Harry Potter Themed HO/OO Modules in Maryland

[cgraham]

I'm a newbie to the forum.
I belong to a model railway club in Maryland and I have been building Harry Potter themed modules beginning with Hogwarts last July. It is built to US HO module spec's as a pair of 48" corner modules. The castle is entirely scratch-built. This is my first post, so I hope I get the photos to show up OK...





Cheers,
-cgraham

[hiffano]

that castle is freakin awesome, scratch built?! you my good sire, are a genius!

[cgraham]

Thanks Hiffano!
I'm glad you like it. As modules, I haul these things around the Mid-Atlantic region of the US to model railroad shows. Kids especially seem to love it. Here we are setting up - that's Hogwarts and me on the far left. The layout for this show was configured in an enormous "C" shape. Of course, all modules had black skirting in place before the show:

[35011 GSN]

wow that is a truely amazing layout

[buz]

Hi cgraham
I am gob smacked thats briliant.
Just where did you get Hagrid.
Will you be doing a modual/moduals with Glenfinnan viaduct on it.
Thats the one that the Hogwarts express crosses and Ron nearly crashes the car into.
regards John

[gbonesteak]

I am speechless, that castle is utterly brilliant

[Kevuk3]

Absolutely love that station , and the castle is awesome.

Kev

[kennyGWSR]

This is an amazing layout! the castle and Hagrid look really realistic
Good work!
Kenny

[cgraham]

Thanks for all the compliments, guys!

Hi cgraham
I am gob smacked thats briliant.
Just where did you get Hagrid.
Will you be doing a modual/moduals with Glenfinnan viaduct on it.
Thats the one that the Hogwarts express crosses and Ron nearly crashes the car into.
regards John

I made hagrid out of ProSculpt <http://www.artdolls.com/catalog.cfm/ProSculpt/> Here he is next to a US quarter dollar coin:



I am considering the viaduct - Right now my Hogwarts modules with the Hogsmeade Station modules make a 8' X 13' "J" shape. I will need a duplicate set of modules to complete a circuit if I want to run trains without connecting to other guys' modules in shows,
Hers are a couple links to YouTube videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5l9YTVL7bJA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTo-4sTkfys&NR=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UL8WdOleeJk&NR=1

[cgraham]

After going back and reviewing this post, I dug around and found a few other images to share:









Cheers,
-Cgraham
Columbia, MD USA

[cgraham]

Duplicate removed - See? I mentioned I was a newbie...

[buz]

Hi cgraham
Well that shoots down that idea
I had hoped you would tell me hagrid was a commercial figure made by,
he would look good with an S or possibly even O scale switch stand lamp for the big lamp you see him carrying in the movie just a thought.
Extra pictures look real good "I wanna play with it wah wah!!"
keep up the good work.
Some one will say it so it might as well be me More pictures Please
regards John

[cgraham]

Thanks John

Here's the cobblestone area by the coal dump in front of the goods shed. I need to find or make an 00 picnic table; the prototype has one in front of the white gate.



I wonder if you or any of the other guys have any ideas for that milk cart. Are those things common enough to hope a manufacturer produces an 00 model? As I'm likely to scratch build it, any ideas for the wheels?

Prototype:


Model:


Cheers,
Clayton (cgraham)

[Dragonfly]

An incredibly annoying level of detail and high quality. Raising the standard for the rest of us to [try to] match.

You've even captured the fact that it had recently been raining! The effect on that platform is stunning!

[cgraham]

Thank you!
The half-dry concrete platform idea came after a lot of anguish trying to find a paint-color solution to apply to the platform’s masonite surface. I tried various shades of gray, gray with beige, etc. After looking at a lot of photographs of Goathland Station, I noted that many of them showed the pavement to be in the process of drying. Concrete has a unique color-changing appearance as it dries. I thought that mimicking this on my model might cause viewers to subconsciously associate the half-dry color pattern to a real concrete surface and aid the illusion of reality.


Goathland Station:


[edit] I just re-read what I wrote above. The truth is that I just got lucky that the pavement came out looking OK.

-Clay