Modified Pioneer & Freedom Update....................

R

Railhead001

New member
Hello gentz,

It's been awhile since I have posted anything. Job, other games etc...etc.... anyway one of the main goals I wanted to achieve with my Modified Pioneer & Freedom layout was to have a functioning staging yard. Now in the real world of Model Railroading a lot of times people set this area off from the layout and usually its " unfinished", just the yard and no details per say since it is hidden from view....but I decided I wanted to make it stand out just a little bit. I initially was just going to add a backdrop of warehouses but could not find anything to my liking so I decided to place a small strip of warehouses running the length of the yard.
Below are some shots of the staging yard and functioning signals which are located on the eastern side (right side)




 
After deciding on the final warehouses and placing them I noticed almost immediately something was missing. And that would be signage on the buildings. Signs are a very important detail that can be overlooked and unfortunately you have to become creative in finding ways to use what is available...as you can see below these are the steps I use. The sign itself would have been fine if not for the "Property for Sale or Lease" under the main banner.....I wanted this to be a business "in business".
Step 1: Find the sign and building you want. Step 2: Adjust the height of the sign and by using the "shift" key to resize the sign in slower increments Step 3: Then once the sign is the right height carefully "push/pull" to fit it in the building so the banner shows but the posts do not.....you have to have some patience for this step:






As you can see by the results the sign looks like it was part of the building from the start..................practice practice practice
 
Next I thought it would be neat to have a U-Haul trailer repair facility........again I used the same technique for the U-Haul signs as previous. Another important detail I added to most of the warehouses were new doors and garage doors...sometimes the detail just isn't there on the model. I use Dave Snow's excellent "Build-A-Facility" series in which he has numerous doors, windows, docks, buildings etc... that allow you to super detail models.




I also decided to make a Coldwater Steel building that uses steel coils for manufacturing...
 
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Next up is a Daisy BB gun warehouse/plant: For this I used a billboard for the sign,,,




Last is the Monkey Bananas distribution warehouse.............




 
:wave: Hello Railhead001,

I see you have been busy again, great ideas with Signage placement and the narrow long length manufacturing buildings within a limited Wall to Rail Space.

:cool: Agree on Dave Snow Add a Door Assets, that's something I need to fool around with on my Routes too.

The additions you've added really bring out the interest in details, saw the UHaul setup, perfect for that part of wasted space in the building.

:Y: Keep up the good work and glad to see you.
 
nice to see your inspirations again...
having a great time with applying your ideas and tutos in my own layout(s)
btw: beautiful trucks you're using ... ....



daveric
 
Don't remember where I picked up the Yellow version but the white is off DLS SAP_USA_Truck_Western_Star_4800_White

KUID: <KUID:439337:101828>
 
So I decided to work a little more on the staging yard area. I wanted to add an unfinished look to it with the some benchwork being exposed...hence the wood texture you see in these 2 shots, the effect came out quite well:



The above pic is without using the "enhanced" windows 10 photo effect....a bit darker but allows you to see the actual screenshot as it was..
 
I decided to add a small yard facility and a road that borders the tracks, I also added over 120 freight cars and to my surprise ran a train through it several times without any slow down on the pc....these are shots of the occupied yard from different angles....I will add street lights and maybe some telephone poles to complete this side of the layout and leaving the wood exposed as is...






 
And 2 more:





I think this side came out pretty good, functional staging yard with operating signals and a decent backdrop of warehouses......
 
I decided to add just a little more detail to the yard facility....used the JointedRail small storage tank and reduced its size to make a more fitting fuel storage tank, added a fuel hose/pump for locos and sanding tower. Put a fence and some signs around the tank....tossed in a couple benches and you get the idea:








 
Details Details Details..............so for the U-Haul trailer repair facility I used the U-Haul trailers and signs by Dave Snow as well as the custom doors..and threw in some tires/tire rack


I used odds and ends for Coldwater Steel details, steel coils, steel plates, pipes, derelict mixers, barrels and more barrel drums:




One of the most common items you come across around railroads for better or worse is graffiti..............nothing seems to escape it. So with that in mind:

Bridges and walls are prime targets as you can see below:


Even places with high traffic can't escape as you see with the yard facility...small tagging or large....
 
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The Daisy BB gun industry has replaced doors by Dave Snow and I added different kinds of pallets along with some cartons, a forklift and more graffiti:





For the Monkey Banana Ltd. distribution warehouse I again replaced most of the doors and windows with the Build-A-Facility series by Dave Snow and then decided to add graffiti to most areas. Also have a forklift on the dock with a driver and a trailer pulled up to the dock..(Also note the warehouse to the left of Monkey Banans...added a propane tank and rusted gate between the two buildings.) The last shot I added the door to the wall and some steps, also by
Dave Snow.











 
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Textures.............I can't tell you how many I have in my content manager but individually none seem to do the job for me. It took me at least combining 5 different ground textures to get the effect I wanted for the yard facility area:



 
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Your telling me! I wish people would make ground textures that, well, have more texture to them! Some flat, basic ones are nice but having like 200 of them is ridiculous. Like grass for example, how about grass with dirt patches and other things in it too? If there was a little more variety with some ground textures instead of just having a flat texture, I think we would have less headaches when trying to "paint" instead of trying to combine over 5 different textures together to get the look you want like you had to do there.
 
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Maxing out....................well getting close anyway: Some stats for my past operating session:

76 freight cars for the coal and tanker yards you see below along with 10 Locos at the engine service facility:










153 freight cars for the staging Yard and 5 locos:







One test train running with 23 freight cars and 3 locos (1 SD40-2 and 2 SD80-Macs)

12 or so additional freight cars scatter at various industries around the layout:

264 total freight cars with 18 Locos on the layout (15 static)



 
MTH_ELECTRIC_TRAINS said:
Your telling me! I wish people would make ground textures that, well, have more texture to them! Some flat, basic ones are nice but having like 200 of them is ridiculous. Like grass for example, how about grass with dirt patches and other things in it too? If there was a little more variety with some ground textures instead of just having a flat texture, I think we would have less headaches when trying to "paint" instead of trying to combine over 5 different textures together to get the look you want like you had to do there.
Click to expand...

:wave: Spot on, that is one of my biggest issues when I texture, not that I'm any great artist, but if you don't blend and use rotate control button, it just looks fake or real boring.........And that is what takes me a world and half time to do. But I'm sure you seen this happen, you'll lightly spray an area of texture, look at in different angle one night, and see the darn Grid lines coming thru the paint, now you have to go back and recolor the area, and of course it's higher density than what you wanted, now you'll have to grab another texture or too, to not make look you just dabbed the area and it stands out from the rest of natural texture you started with, if that makes sense.............

;) Anyway, I let you get back to Railroading there, looks like the yards are full and quite busy, hope the Dispatchers are on their game tonight.......Looking very realistic Railhead001........Check your PM, I sent you some links sir.........
 
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