Kudo's on an excellent article and layout.

Kudo's on an excellent article! 

I've been following Rob's layout and some of his techniques for a few years now and have found the wp8thsub to be particularly appealing to me for it's western theme and because it represents the RR that my favorite connected to for freight traffic in the late 1970's and early 1980's.

Rob has kindly shared some scenery techniques that I have had a chance to get my feet wet with while working on my last layout, such as rivers and scrub brush.  I plan to model western CO and eastern UT D&RGW scenery on a planned layout and look forward to incorporating some of these things and more.

Cheers!

Museum

I appreciated how early on in the interview that Spangler referenced museums. I think one of the most under-appreciated aspects of our hobby is its link to museum exhibits. We as model railroaders have much to learn from museum exhibits. What we forget sometimes is that model railroads serve to tell a story just as museum exhibits do. We can learn from how museums label their exhibits and how they build dioramas.

Great article.

Very nice layout and story.   Looks like there might be an editing problem at the bottom of page 44 where it skips to something about modules( perhaps rail pro ad material?) .....DaveB

Thanks

It was fun hosting Joe so he could get the photos and video.  Glad you like it.

Great article

Enjoyed the layout. Nice work.

The lead photo, nice layout!

The caption for the lead photo specifically calls out two things - the dry wash, and the bridge.  Both of which are obscured up by a gray blob with the text “Joe Fugate visits...”.

The irony made me smile.  Now, on to read the article...

That’s a nice layout!  The “scenic event” idea with foreground items briefly blocking view of the track is definitely food for thought.

That'll never do!

That'll never do! Updated the issue with the panel moved up under the title ...

Great coverage/article of a great layout!

I really enjoy reading updates/posts concerning Rob's layout and it was really exciting and interesting to read about it in detail in such an extensive and well written article. Many thanks for the article Rob and Joe, and congratulations on the layout Rob!

The backdrop transition in photo #21 is masterfully executed! I wonder (since i will have to deal with similar situations in my layout), how the "effect/visual" of the road into the backdrop, changes with viewing angle changes.

Photo 21

That one does change quite a bit due to the right angle.  The transition from 3-D to 2-D at the base of the backdrop is rounded, so the effect looks like the road bends when viewed from the side.  Structures and trees prevent viewing of the joint from most angles other than straight on.

Visual Events

While I made use of that term in describing aspects of scenery design, I didn't invent it.  Proper credit belongs to whoever coined the phrase.  It may have been Tony Koester.

A treat

It was really a treat to read about Rob's layout in this kind of detail, and to finally be able to see a layout plan to help with locating scenes.  Beautiful work on every aspect of his creation.

Thank you Rob for the

Thank you Rob for the clarifications,

When you mentioned rounded transition, you mean i suppose that the corner between backdrop and ground level (ie the road) is coved? Interesting concept, I wonder how would that work in an urban scene having structures along the road going into the backdrop.

More Roads

Yes.  It will work regardless of the surroundings, as you only have to cove the road itself.  Structures can obscure the right angle everywhere else.

room size?

At the beginning of the article you state the room is 12x20.  The track plan diagram looks nearly square. Allowing for your radii and reasonable aisle space, the plan doesn't look like it would fit in 12'.

Can you explain, what am I missing?

Thanks!

PS - I did note Joe's comment about it being hand drawn but there is a scale (1/4'=1') on the plan. 

Sweet!!!

I love Rob's modeling and it is a great article.  Well done!

Room Size?

The 12 X 20 layout was my first WP inspired layout 30 years ago.  That portion of the interview was addressing my choice of modeling subjects.

The current layout is approximately 30 feet square.

Great layout article !

As someone who is modeling the WP / SP paired line across Nevada in the same time period I really enjoyed seeing this layout.  Great work and it gives me inspiration going forward on my own layout. 

Sparse, arid western scenery

This layout really gets it. When I got back into the hobby and found MRH it was Rob's layout that jumped out and I studied and then studied again any pictures I could find. Having grown up in an arid area I was blown away with the authenticity of the scenery.........I kept handing the laptop computer to my wife saying "you've got to see this!". 

Thanks to MRH for featuring this layout and thanks to Rob for inspiring us to push ahead and achieve the best that we can possibly do to make our layouts reflect the area we are modeling.