Railways and rain

[jetmorgan]

Looking through all the pictures of layouts on here and in the model railway press from the 1960's to today one thing has struck me. All the layouts are modelled as if it's been a lovely warm and dry summer day. I've never seen a layout showing a rainy day...surely more prototypical for a British railway 

 

I have seen pictures of some layouts with a deep covering of snow but I never recall seeing anything with wet platforms and streets, passengers waiting with brollies up and wet roofs of the trains. 

 

Pouring rain is obviously not practicable but as anyone attempted a layout in a rain ???

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

It's the water problem again! Everything has to be modelled wet: puddles on horizontal surface and in depressions, rain wetted painted surfaces looking a little glossy, muted colour range in aerial perspective. Seen one or two cameos to represent this, quite possibly a long ago model railway constructor cover was the first I saw, a train standing at a puddle covered platform. (Possibly Chris Leigh (Dibber25) will have had some involvement in this?)

 

I have a loco modelled wet to replicate a scene from my youth, a 9F that caught the windblown spray overflow from a passing express on Langley troughs. The loco for a brief time was a slightly glossy brown trailing clouds of vapour in the bright sunlight, a quite improbable sight. Some people who have seen this animal really don't like it! Probably needed to have seen the original event to find it credible.

[Londontram]

I'm sure a few years ago I recall seeing a northern tramway layout in one of the main stream magazines. I cant recall the name of the tram layout but the article title was I believe "a rainy day in Leeds" as the streets all had a wet sheen to them which I believe originally came about by accident but they decided to capitalize on it to give the layout a grim up north feel.

[Gordon A]

There is a branch line model of a station in Wales that has been modelled wet and dark. I cannot remember its nasme but it does give the feeling of a wet depressing day.

IIRC it may to EM standards.

Gotdon A

[Fat Controller]

I've seen a few on here, and elsewhere. One was a representation of Cahmore's scrapyard in Newport, with some very well done puddles.

[Stubby47]

Marc Smith built an excellent example of a rainy layout : http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/gallery/image/29462-wales-rails-rain-steel/

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/gallery/image/43187-a-class-08-at-the-steelworks-on-my-layout-wales-rails-rain-steel/

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2_6uBPXJ6Y

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/21148-my-new-project-south-wales-steelworks/page-1

Edited August 2, 2017 by Stubby47

[DCB]

Garden railways?  From personal experience In 00 I find as long as you have plenty of weight on the pick up wheels, like my old cast body 94XX on a Romford wheeled chassis, and the tracks are not ballasted running in the rain is just as good as in the dry but traction is reduced by about 20%..

OK forget it if you have all wheel pickup DCC ready RTR, they don't seem to have enough surface pressure on the wheel tyres so don't break through the water's surface tension.   Ballast holds water which effectively shorts the rails.

Traction tyres don't work when wet, and steel rail rusts to a very prototypical colour.

I suppose for exhibitions you could build the layout and then spray everything with very well thinned gloss varnish or clear lacquer.

[Fat Controller]

Marc Smith built an excellent example of a rainy layout : http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/gallery/image/29462-wales-rails-rain-steel/

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/gallery/image/43187-a-class-08-at-the-steelworks-on-my-layout-wales-rails-rain-steel/

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2_6uBPXJ6Y

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/21148-my-new-project-south-wales-steelworks/page-1

Marc lives in Wales, IIRC, which gives him a head start in the precipitation field.

[Stubby47]

Marc lives in Wales, IIRC, which gives him a head start in the precipitation field.

 

South Wales

[jetmorgan]

South Wales

Isn't that worse as the rain runs downhill all the way from North Wales

[Fat Controller]

South Wales

If you can see Somerset, it's going to rain. If you can't, it's already started.

[mjkerr]

I have seen pictures of some layouts with a deep covering of snow but I never recall seeing anything with wet platforms and streets, passengers waiting with brollies up and wet roofs of the trains.

In reality most passengers would not stand out openly in the rain, and very rare to have an umbrella

More likely to see a group towards the end of the canopy

 

Good point about the wet weathering effect on platforms, and I like the sound of this challenge

Glasgow Queen Street was known for the platform ends (nearest the tunnel) being wet and, as above, people standing under the bridge

However, if the platforms were wet weathered would the public know or realise?

 

Equally, I too have seen layouts with snow

However, snow weathering appears to be a challenge

I remember seeing Class 37/4 arriving at Glasgow Queen Street (and numerous other locations) with snow, but it is rare to see models like this

Again, it is something I might consider (as I have not yet covered all the Class 37/4)

[The Johnster]

As someone modelling a South Wales blt in the 1950s, when according to my memory everything was still in black and white because colour wasn't invented until 1966 and it was always raining, I have given much thought to this.  I am influenced by a real event, an afternoon spent in the 'refresh' at Cwmmer Afan in the summer of 1969 on the way back from a visit to the NCB network at Maesteg.  Outside, it was like being in a big grey room, with grey mountainsides rising precipitously into low grey cloud about 200 feet above me.  That close to the cloud level, rain does not come in big drops, but fine, all-penetrating, all-pervading, all-conquering drizzle.

 

This is the look I ultimately want for Cwmdimbath; wet, dripping, and dull.  It is not as easy as it looks, though.  An examination of any such scene show that there are remarkabley few surfaces that are smoothly paved and hence shiny in the wet, and the main source of shininess is slate roofs.  Even these, from any distance, have to reflect light to appear shiny, so rule 1 (not with a capital R, that's a different Rule 1) is to go easy on the gloss.  

 

Next, or possibly should have been first, thing to consider is overall layout ambient lighting.  Lighting is a dark art (can't believe I just wrote that), and what we are going for here is a cool, blue effect well diffused so as to avoid shadows (nothing suggests sunlight like shadows; have I always been this gloomy*), so strip led lighting, the sort with a row of blueish leds, seems to be the way to go for that.  They need to have several presets or ideally be infinitely adjustable.  The overall level of lighting, it's intensity, needs to be sufficient to see the models but not so bright as to obscure other lighting, which is the next point.

 

I was very struck that sodden day in 1969 by the warm and welcoming light from inside the 'refresh' and a few other buildings where the lights were on.  The 'refresh' had a neon outside 'Buffet' sign which was so uncompromisingly unlikely on that bleak, half closed, and derelict platform as to border on the surreal.  It all counterpointed and highlighted the dullness of the day.  So, a few lights inside buildings, but not outside them on the platform or streets, will give a general impression of a dull day.  The level has to be carefully adjusted; you don't want pools of light outside the windows until the evening, but they need to be bright enough to make the point.  These lights need to be warm cast.  Windows can be steamed up, with patches where those inside have wiped them to see out making the point.  Rule 2, low key overall and subtle interior building lighting.

 

Nobody hangs around outside on a day like this, with the possible exception of a 17 year old version of The Johnster in a parka (never heard of an anorak in 1969, but some people called them snorkels, the letter k seems to be an essential), taking it all in for future modelling purposes wandering around apparently aimlessly at Cwmmer Afan.  My aimlessness is still apparent... Umbrellas in crowded locations, but, main line junctions and termini apart, how many of us actually model places where there were many people about in between trains anyway.  On Cwmdimabath, human presence is kept to a few station staff about their business, any groups hanging around chatting are under the station canopy.  Human presence is suggested by the odd open door to a an office, or a bicycle leant up against a wall; anyone with any sense is inside with a cup of tea and the passengers in such a small village know the timetable by heart and can hear the train coming, so nobody hangs around the station until it turns up, at which point they get on it and sit down in the warm and dry.  Rule 3, suggest human presence by it's absence, with the lights left on in the buildings and a door left open here and there; again, subtlety and understatement are the ways to go.

 

Puddles are a good idea, but think about where they will form and lie. Depressions in the 6 foot and the cess are likely places, and I am thinking of a big one on the cinder path leading to the station, with evidence of muddy bits on the grass at the side where passenger have tried to get around it.  Gloss varnish probably the way to go here, but again, don't overdo it.

 

Modern image modellers can use much the same techniques, but many more buildings will be lit and more brightly.  Easy to go for an overcool effect, so I would be trying to make the lights as white and colour cast neutral as possible.  Passenger trains are much more likely to be lit in daylight these days.  Again, if the train or building lights are casting pools of light outside themselves, either your interior lights are too bright or your ambient light is not bright enough, the ambient light being the dominant factor.  

 

All this is some way from the image of a city street in a heavy downpour, where light is reflected upwards from pavements and smooth modern tarmac road surfaces.  This is, I suspect, more difficult to model convincingly as it is easy to overdo the reflectiveness of everything and turn it into a night or dusk scene with overbright lights on the trains and in the buildings.  It is a thing I have never really thought much about, so can offer little constructive comment about, but essential for anyone modelling Manchester...  I tend to refer back to that afternoon 48 years ago at Cwmmer Afan when we'd decided on a beer instead of the intended walk up the track to Glyncorrwg.

 

Because it was raining.

 

 

 

 

 

*Yes.

[jetmorgan]

If anyone is wondering of the sort of effect I'm thinking about here are some pics my father took back in the very late 50's or early 60's at London Bridge

[Phil Bullock]

A railway in the rain - How about this? See start of video

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzUhkmz8j3M&t=5s

 

Phil

Edited August 2, 2017 by Phil Bullock

[BG John]

Marc lives in Wales, IIRC, which gives him a head start in the precipitation field.

As a resident of Wet Wales, the last thing I want to model is what I see and have to experience nearly every day!

[steve1]

There is a branch line model of a station in Wales that has been modelled wet and dark. I cannot remember its nasme but it does give the feeling of a wet depressing day.

IIRC it may to EM standards.

Gotdon A

Somehow the words "Anglesey" and "Jim Smith-Wright" came to my mind when I read this. Was it Jim's?

 

steve

[flockandroll]

IMHO The Johnster is spot on about the effect of isolated warm inviting lights from buildings. Just add that in to Jet Morgan's photos and there you go.

 

I would also add the smell of the rain, and that warm oily mechanical smell and the sound of a valve radio playing. Add in the smell of steam and coal and the sound of passing trains...The damp weather seems to bring out the smells...

 

(O/T I did a decade as a postman and the smell of a wet delivery office as the postman return after their rounds is the strongest memory.)

[The Johnster]

If anyone is wondering of the sort of effect I'm thinking about here are some pics my father took back in the very late 50's or early 60's at London Bridge

 

Plenty of soggy atmosphere there!  I bet all those windows are misted up...

[HLT 0109]

Here's a picture of part of my layout.  The rain stops just beyond the station.

 

Upload failed - I will try again

Edited August 2, 2017 by HLT 0109

[Kylestrome]

Jim Smith-wright is building a layout in a rainy setting:

 

http://www.p4newstreet.com/category/brettell-road

[HLT 0109]

Here it is

[Chris M]

Sometimes my layout includes bad weather....

 

 

The snow plow does get used to plow real snow.

Edited August 3, 2017 by Chris M

[Oldddudders]

If anyone is wondering of the sort of effect I'm thinking about here are some pics my father took back in the very late 50's or early 60's at London Bridge

The suburban railway of that era could certainly be utterly depressing on a wet day - and dreary London Bridge did it so well! Evocative pics, thankyou.

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

If anyone is wondering of the sort of effect I'm thinking about here are some pics my father took back in the very late 50's or early 60's at London Bridge

That's no small challenge. Lots of experimentation required to get the different reflectivity of the various wetted surfaces. Look how the sleepers are reflecting light, but not so well as the platform to the left, and the patchy surface of the platform to the right.

 

The very muted colour is interesting too. Is that fading of the film or print, or was the picture taken in very low light conditions?