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Fantasy railways and alien layouts

16K views 36 replies 19 participants last post by  Free-Form Journal 
#1 ·
If and when I ever get my layout finished (sometime in the 2020s at current rarte of progress) I am wondering if it woudl be possible to create a retro-future model railway. I am imagining a gleaming white monorail, sweeping through parkland studded with Corbusier-type architecture with streamlined befinned cars in the car parks and everyone wearing silver jumpsuits. One of my teachers actually had this idea when I was at primary school (he was a keen modeller) and as a class we actually started putting something together, but never actually got to the train stage (I assume nobody actually makes fictional monorail tracks and rolling stock).

Has anyone out there done something like this, or tried to model any kind of fantasy railway - either set in an imagined future or even not in this world at all? (there was quite a lot of train action on Mars in the movie Total recall I seem to, er, recall - now - a Martian layout - that's be something!"
 
#27 ·
I did, briefly, consider a fantasy Middle Earth setting, but based in modern times, with rail franchises such as East Middle Earth (based on East Midlands railways) and the like.

Fangorn is a bustling town full of humans with a totaly senile Treebeard used as a swing frame by the local kids, Lothlorien is an Elf themed fun-park, staffed by humans wearing plastic pointy ears, of course, because all the elves went over the sea thousands of years ago, and Hobbiton is the scene of a heavily guarded Hobbit reservation, surrounded by machine-gun towers and barbed wire to keep the rodents inside.

Then I decided I needed to get out more and meet people, and plumbed for a modern central England layout instead.
 
#28 ·
The setting for the elder scrolls games provides an interesting back-drop, particularly Morrowind. I envisaged 2 different railway systems for the island of Vvardenfell - an extensive 2' 3 gauge network across the elvish provinces and a 3' gauge line linking the imperial domains. Alternatively China Meiville's steampunk novels set in New Crobuzon are good ones as they include a vast steam suburban network centred on one large station and a transcontinental railway.

In terms of fantasy railways which do exist there is a small narrow gauge layout called Bramble Bottom which literally does look like the bottom of a hedge with little people and insects as passengers. And I remember the one that was in a circle with the really tall engines, carriages and people, but can't remember it's name now.
 
#31 ·
Beautiful models indeed Tony, I only wish I could afford one.....

Regards
 
#32 ·
QUOTE (21C164 @ 17 May 2011, 16:28) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>There is another Monorail supplier based on the Wuppertal Suspension Monorail - very expensive - but beautiful models. Available in 3.5mm or 2mm scale

web site here
http://www.hielscher-dampfmodelle.de/cms/i...t&Itemid=38

rgds Tony

I remember seeing them at Nurnberg a few years back - expensive yes, but no more than a couple of months worth of beer & ****
.
 
#36 ·
Hi All,

I did some captures of the Train Heist in Firefly , after seeing some of the Art and CGI render from the site linked to http://www.fantasy.freeformjournal.com/ , when I went back to have a look the images were only saved to the Clip board

I had not changed the setting as yet

Looks like another excuse to what the Firefly series again


Regards

Zmil
 
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