There are two 'trains' of thought regarding the height of trees for
their layouts. This is why I make and sell trees specifically for the
customer's needs. I have a 3-rail customer who wants everything 12" or
above. On the opposite end it's really hard to actually make something
for the N or Z folks that looks good--maybe they'll start making
nano-trees. S Scale is really ideal when it comes to things of this
nature.
And yes, the days of accepting Life Like or Lemax type trees for the
layout are hopefully gone forever. However, I do remember the thrill of
getting some for Christmas--5 for a dollar! They were about 3" high and
had the plastic base--a real bear to get them standing on sloped terrain.
One thought is that if you're modeling trees you may want them to the
height that Dave is talking about. This is ideal for the shelf type
layout where the background is really close. Or if you're modeling a
layout with many other considerations you will likely have to compromise
and scale back that size. Much of that will depend on how much area you
have before you bump into the background wall and what size your
mountains are. I have a photo in my train-room that I shot just outside
Ogden, Utah. It's a shot of a Eastbound UP train with the really tall
mountains the distance. The mountains are moderately full of trees on
the lower elevations. However the train, the trees and everything else
is tiny compared to the mountains--imagine a N scale train, with HO
trees on a garden live-steam scale mountain setting! Just guessing, but
I could imagine that mountain being 10-12' in height.
As has been mentioned trees at higher elevations are often not much
larger than the shrubs in your yard, while further down in the valley's
they are the ones used for telephone poles and formerly ship's masts.
Trees grown in more southern climates have longer growing seasons; if
they're growing in flatter terrain they generally get more water and
less rocky soil to deal with. So this will effect what your trees
should look like to some degree.
It's interesting to see many photos shot in the logging and mining
districts. Those areas were stripped clean of anything usable, so
sometimes I debate logging Shays snaking around really tall beautiful
stands of trees. Loggers generally went after the easy wood first and
that would be growing right next to the tracks. In fact those trees
would have likely been made into the ties for the track and mine supports.
Another thing can be said for small trees. I was visiting my home
country of the Dakota's in winter. I was somewhat surprised at the
small size of the deciduous type trees that were sprinkled around the
prairies. Without the fullness of the leaves, they were likely not over
15" in height. A short growing season, sparse rain and the occasional
ice storm as kept them small and wild looking.
Bob Werre
PhotoTraxx
On 7/23/12 8:07 AM, David Heine wrote:
IMHO, most model railroad trees are too small for mature trees. Just look
at the trees around the area. For trees in the 60'-95'range you wind up
with a tree 12"-18" tall. I have seen an O scale modeler model 150' trees
which looked neat and yes, they were 3' tall.
Dave Heine
Easton, Pa
-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected] <mailto:S-Scale%40yahoogroups.com>
[mailto:[email protected] <mailto:S-Scale%40yahoogroups.com>] On
Behalf Of
empirebuilderjjhill
Sent: Monday, July 23, 2012 7:01 AM
To: [email protected] <mailto:S-Scale%40yahoogroups.com>
Subject: {S-Scale List} Average height of Spruce trees in Alaska/Can.?
Hi Jace,
>From what I've read, White Spruce regularly reach heights of 90 feet,
with
some topping out at 130 feet, Black Spruce regularly reach heights of 50
feet with some reaching 90 feet and Sitka Spruce can reach heights of 315
feet with most mature trees measuring over 200 feet in height.
Putting the Sitka aside for a moment, would you say that most trees in
Alaska and Canada range from 40-80 feet in height? I ask because, being
used to the 8-foor (scale) pipe cleaner "Christmas Trees" the truck I cut
for one of these trees looks ridiculously large.
~James~
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