SEPARATING SCENES TO MAKE THE LAYOUT SEEM LARGER

My S Scale layout isn't very large.  It measures approximately 8' x 12'; the HO Scale equivalent would be about 5-1/2' x 8'.  With no obstructions to viewing it in its entirety, it would look pretty small.  That's why I have deliberately broken it up into scenes, with subtle barriers between areas to block a full view.  This fits in with what the layout represents, chiefly  a congested portside industrial area.  There is some portion devoted to the Gulf Harbor "downtown" but it's a minor part of the layout.  These subtle barriers require the viewer to consider one section at a time and, thus, the layout seems larger and the distances greater.

We'll start with the "downtown."  It is slightly elevated...maybe 7 scale feet above track level, with a gradual incline rising from the area of the depot.  Remember, this is the flat Texas coast, so any elevation change must be minimal to appear credible.  And 7 scale feet is just enough to draw the eye upward from the tracks.

 

Another thing I've done, as the top photo shows, is to conceal the ends of streets that run into the backdrop.  This done through angling the streets and blocking the view with trees and structures.  This gives the impression that there's more "town" just out of sight.

 

 

(Above) The building to the left, Southern Maritime Supply, is situated midway along the long (12') section of the layout.  It obstructs the view, in this case, to the north end of the layout, just as you'd encounter driving through an industrial area.

 

 

This is the area to the south of that building.  Note the edge of "downtown" in the background.  The roads in the industrial area do not visibly connect to the downtown streets, but are separated by multiple tracks.  This lends the impression that there's much of the city of Gulf Harbor that can't be seen and that the port area is reached from a different section of the city.

 

 

Now we're looking from the other side of Southern Maritime Supply, with the view to the south partially blocked.

 

 

And this is what lies to the north of Southern Maritime Supply.

 

 

I used an odd corner on the north end of the layout to add a small scene.  I leaned over the layout to get this shot; the edge of the backdrop at the end of the street shows in this photo, but is not normally visible to observers.

 

 

The roundhouse faces away from the room entrance, leading the observer to turn toward it and effectively making it a separate scene.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

USING RESEARCH TO CREATE A SENSE OF TIME AND PLACE (PHOTOS)

The Liberty Theatre movie marquee displays a film that was released in April 1947.

 

 

At the Gulf Harbor depot, the flagpole displays a 48-star flag and the Texas state flag.  Automobiles of 1940s vintage are parked nearby.

 
Billboards from the era advertise 1947 Mercury automobiles and Chesterfield cigarettes.

The shed on Pier 1 gives a sense of the location through a sign and the era by displaying a 48-star flag.

 Stop signs in 1947 were black on yellow.  Correct vintage autos are parked nearby.

 

 

On the layout room wall is an April 1947 calendar page I created for the fictional Texas Coast Railroad, an "off layout" line that interchanges with the Gulf Harbor Terminal Railway.

 

Vintage advertisements from an April 1947 National Geographic are displayed on the layout room wall.

I also created an April 1947 calendar page for the GHT.  The telephone number, PA-6-5000, is taken from the title of a Glenn Miller recording.

USING RESEARCH TO CREATE A SENSE OF TIME AND PLACE

As I've said previously, my model railroad is set in April 1947, the month and year of my birth.  I set out to create an impression of both time and place, and the research involved was actually pretty enjoyable.  I love history anyway, so maybe that's why I liked this part of planning.

The place part was the easiest.  I've lived in Texas for eight years and my wife Susie and I have driven the length of the Texas coast, so I've gained a pretty good impression of how things are in the ports.  Also, I've pored over historical photos and related material to get an idea of what type of rail traffic and industries existed in this state in 1947, as well as other details.  For example, because of our southerly latitude the tidal fluctuation on the Texas coast is much less than it is in my native Washington state, so I made the piers lower than I would have if I were modeling, say, a Puget Sound port. 

When it came to creating an impression of the time being modeled, the Internet was a tremendous asset in this kind of project.  Also, late-1940s movies and vintage magazines helped .  My earliest memories date back to 1951 or '52, and the postwar appearance of many things persisted well into the mid-'50s, so much of what I found was already familiar to me.  My objective was to convey the era well enough that a visitor could figure it out without being told.  To do this, I used buildings, signs, automobiles, a movie marquee and vintage billboards.  Details, no matter how small, all contribute to the larger picture, even something as small as the fact that in 1947 stop signs were yellow with black lettering, or a gas station would likely have a "mechanic on duty" sign.

SCRATCH BUILDING

All of my structures are scratch built; that is, they aren't built from kits.  However, I have made extensive use of commercial materials such as plastic brick sheets, doors, windows, etc.  Grandt Line has (had, anyway) S Scale doors and windows and in 1998 I acquired a supply that has lasted until now.  In fact, I'm down to my last window!

Also, I've done a bit of recycling.  My last three completed layouts have reflected where we lived, in order, Oregon, Idaho and Texas.  Some of the buildings that would be appropriate for one area didn't necessarily work in another, though most have served on all three layouts.  But I've reconfigured some in order to make them appropriate to a layout set on the Texas coast.  My Idaho layout had a feed mill and a grain elevator.  I combined the two buildings and added a dock to produce Southern Maritime Supply.  My power company service center incorporates sections from my Idaho passenger depot.

Trees were reused, too, though I could no longer use the autumn-hued deciduous trees from my Idaho layout, since my layout is set in April 1947 and there isn't much autumn color down here, anyway.  My Northwest fir trees were another casualty.

SOME BUILDINGS ON THE GULF HARBOR TERMINAL RAILWAY

 

Top: This is a model of a theater in Pasco, Washington where my mother worked as a teenager in the 1930s.  The movie billed, "My Favorite Brunette," was released in early April 1947, the exact month and year of the setting for my layout.

 

Second from Top:  The Hillier Hotel (named in honor of one of my sons-in-law) is a model based on a hotel in Lewiston, Idaho.

 

Third from Top:  The Gulf Harbor Methodist Church is based on a Lutheran church in Silverton, Oregon.  Since I happen to be Methodist, I changed the denomination...modeler's license, I guess!

 

Fourth from Top:  I modeled this Texaco station based on photos of a late-1930s station I found in a book on vintage gas stations.  Emily's Fine Fashions, in the background, is named after one of my granddaughters.

 

Bottom:  Another view of the Texaco station.  I fashioned the gas pumps out of balsa wood blocks and styrene.  The figures are from Artistta Associates S Scale offerings.  The Lazy Susan Café is a joke on my wife, Susie, who is most definitely not lazy!

THE POWER COMPANY

Top Photo: Harborland Power & Light west harbor service center.  This represents an aging structure.  The Reddy Kilowatt logo was used by electric utilities across the nation in the 1940s and later.

Middle Photo: Overall view of the Harborland Power & Light service center, including the utility pole storage, seen near the top of the photo.  The chain link fences were made using styrene rods, along with plastic screen purchased from a home improvement store.

Bottom Photo:  The main entrance to the Harborland service center yard is adjacent to the tail track at the far west end of the layout, across the street from the Texas Gulf Cotton Co.  The land side of Pier 2 is on the opposite side of the service center.

POWER COMPANY UPDATE

I'll post photos soon of my power company service center.  I found a Reddy Kilowatt logo and created a sign.  Turns out that I couldn't get away from the use of "harbor" and so "Harborland Power & Light" now exists on the layout, and the name does make sense, given the fictional port I'm modeling.  The chain link fence is done and all that remains is to place a stack of utility poles on the property.