Cliches on layouts

[David Bigcheeseplant]

How about a railway with a big retaining wall behind with a road and shops/houses on top of the wall, oh and a bridge at a strange angle that gives access to a fiddle yard behind!

 

David

[Kris]

How about a railway with a big retaining wall behind with a road and shops/houses on top of the wall, oh and a bridge at a strange angle that gives access to a fiddle yard behind!

 

 

 

And to go with that the tunnel going into a hill so low that no self respecting engineer would have dreamt of using one.

 

Or for continental models the bridge that goes over a deep ravine then plunges the line straight into a tunnel.

 

 

[Claude_Dreyfus]

 

 

Or for continental models the bridge that goes over a deep ravine then plunges the line straight into a tunnel.

 

 

 

In fairness though, this does happen a fair amount in alpine areas... The Landwasser viaduct being a particularly famous example.

[37176]

For me its that "Every layout must have one" feature regardless of how common the subject was in real life - the every US layout has a grain silo from the thread on the old forum being the classic...

 

I'm modelling the UP mainline in Nebraska. I'll have a hard time justifying NOT putting one in.

[ste234]

How about a railway with a big retaining wall behind with a road and shops/houses on top of the wall, oh and a bridge at a strange angle that gives access to a fiddle yard behind!

 

David

 

Not that I'm planning to do this, maybe without the funny angled bridge!

 

[PLD]

For me its that "Every layout must have one" feature regardless of how common the subject was in real life - the every US layout has a grain silo from the thread on the old forum being the classic...

I'm modelling the UP mainline in Nebraska. I'll have a hard time justifying NOT putting one in.

Perfect example of what I meant in the second paragraph:

 

That can come from ... ... ... ... copying of a feature from another layout resulting in what was perfectly accurate and apropriate on the original model appearing inapropriately on 2 dozen other layouts!

The grain silo is apropriate (almost essential) for your region of the US, however that doesn't excuse seemingly 95% of US based layouts having one regardless of where in the US they are supposedly set...

 

Paul

[Guest jim s-w]

Hi All

 

Of course, your church doesnt have to be an over elaborate-undersized affair!

 

click here

 

Cheers

 

Jim

[Del]

How about a railway with a big retaining wall behind with a road and shops/houses on top of the wall, oh and a bridge at a strange angle that gives access to a fiddle yard behind!

 

David

Apart from the bridge, this is exactly what my local station has. I suppose all clichés have a basis in reality.

 

 

 

[JZ]

Or for continental models the bridge that goes over a deep ravine then plunges the line straight into a tunnel.

 

 

In fairness though, this does happen a fair amount in alpine areas... The Landwasser viaduct being a particularly famous example.

 

Not completely unkmown in this country either. Approaching Bradford-on-Avon from Trowbridge, you pass over two river bridges, a level crossing and the tunnel in very quick succession.

[Kris]

Not completely unkmown in this country either. Approaching Bradford-on-Avon from Trowbridge, you pass over two river bridges, a level crossing and the tunnel in very quick succession.

 

The Avon at BOA is not really a ravin, the weir just beyond the bridge turns this section of river into a slow flowing wide ditch (Even the weir is not much fun to play on) . The other one in this country (that I can think of) is Brunels Chepstow bridge.

 

This and other examples are good demonstrations that all cliches come from reality.

 

 

 

 

[nightstar.train]

One cliche i've noticed a lot is that nearly all 009 layouts have the same wee peco tram loco. It's probably the easiest loco kit in the world to assemble, so a nice easy starter for people entering 009 world, but it really does appear everywhere, even on layouts that have no tram running.

[Chris Nevard]

Low relief buildings backing onto the station platform with big signs depicting one or of all of these: Argos, Lidl, Iceland, Halfords. Never Waitrose, Sainsburys, Harrods, Hattons, Harvey Nics or John Lewis sadly.

[hairyhandedfool]

I would not call it a cliche but one scene I have observed incorrectly modelled on more than one layout is an old church perched close to the railway line, often near a cutting.

 

The conservative Victorians would never have dug a cutting near a cemetary, both out of respect for the dead but also through fear of accidentally digging into a plague pit.

 

Eccles, in Greater Manchester, has three churches near the line side and it is in a cutting (along with the M602), one on the opposite side of the M602 (which was rebuilt after the railway was built), one near where Patricroft shed was and one in Eccles Town centre, where William Huskisson MP died (after being hit by 'Rocket' near Newton-Le-Willows) on the day the line opened in 1830.

 

....A busy High St. with shops all down one side and a railway on the other ???????? Ahhhhh!

(Usually the shops line the backscene, with the street in front of them (all on a higher level), then a retaining wall and the railway at the front)....

 

Urmston station has this, with a new ticket office between the road and the station and the old building turned into a pub, no footbridge either, passengers for Liverpool have to walk round the station on the public road to access the platform!

 

Back to Eccles, and Wellington Road runs along the side of the M602 on top of a retaining wall with buildings on only one side and aswell as the church, has a petrol station, a patch of ground where a petrol station used to be and residential housing.

[JZ]

Low relief buildings backing onto the station platform with big signs depicting one or of all of these: Argos, Lidl, Iceland, Halfords. Never Waitrose, Sainsburys, Harrods, Hattons, Harvey Nics or John Lewis sadly.

 

Aberystwyth has Lidl next to the platform.

[beast66606]

Personally most of things mentioned aren't - to me - cliches.

 

For me the cliche is (some have been mentioned) the RTA, the traffic jam, the welder in the garage, that type of thing. A more specialised one is the distant signal at the tunnel mouth, frequently on a single track.

[Mikkel]

Locos and rolling stock can be big clichés too. Eg I would say the notion of the GWR BLT as a cliché rests to a large extent on the past tendency to populate them with the same stock, eg the 14xx and autocoach.

 

In my view, people can run what they like, and I don't personally tire from watching an autotrain trundle along on someone's layout. But it's a problem if people start thinking that you *have* to have a 57xx or a 45xx on a "proper" GWR branchline. There were many GWR branches that had all sorts of other interesting stock. Part of this also has to do with market availability of particular stock, of course (eg the Ratio 4-wheelers).

 

I'm deliberately staying within my own territory here, although I can think of a number of stock clichés from other regions .

 

PS: Here's a real cliché from my own layout!

 

[RedgateModels]

keep 'em coming chaps, as my new O gauge layout is a ficticious heritage line station it should be full of clichés - just like the real thing!

[Kris]

keep 'em coming chaps, as my new O gauge layout is a ficticious heritage line station it should be full of clichés - just like the real thing!

 

In that case you will be needing the pile of luggage on the platform, either next to or on a barrow.

 

 

 

[Red Devil]

How about tramways that have unfeasibly convoluted track layouts normally running round a block of houses, going nowhere from nowhere? Also that generally operate at mach 3 and stop with an abruptness that would have any passanger taken to casualty with broken bones, never mind a touch of whiplash. (I speak as a tramway modeller and I'm afraid those are amongst my favourite bete noires)

[Colin]

Small halts with crowds of passengers - one or two figures would probably be too many for most!

 

Thatched cottages with the thatch painted bright yellow, I'm sure it isn't that colour for long (if at all).

 

Colossal multi-wheeled low loaders or specialist transporters (without any escort) filling the road and apparently approaching a feature (eg steep hump back bridge or right-angle bend in the road) which would stop them dead in their tracks and probably block the road for the rest of the week. Also I can't help but wonder why (for example)a huge marine boiler would need to be transported to a tiny village with no shipyard - there could be a reason but it just doesn't look credible.

 

And... those bl**dy fairgrounds/circuses/traction engine rallies, often perched on a corner of a layout, thereby drawing attention to the sharply curved main line rather than helping to hide it.

 

Having ranted, I accept that it is of course a case of each to their own, but such sights at exhibitions tend to make me move swiftly on.

[shortliner]

Also(layouts) that generally operate at mach 3 and stop with an abruptness that would have any passanger taken to casualty with broken bones, never mind a touch of whiplash. (I speak as a tramway modeller and I'm afraid those are amongst my favourite bete noires)

 

Regretably not just on tramways layouts - there are far too many layouts shown at exhibitions, that start like frightened jack-rabbits in a drag race, and stop so abruptly the all the passengers would be jammed against the backs of seats in front, saying - through squashed noses " HI zupoz u tink dats very funni!!" and being immediately casevaced to the nearest hospital with whiplash and broken bones - together with the amount of broken or damaged goods in vans etc, that must be a constant worry to the railway shareholders due to the claims. If you don't believe me, have a look in a great many of the exhibition videos posted on here - lots of superb modelling and very unprototypical running speeds - no wonder we get accused of "playing trains!"

[Danemouth]

there are far too many layouts shown at exhibitions, that start like frightened jack-rabbits in a drag race, and stop so abruptly the all the passengers would be jammed against the backs of seats in front, saying - through squashed noses " HI zupoz u tink dats very funni!!"

 

When I had a Trix Twin trainset as a boy 50+ years ago I can remember my father telling me I had killed all my "passengers". I learnt to accelerate & decelerate smoothly

 

Dave

[Oldddudders]

Am I the only one who thinks that actually it is all about the purpose of your layout? If you build the layout to please yourself, and few others ever see it, then presumably you may stuff it with cliches to the gunwales, or rigorously avoid them. If your aim is to build a layout to win prizes at notable exhibitions, maybe a more tempered approach is right? Really? What does an exhibition organiser want? He wants layouts that everyone appreciates - that's you and me (who think we know a thing or two), the dads and lads who always visit but don't really model to any extent, and the patient mums and other family members dragged along, who actually help underwrite our passion. Now they adore these cliches! Standing by a layout spotting all the clever things you thoughtfully included makes your layout their favourite.

 

Only you know why you're modelling. Like so much in our hobby - your layout, your choices.

[newbryford]

 

Only you know why you're modelling. Like so much in our hobby - your layout, your choices.

 

That's a much better way of saying....

 

 

"It's my trainset"...

 

Happy New Year,

Mick

[PaulRhB]

Never Waitrose, Sainsburys, Harrods, Hattons, Harvey Nics or John Lewis sadly.

 

We can't afford to go to posh shops, to cut out their logos, due to having spent all our money on limited editions from Hattons

 

 

I suppose all the cliches are the things that evoke atmosphere or our sense of humour hence why they become common. Maybe a constructive drift on this thread would be some ideas to capture atmosphere that are a little different to the cliches mentioned?

What suprises me with the RTA cliche is how many don't use it as a reason to have the traffic stopped but still have cars 'in motion' approaching it. I used roadworks to stop the traffic on my layout as I couldn't fit in the faller car system without a ludicrous contrived tunnel.

If you want cars and lorries then there are a variety of reasons to stop traffic that would be a little different to a RTA scene. A lorry backing into a tight sideroad to unload at a store with staff helping by stopping traffic. A delivery lorry,car or van that has been inconsiderately parked. An oversize load trying to turn at a junction without demolishing the lights etc.

A modern layout with roads devoid of traffic is probably more unrealistic than the above ideas. Buying and fitting the car system to UK outline vehicles is a major job in itself especially as they struggle to haul diecast bodies along.