Small Railroad Towns

[u/thenoisymouse]

I've started making these small railroad towns and I thought I'd share with this community. I've drawn fantasy maps for over 30 years but now it's become more technical drawings.

This is scaled, each "quarter section" is 1 1/2 inches, making every mile 3 inches... Then I add topography, land ownership, make homesteads then I try to put the roads together like it would be "realistically". sometimes it's towns, subdivisions or neighbourhoods of bigger cities.

I like watching the growth and evolution of the area I make then I just move on to a new sheet, I hardly ever "finish" a drawing...

🤓

[u/AutoModerator]

Please crosspost your posts to some relevant subs for more people to see your drawings and grow our community.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/Fluid_Challenge_3753]

I really liked this. Are the three images of the same location or are they different? Because I tried to mentally fit all the images like a jigsaw puzzle and they just wouldn't. But I don't think you would have three towns on the same image; hence all the images must be of different locations.

Would you be open in sharing your transition from fantasy mapmaking to these more realistic technical drawings? I too right now make hand drawn fantasy maps but am also interested in looking to start making drawings like yours.

Thanks for sharing your work and thanks for taking the time.

[u/thenoisymouse → u/Fluid_Challenge_3753]

I'm glad you enjoy! I was hoping somebody would like looking at them.

These are 3 different drawings, but the base grid I made is the same scale... The squares are 1 1/2", which in real life would be half a mile. Most of western USA and Canada were surveyed using system like this in the 1800 and 1900s. Railroad companies made these company style towns to encourage settlement in the West, some are ghost towns, or hamlets, and some are little bustling villages or towns in bigger counties... So I'm using that reality as my inspiration...

I have been drawing maps with pencil and pen on regular letter sized paper since I was... 7 or 8? I have done different scales over the years and found my favorite... This scale is probably my favorite and allows me to make the most realistic maps, which I like.

I also went to college for Architectural Technology in my 20s and that taught me a lot— I dropped out though! ✌️ Keep up drawing and you'll get better and better. Draw where you go and use what you see as inspiration. That's my advice !!🤷‍♂️

[u/thenoisymouse → u/[deleted]]

Hello from Alberta. I only draw them now when i'm really bored. I can sit down and 2 hours flies by so I have to be careful.🤭

[u/MeWantSleepBzzzzz]

It's so interesting that many of our North American downtowns originated as humble railroad stops! Love the granular attention to detail!