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Post-apocalyptic model idea

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Journeyman

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I don't know if this has ever been done, but given the persistent popularity of the Strategic Reserve conspiracy theory*, has anyone ever built a model based on it?

You could have a scorched and shattered landscape full of blast damaged buildings, sidings full of now-useless diesel locos, and armoured military trains trundling slowly by hauled by camouflage-liveried 9Fs...it could look really cool!


* I've mentioned it now. I fully expect to be abducted by secret agents at any time.
 
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martian boy

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Reminds me of a half finished layout I had back in the mid ‘80s. Radiation caused big mutations.... a gigantic cat was found asleep next to the main junction!!!!
 

SCH117X

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A model set around Attercliffe or Brightside (South Yorkshire) in the mid 1980s would be pretty apocalyptic, and you can throw in the rusting metal framework of a stalled new building- it eventually transformed into Meadowhall. As a college friend noted it looked like area had been hit by a force worse than a nuclear attack referencing the then PM.
 
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Tim R-T-C

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There are lots of post apoc dioramas within plastic modelling, but model railways seem to have an unwritten requirement for unflinching authenticity that somewhat dulls this creativity.
 

yorksrob

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A model set around Attercliffe or Brightside (South Yorkshire) in the mid 1980s would be pretty apocalyptic, and you can throw in the rusting metal framework of a stalled new building- it eventually transformed into Meadowhall exposed. As a college friend noted it looked like area had been hit by a force worse than a nuclear attack referencing the then PM.

Not long after the seminal TV drama "Threads" had been set in Sheffield either.
 

SCH117X

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There are lots of post apoc dioramas within plastic modelling, but model railways seem to have an unwritten requirement for unflinching authenticity that somewhat dulls this creativity.

Not all - Cato Pass for example is a sci fi layout set on a Saturn moon, a web search will throw up details of it.
 

Cowley

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On the episode of Channel 5s ‘The Great Model Railway Challenge’ that I watched last night one of the teams water resin reacted quite strangely leaving the sea looking like it was full of toxic effluent.
It got me thinking that a model of a seaside town on the Island of Sodor surrounded by toxic seas, and Thomas/Percy etc with rust, peeling paint, bad facial skin etc but also with some kind of gas mask on their faces.
I’m also seeing wagon loads of hazardous waste being poured into a river somewhere.
And if it was DCC fitted then all trains will have to stop on the hour every hour and perform some kind of mandatory Nazi type salute or zey vil be shot.
This layout will not be allowed to be shown to under 9s.
 

Cowley

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I found some interesting stuff online.
It’s worth looking up Jimmy Caulty, he’s worked with The KLF and The Orb. He’s done a display model of a post apocalyptic London.
Here’s a picture of a truck that’s been involved in a chase and crashed into a drive through. Amazing detail.B5B1DA8E-57BA-4969-9AA7-D240DA7288DA.jpeg

And here’s one of a collapsed motorway bridge...73130A57-38BA-498B-B49F-56B2DE6B567B.jpeg

I’d like to see this at some point.


Edit - Just to add, I quite like this Mad Max style train as well...
15048A47-28AC-4B80-9F9C-6EDBE65A6461.jpeg
 
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Tim R-T-C

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Not all - Cato Pass for example is a sci fi layout set on a Saturn moon, a web search will throw up details of it.

Oh yes there are some, but sadly rare.

If I could find some good small scale dinosaur models, I hope to make a mini Jurassic Park tourist train layout.
 

Journeyman

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Not long after the seminal TV drama "Threads" had been set in Sheffield either.

"Threads" is possibly the most grimly depressing film anyone has ever made, but what an understated masterpiece it is.
 

Journeyman

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On the episode of Channel 5s ‘The Great Model Railway Challenge’ that I watched last night one of the teams water resin reacted quite strangely leaving the sea looking like it was full of toxic effluent.
It got me thinking that a model of a seaside town on the Island of Sodor surrounded by toxic seas, and Thomas/Percy etc with rust, peeling paint, bad facial skin etc but also with some kind of gas mask on their faces.
I’m also seeing wagon loads of hazardous waste being poured into a river somewhere.
And if it was DCC fitted then all trains will have to stop on the hour every hour and perform some kind of mandatory Nazi type salute or zey vil be shot.
This layout will not be allowed to be shown to under 9s.

Oh, that's just brilliant. :) That said, Thomas The Tank Engine resembles a brutal fascist dystopian nightmare already, without any changes necessary. Worried about rain on your paintwork? We'll brick you up in a tunnel! The Fat Controller is clearly Big Brother. He's never without a couple of goons by his side, either.
 

LOL The Irony

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Here’s a picture of a truck that’s been involved in a chase and crashed into a drive through. Amazing detail.
b5b1da8e-57ba-4969-9aa7-d240da7288da-jpeg.54863
LOL! Drive Thru :lol:
 

Journeyman

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An excellent drama all round!

Still quite frightening in my view!

Oh, it totally is. I have it on DVD! I'm fascinated by the Cold War history of that era, and I've visited a couple of the bunkers that are open as tourist attractions. I was born in 1974, so most of my childhood was blighted by the fear of imminent thermonuclear incineration.

Kids don't know they're born these days!
 

Cowley

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Oh, it totally is. I have it on DVD! I'm fascinated by the Cold War history of that era, and I've visited a couple of the bunkers that are open as tourist attractions. I was born in 1974, so most of my childhood was blighted by the fear of imminent thermonuclear incineration.

Kids don't know they're born these days!
I was born a year before you Journeyman, and I’ve often pondered whether the sense of impending doom was worse for us growing up thinking that we could possibly be annihilated by nuclear armageddon?
Or the feeling that many young people growing up (including my own children) have now of their planet (certainly wildlife/oceans/rain forests etc) dying while they have to live through it?
I don’t know how optimistic about the future I’d feel in their shoes.

Anyway back to more cheerful things.
I’ve mentioned this on the forum before but it’s worth mentioning again as it’s quite funny.
A friend of mine was involved in the filming of the dystopian thriller Children of Men at the Mid Hants.
The film crew had gone to great lengths to make the station at Alresford look decayed, including boarded up windows, graffiti and covering the car park in weeds.
One morning though the film crew came in to find some volunteers helpfully uprooting the carefully placed weeds because they thought it looked untidy. :smile:
 

GusB

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Oh, it totally is. I have it on DVD! I'm fascinated by the Cold War history of that era, and I've visited a couple of the bunkers that are open as tourist attractions. I was born in 1974, so most of my childhood was blighted by the fear of imminent thermonuclear incineration.

Kids don't know they're born these days!

I was born a year before you Journeyman, and I’ve often pondered whether the sense of impending doom was worse for us growing up thinking that we could possibly be annihilated by nuclear armageddon?
Or the feeling that many young people growing up (including my own children) have now of their planet (certainly wildlife/oceans/rain forests etc) dying while they have to live through it?
I don’t know how optimistic about the future I’d feel in their shoes.
I hadn't seen Threads until fairly recently - I came across it one evening while I was on one of my "YouTube tangents", and it has since been removed. I was born in '74 too, and while I was always conscious of the nuclear threat, I don't think I was overly bothered by it. I do remember sitting with the family and watching When the Wind Blows, but I would probably find it more disturbing now than when I was twelve. I lived within the 10-mile radius of two fairly significant RAF bases, so I would have been nuclear toast fairly quickly anyhow.

Anyhow, what lovely weather we're having ;)
 

Teflon Lettuce

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I hadn't seen Threads until fairly recently - I came across it one evening while I was on one of my "YouTube tangents", and it has since been removed. I was born in '74 too, and while I was always conscious of the nuclear threat, I don't think I was overly bothered by it. I do remember sitting with the family and watching When the Wind Blows, but I would probably find it more disturbing now than when I was twelve. I lived within the 10-mile radius of two fairly significant RAF bases, so I would have been nuclear toast fairly quickly anyhow.

Anyhow, what lovely weather we're having ;)
I remember Threads and When the Wind Blows... I also remember laying in bed of a night time and hearing the low base drone of a cargo plane {I lived under the flight path of a nearby airport} ... even now I can feel the dread that I felt back then
 

martian boy

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Oh, it totally is. I have it on DVD! I'm fascinated by the Cold War history of that era, and I've visited a couple of the bunkers that are open as tourist attractions. I was born in 1974, so most of my childhood was blighted by the fear of imminent thermonuclear incineration.

Kids don't know they're born these days!

I was born in 1967. Heard very little about being vapourised/carbonised until the early 1980s. Most of it was brought on by Maggie T and the Tory supporting press. After the Berlin Wall went up, military tensions actually eased.
 
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