My HO Module built when I was active in the Connecticut Valley Model Railroad clubHere also is a quick look at a 2'x4' HO scale module I created for my NH club's modular layout. It began as an idea to model the Southern Railway station at Montpelier, VA and is a Walther's kit that was modified to fit my goal of modeling the A&Y more realistically. Thus the setting, the fence and station platform are more in line with Montpelier. After I finished some of the basic landscaping and the module plan, I decided to make it look more like something in North Carolina along the A&Y. I ended up with a generic mix that I hope gives the feel of southeastern railroading but represents no single prototype. The station is labeled "Pinnacle" because I didn't have a photo of the Pinnacle station at the time I built it and I thought that it was a great name for a flat modular layout. The module also allowed me to practice modeling red clay scenery.
I still need to learn how to model pine trees and granite! Anyway, I hope you forgive me my modelers' license this time. My new layout will be a real prototype modeling exercise.
The first image on the left is of my Southern Railway early black scheme RS-2 #2105 in front of the station. The image on the right is my Southern Railway green scheme RS-3 #6217 with more of the station showing.
The image on the left is #6217 again, but with a better view of the station. The shot on the right is a little overexposed so that you could see the A&Y train schedule board on the wall of the passenger station. I made this with my ALPS printer and the dimensions and layout of the board are based on the Southern's MoW standards from 1916 in the Volume I reprints by the Southern Railway Historical Association.
This photo on the left is my first attempt at modeling a red clay unpaved road. I was pleased with the way it turned out. It's a sculptamold base, a cheap latex terracotta colored housepaint with real sifted red clay dusted on top while the paint was still wet. The ruts were made by "driving" the HO vehicles through the sculptamold before it was thoroughly dry. The image on the right is a shot of some of my Atlas pulpwood racks with #2105 pulling a couple of coal hoppers and a P2K 50' boxcar behind it. I thought that made a nice "railroady" scene, despite the plain cardboard backdrop at that time.
I got this module in the natural light outdoors to get better photos! No backdrop was a plus for these kind of photos! Here are the two that did not have a huge background tree, a road or a passerby to ruin the scale perspective:
