn. "It's all over the place!" she laughed. I'll think I'll stick with my little drum sander thingy. (Yeah, I know. Carving this way is in my very near future.)

[GaryHinshaw]

I'm assuming you know how to play with stuff like saturation and vibrance, right?

Yessir.  But it's mainly the composition that's not working.  I have not run out of ideas though, including the possibility of taking another road trip down there this summer, possibly with a drone.    It's still helpful to have these tests shots though.

I showed this to Robyn. "It's all over the place!" she laughed. I'll think I'll stick with my little drum sander thingy. (Yeah, I know. Carving this way is in my very near future.)

LOL.  The upside of chips is no dust, and they're pretty easy to pick up.  Since the layout room is the only work space I have (until it stops raining) a dust-free option is essential.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Gary, I hate to drag you down a tangent, but... what's your fascia color, and how did you choose it? It looks similar to one I'm looking at and I'd love to benefit from your wisdom.