Jamie’s been in touch with a load of fab pics of his HO scale people.
Adding people adds so much life to a layout.
And Jamie stories behind each scene also has me smiling:
Jameie’s been in touch again with his stunning HO layout:
“Alastair,
Welcome again…if this is too much too soon, I understand.
I have stories behind all of these scenery setups…
Two workers returning to the office at the canning company at Barcelona peer.
Salvatore, a first generation from Italy carries bags of potatoes from the Desiderio food distribution facility.
John, and Ernie, both Originally from Ireland take a closer look at a car that’s made its way from the West coast.
These two brothers, Lowell and Lee, have never been able to agree on anything… they might even disagree if the sky was blue… if it was ever sunny.
Pasquale pushes that cart along all day and even though his English “isn’t so good” he loves chatting it up with his fellow employees
The King Brothers (they are twins) and they married two sisters… their glass blowing company sells beautiful pieces all over the world.
Oscar Rayford, owns the local concrete plant… he’s responsible for all the sidewalks in town
David Gray, a huge man… is seen switching here for a shipment of sand to Rayfords concrete. David, is one of the key actors in the theater group in Buffalo Creek.
Rick Wilber, a novelist that specializes in Science Fiction books opened a bookstore and it attracts a wide variety of people. They are anxiously awaiting the store opening on a nice Sunday morning.
Romito-Donnelly makes furniture and their key designer was Vincent Tondiglia, also an Architect, Vincent can be seen in his Little Italy studio drawing a new building. He is also this authors father in law.
Down in Lackawanna Jim Collins works along with many Irishmen at the Bethlehem Steel plant. Here, a pot is being moved.
Angelo is waiting for a local delivery to pass his tower… there are 4 NYC towers in the area, Angelo has worked in all four the towers for the railway and is the longest employed tower operator.
Hooker Chemical in Niagara Falls makes some nasty chemicals, we’d all come to find out years later, but in this time period their tankers can be seen everywhere.
I hope you find these interesting enough to post… if not, I’d certainly understand
Jamie”
Well, Jamie, it’s never too soon to post new pics, and they are definitely interesting enough – I loved them. And the stories behind each picture really do bring it to life.
If you missed Jamie’s last post, it’s here.
Jamie’s post reminded me of one of Dan’s:
That’s all for today folks.
Please do keep ’em coming.
And if today is the day you get started on your layout, the silly sale for the Beginner’s Guide is here.
It’s a great way to support the blog. Thank you to everyone who already bought – I’m really looking forward to seeing your printable buildings on your layouts!
Best
Al
PS Latest ebay cheat sheet is here.
PPS More HO scale train layouts here if that’s your thing.
Totally agree that adding peopleand cameos makes layouts more ‘alive’ – great.
Really great to have back stories for the little people.
This brings the scene to life.
Love the photog. Great close ups . would have loved to see the locomotives
HO the way to go !
The critic
Thank you. I am on my way out, day by day, age illness it seems does catch up. Your scenes and your stories opened a part of my mind for moments to “live” those scenes, your narrative reminded me of a time so long ago, I thought it was lost and could not ever be found again. I found a few of those in your words, your trains and taking the time to tell us all a story, yours LS English.
Jamie
Great characters and story. Nice work on the buildings and scenery. How about a greater picture of the layout. As a retired HVAC engineer my job was to torment you Architects LOL-and there are a few of you on this blog that have very impressive train layouts. Keep it coming.
I love the HO people. I have the same “family” with different paint. Also good to see “local” stuff, Hooker Chemical and the Arcade and Attica.
Small scenes an important part of the “Big PIcture” of your layout.
Really enjoyed the stories of your folks that live in your world. Our imagination is what makes our layouts come alive.
Jamie, your scenes are beautifully well done and oh my yes, the information and details you wrote about each scene is awesome. You clearly know your way around your layout. Thank you for sharing. I look forward to seeing and reading more about your layout.
Adding people brings any layout to life and begins to tell its story. Great job and wonderful pictures. Thumbs up from Ann Arbor. 👍👍👍👍
There’s more to Jamie’s people stories than initially meets the eye. Developing a story line for each scene makes it much easier to place the scene in a realistic way as Jamie did so well with these little slices of life. Like placing someone running for a train would maybe have people looking at him like a nutcase, or a dog chasing him. People working on a machine with tools being handed and a boss looking at the real work being done. I especially like the back stories for the shops and their owners. Good job Jamie!
John From Baltimore
Great loved the stories. Need to see more trains please.
Thanks again AI.
Beautiful detail and thoughtful scenes make your layout one of the best HO I have seen! I wish I could develop my N scale skills to something like that level of precision. Magnifying lenses and less coffee, I guess!
Wow! The layout really comes alive with visuals and short explanations as seen by everybody! Good stuff to see. Makes it a real joy to see and enjoy! Good show!
The DETAIL is off the chart. Nice going
wow fantastic lay out
Looks pretty kool.!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope mine turns out that good.
Jamie- People and vehicles (when used properly) can really add to the atmosphere of a layout. You have given them a new dimension by providing a story for each character. Brilliant!
I so enjoyed your precise background of each character you introduced. It really gives flavor to the whole setup. Thanks.
Kevin
As I am past Bethlehem Steel employee I noticed you should have the entire crane cab and railings painted safety yellow as well as the crane hook (not visible).
Nicely done. Figures do make the scenery come to life. Thanks for sharing.
Jim AZ
Jamie…love your scenes and photos…….nice color and work. Send a picture of the overall layout
Yes… this is what I hope to incorporate into my next layout.
The photos are great. But I would really like to see several photos of the overall layout. You had one such photo, but it was hard to see the detail which you presented in these photos. But I think a photo of the whole layout would be great to see.
Kindly include a track plan whenever possible
Love the detailed scenes great idea and will borrow a few.
Awesome layout!!! Are you from western New York? I’m from Buffalo 14224. I would love to see your work in person. My layout is mostly Nickel Plate, Pennsylvania and NY Central. My family worked at Hooker/Oxy, Carborundum, Texaco and Niagara Alkali.Feel free to contact me I am in the Buffalo phone book and visit Section 8 hobbies frequently. You may get my email from this site.
Hi Jamie, loved your scenes, the ones that caught my interest were the hooker chemical ones and the Oscar Rayford one. I am from western ny and actually ran the concrete plant that loaded Rayford’s mixers, which was owned and run by Pine Hill Concrete Company. Actually just starting on my layout which will have one of Pine Hill concrete plants on it, nice work!!
Small scenes one of the favorite parts of this hobby for me. They really tell “the story”
The people really bring the scene to life but the thing I noticed in scrolling through the pics is the loading docks. Too many times on layouts the loading docks at businesses are too narrow. Then the modeler puts pallets, drums and stuff with a forklift. The dock is too narrow for a forklift to maneuver empty, much less shifting a pallet around.
Goofs job giving the forklift operator plenty of room.
People and their stories spark the imagination in yo creating the next verse … great job ! Love all the scenes and stories , with some imagination snd well placed peeps the story becomes obvious , i ,e girl friend consoling dispatched lover, guy throwing up outside biker club ,his buddy laughing while third guy is tightly tucked behind the nearest large tree. Fun stuff to be had . Great job indeed .
I love the fact that you personalize your layout. I do the same thing. It’s funny because I don’t set out to create a certain type of scene. They just seem to take shape and in my mind the personalities emerge as the scene is completed. I have one scene where my description would simply be “these two are up to no good”! LOL Keep up the good work. I had no idea about Hooker Chemicals. I’ll have to pick up a tanker now!
I like the layout and the stories behind the people. It makes it more real. It also brought back memories of years ago when I hauled steel out of the Bethlehem Steel plant in Lakawanna . One day while tarping down a load , I heard a LOUD boom on the other side of the wall where I was. Checking to see if something blew up and I needed to get out now, I discovered a crane operator dropped a HUGE coil of steel. Thank God no one was hurt.
Love the stories! I give structures and rivers and mountans, etc. names of my family and friends, but have never really been big into putting people on my layouts. That will change. Thanks for the inspiration.
There is real life in every scene. Excellent job on the scenes as well as the captions. Would you mind sharing where you purchased the people?
Once again superb build. The story behind each picture really adds to your description. Scale again superb. To be super critical the cobbled road outside king bros glass works. You have the cobbles running along the road surface. In reality they should lie long side across the road. Apparently, it reduces the surface area presented to wheels running across them and ultimately spreads the load with the cobbles on each side of itself. We have a lot of old historical cobbled streets here in Edinburgh they all run long side across the road. In Scotland we call them “chuckies”. Why I don’t know.
Jamie- people always add to the realism of a layout- especially with stories attached! Thanks for sharing.
very good work, like the stories. very busy.
Wow! Nice depiction of your little town and the people and especially the train workers at work. Love it! I’ am just getting started on my newest layout. Had a huge Lionel layout year ago and stupidly sold it after I got married and had my third kid. Working two jobs to support my family left little room for the time it takes for model railroading. I had a small fortune tied up in Lionel trains and
assemblage of train buildings and Plasticville everything.
Curios, where did you get the railroad workers. What outlet?
Love your layout and composition.
beautiful well done. sheldon mankes from va.
I love your layout, outstanding. Question: Where do your buy your people ? They are very very nice.
Thank you for sharing your pictures.
nicely done