by mike | Jun 3, 2021 | Detailing Track, The Art of The Craft, The P48 Experience |
Consider if you will the lowly spur track. Once proud, well maintained and full of activity; now, it’s merely a remnant. Neglected and forgotten it’s the final refuge for rail and ties no longer suited to mainline service. Without an active customer, it’s a liability,...
by mike | May 17, 2021 | The Art of The Craft |
Staging has become such a given of layout design that often times the volume of staging track exceeds the amount of visible track on a layout. With a cameo design like Mill Road, where operations focus only on a handful of car movements, I don’t need a ton of staging...
by mike | May 3, 2021 | The Missing Conversation, The P48 Experience |
Inspired by a post on Jack Hill’s blog, Chris Mears wrote a lovely post of his own about the Manheim Industrial Railroad, a shortline that serves a single LPG customer in Manheim PA. At less than two miles in length with only a single turnout, such micro operations...
by mike | Apr 19, 2021 | The Art of The Craft |
Do we need a backdrop? We all know the problems of creating a realistic backdrop. The explosion of photomurals helps but they aren’t a cure-all. It takes skill to turn a flat vertical plane into the illusion of volumetric space that conveys the depth we see outside....
by mike | Apr 11, 2021 | The Missing Conversation |
In Mill Road, I wanted to reduce a scene to its essential core, both visually and operationally. Such a focus gives the layout a strong sense of place and power for the imagination. Similar to how we interact with the railroad, you are here, in this place and there...
