# Lakawanna Railroad Movie Set



## wilbeck (Dec 10, 2008)

I just found this website and was pretty impressed: http://www.lackawannarailroad.com/HOME.html. I searched these forums and found no previous mention of it. What do you all think?

Wilson


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## parkdesigner (Jan 5, 2008)

Ah... nice modeling, sure - but a "Hollywood" stand in - um, no. The vfx are poor - even by second-stringer film students standards. Nowadays, I-movie can composit better than that video - and hate it as much as you want, digital models are looking more and more like the real thing every day. 

But thanks for sharing - it is a very nice model!


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## Semper Vaporo (Jan 2, 2008)

Yes, very nice models, but the compositing of background out the windows of the passenger cars made the cars look like the train was flying/airborne.


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## Semper Vaporo (Jan 2, 2008)

Oh yeah... the link as present in the post doesn't work right... You have to copy it and delete the "/Home.html" off the end of it.


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## wilbeck (Dec 10, 2008)

Sorry about my goof with the copy/paste function. Hopefully this will work: http://www.lackawannarailroad.com/ 
Yeah, it's no movie set, but really cool just the same and I do wish I had an extra 2K ft^2 for a layout. 

Wilson


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## Russell Miller (Jan 3, 2008)

Jack Verducci has been working on this layout for quite some time. The train station is a work of art and very large and heavy.
Russ


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## Mr Ron (Sep 23, 2009)

It's a beautiful model railroad, but I don't think it would convince the public that it is full size. It seems just too perfect for reality. Everything is too clean. Missing the clicks in the rails. It just looks like a model. I think the biggest problem is, perspective. Everything is in focus; foreground and background, except for the obvious closeups.


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## takevin (Apr 25, 2010)

The of people in the passenger car was less than......wow so many things off not even funny.


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## Ralph Berg (Jun 2, 2009)

Their modeling skills far surpass their cinematography skills. What they have here is a tool that could be combined with other techniques to film a very realistic scene.
Ralph


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## DennisB (Jan 2, 2008)

When my modeling skills approach that level of detail, I will feel free to criticize. Dennis


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## Ray Dunakin (Jan 6, 2008)

Since you asked what we think, here's my two cents... 

As a model railroad, it's incredible! The amount of detail and faithfulness to prototype is superb. It's amazing what can be done when money is no object. 

As for it's usefulness to TV or movie production, I'm skeptical. Model sets used in movies are generally much, much larger scale than 1:32, except when depicting something seen from a distance. The videos on the website are nice but they are still clearly models with some special effects. 

Also it seems like kind of a narrow niche -- how many movies or TV productions need to depict the specific locale and era represented by this model? 

That said, I wish the best of luck, to whoever is behind it. (The "About Us" page on the website was curiously devoid of any information in that regard.)


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## Spule 4 (Jan 2, 2008)

Would make a good movie set for the period, for period films. No, not CG like a lot of stuff from today, but think back 1940s-1950s, and they have a real gem, which I think is the aim?


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## vsmith (Jan 2, 2008)

With a few exceptions, CGI has completely taken over, its simply less expensive, plus you dont have to manuvure a heavy camera around a physical model, its all inside the computer. Green screening, also right in the computer, need extras? just use computer models based on a couple peoples motion capture actions, sad but true almost all movies are going this way. This would have been great even just 10 years ago but today, I just dunno.....without seeing their Business Model its hard to see what they were justifying this one, even Thomas went full CGI to save money. I think the last really great model shot I saw in a movie was in "Superman Returns" when Luthor blew up that big layout in the basement. A great last hoorah for traditional model FX work.


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## snowshoe (Jan 2, 2008)

The layout is awsome and very accurate but not real enough for a movie. I live close and work at a lot of the scenes in the video and on the layout. The the delaware water gap, cranberry lake etc... Its neat to see places that I drive by and work at and then see it in a train layout. Like the Crandon lake area of the layout is now just a rail trail and the Delaware Water Gap is popular for hiking now and of coourse I80 runs through it.


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## ThinkerT (Jan 2, 2008)

http://www.lackawannarailroad.com


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