Snowflakes on track?

What type of snow flakes.

Kevin,

They are just for the photo. Everything loose is vacuumed up before attempting to run trains, and everything glued down near the rails must allow a clear path for wheel treads and flanges.

Jim

I just logged on to see if anyone had responded yet and thanks to both of you.

Jim, I thought as much that might be the explanation, but just wanted to make sure that I wasn't missing out on a known hobby procedure on how to run trains with snowflakes on the track.

As they say, the only dumb questions are the ones that aren't asked.

Behind the Scenes with Thomas:

"Snow is represented with very fine, dried paper pulp sifted onto the scene. For those large background areas, white felt is cut to shape and worked in. When a locomotive has to plough through snow, powdered glass is sprinkled on. The locomotives can push through it easily, but the tracks and wheels must be brushed after each take to maintain electrical contact."

From here:

http://www.sodor-island.net/behindthescenes.html

You're welcome, Kevin.

The large scale trains used in the Thomas series can do some things that our O gauge trains would have trouble with.

There are some great YouTube videos of large scale trains actually plowing real snow on outdoor layouts in winter.

Jim

Good evening Kevin,my layout is all winter scene.

I often see these pictures with a locomotive with snow all over the rails and road bed.

It looks good but man what headaches, I learned this the hard way.

Now if anybody would ask why there is no snow up against the rails or roadbed, I tell them all my  Pennsy steam locomotives melted it away !!!!!!

I do have low spots and ditches where I have used Woodland Scenic Instant Water to create the look of ice so thats where all the melted snow went.

It's a good theory !!!!

Merry Christmas !!!!!!!

"It looks good but man what headaches, I learned this the hard way."

Some of this snow can be attracted to your engine and rolling stock from static cling. The snow in the picture above can be a pain but works well on plastic buildings. Pour it on the building and it will flow in to valleys of the roof.

One year I decided to sprinkle baking  soda on my modules for the club's Christmas show. Don't ever do that. When it gets on the rails, it stops trains dead (apparently it is a really good insulator). It is also finer than the vacuum cleaner bag for the little handheld cleaner I had so it sprayed everywhere when I went to clean it up. Since my tables are just green painted plywood, which isn't very smooth, the cleaner didn't get the stuff in the little nooks. Water just moved it around. Vinegar and water got it all up though. (and the tables never looked so clean either!)

J White