Very nice!

Those little details really make the scene. 

scenery

jfmcnab: Being a model railroader of 45 years and also a professional model builder I am somewhat critical of what I see. Not so with your layout, VERY NICE work! I especially appreciate the track signage, railroad specific. So many neglect this aspect of layout modeling.

Yours, Elvin Howland/E. St. Louis Rail Group/Layout Concepts

Signs

I agree the little details are what make the scene and yours is progressing nicely. Although the sign in image #4 looks wrong to me. Maybe it is just me but two things come to mind - 1. the sign is pointed an odd direction. Don't they generally face parallel to the right-of-way?; 2. the sign is too large for its post. It looks like the wind would take it down in a heartbeat.

Who am I to nitpick so feel free to totally disregard.

Here is an image of a similar sign I photographed recently. Disregard my friends on the tracks. They aren't none too good 'bout followin' rules.

Good Stuff

It's fun watching scenes come to life with little details like these.

No Trespassing Sign

Hi Alan,

As I mentioned in the post I rotated the sign for the photography so you could see it better.  Otherwise it's parallel to the ROW.

And yes it's a bigger sign.  The prototype is roughly as wide as a Stop sign.

James

Coming Along Nicely

The signs are a nice detail.  And I like the switch stands.  What brand are they?

Regards,
Jack

My bad

Oops sorry. Glossed right over your rotated sign statement.

Is there a particular reason why you decided to make the sign bigger?

Switch Stand and Sign Size

Jack,

The switch stands are Details West #916.

Alan,

To my eye it looks the right size and proportion.  I'll try making a smaller version to see how that works.

James

Signs make the scene

Microsoft Publisher is a great tool to make just about any sign you might desire. Prints to regular paper or even decal paper are possible to further refine the look. I find decal paper is a waste and requires extra steps that are unnecessary for a simple sign.

Publisher automatically measures in thousands of an inch. In other words 0.280 x 0.551 (a.k.a. 1/4" x 1/2") is roughly a 2'x4' sign. The CSX image above appears to be smaller than that. Just playing with Publisher, I got the sign just a tad bit smaller with crisp and readable graphics.

CSX sign for Publisher

I have an up close version.

Smaller Version

After dinner I made up a smaller version of the N&W No Trespassing sign.  Alan you're right.  It works better a little smaller.

I'll make up a new batch and paint, weather and install them this week.

Thanks,
James

Grimes Line simplicity

Great work, James!  I’ve followed the progress on your layout for some time and I must say your modeling looks fantastic. I live in the DM area and love the simplicity of the Grimes Line and how you’re recreating it faithfully. 

Would love to see your work firsthand sometime. 

Best, Scott T.

I agree

Hi James

Very nice modeling - and your trees are great.   I also visited your website and noticed that your footprint (except for the long peninsula to the left) forms a giant G (for Grimes).  Clever.

Keep up the good modeling.