People

[cycletrak9]

Picture the scene if you will -

A train pulls into an N gauge station. It has DCC , there are lights in the carriages and passengers seated within. There is full sound and we hear brake squeal, station announcements, hiss of steam/diesel noises and the train moves off. The arrival and departure have been controlled by state of the art technology, the station buildings are  lit as are the platforms. If it is a "modern era" layout there are colour light signals and probably working semaphore signals for earlier days. the whole panoply of modern technology has been used to create as realistic an image as possible................................

BUT......

glued to the platform are little figures who have not moved at all despite several trains having arrived and departed in the course of the running session.

Have members of the forum any thoughts on this? It seems to me to be one area where we are not able to sustain an impression of reality. I'm modelling a sleepy branch line in the 1950's where there were not many people anyway, hence their subsequent closure, but I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on the matter.

Perhaps we have to separate the railway from the setting as this would also explain why the same bus is crossing the same bridge in a sort of time suspended dream. We might be wandering into the realms of philosophy or perhaps physics [time space continuum?]. This post is put up with tongue firmly in cheek but I'd love to have your views. 

[Pengi]

 . . . and the weather is always constant - no rain or snow actually falling

[Luke Piewalker]

I suppose you could have little people with magnets in their feet and a system under the platform to move them around 

[Pengi]

I think there is a layout that has a swimming pool with the swimmers moving

[mereman]

I'm having enough trouble starting the track laying without thinking about people 

[Geoff]

After the first paragraph I was in a different world, wow if only our models would come to life but I feel it would take a lot more work and lots of intelligence, I prefer the stillness of the scenery buy hey great thoughts and if you find  a cheap way of doing all this let us all know on the forum.

[PostModN66]

Yes - this has troubled me (seriously), which is why my layouts don't tend to have stations (although Deansmoor has a small "halt").

Apart from not having a station at all, other ways round this are to have an overall roof, a station under an office block, just the tips of the platforms modelled (the rest off-stage) or at least the platforms masked by a substantial station building between the platform and the viewer.

The more general point about use of figures is not to have them running, playing tennis etc. position them leaning, sitting, or otherwise immobile. Vehicles can be stationary at traffic lights, parked or broken down - unless you use the Faller Car system or similar.

Cheers  Jon   

[cycletrak9]

I suppose you could have little people with magnets in their feet and a system under the platform to move them around 

That would be a sort of N gauge Subbeteo!

[Newportnobby]

I suppose you could have little people with magnets in their feet and a system under the platform to move them around 

Sounds too much like Weeping Angels

I think there is a layout that has a swimming pool with the swimmers moving

They were all called Bob

There have been some seriously good animations of sewage treatment plants and canal boats but I can't see any fairly simple way of getting N gauge people to move realistically

[Massimo]

my very personal opinion is that when model is too much close with reality it's not a layout but a "napoletan presepio"...
so... as Only me said....: "not forget its only a model..."

Massimo

[cycletrak9]

. . . and the weather is always constant - no rain or snow actually falling

That's not so much of a problem as most layouts are set in a mythical day which always seems to be in summer with the the sun shining. Many exhibition layouts set out to portray the traffic of a typical prototype day. there have been a few winter/autumn layouts over the years.

[dodger112958]

Every model is a cut down version of the real thing, be it a railway, miniature war game etc. We can never model a true railway in 1 to 1 scale, even if you had an aircraft hanger, it could only be a small part of the real thing. Motionless passengers, trees and grass that don't blow in the wind, we try to create a model as close the real thing as we see it.
You could always use one of those computer programs if you want the full moving 3d effects, but how boring watching a screen. I would sooner have long suffering passengers who never board a train and trees that never will feel the wind, rain or snow. It is something you can gaze upon and say 'I created that.'
Just my humble opinion.

[Luke Piewalker]

I suppose you could have a crowd of commuters rushing up to the train doors and back round to the ticket office in a big circle, as if people coming off the train replaced those getting on

[Dorsetmike]

In my view the people, animals and traffic are only there to provide an impression of being "lived in", we don't normally stop and stare at a road, or platform, our gaze more often wander over a scene contiuously  almost like taking a sequence of photos so motion doesn't always have to register except when one specifically follows a movement.

[Agrafarfan]

Not sure what to say this. I think people bring a railway to life, but if my model figures start moving I would freak out or get some less stronger glue