DAR layout photos

[Dan Conlin]

My layout scenery is moving along far enough to permit some photography. This shot shows the Kentville rail yards from the backyard on the one the houses across the tracks on Main Street with Pacific No. 2552 "Haliburton" coming by:
http://www.dardpi.ca/wiki/index.php?tit ... medres.jpg
The quilts are photo-reduced pictures of two of my wife's quilts. Let's hope 2552 is steaming clean and doesn't get any soot on them!

Dan Conlin

[stem]

Nice shot Dan. The lighting looks like it's daylight although by the reflection on the car you can see it's probably not. Have you got manual F-Stop control on your cam? Maybe you could crank it way up (F22) to keep the back and foreground in focus. I see that it was at F3.2 probably because it was hand held. At F22 you'll need a tripod for sure as it will probably take a few seconds to expose.

The grass looks very good and I like seeing into the interior or the house upstairs! The clothesline with the quilts is choice too.

Nice to see you're progressing though. Please send more!!

[briantrainman]

Nice photo Dan. Can you give us a little info on your layout such as the time period, layout size and trackplan. What towns are included and what are the start and end points.I hope to start construction soon on my DAR themed layout. Please post more photos as they are hard to come by when it comes to the DAR. Brian

[stem]

I'll let Dan provide the explanation of his CVR layout but check out some photos of his layout he took a few years back on his photo page:

http://www.dardpi.ca/wiki/index.php?tit ... nlin_Photo

[Dan Conlin]

My layout is circa 1937. It's HO, 10 x 13 feet with a "bent dogbone" style track plan with a working wye and the Kingsport wharf on a spur. I depict the Kingsport branchline so I feature Kentville, Centreville, Canning and Kingsport. I like terminal facilities so I have a fair bit of Kentville engine terminal and yards, with selective compression of course (a four stall roundhouse instead of 10). So far only Kentville has completed scenery. By the way, if anyone has seen them, the company Scenic King has a great paper backdrop that looks just like the North Mountain.
Thanks for the comments everyone. I will try you photo suggestions Steve. All I really did was grab the digital camera from work and prop it on a paint can.

Dan

[briantrainman]

Dan, in the far left of the photo it appears to show the front end of the old M-107 inspection car. The real thing was a 1938 MacLaughlin Buick. What model did you find to use for this? Brian

[Dan Conlin]

Whoops, sorry I missed this post. I made this model starting from an ERTL Diecast Dick Tracey police car that I bought at a flea market. It has roughly the right window arrangements for the Buick and I was looking for something tough and solid that I could put a Flea motor inside. I had fun adding the details including the sand pipe. The mini herald is from the CDS N scale loco set.
I uploaded a more detailed shot of it: http://www.dardpi.ca/wiki/index.php?tit ... medres.jpg

This diecast page has a picture of the original: http://dextersdiecasts.blogspot.com/201 ... chive.html

Cheers, Dan Conlin

[briantrainman]

Super job Dan and thanks for the new photo links. Brian

[PEIR]

I like your laundry shot Dan. Not a commonly seen shot on a model RR. Have you made anymore progress or have any other pictures of the layout that you could post? What brand of steamers are you using and is there much work involved in getting them detailed to suit the DAR?

Stephen

[Dan Conlin]

Thanks I will have to post some more photos. I have just finished a nice River Street junk yard scene.

I like detailing steam locos so I have quite a stable. In HO, there are lots of good options for a DAR steam fleet. My IHC 4-4-0 and 2-6-0s have been the best value, good runners, affordable and a good base for lots of detailing. I converted the 2-6-0 to a ten wheeler and it has a nice D-6 look. I have an old MDC 0-6-0 which I detailed as No. 6189 and a Proto 2000 0-6-0 which I super detailed as No. 6227. (Lovely switcher model, never stalls, runs nice and slow if a bit noisy.)
I am slowly working on a MDC 4-6-0 to depict 999 or 1018. I have a Spectrum 4-6-0 which runs pretty well and has nice detail and a Model Power 4-6-0 which runs poorly but looks good as No. 32 with a custom paint job and a pile I details which I added.
My flagship loco is an Athearn Genesis Light 4-6-2 which I altered to look, more or less like No. 2552 "Haliburton". That is the locomotive that is about to cover the quilts in soot. It looks great pulling a string of passenger cars, although it has never run quite the same since the four foot drop to the basement floor a few years back!
I live for the day when I can afford a nice brass D-10, but it is not in my league yet.
Overall I find any good locomotive model with a Baldwin look takes on a great DAR appearance once you give it the DAR livery treatment with dark red paint job, a silver nose and a set of Black Cat or CDS Land of Evangeline insignia.

I also have a G scale Bachmann 4-6-0 which I custom painted in DAR colours as No. 32. I don't have a garden railway but the model looks splendid running around the Christmas tree to the delight of my nieces and nephews.

Cheers and best wishes for fun with some DAR steamers.

Dan

[engineeral]

What did you use for tenders for your DAR steam? Did you build bunker extensions? Seems like most US prototypes had smaller bunkers (more fuel stops?) while CPR and CNR used many extensions or even built the tenders new with very tall bunkers.

[Dan Conlin]

I kitbashed most of my tenders, usually cutting them in half and shortening them and hacking away at decks to make them look like the DAR prototypes. In a couple of cases I got junk tenders at train shows and swapped them. I put coal extensions on two locomotives but have never got around to doing any more. It is a lot of fussy work and frankly they end up making the tender looking kind of ugly and out of proportion. Also I notice that many DAR locos didn't have the extension at earlier points in their careers. Rationalizing I guess, but if I keep detailing those steamers I will never finish my scenery.
I just uploaded one picture of one of my DAR locos, No. 556: http://dardpi.ca/wiki/index.php?title=File:IMG_0832.jpg

Dan

[Dan Conlin]

I have added a couple of new photos of my layout on my model page:
http://dardpi.ca/wiki/index.php?title=C ... el_Railway

My Kentville yard & Cornwallis River is almost finished:
http://dardpi.ca/wiki/index.php?title=F ... tville.JPG

I also uploaded a shot of my locomotive No. 32 passing the Cecil Masters scrapyard:
http://dardpi.ca/wiki/index.php?title=F ... p_yard.jpg

Cheers,

Dan Conlin

[PEIR]

I really like the scrap yard scene. Is that a photo or painted forest in the background?

[Dan Conlin]

Thanks. Scrap yards are fun. The backdrop is a digital image paper backdrop made by Scenicking. I think they photoshopped several real images to stretch and layer them. The version I used was I think called Blueberry Hill:
http://www.sceniking.com/CATHO/CATH11.htm

In any case, they look just like the North Mountain. For my Kingsport section, I took my own photo of Blomidon and blended it with the Scenicking backdrop using a colour photocopy:
http://dardpi.ca/wiki/index.php?title=F ... gsport.JPG

Cheers,

Dan