FS 1:160 - End of the Road

[Bryn]

  After a few years away from model making I came across a video released by Blair Kooistra entitled “Remembering the Milwaukee Road’s Coast Division: Scenes From a Dying Transcontinental”.  This ill fated Railroad eventually went bankrupt in the mid eighties with the coastal division running from Portland and Seattle across to across to the Midwest was lifted after the line's closure in 1980.



 Having never modelled outside of the British Isles I took this as an opportunity to try something different for the competition (http://www.2mm.org.uk/DJubilee/index.html). Since American N scale is 1:160 and a track gauge of 9mm I would have to produce my own track similar to the FS1:160 standard used in Europe, this was achieved by modifying existing ready to run code 55 track from Atlas and Micro Engineering. Luckily the narrow gauge sleepers sold by the Association are just the right width for 1:160 and matched the Micro Engineering flex track perfectly. Turnout control was achieved by installing a Blue Point switch machine linked by rods to the orange control balls on the front and rear of the layout. Wheels on the GP9 locomotive had the flange width reduced in the lathe and rolling stock wheels are regauged 2mm Scale Association items.



 The entire baseboard is laser cut from 3mm birch face plywood from my own artwork and assembled with standard wood glue.  The problem with making a layout so small is trying to have a realistic transition between the scenics and the backscene, especially when trying to convey the vast open American landscape.  If you can’t do it well, why do it?  So this inspired me to create a layout more akin to the diorama style used by military and scale modellers where a scenic base is edged by a matt black surround and can be viewed from all sides.



This leads me to the option for lighting the layout. When photographing the layout outside I noticed how much more realistic the models looked under direct sun light which casts sharp shadows, I then decided to purchase a small adjustable LED desk lamp from IKEA called a “Jansjo” to act as a small single source light to cast shadows on the layout when displayed indoors. The results were quite impressive and the adjustability helped if the surrounding light levels changed.




 Another first for me was the laser cut plywood depot building provided by Monroe models.  I was pleasantly surprised how easily this went together and took paint well, having avoided this material for small scale modelling in the past due to my belief it would be too course. I will to reconsider it for future projects.



The dry dirt and sand landscape was produced with Tremendous Earth's light ground covering called “Normandy Earth” and this was then highlighted with various weathering powders to give some contrast.



Finally, sound. An idea directly copied from Lance Mindheim's excellent book “Model Railroading As Art”. I installed a HO scale DCC sound decoded into the baseboard and wired the black and red power wires to the track and the speaker output to a 3.5mm audio jack socket. I was able to buy a small subwoofer sound system with volume control to plug into the audio jack, this allowed me to turn up the bass notes to give the effect of the locomotive being further away from those viewing the layout. This vastly improves the effect compared to listening to the recorded sound files through a small speaker within the locomotive. So that the sound decoder and locomotive worked as a pair they were both given the same DCC address, some adjustment of the locomotive speed curve was required to match the sound files provided.



If you ever find yourself stuck in a modelling rut I can highly recommend making a mini layout and trying some outside the box ideas. Sometimes a change is as good as a rest.



Blair Kooistra’s video - https://vimeo.com/261066420

[Smike]

Fantastic work. So much life in a small model.z

[Bryn]

Fantastic work. So much life in a small model.z

Thank you!

I was surprised myself at how spacious the photos look considering the small size of the layout itself.

[chuck geiger]

This is very awesome, where is the location of the end of the road? When I lived in Washington I followed some
of the remaining line near I90 close to The Gorge and it was cool.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

This is REALLY cool!

[Pomperaugrr]

That is an excellent concept and some very nice modeling!

[Bryn]

It's not really based on a particular location, I believe the depot kit is based on a design seen mostly in the Midwest and the dry ground gives the impression of somewhere more west.

I've since set it up at home on a floating shelf with the speaker on the floor.

[Simon D.]

I actually saw this at the 2mm FS show in Derby a couple of weeks ago, and it is very impressive indeed (and Bryn is a very nice guy to talk to).  The sound has a very excellent rumble.  Lovely bit of modelling.

[p51]

Such a great job. You did a better job in N than many do in HO.
You mentioned Blair Kooistra's program called, “Remembering the Milwaukee Road’s Coast Division: Scenes From a Dying Transcontinental”. I was at WinterRail when it was shown for the very first time. He got a standing ovation afterward, the only program that did.
I live less than a mile from the MILW main line toward Aberdeen, WA, which is now a gravel road (and in some cases, front yards that were graded so badly you can't tell a railroad went through there).

It's not really based on a particular location, I believe the depot kit is based on a design seen mostly in the Midwest and the dry ground gives the impression of somewhere more west.

The Milwaukee Road had a few general depot designs, which could be spotted all across the railroad.
This looks a great deal like either the flatter places in Montana or Eastern Washington (any close place east of Beverly, WA comes to mind).

[Tallmatt]

As I've said all along, you're a talented bugger.

Colwyn next stop?

[nkalanaga]

I'd say Midwest, or eastern Washington east of Othello, or on a branch line.  The mainline in the electrified divisions still had its poles when the line was abandoned, and, in many cases, the messenger wire and hangers.  All they removed when the de-electrified were the copper trolley and feeder wires.

[Jim Starbuck]

Nicely done Bryn!
The creativity, modeling and photography are outstanding.

[Bendtracker1]

Simplistic and nicely executed.  Tells the story very well.

[chuck geiger]

[nkalanaga]

Bowdle, South Dakota?  It's the most likely one Google Maps found.