Greetings From the Belmar Valley!

Belmarvalley

New Member
Greetings Gauge members! :wave:

I’ve been lurking for quite a while and decided to come out of the woodwork. I’ve always enjoyed reading through the various topics which has displayed the skill and depth of modeling knowledge here. I’ve also learned a lot from you guys.

I’m an N-scale modeler (or at least I try to be) and have been working on my layout for almost three years now (on and off). It’s called the “Belmar Valley”, which is a fictitious rustic location somewhere in the Appalachian range. It’s mainly served by N&W, but other roads have known to make an appearance. I’m not at all a stickler for prototypically (as you will see).

The layout itself is loosely based on the “Atlantic Long Haul” plan in the Atlas book. I extended it, widened out the curves, and reduced the amount of sidings & turnouts so longer trains can be run. I’ve taken some shots that I’d like to share. Now this layout is the first I’ve taken to the scenery stage, and (as with all layouts) is still a work in progress. So I have absolutely no delusions that any of what I have done could stand up to the more seasoned work that I’ve seen on this forum.

As I’ve already shared these on a couple of other forums I frequent over the past months, some of you may have already seen them – so I don’t mind at all if you give a yawn and move on. :sleeping:

This first shot is an overview of my layout (or most of it):
aet.sized.jpg


The following pictures are shots that I took around my layout and then added in (“Photoshopped”) new backdrops. One of the lessons I learned in building this layout is that I will pay more attention to the importance of backdrops.

Here’s a shot of the bridge over the Belmar gorge:
aem.sized.jpg


A couple shots of a GP20 at work:
adl.sized.jpg

aev.sized.jpg


A coal train on its way out of the valley:
adv.sized.jpg


UP GP20 heading over the Belmar Creek (UP this far east?? I warned you I was not a proto-stickler…):
aeb.sized.jpg


Here’s another UP GP20 shot:
aed.sized.jpg


An ACL express on it’s way out of the valley:
aee.sized.jpg


Hope you enjoyed my little corner of the world.

Bruce
 
F

Fred_M

Welcome to the gauge (as a poster). Great work, please enter our photo contest. FRED
 

ddavidv

Member
Nice work...I certainly wouldn't be embarrassed to have that layout. Good weathering too. Hey, we can't all be John Allen. :)
 

BDC

Member
Great photos! I especially like the third shot where you have two distinctly different colors of ballast right next to each other.
 

grumbeast

Member
Thats a great looking layout Bruce!, The lush look of your scenery is just like Nova Scotia
right now! so thanks for inspiring me to go an do a little more sceniking!

Graham
 

Belmarvalley

New Member
Thanks for the welcome everyone. :)

I thought I'd follow up with a couple of "historical" pictures as the Belmar Valley has been around for a while. :D

Here's one the I doctored up to be from the 1930's. Of course the place still looks a hundred years old:
ads.sized.jpg


Here's a black & white from the late 50's or early 60's:
adr.sized.jpg


Here's a current day shot of an abandoned spur leading to an old coaling tower:
act.sized.jpg


Can you tell I recently got a digital camera and like to play with it? :eek:ops:
 

alphanumeric

New Member
really nice and scenic layout you have there.. I am in the middle of choosing my first layout and was also planning on doing that same layout from the atlas level2 book. could we see some pictures of the layout in whole?
 

shaygetz

Active Member
Great work, nice track to scenery ratio. Very easy to be tempted to put in too much track and leave no room for realistic scenery, you've done well :thumb: Welcome to The Gauge, AL Southern :wave:
 

Matthyro

Will always be re-membered
A great layout Bruce. Welcome to the Gauge. Those backgrounds are awesome as is your scenery
 

Ralph

Remember...it's for fun!
Beautiful layout! I especially like the bridge over Belmar gorge. Nicely done. Wow! Those photo backdrops create amazing pictures!!!!
Thanks for showing us these!
Ralph
 

shamus

Registered Member
Hi Bruce,
Now thats a Model Railroad, very very nice indeed. The scenery is excellent, so are the photo's
Shamus
 

SD90

Active Member
Great looking layout! I like the water, it looks really good. Nice weathering and scenery too. I hope one day I can get my layouts scenery to look that good. I like what you did with the backdrop, nice work! Hope to see more pictures!
 

Drew1125

Active Member
FANTASTIC layout Bruce! :cool:
I think I've seen your pics over at the Atlas forum...?
Your scenery is just super! :thumb:
I really like your trackwork, too...especially the variety in your ballast(s)
It's all really really excellent work! :thumb:
Let's see some more...PLEEEASE!! :D
 

cpNscale

Member
Excellent layout there,I hope my little door layout will have the same appeal and reaction with people as i progress into my scenary stage.
Keep up with photos so I might be able to draw on some great work.
 
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