[PRCo] Re: Modelling Seasons

[Fred W. Schneider III]

I remember Grant McCoy, when he was at PennDOT, relating to his
experiences as a bus driver in a family firm.  Seems he was driving a
bus (McCoy Brothers, of course) and was infound on Penn Avenue coming
down the hill from Greensburg Pike to Wilkensburg when he lost the
critter on snow and began to slide sideways down the hill.  He recovered
it, pulled over to the curb to let a passenger off, and he claims that
everyone else on the bus also got off.

How do you model the bus sliding sideways, then coming to the curb, then
everybody getting off on a conveyor belt?  If anyone can do it, our
friends from Wilmington can....

"Dietrich, Robert J." wrote:
> 
> I wasn't around on the weekend so I'll bring up the rear with my opinion,
> having the advantage of all other responses.
> 
> I model early Fall because when I was a kid I read in MR that Fall was the
> easiest season to model.  I now question the truth to that, but I still
> think it is the best season to model.  Things are more colorful, trees are
> thinner on leaves than in the summer, windows can still be open, people can
> be in short sleeves as well as coats; come to think of it most model figures
> are NOT in summer clothing.
> 
> But you asked about mixing seasons.  I can think of no valid reason not to
> model mixed seasons - that was a YES!  There are a couple ways to approach
> it.  The first, and most obvious, is to create two completely separate
> scenes, as Fred Bruhn indicated.  Create a barrier between the scenes and
> don't even have trains go directly from one to the other - a 3600' tunnel is
> a good separator.  The second method is to gradually go from one season to
> another.  Going from summer to fall by making vegetation a lighter green
> then to yellow green then to bright fall colors over a span of three feet or
> so.  Go from all building windows open (don't forget the screens), to some
> closed, to all closed.  You get the picture...
> 
> So what seasons?  I personally think Winter is the hardest.  First the trees
> are bare.  It is very hard to model bare trees, you can never get enough
> small realistic branches.  You can go for freshly fallen snow but it is hard
> to make it stay put and still keep it looking like snow.  Don't try
> operating on loose snow, you won't be operating long.  A more likely winter
> scene would have wet streets with puddles, plowed snow banks, and melting
> snow on the roof - if you figure out how to do that one well let me know.
> Then you have to make it dark and gloomy, there aren't that many bright
> sunny snowy days, especially in the 'burg.
> 
> I think you should go with the tunnel effect, at the south end is a bright
> sunny spring day and at the north end is 1945.
> 
> Bob
> 
>  -----Original Message-----
> From:   Jim Holland [mailto:pghpcc at pacbell.net]
> Sent:   Saturday, May 19, 2001 5:17 PM
> To:     -->- PRCo -- WP -- JTC -- The Big *3* -<--
> Subject:        [PRCo] Modelling  Seasons
> 
> Good Morning!!
> 
>         Have asked this question on other lists and will ask it here as
> well.
> It does concern models as opposed to the prototype, so for those
> interested, we can take it off list once started.
> 
>         What do you think about modelling 2-or more seasons on the same
> layout,
> specifically a PRCo layout so we are not talking about a line running
> over the Rockies and into the Plains!!??
> 
>         Not so much concerned with the details of modelling each season -
> that
> can come later (winter being the most difficult  --  it seems.)  Just
> what are the thoughts of such a mix on one layout?
> 
> --
> James B. Holland
> 
>         Pittsburgh  Railways  Company  (PRCo),   1930  --  1950
>     To e-mail privately, please click here: mailto:pghpcc at pacbell.net
> N.M.R.A.  Life member #2190; http://www.mcs.net:80/~weyand/nmra/