Wargames and Railroads: Railroad Photography Scene

Monday, March 4, 2024

Railroad Photography Scene - Getting started

After cutting out that initial piece of Gatorboard I kind of sat there and when huh. I was thinking I could just dive in and started terraforming this little piece and realized that I really couldn't do that. I needed some basic dimensions of key elements before I could start the terraforming (gatorforming?).

Looking back at the G&D I think the hardest element to find a place for is the car float and the float bridge/apron. An added element that needs to go with this is a tug boat. The car floats are unpowered so a tug is required to get it from point A to point B. Finding info on actual sizes of barges proved to be more difficult than I thought it should. In the end I found the appropriate information on the Frenchman River Model Works site. They had exactly what I was looking for; a two track barge with a platform running down the center. Its a bit pricey so I'm not sure this one will end up on the photo module. The barge is basically 2' long and about 5 1/2" wide. Frenchman River also makes a 169' 3 track float which is a tad cheaper and basically the same dimensions. I found a small tug that only measures about 6" x 2" apparently designed by the Army and was used in crowded harbors. This tug might be to small, I may lean to working with the dimensions for a larger tug just to be sure. A 92' tug measures about 12.75" x 3.675". Oh and then there is the size of the float apron itself 9" long and 4.75" wide, that's going to hit up a chunk of ground. Frenchman River Model Works may be getting a chunk of money from me for this project. These kits are enticing because they come with the rail and attached with the correct rail fasteners used on these floats.

That covers most of the front of the photo module and probably the loss of the pier (which was optional anyway). At this point I figured I better take a look at the back edge. I'm a big fan of the scenery zone concept as espoused by Lance Mindheim. That would reserve at least a 3-4" zone between the back of the module and the track. This could go out as much as 6" which would be my preference. I don't have that much room in this case, 6" will take up 1/3 of the total space available. I have been flipping through the Walther's online catalog and most of their shallow background buildings run from 1 3/8" to 3 1/4" at least for the five that I'm considering. Another option for background buildings would be kits from Itla Scale Models. While they are also a bit on the pricey side I think I could at least make the shallow depth consistent between each building using their line of kits. It would range from 1.5" to 3". I'm sure I can find some other options as well. I'm focusing on brick buildings since the buildings on Warehouse Row are all brick. I have an old Monster Model Works background building that I might try slotting into this as well (Freight Warehouse and I think its about 2" deep including the dock).