Reference Images
In order to create a convincing model railroad, you need to create a representation of the environment in which the original is set. Since I've never lived in Japan, I need sources for that. Fortunately the web has a lot of them. I've spent quite a bit of time using Google Maps and Google Earth to research locations around Tōkyō. In addition, when researching a specific location or topic, both Wikipedia (and the associated Wikimedia) and Flickr can provide a wealth of photos. There are other sources as well, which can be turned up via Google.
The pages of this section (see list at left) capture some representative images of things I plan to model or which are otherwise useful references. All are either public domain or licensed via Creative Commons or a similar policy, which makes their use on my site permissible. Regardless of whether the author requested the source be acknowledged I always like the thumbnail here to the original for those who want the full version, and cite the photographer, if known.
Additionally, where necessary to convey a specific detail I can't easily show otherwise, I'll use images or excepts of images from other sources that are copyrighted, with links and photographer citations where I have them, presuming that such use fall under the Acceptable Use terms of U.S. copyright law. But I try to avoid that.
Click on any of these images to open a new page or tab with the original source.
