Colors of the Seasons: Autumn

Fall in Montana often looks like this around railroad tracks. A BNSF tank car unit train coasts downgrade in the evening light westward to Alberton, Montana.

While summer is by far the most popular time of year modeled on train layouts across North America, Autumn/Fall is the second most popular. When done correctly, a train layout modeling this time of year is incredible. Because Autumn has so many varieties of colors, and the colors change quickly, it's very important to gain an understanding of color for this season.

Photograph 1. Copyright James Willmus 2018

Autumn lasts from September 21st-23rd until December 21st-23rd every year in the Northern Hemisphere. The most popular part of Autumn, where leaves turn color and show off brilliant yellows and reds, only occurs for 2-3 weeks in any given region. Generally, this color change occurs first in the North and in high altitudes with the color changes migrating further South as Autumn continues. This means that the leaves fall in Alaska and Canada before California. The only exception to this is in states such as Colorado where the high altitude and lower temperatures cause leaves to turn color earlier than lower elevations.

In Montana the effect is more subtle because the elevation variation is a lot less than Colorado, but as can be seen in Photograph 1, there are early signs of fall as early as late August. While Missoula still had intense heat and green lawns, the Lubrecht Forest a mere 30 miles away has dry grass, low water levels, and the green trees are beginning to dull in color. Yes, I know they're conifers, and I'll get to that a bit later.

Photograph 2. Copyright James Willmus 2018.

For now though, let's look specifically at deciduous trees since that's the majority of focus when people decide to model fall colors. Deciduous trees usually turn into a yellow-base or red-base colors. Aspens, cottonwoods, and some maples will turn bright yellow, then fade to gold, and finally brown over the course of fall. Some species turn red, however, including ash, cherry and many species of maple. These trees add a very nice secondary color to the green and yellow backdrop which occurs.

Photograph 3. Copyright James Willmus 2018.

One thing that is interesting to note, is that The reds are more commonly found in North America and East Asia. Europe is much more solidly yellow in color. Scientists are still not 100% sure exactly why this is, but it's important to note for model railroaders. If modeling a North American or East Asian prototype in the fall, be sure to incorporate a lot of red along with yellow. Europe still has plenty of red foliage, it's just not as concentrated as what's found in the New world.

Photograph 4. Copyright James Willmus 2018.

Regardless of the colors, fall colors can absolutely complement trains. Photograph 4 to the left was taken just the other day at sundown. The yellows and oranges mesh well with the tan grass and green trees. On a model railroad, similar scenes are possible. New England prototypes enjoy some of the best autumn foliage in the world, and while I have no photos to share on this post, people who model the region are more than aware of the awesome opportunity to make a very beautiful layout.

Photograph 5. Copyright James Willmus 2018.

It's not just the trees which turn in the fall, but also bushes and shrubs. Not only do they turn color, but they can turn red, violet, deep velvet, bronze, and even pink. So while the canopy is dominated by yellows, browns, and reds, it's important to remember the variety of colors found near the ground. A model train layout without this layering and variety just wouldn't look right. For reference, Photographs 5 and 8 clearly show bushes in the pictures. Of course, many bushes also turn gold and yellow, so adding some of that near the surface is a good idea too.

And that mostly covers deciduous trees, so now let's get back to those pesky conifers. Because conifers have fine needles, at a distance a stand of trees look like a solid mass of color. So while it individual trees don't appear to turn color, it's actually easier to see as a solid mass. Compare any picture of springtime in a conifer forest to one in the fall, and the hue of the green is much different. Conifers loose some of their needles each year, unlike deciduous trees that lose them all at once. The conifer needles never turn bright yellow or red, but instead will fade directly to brown or a burnt-sienna color. Because this happens to only some of the needles, the color of an entire stand of trees will change hue from a bright, brilliant green in the spring to a dark green in summer, and then a dull green in fall. This, I believe, is one area model railroaders need to take more notice of. I say this because most train layouts that I've seen which model fall just use factory ready, or kit made trees without putting much thought into the color or hue of the trees.

Not all conifers are the same green either. Some, like spruce, have a cool-blue colored wax covering their green needles, giving a slightly iridescent blue aura around the tree. Red Pine needles are much more red in appearance compared to the typical white pine, even though the tern "Red Pine" is used to describe the wood and not the needles. Black Hills Ponderosa and Spruce trees in my home state of South Dakota look very dark green, almost black in color. This is what gave the Black Hills their name since travelers would see a black mountain range on the horizon.

Model railroaders should give this some thought when making fall foliage. I would argue that conifers would be improved with a light misting or grey from an airbrush, or perhaps a grey wash applied manually. Red or black could be lightly sprayed onto tree armatures before adding the foliage when building kits. Some people do this, but most do not. This is one area I really think would improve model railroads modeling fall.

Texture is another aspect which needs to be taken into account with fall colors. As the leaves begin to fall, the ground cover begins to take on a brown color with hints of red, yellow, and green from the undergrowth and fallen debris. Photograph 7 illustrates my point well. This sidewalk, which is normally kept in pristine condition at the Univeristy of Montana, is now covered in fall leaves. Sidewalks, roads, and areas underneath trees should be given the proper texture of fallen leaves. I've heard many of many ways to model this from bits and pieces of groundfoam to hole-punched paper. I think this depends on the scale being modeled. In Z, N, and HO scale, fine groundfoam would give a nice texture since is forms a solid mass rather than individual leaves. Honestly, you would have to look closely to notice the difference. HO scale and larger could also benefit from leaves thrown in a blender or disintegrated paper bits. Using methods like these, individual leaves would be visible. Of course, this means that the leaves are no longer a singular mass, which is good, but the detail may not be necessary with smaller scales. If modeling O scale or Large Scale, chopped leaves or hole punched paper would certainly be the best method in order to bring about the most realism to scenes which require a higher level of detail.

Whatever you choose to do, remember it's your railroad so build it how you please. Some people like brilliant colors, though I would prefer to tone down the brilliance of the color and focus on a more natural and realistic color palate. I hope this post was helpful and that these photos can be used as reference for your own project.

And with that, I leave you with a large cottonwood at sunset, something that reminds me of South Dakota and the great plains, even though I'm in the mountains.

Happy railroading!

--James Willmus

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Colors of the Seasons: Autumn