Your Layout Vignettes

I have 64 detectivesor police offiers on the layout including many in much morecomplicated vignettes, but this is still my favorite.  Inspector Morse looks on from behind his Jaguar S sedan as Sergeant Robbie Lewis, (Inspector Morse, 1987) shakes hands with Inspector Robbie Lewis (2013, Lewis) as Sergeant Hathaway, standing near Lewis' silver 5-series BMW, tries to take a photo of this historic time-traveling event. 

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All of the model houses of my family members that I've built were intended to be 1/4" scale so that I could display them on my Christmas layouts from time to time. 

- walt

My daughter's house (they live in a 'country setting', thus a country type setting):

The wood frame that I grew up in along with my Brother's house now:

My little house on the left and my sister's house on the right:

Wider View, not including my daughter's place ( included is a scratch build pavilion of one in North Park - Grant Grove):

That is very cool, walt rapp: when I had a N gauge layout I had a model of every house my dad owned when I was growing up, those of my grandparents, my brother, cousins, uncles, and my boys own, but with nothing like the detail you have done in O gauge.  Superb suburb - it must be a lot of fun to model that houses and the relatives.  

Walt,

It is good seeing the individual houses in place on the layout.  As I mentioned on another thread, I built my parents' home and outbuildings when in N scale 25 years ago.  Your 1/4 scale 'Walt's Family Village' is great!

Another of my favorites.   The Indian Trail Motel is the largest paper-on-foamcore building I have built.  Including the diner, out of site to the left, it is 34 inches long.  It is right across the highway behind the trailer park.

The Indian Trail model is not the most elegant or classy place, an image exacerbated by the working girls who rent rooms by the hour there, but city council and the police look the other way because they'd rather the motel made enough to pay its taxes and keep this particular trade where it is rather than see it maybe move into a higher class part of town. 

But looks can sometimes be deceiving.  This is not what it seems.  Here is Veranda Turbine, temporarily discredited Hollywood starlet, way down on her luck and slumming it out of necessity, meeting John Beresford Tipton III, the richest man in the world and her future husband.  Mean-tongued gossips said that each was only interested in the size of certain aspects of the other, but in fact it was love at first sight  . . . 

Who's got the keys?

Around the RR

Now which streetlamp will we meet at?

few more.

 The company man at the mine

"Let's see slice-of-life vignettes", posted last Fall, is the title of a similar thread full of great images.  Just click the "search" function and enter "vignettes" to show it.

The Great Train Shed...where the journey begins!!  The echo of announcing departures and arrivals brings wonder and anticipation......

Alan

Lee, am I mistaken or is that Simon Templar's (The Saint) Volvo in the background?

Geez now, why oh why would I post this one?

- walt

Th new layout hasn't progressed to the detail stage yet, but here's couple for a past layout.

Some of my small scenes -- such as they are -- from an ill fated earlier attempt to post. My intention from the beginning was not to have track ballast or other ground debris on the layout. But after seeing some of the amazing scenes listed here it is pretty obvious that you can't have a high level of realism without good "ground effects".

Morg and Allen maintaining the generators that power the many floods around the layout.

Breaking ground

Welding under the L&N GP9.

Scott,

I know what you mean about getting ballast everywhere.  I always have wanted mine to look like the well groomed B&O right of way I knew as a kid.  Alas, it seems like little pieces of ballast get everywhere.

I really like the photo of the guys working on the generator.  Is that one electrician doing your wiring for you too.  That would be great to have little guys get in all those hard to reach places.  

Timothy Sprague - Even though I detest winter, your vignettes are good looking!

Scott T Johnson - Yours almost makes me want to jump in a give them a hand! By the way, where did you get your figures? I've seen other Forumites with figures like yours that have the base on them. I would like to get some of those.

 Club member Harold Clackett created this whimsical oil refinery from Lionel tank cars, piping, and various canisters to good effects

Paul, thanks I will certainly take that compliment. The figures are part of the MTH railroad workers 12 piece set #30-11044. They are pricey at about $2 a piece but are hand painted and by far the best quality figures available IMO. Note they are a little larger than other available figures so I keep them in groups that are separate from smaller figures like the welders in the third image. If you have any MTH engines with cab figures they are the same scale.

A followup picture of my family members' model houses, including a poorly taken one of my daughter's house which is split off to the side of the others.

- walt

My trailer park.

Here's an old one.  Passengers leaving for California on the California Zephyr out of Chicago's Union Station.

Art

Art...that scene is fantastic....just perfect!!

Alan

Thanks Alan.  I have to get busy again on my layout.

Art

Art,
Really enjoyed your website. What a great layout. I have to ask though, was that a for real accident? Kind of amazing that the engines and cars all ended up in that zig-zag pattern.

S

OK...this one is kind of "corny" but it is my wife LaKeeta's favorite.....

Alan

Early morning at the roundhouse....it is already hot and humid...WHEW!!

Alan

Love this thread.  Here are a few of mine:

Mooning Amtrak is real.  Their website is now gone but you can check it out at: http://www.amtrakmooning.com (G rated)

What might have been.....

Alan

A few shots along 'Dino Motel Row'

Not a great picture for sure but a scratchbuilt barn that I made a few years ago.

- walt

Lordy, those are lovely scenes.  Makes me feel like a kid in Logan, Utah on the 50s again.

Thanks.

A couple of seniors returning from a west coast train trip at Union Station.  Bet they can't wait to show the grandkids the pictures of the trip.

Art

Scott - Yes, it was a real accident.  Apparently I had a bad wire on the power routing and it kept throwing the switch each time a car would go through causing the zig zag pattern.

Art

Here is a picture of my Woolworth store in my home town of Spencer.  I know that the town is hard up right now, but you would think that at least they could wash the police car if they are going to park it there.

Art

That is seriously cool!  I love it.  

Spectators gather at Srathys Valley Junction to see train riding cow

Alan; love the theater marque.