Model Railroading > IAIS's West End - "Is this Heaven?"

..."No, it's Iowa." Finally time to start adding some of my own "Fields of Dreams".

After spending the entire year thus far developing RailQuik, then fine-tuning my Tsunamis for coasting and a working independent brake, I was glad to finally get back to work on the layout itself recently. My goal was to finish all remaining backdrop photos in the next couple months, and so far, I've made it about a third of the way through the work, completing a large segment of rolling Iowa hills from Atlantic to near Hancock Jct. I really like the way this work expanded the layout, and thought it was time to finally share the first progress photos of the year for me. I still have more work to do to tie the backdrops into the 3D scenery and blend the photo seams, but it's a start.

Photo 1 - Pellet Petroleum and Atlantic Spur (left) and the future location of Walnut Creek bridge looking south.

2 - Walnut Creek. I obviously still have a lot of work to do on the 3D creek banks and bridge, but I hope to start bridge work shortly after I finish the backdrop pics.

3 - 460th St.

Joe Atkinson
Council Bluffs, IA
www.iaisrailfans.org/../Sub4WestEnd

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4 - Hancock Elevator
5 - Hancock Elevator, with Hillis siding on the fill to the right
6 - Mainline between Atlantic and Hancock

Joe Atkinson
Council Bluffs, IA
www.iaisrailfans.org/../Sub4WestEnd

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great looking layout---like your background scenery ---sure gives the layout depth

Dale Smith

Joe, going to have to have you come out to California and do some scenery for me. LOOKS GREAT.

Jeff Smith
Lakewood, CA
RailMaster Hobbies

Thanks Dale and Jeff for your encouragement.

> Joe, going to have to have you come out to California and do some scenery for me.

Will work for Tsunamis and Railmaster speakers! :-)

Joe Atkinson
Council Bluffs, IA
www.iaisrailfans.org/../Sub4WestEnd

Feels like "home" (I grew up in Illinois), Joe. Very nice backdrops and scenery so far; I think you really captured that Midwestern feeling. Now all you need are the rising and falling "bug chorus" sounds in the background!

Well done!

-Tom

Looks great. Thanks for sharing. I really like the photo backdrops too. Does the end of the spur at the elevator go under the railroad? It looks like the tree is hiding something.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/22/14 12:56 by wabash2800.

That scenery and photo backdrops of your are just so wonderful! It's hard to find the words to express just how real it looks!

Can you please explain the coasting and independent brake features you mentioned? As a locomotive engineer, I'm highly interested in a throttle that works more like the real thing than the "dial a speed" throttles that we use. Prior to DCC, I once belong to a club that had such a throttle, and it was perfect for switching. What would be ideal is a throttle with a power button that would accelerate a train, a brake button to decelerate a train, a direction switch, and a coasting feature where after accelerating the train to a desired speed the train would coast along gradually losing speed.

Ted Curphey
Ontario, OR

Thank you both! Tom, I like the idea of the bug chorus. I've been playing around with having a tractor and crane chorus at my pig ramp, so a very quiet bug and frog recording near the river and creek beds might be something to investigate as well.

> Does the end of the spur at the elevator go under the railroad? It looks like the tree is hiding something.

It does. As originally designed, that spur stopped just short of the hill. However, on the prototype, it continues on for nearly a mile, the remains of the former RI branch from Avoca. Empties are set out to the south (right, on the layout), and as the elevator loads them, they shove them further up the spur to the north (left). When the prototype IAIS pulls the loads, then, they always tie on right at the elevator or just a short distance beyond.

Once I started operating, it bothered me that I wasn't able to replicate that practice on the layout, so I tunneled under the main and extended the elevator spur far enough to fit a full unit train behind the backdrop. Empties are spotted to the right of the elevator, and between op sessions I roll them out to the left, as though they've been loaded. This allows them to be pulled from the proper location - adjacent to the elevator's loading spout - in the next session. Not ideal, but there's a large grove of trees on the prototype near where that line disappears into the hillside on the layout, and crews will never shove in there - only pull out - and will never take their power into the hidden trackage, so I'm hoping I can minimize the tunnel feeling.

Joe Atkinson
Council Bluffs, IA
www.iaisrailfans.org/../Sub4WestEnd



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/22/14 14:04 by iaisfan.

That's a great idea, Joe.

Thanks Ted for the kind words.

funnelfan Wrote:
> Can you please explain the coasting and independent brake features you mentioned?
>...What would be ideal is a throttle with a power button that would accelerate a train, a brake button to decelerate a train, a
> direction switch, and a coasting feature where after accelerating the train to a desired speed the train would coast along
> gradually losing speed.

What I'm doing is pretty close to what you describe Ted, and it's all easy to do with Tsunamis. I described my CV changes at
http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?3,3398283,3398283#msg-3398283 . The throttle accelerates/decelerates the train, but with high momentum, so things roll on for a time after you close the throttle, requiring the independent to be applied to hasten your stop. For coasting, I'm repurposing the DB function, turning the DB volume to 0 and configuring it so that enabling the function will cause the prime mover to drop to idle. I love the effect! It doesn't decelerate the train at all, though, so it'll continue to "coast" at whatever speed you have the throttle set to, but if I want to coast for longer distances (e.g. with light power moving through a yard), I just briefly toggle the function off and back on, causing the consist to throttle up briefly, then back down.

Joe Atkinson
Council Bluffs, IA
www.iaisrailfans.org/../Sub4WestEnd

Really nice work, thanks for sharing.

The seamless blending between scenery and background along with the rarely attempted diffused lighting is what makes this layout truely standout. Remarkable work Joe!

Mr. MRL

Wow, it's great to see these updates. Again, just outstanding, and convincing work. From my own perspective, one of the most convincing aspects of the layout and scenery is that it appears to reflect a "less is more" philosophy. And don't mean lack of attention to detail when I say "less." But each scene appears so convincing in that the railroad is only a part of the larger tableau, and in most cases is a compliment and focal point to the scenery, rather than having the scenery fit around track that just seems crammed into all available space. That's also what makes the La Mesa layout so compelling (well, there is sheer size there). I look at a scene on your layout and can almost feel "being there." To echo Ted's comment, it's just wonderful, and I always look forward to these photos.

Well done sir!

Elizabeth Allen



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/22/14 15:11 by Betsy.

Amazing job with the blending. Would like to know your grass secrets!

Mike Massee
Tehachapi, CA
Photography, Railroading and more..

That is some spectacular work, as someone else said, it does feel like the areas we drove through on our Midwest vacation a few weeks ago. Like the trick with the spur under the main line, was wondering if I was seeing just half a car. Great solution to keep the prototype operation feel.

Nathan

The whole thing has a nice feel to it.

Tom Y

WELL DONE!

You have raised the bar yet again Joe.Outstanding.
Regards,DK

You folks are all very kind. Thank you!

> Would like to know your grass secrets!

No secrets! I just used Silflor Late Summer green static grass, with a little of their Autumn color along the ROW to represent grass that's been killed by the weed sprayer.

Joe Atkinson
Council Bluffs, IA
www.iaisrailfans.org/../Sub4WestEnd