Non-RR RR layouts?

[FichtenFoo]

So has any of you seen or heard of anyone doing a sci-fi or fantasy-like railroad layout? I ask because I keep thinking about how much fun a Mad Max styled layout would be. Have a heavily 'modified' truck on rails, etc... Ramshackle towns made from corrugated sheet. Captain Walkers downed plane, "orphan oasis sanctuary place", Thunderdome...

[clevermod01]

I have seen a couple but not many. I've thought about doing a micro layout based on the Hyio Miazaki film Castle in the sky which features a long rail chase scene.

Thom

[FichtenFoo]

I have seen a couple but not many. I've thought about doing a micro layout based on the Hyio Miazaki film Castle in the sky which features a long rail chase scene.

Thom

Hah! I've thought about that as well. I was also thinking one with the Akuyaku #1 pigs would be fun. Whole villages of them.

[darrylhuffman]

There are several people who model Disneyland railroads.

http://burnsland.com/disneyrailroads/viewforum.php?f=8

[Frederic Testard]

My friend, Michel Foissy, who is an accomplished modeller, once exhibited a 6 foot long module in S scale that featured a very nice street in a Colorado village. It was at a narrow gauge exhibition and it perfectly fit the bill since there were no rails at all. You don't have to go to other planets or fantasy worlds to make non RR-layouts. I must say that sometimes I feel myself very attracted by this kind of modelling. Unfortunately I happen to like the look of trains.

[eTraxx]

Michael .. having seen your German/Soviet'ish mecha whatzits (and fish sub) .. makes me think you could pull off a steam-punkish .. steam rail layout!

[Hector Bell]

I often wonder why people model railways when obviously they are happier with the environment than the rails or trains.
The railway environment is certainly an attractive one for architectural and scenic modellers.  I have no interest whatever in playing trains, so my last layout was not even wired, but the fictional history and plausible landscape gave the opportunity to engineer first roads, then canals, then railways through it, both standard gauge light railway and narrow gauge industrial feeder, but one whole board was rail free, just a street with typically English rurality on it.
Those who have to have trains often neglect the real trackside scene woefully and lose any sense of plausibilty to the layout.
What I love about the American scene is the willingness to "knock up a diorama".  Good on yer guys.
It's rarely done in Britain apart from the endless and rather trite military things.
If you think about it there are millions of keen landscape painters who are moved to act at their easels by what they see around them.
Why don't we do that in 3D??

Martin

[FichtenFoo]

I just figure if you're gonna go a RR layout, why do it like everyone else? 

I have given a LOT of thought to making a huge 1/35 post-apocalyptic city scene. Would be perfect for my various builds and creations, but haven't the space to store or display such a thing.

There are several people who model Disneyland railroads.

http://burnsland.com/disneyrailroads/viewforum.php?f=8

I gotta say, when I saw "Disney" train layouts I immediately thought "ugh"... but some of the work is very impressive. Nice link!

[Malachi Constant]

Scroll down to the "Pirates Cove" layout for a steampunk/fantasy thing that I think is rather cool:
http://www.carendt.com/scrapbook/page100/index.html

Science fact or science fiction?  Scroll down to the Roswell layout:
http://www.carendt.com/scrapbook/page100/index.html

Neat mix of fact AND fantasy here ... some prototype scenes showing small industrial rail equipment used by archaeologists at the Acropolis ... and a layout with an Indiana Jones sort of thing going on:
http://www.carendt.com/scrapbook/page92a/index.html

First one on this page is a caricature of mountain railroading, but may spark some ideas:
http://www.carendt.com/scrapbook/page84a/index.html

Video clip of TRAIN escape scene from Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmlTGeKL4os

And the "TRAIN" in that scene might be right up your alley! 

Cheers,
Dallas

[gin sot]

I've had an urge to construct a rather dark Edward Gorey-influenced train layout for a while.  I envision crypts and mausoleums, abandoned mansions, desecrated churches, etc.  The figures would be gaunt and hollow-eyed and a exhibit a distinctly cold, pallid skin tone.  Pretty much any sort of archaic and picturesque locomotives and rolling stock would do, since there'd be no actual time window beyond "everybody died a long time ago," and everybody knows that ghosts from many eras can coexist in remote temporal contexts.  The Bachmann old-time train sets like the Pegasus and DeWitt Clinton, redone in funereal color schemes, would be appropriate.  This would allow an outlet for my urges to model dilapidation and "whimsy" (admittedly a rather morbid form of whimsy) that are not appropriate for my more serious efforts to model a certain place and time. 

I remember the Model Railroader doing a couple of brief orphan articles about hypothetical railroads in a space exploration context back in the 1970s; the inspiration was probably equal parts Apollo Program and Panama Red.

[W C Greene]

Wow-whatta concept! Well, I gotta have my teakettles however. Martin mentioned that his layout was not wired, neither is mine.
Hot fun in the Summer time...
                      Woodie

[Malachi Constant]

PS -- In addition to the Mad Max theme, I think the Blade Runner style would lend itself well to adaptation ... and the sci-fi show "Firefly" had a mix of space ships and trains in it ... do an image or video search for "Firefly train" to find more ...

you might also find an image search for "space train" rather interesting or amusing ... for example, scroll down to the "earth to moon space train" here:
http://www.freewebs.com/steamnoir/rockets.htm

Cheers,
Dallas

[finescalerr]

Martin, this is THE forum for railroad modelers without layouts. I built a 1x6 foot switching diorama twelve years ago and never have operated a train on it. Heck, I don't even want a "real" layout. But I like knowing something could function if I bother to plug it in.

I'll bet half the guys here don't have a layout and are in no hurry to build one. And I like the idea that people have come up with all kinds of oddball ideas for layouts they'll probably never build.

I do, however, suspect some of us would benefit from professional care.

Russ

[Hector Bell]

Russ, that's why this is now the only forum on my favourites!

Martin

[78ths]

Hi Russ
I can relate - I love building scale miniatures even in live steam, and without a lot of refreshments I find running them bores me after 15 minutes. I now have display cases filling up with models that are fully functional and are hardly ever run. Diversity is also a wonderful thing.
Ferd

I do, however, suspect some of us would benefit from professional care.

Nothing like a massage and spa treatment to please the modelers soul