Squeezing Tumba :Extreme Compression, Real Viewpoints

How?• STEP 1 - Pick your locale and era to suit your taste in scenery

and layout operations.Done, here’s Tumba…

• STEP 2 - Limit your setting and make sure it has operating possibilities.

Hmmm…. Focus….

• STEP 3 - Pick a scale and gauge.Done, NSWGR 7mm assumed… (although… ;-) )

• STEP 4 - Get out your shoe horn.Traversers, Staging, Lateral Thinking Ahead…

• STEP 5 - Plan the details, Viewblock anything “Unhelpful”Identify and nail the “keynote items”,

and the “scene” will stand up to significant scrutiny…

STEP 1 - Assume Tumbarumba

As covered, - sprawling, - “loopy”- Barely enough action “in totality” for lasting interest

STEP 3 - Assume NSWGR 7mmNuff said…

STEP 2 - Limit the setting, make sure it has operating possibilities.

• Tumba actually has at least 3 “points of interest”in scenic and operational terms, within its overall yard limits

• With suitable staging, we can emulate most prototypical train movements/shunting actions

STEP 4 - Get out your shoe horn.

• Why Compress the scene? • Why not DE-Compress the scene?

• Turnouts are space eaters,eliminate unless their operation actually enhances the scene/presentation

• Assigning specific roles to staging tracks re-inforces “beyond onstage” operations

Single-Track Traverser Staging(Simple)

• Regular “mainline + spur”

• 1-track traverser equivalent

Mainline

Spur

Mainline

Spur

Single-Track Traverser Staging(Simple)

• Operational Comparison

Carnegie Car Shops

Cassette Staging/Traverser

Repair-In-Place

PaintShop

Assessment

Simplicity Sidings

“2-track Traverser with a Purpose”(Medium Complexity)

• Regular “mainline + spur”

• 2-track traverser equivalent

Mainline

Spur

Mainline

Spur

“2-track Traverser with a Purpose”(Medium Complexity)

• Operational Comparison

Staging Crossovers/Spurs

• Regular “mainline + spur”

• 2-track traverser equivalent

Mainline

Spur

Mainline

Spur

Staging Crossovers/Spurs

• Operational Comparison

De-compression #1“Stockyards + Mainline run-thru”

De-compression #2“Station + Loading Bank”

De-compression #3“Loco”

STEP 5 - Plan the details, Viewblock anything Unhelpful

• A “proto-based scene” can actually get away with significant “variations”, as long as the key scene details appear correct(See Jim L’s earlier presentation!)

• Get the track at Eye Level,

• If you don’t want it to be seen, block it off! TV and Theatre have known and been doing this for years!!!

“But I don’t want a un-prototypical overpass on my layout…”

• At Scale trackside eye height,even a small bush can hide a train

• Proscenium Framing guides and forces the viewer’s eyes to the scene.

• Framing is far more “visually acceptable” than the concept suggests…

Any Questions?

Thankyou for attending

Squeezing Tumba :Extreme Compression, Real Viewpoints

Thanks to….John Lee, John Cheek,

“Shortliner” Jack Trollope, John Garaty…

In Memoriam

Carl ArendtMarch 2011

Links, Sources, and Thanks…