What is your preference in "environment" for your trains?

Why did you choose it? Did it match a prototype you liked, or is that an environment you truly prefer? Do you model your layout after the region you live in?


I have my own theories about this, but I want to see what people think.

I suppose that small town modelling in the 1930s would be considered rural?

I chose the time period so I could run in the Golden Age of steam. I plan on a mix of prototypically based and fictional settings grounded in various locations in south and eastern Ontario. I have lived in both these areas.

Andrew

I like rural, mostly because I like modeling trees, and they can be a lot closer to rails than most "buildings".
I also like:
[attachment=23125]

I am modeling my hometown of Detroit, so urban it is! I am modeling the 60s-70s (born in 1969). I have always found industrial areas to be fascinating --- one of the reasons I chose to model an urban setting.


Chuck

Point-to-point is rural-to-urban by definition; in fact, if your train passes through any countryside and then a town of any type or size, it's rural-to-urban.

I can't really imagine a purely rural layout because it would have no towns, just scenery. :?

MountainMan Wrote:Point-to-point is rural-to-urban by definition; in fact, if your train passes through any countryside and then a town of any type or size, it's rural-to-urban.

I can't really imagine a purely rural layout because it would have no towns, just scenery. :?

In the meaning of this poll, "Urban" means city. Small towns don't really count.


The only option I suppose I left out is "wilderness", since arguably some terrain is not really rural, even if it is mostly empty.

I favor ISLs so,my choice is urban because the majority of industrial parks is found in large cities or their suburbs.

"The only option I suppose I left out is "wilderness", since arguably some terrain is not really rural, even it it is mostly empty."

Wilderness is empty? Spoken like a true city slicker! In real life wilderness is the only scenery worth looking at. Having grown up in an urban area I got sick of the ghetto real quick and moved out to the middle of nowhere (Pete can attest to this as he has been here) and prefer rural scenery. My layout is based on where I now live but I can see the appeal of urban scenery for those who love structure modeling. That said I have seen loads of layouts that had wonderful structures but because the ground covers/water/bushes and trees were so poorly done the layout didn't look very good.
My other comment on urban scenery is that most layouts I've seen that were urban the whole layout was that way so it looked like the trains seem to come from nowhere and went nowhere but just run around in circles inside the city limits. In real life shippers wouldn't use trains for that they would use trucks .

I should have added to my first post, that I do almost all of my railroad modeling in 2' X 4' sections/ modules, that are required to have a two track mainline, at a fixed height, across the front of the module. The inner track's center is 7" in from the front of the module, and that leaves 16" X 48" of space for whatever else I would want to put there.
My new modules are 30" X 4', so there is 22" of "fill-in" space. Because of this, I was able to create the Cindys Harbor Seaport Village and Museum....... very loosely based/inspired by the Mystic Seaport Village and Museum, in Connecticut.
Yeah, Ship modeling was where I started, and that quickly led to HO trains, then HO scenery, and then Sci-Fi.

I printed, framed, and hung this picture in my living room.
[attachment=23131]

When visitors ask " where is that ?", I answer, down in the basement. Then, I have to take them there to see that it really is.
I do miss the Salt Water.

Green_Elite_Cab Wrote:

MountainMan Wrote:Point-to-point is rural-to-urban by definition; in fact, if your train passes through any countryside and then a town of any type or size, it's rural-to-urban.

I can't really imagine a purely rural layout because it would have no towns, just scenery. :?

In the meaning of this pole, "Urban" means city. Small towns don't really count.


The only option I suppose I left out is "wilderness", since arguably some terrain is not really rural, even it it is mostly empty.

Really? Then where does narrow gauge modelling fit in, which deals almost exclusively with small towns? :?

MountainMan Wrote:I can't really imagine a purely rural layout because it would have no towns, just scenery. :?

Really?

Just one example
This layout is pretty rural <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="https://www.model-railways-live.co.uk/userfiles/files/brm058-62%20Chee%20Tor.pdf">https://www.model-railways-live.co.uk/u ... %20Tor.pdf</a><!-- m -->
In fact the pics seem to concentrate on the building, when you see it in this video you realise that they are a small part of it. <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MEiAC_8obfI">http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MEiAC_8obfI</a><!-- m -->

Tyson Rayles Wrote:"The only option I suppose I left out is "wilderness", since arguably some terrain is not really rural, even it it is mostly empty."

Wilderness is empty? Spoken like a true city slicker! In real life wilderness is the only scenery worth looking at.

Let me defend myself in pointing out that I do appreciate those untouched forests, few places are more interesting to explore! Perhaps New Jersey's Pine Barrens is the only Wilderness I'm not too wild about exploring. If the name doesn't deter you, there is all the Horseflies and the Jersey Devil.

MountainMan Wrote:Really? Then where does narrow gauge modelling fit in, which deals almost exclusively with small towns? :?

It definitely doesn't fit into an urban environment, unless we're talking a city. Urban implies high population density, lots of development. While a small town might be "large" relative to the region its in, I think it would stretch the definition of the word "urban' to include it.

What is the entire region like that this small town is surrounded by?

There were/are narrow gauge lines in urban areas, but they tended to be more a case of being transport systems around factories etc, than going from place to place. For example, here's a large, but oddball system in Dublin, Ireland.
Of course some countries' 'standard' gauge is narrow gauge

Tyson Rayles Wrote:"

My other comment on urban scenery is that most layouts I've seen that were urban the whole layout was that way so it looked like the trains seem to come from nowhere and went nowhere but just run around in circles inside the city limits. In real life shippers wouldn't use trains for that they would use trucks .

One could say that about any loop layout and justly so..

On the other hand...

Urban scenery looks right at home on a ISL or on urban industrial lead switching layouts like Lance Mindheim suggest.

My shippers/receivers uses rail and truck since prototype industries do the same.

Regardless of the type of layout we build its all about getting the best "play value" for the money. IIRC Tony Koester covered that subject quite nicely several years ago.