City of Zenith

[JWB]

F-UnitMad asked on the F-Units thread if I might be willing to start a topic on a section of my layout whose photo I'd posted there with a set of PRR red FP7s. Here are some more photos of that general area of my layout, which is fairly complete. It's meant to represent a small-to-medium American city. It is named Zenith, which is the fictional city Sinclair Lewis created, and in which he set some of his best-known novels, such as Babbitt and Elmer Gantry. (I dabble in fiction writing, too.) Lewis at one point said it was located between Pittsburgh and Chicago, so there you are, I've tended to follow this.

 

The Civil War memorial, with the Salvation Army band:

Main Line heading east out of town in the Conrail era:

A little earlier, Penn Central years. Salvation Army scene above is visible to the left:

A couple of buildings and scenes that still need work. First a kitbashed SS Ltd San Francisco building:

A heavily kitbashed Kibri Romanesque church, made to look a little more US-appropriate:

The C&O near the church, roof of the Amtrak depot in the foreground:

[trisonic]

Very cool. The geology and structures give a real feel for that area.............

Thanks for starting a new thread on it!

 

 

Best, Pete.

[F-UnitMad]

Although there are huge differences between the way UK & US outline layouts should look, for obvious reasons, it's always interesting to see little details that really stand out as different to here in the UK. What stuck out to me here was the Civil War Memorial. Here there are very many WW1/WW2 memorials (partly due to the sheer number of men killed from every town & village), but rarely memorials to any other wars, especially pre-1914. I know there's a memorial to the "South African War" in Cheltenham - better known as the Boer War, but don't know of any others?

What I'm trying to get at is that putting a Civil War Memorial on a US outline layout might not even occur to a UK modeller to do - unless prompted by seeing layouts like this!

 

Any info on size, trackplan, Era etc?

[JWB]

You have to watch the Civil War memorials, though, because some states weren't in the Union then and may not have had enough people to have sent many, thus less need for a memorial.

 

Track plan, a little out of date, but it'll do (overall dimensions 16 x 37 feet):

 

 

[JWB]

This is actually across the aisle from Zenith, looking toward Manhattan Transfer. I have two movable bridges in this area, both Walthers. This swing bridge is static and there for the atmosphere, but looking around for projects, I need to bring this general scene along. I grew up on the East Coast and did some of my early railfanning in coastal New Jersey, Washington DC, and along Pamlico Sound in NC, where there were lots of movable bridges. I was watching an Emery Gulash DVD last night, and noticed the number of drawbridges in Detroit and Toledo that he filmed, with lots of good detail to copy.

[JWB]

Taking photos is a very effective way for me to make progress on my layout! After I took the one yesterday, I realized I was actually farther along with that scene than I thought, since I had a Fos Scale Department of Docks kit that was 90 percent complete. This is a limited-run "big box" kit that I got because I did in fact like the architecture and components, which were pretty authentic, and it fit the coastal Eastern US atmosphere that I want this scene to have. (Once you get out of downtowns, there are in fact a lot of wood buildings along the coast.) But lobster pots and other such cliches, sorry, no, not here!

[F-UnitMad]

.... But lobster pots and other such cliches, sorry, no, not here!

There have been a few threads over time on "Layout Cliches", both on UK, EU and US layouts.... I don't think we've done one on "USA Region-specific Cliches", though....

To be honest, and no offense to Sir Mindheim, Alcanman etc, but it's nice to see an East Coast layout that isn't set in Miami, for a change....

[JWB]

Here is the other end of the swing bridge:

I haven't done much with the scenes at either end for more than a year, but as I said above, I was watching some rust belt DVDs by Emery Gulash, one of the greatest rail photographers (and filmmakers) ever, and got inspired. I went to the hobby shop and picked up a bunch of little parts which I will start to install when the paint and glue dry. As you can see, I'd put in the track, ballast, and some basic structures, but really haven't done anything with scenery. This will be a big job, but I may as well move forward with it as long as I have the inspiration.

 

Regarding cliches -- you can't blame Lance Mindheim, he's the guy who started the whole Miami thing! It's a good idea, but there are lots and lots and lots of good ideas out there. Actually, I can't recommend rail DVDs highly enough as a source of layout ideas. One big reason is that the camera takes in more than in a tightly-composed still photo. And some of the really good photographers like Gulash anchor their photos in foreground details like relay cases, battery boxes, phone boxes, 55-gallon drums, etc. etc. that you all of a sudden see in a way that says "Hey, I need to put some of those on my layout".

[F-UnitMad]

Regarding cliches -- you can't blame Lance Mindheim, he's the guy who started the whole Miami thing! It's a good idea, but there are lots and lots and lots of good ideas out there.

I've no intention of "blaming" anyone!! I'm most grateful to Lance, in fact - Miami is somewhere I would never have looked at regarding Railroads if it wasn't for his work!

Actually, I can't recommend rail DVDs highly enough as a source of layout ideas.

Agreed - especially for those of us across The Pond!! I have got a new interest in another railroad apart from, and more up-to-date than, the Soo Line - purely through one DVD!!