Service Road

Even if modeling modern day railroading isn't your thing, you might want to take a look at Pelle Soeborg's work. If you read Model Railroader, you've no doubt seen his many articles over the last few years. One of the features on his layout that struck me was his use of roads , in particular service roads. On most layouts, if they are modeled, they're truncated. On Pelle's, they're actually a large feature. Even though it's a simple detail, the uncompressed size adds an instant realism that your eye recognizes. His automobile roads are even larger, ten feet or more. You'll see what I mean when you go to his site.

What it 's done for me is reinforce the idea that not only should I not try to cram as much as I can into a scene, but to model as little as possible when space is limited. Previously on last years attempt at a 1950's layout, my problem was that when I drew out my track plan I was trying to cram streets - a whole town - in a space less than 24 " wide. It just can't be done, not to the point where it doesn't look like a severe caraciture. I should have just ran a single road down the length of the layout or just cut one or two across laterally and gone from there.

On my Green Belt, my newly named present day layout, I'm planning at least one lengthy stretch of road, about eight feet long. I've already worked in two service roads, one is pictured above.

Take a look at Pelle's site if you have a moment...lots of lessons to be learned from him and his layout. Paste this link to get there...

http://www.soeeborg.dk/railroading.html