Harpers Ferry layout scenery improvements

Terrific video! Loved seeing all three trains running at once. A luxury I don't have on my layout. And that mountain is MOUNTAINOUS. A lot of work. Congrats.

Paul

Ken,

The layout is looking fantastic. The previous version of your Harpers Ferry layout was really good, but with all of the work you have done in rebuilding it, your layout is just amazing now.


Mark.

Bull Run Hi-Railers of No. Va.

Mark,

Thanks, you should come see first hand. I've learned a lot of techniques working on various local layouts, from this forum and Youtube. Scenery can be a bit of a chore (especially when it interrupts train operations). But I love the creative outlet and how it makes your trains look even better. Heck, even my wife thinks the train room is "coming together" .

Ken

Thanks for posting a GREAT video! Its sharing such excellent work that inspires us all to keep at it!

Keep us posted, Im sure that future additions will be equally helpful and certainly fun to watch!

Ken, wonderful layout! I use to live in Frederick County, Maryland up until 2008. I've been to Harpers Ferry several times. Am I correct in saying your tunnel is a representation of the tunnel at Maryland Heights? Looks really good.

Thanks for sharing. Hope to see more as you progress.

Beautiful! Nice integration with your backdrop. And how did you do that backdrop? Photo of Harper's Ferry area?

John

Johnny,

Thanks for the compliment regarding my Maryland Heights mountain. Yes, my goal was to represent that mountain and tunnel. I looked at a lot of photos and really wanted to capture the essence of the mountain. I even added the "Mennens Toilet Powder" billboard. I really appreciate the positive comments from people who have been to Harpers Ferry and find my layout scenery prototypical.

John,

Almost all of the photos were taken from my train ride thru Harpers Ferry. Others were from various visits. Shooting from the rails gave me the "looking up from the river valley" perspective that allows the backdrop to look OK right next to the track. I used a high megapixel DSLR then cropped the pics to remove the foreground and sky down to the ridge line. The cropped photos were printed on a 36" x 6-7' plotter @ Kinkos. Cheaper and better quality than the "backdrop" vendors. Check out my "Harpers Ferry - Evolution" Youtube to see the whole train room remodel. We live in the same area, let me know if you'd like to visit the layout in person.

PS: Nice suspension bridge

Ken

Love the layout.  I live in York and often go to Harper's Ferry.  Do you ever have an open house for the layout?

 

Thanks,

 

Ivan

ken, loved the video and the backdrop. when you refer to "plotter" at kinko's, is that a printer or what they print on? is it then mounted to wall or to something else? thanks. 

 

jerrman

We spent some time here on the Bike ride to DC a couple of years ago.  We parked the bikes on the East side of the river where the trail is and walked across the bridge to Harper's Ferry.  A lot of traffic here. IMO some great modeling.
Beginning of a beautiful day on our trip to D.C.   Not too far from our nights stay at Shepardstown, WV. 



Lunch that day was at Point of Rocks. The trip is winding down, one more night at Leesburg, Virginia. Thanks for bring back some memories to a somewhat foggy head. Mike CT.

I've been through Harper's Ferry on AMTRAK.  Congratulations - you sure have captured the look of it.  Personaqlly, I haven't the patience to do realistic representations like you have done - generic has to be good enough for me.