Scenes and Transitions

McKennon Arch serves as both set-piece and scenic transition, creating a visual terminus for the scenes on either side of it while providing a smooth transition between the two. Memorable scenes do more than just add visual interest, they contribute to story while making a small layout seem larger as trains pass and transition through vignettes in the modeled environment.

A model railroad can be many things. It can be a relaxing pastime and an artful hobby that teaches new skills. It can offer a lesson in history or flights of fancy. It can recreate a transportation system in miniature down to the last rivet or it can invent imaginary railways built upon what-ifs and might-have-beens. If planned well and built with care, a model railroad can entertain, transporting the viewer to another time and place, inviting them into the story just as a good book or movie would. To that end, a model railroad is a show. A magic show of smoke, mirrors and wondrous illusions. A show needs a theme or a story; it needs performers, props and set pieces. It needs scenes and transitions.

I have sometimes been asked why I draw such elaborate track plans with the details of so many scenic elements sketched in along with the right-of-way. Wouldn't a more simple plan showing only the track, wiring and other engineering needs suffice just as well? I draw them that way because I'm thinking in terms of both engineering needs and the needs of the show. Grades, clearances and wiring are important, yes, but of equal importance to me are the scenes and transitions.

In a built environment, be it a model or a theme park, a scene is an area of visual interest that helps to establish theme or to move the story along. A transition is a bridge between scenes; a place for the eye to rest that then leads naturally into the next scene. Classic examples of this can be found at any Disney park. The scene of Main Street USA ends at the visual terminus of the castle. The castle then draws the viewer onward and transitions to the land of fantasy beyond.

Scenes and transitions at Walt Disney World. Walt called big set pieces like the castle a "weenie," something to draw the eye and compel the viewer forward into the next scene. Weenies are used everywhere in Disney parks and besides being iconic, they often act as transitions between larger show scenes. Other times transitions are more subtle, using a blend of architectural details, landscaping and color to ease from one scene to the next.

Planning Scenes

When working out scenes for the Thunder Mesa layout I often think in cinematic terms of establishing shots, medium shots and close-ups. I find this to be a handy way to break things down and it is more useful and story specific than just talking about scenery, structures and details.

Establishing Shots

An establishing shot is the big picture, usually everything that can be seen in a single view when standing a typical distance from the layout. Generally for me that works out to be about 2 - 3 square feet of scenery. The establishing shot is an introduction, it sets up the story with visual cues as to theme, era, mood and locale. Here we have an establishing shot of the desert scene between McKennon Arch and Big Thunder Creek. The rock formations tell us we're in the desert southwest while the structures indicate mining activity. The color palette, scenic exaggeration and whimsical mood help set the tone.

Medium Shots

Moving in closer we come to the medium shots, scenes within the scene that are really the heart of the layout and what most people think of when they think of model railroad scenery. The medium shots are where we focus attention on structures and other scenic elements to reinforce and build upon themes presented in the establishing shot. Within the establishing desert scene shown above we have Saguaro Siding, the Never Mine, the Cactus Forest and Baxter's Butte, all contributing to the overarching story of a southwestern desert mining district and the wild country it inhabits.

Close-ups

All the way down at the detail threshold we have the close-ups. This where all of those tiny detail parts end up, hopefully doing even more to sell the story. Most of the detail in close-ups can't even be seen in the establishing or medium shots but a model railroad is not a movie. In a 3-D environment the close-ups need to be built in to every scene or the model loses integrity when people interact with it. Plus, all of those tiny details in the close-ups add up to more character, texture and depth to the overall scene.

Planning scenes means understanding what you want to say and knowing how to say it. This requires research, an eye for detail and the ability to spot and eliminate visual contradictions. Everything in a scene should support and enhance the story you want to tell, from the big picture down to the closest view. Detail for detail sake is merely visual clutter. Detail that supports the story sells the illusion of a miniature world. There is an important difference between realism and believability. A series of well planned and executed scenes can make even the most outlandish concept into a believable and entertaining show. We pick and choose only the bits of reality needed to sell the illusion.

Making Transitions

Moving from one scene to the next can be tricky, especially if there is a change in tone or locale. Transitions should be invisible; they should seem merely to be another part of the scenes on either sides of them. It should be difficult to put one's finger on precisely where the transition occurs and it should only be evident when one is then immersed in the next scene. There are some tried and true ways to accomplish this. Some use a form of misdirection by leading the eye to a scenic feature that draws attention to itself and away from the transition, while others employ a mini-scene that overlaps and blurs the lines between larger scenes while complementing both. Regardless of method, the goal is a 3-D version of the cinematic cross dissolve. In film parlance, a cross dissolve is where ones scene fades out as another scene fades in. On a model train layout or other built environment this needs to be done by carefully blending one scene into the next.

The Cross Dissolve

Water features are an excellent way to smooth transitions since they naturally divide areas of the layout while making interesting scenes in themselves. On Thunder Mesa, Big Thunder Creek works as a cross dissolve between the desert mining scene discussed above and the mill and town scenes being built to the right. The railroad bridges connect the two scenes both literally and visually and help to ease the transition. The creek also uses a bit of distraction since it draws attention to itself and away from the fact that we are moving between scenes.

Tunnels also make for excellent cross dissolve transitions but they should be used sparingly. Deep cuts, bridges and even dense trees can also be effective,

Here, Ambush Rock divides the Geyser Gulch scene from Dinosaur Gap beyond. This is a subtle transition since the formation can only be seen distinctly from certain viewpoints and fades into the background from others.

The arch is a classic "weenie" in the Disney sense. It distracts from the transition by drawing attention to itself while blending well with the scenes on either side. It draws the eye forward into the next scene while providing a visual terminus for the present one. Plus, there's just something really cool about seeing a train pass through a natural arch.

A View from Above

As an example, the Thunder Mesa section of the layout has several major scenes, establishing shots, which are broken up into smaller scenes or medium shots. Then there are the close-ups or mini-scenes that fill in all of the details. The rules of scenes and transitions apply to all of them.

In this overview plan, only the major scenes are called out. The scenes themselves are in color while the transitional areas are black and white. Keep in mind that the transitions are really scenes too, but their main role is to blend the areas where major scenes come together.

Wrapping Up

Hopefully, thinking in terms of scenes and transitions rather than just structures and scenery will help some modelers give their layouts more visual punch. Focusing on establishing shots, medium shots and close ups, certainly helps me to keep my overall goal of telling stories with trains and modeling firmly in mind.

As always, questions and comments are welcome below. Thanks for following along. Adios for now, amigos!

Thunder Mesa #1, the Marc F. Davis

Thunder Mesa Mining Co. #1, the Marc F. Davis. 

This tiny locomotive is named in honor of renowned Disney Imagineer Marc Davis. It was scratch-built on a Bachmann cable car power truck using mostly old parts from the scrap box.

Small Engine, Big Story

It was the mid-1860's when old Badwater Baxter first discovered gold near the headwaters of Big Thunder Creek. That was years before the railroad came, and back in those days, the raw ore was hauled down from the mines by mule pack. The trail through Rainbow Desert was long and filled with many dangers, but eventually wound its way to Fowler's Landing on the Big River.  From there, the Western River Expedition Company would take the ore down river by boat to the smelters and markets to the south and west.

Pack Mules in the Rainbow Desert. Image courtesy Gorilla's Don't Blog.

Marc F. Davis was the founder of Western River Expeditions and his keelboats and stream launches were manned by some of the most colorful characters in the West. Heck, one legend says he even trained a bear named Ted to row! Truth is, the bear was more of a musician and also played the washboard with the handle of a hoe... Now, where was I?

Artwork by Marc Davis. © Disney

Well, there are many tall tales and legends to from those early days in Thunder Mesa country, but this is the story of Thunder Mesa #1. 

A rare, undated photo of one of  the Western River Expedition Company's larger steamers.

It was the spring of 1878 and floodwaters were high on the Big River. Santa Fe, Denver & Carolwood track gangs were working overtime, laying a new branch line to Thunder Mesa, while a second crew blasted tunnels and built bridges to bring the line down from the Calico mining districts. The TMMC's first locomotive, a handsome 2-4-0 called El Dorado had yet to arrive overland from San Francisco. Deep snows in the mountains and the raging river led to delay upon delay. At long last, word arrived that El Dorado was on its way up river by steam launch, still in crates, to be assembled at the SFD & C shops at Grizzly Flats. But the spring flood was too much for the Western River Expedition's overloaded steamer, the Wicked Wench. It foundered in a whirlpool at Deadman's Rapid where all hands, and the El Dorado were lost.

Not to be. The fancy, brass banded El Dorado went down in pieces at Deadman's Rapid. Only a few parts were ever recovered.

As one might imagine, this was a huge setback for both the railroad and the Western River Expedition Co. The rail on the mining line was too light, and the curves too tight for the heavier SFD & C locomotives. It was clear that a new, small mining locomotive would be needed to finish the line and it would take time and no small expense to ship another from San Francisco. Every day without trains running was a loss in revenue for the line's investors and the telegraph lines were ablaze with accusations and recriminations. The Western River Expedition Company was forced into bankruptcy over the affair and Marc F. Davis was nearly ruined.

Then, when all seemed lost, a brilliant young blacksmith named Roger Broggie  said that he could "put together" a serviceable locomotive from the wreckage of the steam launch and bits and pieces of the El Dorado that had been salvaged from the river. Davis gladly donated the wreck to help mitigate his losses and Broggie got down to work. As it turns out, the blacksmith was something of a mechanical genius, and the tiny 4 wheel locomotive he created helped get the fledgling mining railroad back on schedule. It was ungainly, smokey, and loud, but, by thunder, it ran!

The home-built locomotive that helped build the railroad, Thunder Mesa #1.

A little over a year later, the line from Thunder Mesa to Calico was completed and the first ore trains began to roll. In a rare display of magnanimity, the railroad brass decided to name the little locomotive that helped build the railroad the Marc F. Davis. History does not record wether Davis was honored or chagrinned by the gesture.

The real Marc Fraser Davis working on a model for the never built "Western River Expedition." It was to be a Pirate's of the Caribbean style boat ride through the Wild West featuring many scenes filled with his trademark humor. As part of the larger Thunder Mesa complex planned for Orlando, some of the ideas survived to be used on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.

The Model

My 1/4" scale Marc F. Davis is a tiny locomotive with no known prototype. It shares certain characteristics with some early vertical boiler Climax and Shay type locomotives, but its main inspiration comes from the two walking-beam locomotives seen as set pieces at Big Thunder Mountain in Anaheim. 

Inspiration for the Marc F. Davis, this tiny mine locomotive at Disneyland.

Fun trivia note, these two engines were featured in the 1978 Disney film Hot Lead and Cold Feet starring Jim Dale, Karen Valentine and Don Knotts.

My model began with the itch to build something and a day spent "cleaning out" my scrap boxes. Let me tell you, after thirty-plus years in this hobby working in multiple scales, you get a pretty serious collection of unfinished models, incomplete kits and left over parts. HO and On30 share the same track gauge, which is one of the things that makes On30 so appealing to us kit-bashers. It's easy to use readily available HO scale mechanisms, wheels and other parts as the starting point for a myriad of On30 projects. This project started with an HO scale Bachmann cable car power truck.

Just five scale feet long on O scale!

I pulled it out of the scrap box, set it on the track, cranked up the juice and, lo and behold, it ran! Sort of. After cleaning the wheels and contacts and treating everything with a liberal dose of CRC 2-26 it ran like a top.

Electrical pick-up problems? Not any more! If you model a lot of small, short wheel-base equipment like I do, this stuff is your best friend. Use it on wheels and track.

Now I knew I had the perfect power truck to build one of those tiny vertical boiler steamers I'd been dreaming of. Power would be DC only due to the motor being grounded in a metal frame, but since the TMMC is wired for both DC and DCC operation I knew that wouldn't be a problem. Follow along with the pictures and captions to see how it all went together.

An Acurail HO boxcar frame was cut apart, reassembled, painted Grimy Black and then framed with scale  6"x8" strip wood. This gave a sturdy frame with coupler pockets to receive Kadee #5s.

A deck was created with some 3/32" scribed siding and clearances were tested on the layout. The entire locomotive is a press-fit on top of the power truck and can be removed if necessary. 

The vertical boiler was made from various scrap box finds including an HO Roundhouse tank car and the inverted balloon stack from an HO IHC 4-4-0. The smokestack is a technical pen ink cartridge.

Here's the partially completed engine. I had no plan and just basically made things up as I went along. In this view can be seen the steam chest, single vertical piston and rod linkage that "drive" the locomotive via a theoretical cam and gear arrangement below decks. With the exception of some bits of wire, all of the drive line parts came from an HO IHC 4-4-0.

The Marc F. Davis ready for service. I weathered the model with acrylic paint and colored chalks to depict years of heavy use (and abuse). The cab was built using printed photo textures of actual weathered wood with the Thunder Mesa herald added. Click the photo to see a large version with all of the various parts called out.

Building the Marc F. Davis was a lot of fun, especially since it cost me next to nothing using mostly old parts from the scrap box. I built it primarily as a scenic piece, something to sit on a siding and look cool, so the fact that it actually runs and can pull a couple of ore cars is just a bonus in my book. Coming up with an elaborate backstory for the engine was almost as much fun as actually building it. Many thanks to the real Marc Davis for the years of enjoyment he has provided for myself and my family, both at the movie theater and in the parks.

Now here's a short YouTube video of the One Spot in action on Thunder Mesa.

Hope you enjoyed the story of #1 and thanks for stopping in. Adios 'till next time!

#1, rounding the bend on the Thunder Mesa Line.

February Update

Emerging from Rainbow Caverns.

February was a short month but I still managed to get a lot done out in Thunder Mesa country. Most of the work this month was on scenery and structures, but I've also started work on some special animation effects and a final "Grand Plan" for an expansion of the layout should time and resources allow.

Geyser Gulch

Just after leaving Thunder Mesa, trains pass beneath majestic McKennon Arch, gateway to the Living Desert, and into an active geo-thermal area known locally as Geyser Gulch. The Gulch is spanned by a rickety old wooden trestle and is home to bubbling pools, multi-hued hot springs and more than a couple erupting geysers - including "Old Unfaithful," most famous of them all.

Hot Springs and erupting Geysers at the Magic Kingdom, Walt Disney World.

Geyser Gulch under construction on the TMMC.

Old Unfaithful. The terraced hot springs are built up with disks of foamcore, card-stock and paper. The edges will be finished with acrylic modeling paste to give them the look of built-up and eroded travertine.  The rest of the Gulch is Sculptamold over carved foam.

Modeling the physical appearance of the geysers is relatively easy, the tricky part will be making them erupt on demand. 

The plan is to use Theatrical fog forced up through tubing and out the geyser tops when a magnetic reed switch or photocell is tripped by a passing train. Theatrical fog is made by heating glycol until it vaporizes.  A great deal of fog can be made from a very small amount of glycol so the trick will be keeping the amount fog small enough to be convincing as a 1/4" scale geyser. Too much could easily overpower the entire layout.

Copper tubbing has already been installed below the geyser cauldrons,  ready to be connected to the fog system.

I know that a lot of trial and error will be required to get these geysers working effectively and I'm currently looking into building or buying a very small fog maker. Wish me luck!

Mock-Ups 2.0

Anyone who has followed my modeling knows that I am a big believer in using structure mock-ups to work out a scene. They are quick, easy and cheep to build and can really help answer important questions about proportions, spacing and color, especially in a group of buildings like a town. On top of that, a well built and attractive mock-up can "hold the place" for a more elaborate and delicate finished model as scenery, lighting and other details are worked in. My first round of mock-ups on the TMMC were pretty basic, just white foamcore boxes really. But as I create plans for my structures, all of which will be scratch built, I've gotten in the habit of cutting and pasting those plans together into full sized, dimensional paper models. To date, I've replaced all of my earlier plain white mock-ups with these paper models.

The town of Thunder Mesa. All structures are paper model mock-ups that act as both plans and place-holders for  more detailed, scratch built structures yet to be built. Using these mock-ups has allowed me (and you) to see what my completed town will look now, rather than months from now when all of the final structures are built. Note that the scenery in this area is still just painted styrofoam at this point

I design my structures in Adobe Illustrator, a wonderfully versatile vector graphics program,  and use photos from the parks and educated guesses for most of the dimensions. My goal has never been to make exact copies of the Disneyland structures, but rather to capture the look and feel of them in a way that works for my layout. Here is a sampling of the plans I've created for Thunder Mesa, most are based on Disneyland structures that currently exist on the Big Thunder Mt RR, or used to exist in the little mining town of Rainbow Ridge.

El Dorado Hotel and Barber Shop.

Miner's Hardware.

Marshal Bound's Office. This one is from Rainbow Ridge and no longer exists at Disneyland.

Paper model mock-ups on the layout.

Panhandle Hotel.

Thunder Mesa Gazette. This is the Big Thunder Epitaph at Disneyland.

Cordelia's Cafe. This one isn't at Disneyland. It is a freelanced design and my homage to Cordelia Knott's wonderful chicken dinners and Boysenberry pies.

Paper models on the layout.

Gold Nugget Dance Hall.

Assay Office.

Big Thunder Saloon. 

Dance Hall, Assay and Saloon as paper models.

General Mercantile.

The General Mercantile sits trackside on the layout with its own curving platform. It doubles as the town Post Office, and as train station for guests taking scenic rail excursions aboard the Thunder Mesa Line.

Another view of the Mercantile paper model. Colorful posters advertise the amazing scenic wonders along the line in "Nature's Wonderland."

Big Thunder Mill

Those familiar with Disneyland's Big Thunder Mountain Railroad might wonder why I'm not using the big, iconic ore mill/mine building to load passengers. Well, because in my world, that big building is still used for mining.

Unlike the Disneyland structure, most of the lower portion of my Big Thunder Mill is enclosed. The large freight doors are used for loading bags of ore concentrates into boxcars. The cut-away in the platform is the ore dump where side dump ore cars drop raw ore from the mines into an underground hopper. Were this a real mill, a conveyer would move the ore to the top floor of the mill where it would be fed into the stamps for crushing and sorting.

The ore dump. This is a pretty small mill so only one car at a time can dump its ore. The dump goes straight through to below the layout where loose ore can be collected in a container, then returned to the mines and load the cars all over again.

One of the side dump cars. In operation, music wire will come up through the small tube between the ties and tip the cars. The wire will be attached to a Tortoise switch machine activated from the control panel. It takes a steady hand on the throttle to line up each car at the dump!

Another view of the mill. The open loading dock at right is for incoming supplies, parts, coal, etc.

A Thunder Mesa train prepares to head out after dumping its ore cars at the mill. Another train will bring boxcars to be loaded with ore concentrates bound for the Santa Fe and Carolwood interchange. On the left is old abandoned Shaft #1. Some folks say it's haunted.

 Engine Shed

Mock-up for an open-air engine shed.

Why on Earth would a little town like Thunder Mesa need an engine shed? Why, for the mill switcher of course. But, why would they need a mill switcher? Couldn't the local trains just switch the mill as they came through town? Well, yes, they could, if there was a runaround track. But there isn't, so trains traveling in one direction can switch the mill but trains traveling in the other direction can't. The solution? A mill switcher.

There is a switchback siding in Thunder Mesa and, almost from the beginning, I had though that it would be a good place for a funky old engine shed and service area. Then, for while I thought it would be a lousy place for one and decided to put some stock pens there instead. Turns out it was even a lousier place for stock pens than it was for an engine shed and I was back to square one again.

Then, as I began to think about how my little empire might actually operate I realized that an engine shed and service area would be just the thing for that spot. It also fits into my larger "Grand Plan" for expanding the layout, but I'll go into that in depth in a later update.

The engine service area is right next to McKennon Arch.

The layout as it looks today. I got so tired of looking at pink styrofoam that I went ahead and painted almost everything with my scenery base color. Much better.

That about wraps it up for this month. I've been working on the railroad pretty steadily lately and new updates might be coming down the track a little more frequently in the future. Stay tuned!

Update 9/7/13:
A few things have changed since this original posting. The layout has expanded, the engine shed has been removed from this area, and the Mercantile has moved to the top of the mesa and no longer functions as the depot. Most importantly, all structure plans are now available online as downloadable PDF files. Click the Plans & Graphics tab at the top of the page to download.