| Last updated on February 11, 2021
Scenes from a day on the Suzette Lee Line RR
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Great Toy Train Locomotives Puzzle
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I couldn’t get over the weathering job done on some of the freight cars. Did you do it yourself or did you have it done? I would have felt like a vandal doing that much to some of them. They look wonderful, if not condemned! Also, getting that many operating accessories in that little of a space is amazing.
Well, Alan, it certainly caught the attention of the kid in me.
Great editing. Nice closeup shots. Prototypical speeds. Very well done.
What an assume O gage layout! Liked it very much. You obviously put a lot of time and effort into it. Keep up the good work.
I liked the video very much. It was interesting having elements of “toy train” portions of the layout alongside some very realistic portions. I particularly thought the weathering of some of the rolling stock was well done. And of course some of the structures — such as the cafe/bar looked really good. There certainly is a whole lot of action packed into a small area. Well done all the way around and thanks for sharing.
Very nice realistic layout. Lots of work, well done.
Thanks to all for the kind words. As mentioned at the end of the video, sound effects were added and some animation was simulated. The ideal was to represent my grandson’s imagination about various scenes on the layout. In some cases, I was also demonstrating for him how equipment might operate in “real life.” Before making the video, I created a soundtrack (factory sounds, machinery, passing trains, etc.) and would play that through a speaker under the layout to add some excitement and hold his interest (it’s tough to compete with computer games!).
This layout, our first, is clearly not an accurate depiction of an operating railroad or rail yard, and the crowded and juxtaposed arrangement is intended to keep a child’s attention rather than fret too much about reality. This extends to the trains as well and I allow James (he was 5 when the video was made) to arrange the cars how he sees fit,–forwards or backwards–as long as he does so with care. He’s got a long time ahead of him to work out the details and my goal is to keep him interested long enough to do so. This video was created to capture a moment in time for James as part of the legacy my article describes. Hopefully, these memories will be eventually passed down–along with the trains–for his children to enjoy. I hope it inspires others to do the same.
Thanks again for the feedback!
Alan
Great job on this. I love the detail. Did you add any sound to your video track or did everything come from your set up?
I’m actually John Billingsley (Mary is my Mom’s name), but I have a few complaints about the shots with the Southern Pacific passenger train. First, is there any way for the front A-unit F-unit diesel (sorry if this sounds erratic; I can’t think of a better way to phrase that) to have its wire connected to the B-unit following it AND be coupled, since it was not coupled? Second, why did the observation car on that train be coupled as the penultimate car and have its rear platform facing towards where the locomotives were?
At the 3:55 minute mark, how did the Lionel crane car operate by itself; not manually which is the norm? Wonderful layout and video!
Well done video and I’m impressed how you can get so much happening in such a little space. Thanks for sharing.
Pure poetry in the remebrance of days gone by. Keep up the good work, Friend!