Blue Creek Railroad

This is the website for the Blue Creek Railroad, a freelanced 2 1/2 x 5 foot N scale layout. The priorities for track design was to have many switching locations, and something more than an oval, so that running trains doesn't become a racetrack affair. I have also tried to come up with ways to increase variety in operation, engines, and rolling stock, all of which I document on this website.

The layout is currently at the stage where hills have been created, ground cover applied, tracks ballasted, and I've moved onto detailing individual scenes. While the scenery is far from complete, getting it to the point where ground cover is applied gives the layout some life and definition. Now there is a sense of some completion, so I can take my time finishing off each scene without feeling rushed.

My favorite part of modeling is detailing engines. So, I have an inordinate amount of engines, and I employ several operating schemes to include most of them in regular operating sessions. In the engines section, I have already laid out the engines that I will be putting together for this layout, and I will be updating those pages as each engine project progesses. The first project, a Southern GP30, has already been completed.

Many N-scale modelers follow the "three-foot rule" when it comes to detailing most of their engines and rolling stock. The idea is that if you can't see the difference that a particular detail makes from three feet away (say, from behind a rope when viewing an N-track module), then it is not worth doing. So for most models, things like separate grab irons and lift rings don't make a difference. In my situation though, the viewing distances from operating positions range from 6 inches to no more than 3 feet. So the extra effort I can put into detailing locomotives, cars, and scenes will pay off. But more importantly, it's what I enjoy doing, so that is what I will do.

I get alot of ideas from what I see others do in magazines, on the Internet, and in person. I find that I do not normally copy someone's methods directly. Instead, I mostly draw on their experiences (good, bad, or indifferent), and usually do things that work best for my abilities and situation. So while methods, materials, etc. used 30 years ago, or in other scales, or even for large N scale layouts, might not directly apply to my situation, I can still get ideas from them. And while I normally don't inspire people like John Allen, people have been known to learn from my mistakes, so I share my experiences with others.

I've done enough on my layout by now that there is some content with which to start a website (although there seems to be more promise than actual results on this site at this time). As I complete projects (which sometimes might take a couple of months), I will update this website, and annotate new additions at the bottom of this page. For the most part, I don't plan on making this a "how-to" site. Instead, I simply plan on documenting most of my methods used, so that visitors can get an idea of how those methods turned out. Well, for me, anyway. If you have any questions or wish to learn how I did something in detail, please feel free to contact me via email.

The layout and other equipment remain packed up while I am out of state again. My situation is such that I've had to pack the layout in a crate, and now I might not be able to unpack it until the middle of 2008. While I won't be able to finish any more scenes on the layout for a long while, I still hope to do some other projects like detailing engines when I get the opportunity. The shot below shows my Southern 2815 project, which was one of the engine projects completed while the layout has been stored. Even though this engine came from the factory with the high hood and Southern paint scheme, it required more work than the GP30 project did.