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Entry 9Whisper River
When Space Mouse introduced this contest, I thought about the first layout I ever designed and built. I looked through my old files, found my original 1982 sketch and sure enough, it was exactly 4 X 8. I also found some old photos which are very poor and the color is washed out. I was very happy with my first layout results including theme, operation and scenery. I used all of the classic Westcott techniques including L-Girder, Dual Cab, and Hard Shell on this first attempt. The railroad was destroyed when I moved to Memphis in 1986. Please excuse the unprofessional presentation. This is the first time I was able to post pictures and the first time I used a scanner and I am aware that I need further study in this regard but, there is illness in the family that I must attend to before the Thanksgiving deadline for this post. I believe that my first layout meets all the "Mouse Criteria". It uses flex track, handlayed track, Atlas turnouts, and Bemo turnouts and track. It is very vertical and uses mountain scenery as natural view blocks. There are no hints of loops from any viewing point. The theme is early 1900 steam logging. The first level is standard gauge ( Photo 1). The second level is narrow gauge ( Photo 2). On the third level are three logging spurs and landings (Photo 5 hoist house & 6 clear cut). I used a lot of illusions in this layout including selective compression. To maintain these illusions, I used clear cut logging scenes instead of destroying the illusion in a 4 X 8 ft space by using 200 scale foot sugar pine trees. |
