Freelance - History

Since most railroads connect with other railroads, picking your connecting lines, route and location to be modeled seems like a good place to start. You at least know wheere you're at, where you go, and what the terrain is like that your fantasy railroad has to build over.

If you don't want to worry about interchange, pick an industrial line. These usually have a distinctive, limited mix of equipment that gives them a very specific look. They can be about anywhere, from an isolated island to in the middle of a big city. These are a great idea if you're constrained by space and have to build a mini-layout.

Another very easy thing to do is proto-freelance. In my own case, I have a successor railroad, the Silverton Union RR, that represents the merger of the three Mears lines -- The Silverton, the Silverton, Gladstone and Northerly, and the Silverton Northen -- that ran north out of Silverton from their connection with the Rio Grande. All the info I need on the route is from the prototype, and many of the structures, but bringing these lines forward into the future, in my case the mid-50s to mid-60s, allows me to run a different mix of equipment and make the modeling easier than modeling the prototypes, which used earlier equipment that would require extensive scratchbuiling. I can use lots of hand-me-downs and interchange rolling stock and motive power from the Rio Grande and other by then abandoned lines, as well diesels.

In my case, I've stuck with narrowgauge (HOn3) for this part of my layout, but another idea is to use an abandoned narrowgauge line as a starting point, presume instead that it was standard-gauged due to an increase in traffic, and do things that way. I've actually stood this idea somewhat on its head. My Durango, instead of being narrowgauge, presmues that a standard gauge Rio Garnde line hooked up to the short-lived and oddly isolated standard gauge branch that ran to Farmington before it was narrow-gauged in the early 1920s. Thus, Durango is mostly dual-gauge on my layout, a lot like Alamosa or Salida was on the prototype. I would have liked to have had either of them on my layout, but there just wasn't space, so I remade Durango's history. Of course, it's all Rio Grande there, so we're starting to stretch the proto-freelancing paradigm a bit.

I guess in my case i am actully or will be proto- freelance as the BW & D will connect with the CP and CNR as well as other roads such as the Michigan Central and New York Central to name only two which actually ran through the area if not through the actual location i will be modeling. Another feature i would like to have is a small electric line that would run from a town to a small mining community which would be similar to the one that ran from Woodstock to Ingersoll. Only instead of electric i would use a Doodlebug. Since the actual train room needs many things such as finishes, electrical, climate control and a host of other things and will not be ready for a year or so i thought it would be fun to write a History of this fictitious railroad. Along with the railroad I imagine the owner/s of such a railroad would be involved in other industries as well, either out of necesity or design which would be intertwined into the history of the are. I thought it might be fun to write a purely fictional history based on this railroad. As well, I wondered if others have done the same. I would appreciate hearing from those of you who have.

GUB

GUB wrote:

For those who freelance a railroad do you also develope, write, invent a fictisious history to go along with thhe railraod? Just curious. GUB

 

Absolutely!  My railroad needs a theme and a justification for existence.  Therefore, I must have a history.   

 

Since my RR is a small mountain shortline only a little history was needed.  Following WW II, the Missouri Pacific began to abandon some of the less profitable branch lines.  This one was bought by local interests and has managed to do fairly well with its handful of local customers.  With the surge in traffic thanks to a new Weyerhaeuser wood plant, the future is bright! 

The Columbus & Hocking Valley Ry is owned and operated by the CDB Industries and is one of 7 short lines owned by CDBI.The C&HV came into existence in 1978 when CDBI bought the old Athens sub-division of the Chessie System.During this purchase 2 other short lines was bought,the Parkersburg & Ohio Valley RR that ran from Parkersburg WV to Athens Oh and the Ohio Midland Ry that ran from Jackson,Oh to Newark,Oh.These 2 roads was quickly merged into the new C&HV.By purchasing these roads the CBDI finally had the long sought after southern Ohio coal fields and industries.The CDBI relaid the track from Nelsonville to Athens which had been removed by the C&O some years ago.The old Logan yards was rebuilt and upgraded during this time as it would serve as the home shops and the only major yard on the C&HV since it was centrally located on the line.The second yard would be located in the old C&O(nee CHV&T) Mound Street yard and would require trackage rights over the Chessie to reach..A agreement was struck with the Chessie for those rights.The former P&OV yard in Parkersburg was upgraded as was the OM yards at Jackson and Newark.

The C&HV connects with the following roads.
CSX(c&o) at Columbus.
NS at Columbus.

Ohio Central at Newark.
Scioto Valley Lines at Lancaster.
Ironton Northern at Athens
Commodities haul: Grain,Lumber,coal,coke,steel,fly-ash,food stuffs,sand,glass,corn sweetener,corn starch,vegetable oils,scrap,pipe,chemicals,paints,news print,pulpwood,wood chips and other general freight.Total cars handle 32,584 a year
Thanks to a aggressive marketing team freight traffic has climb a staggering 33% since the CDBI started the C&HV.

CDBI owns the following roads.
Cumberland,Dickersonville & Bristol Ry.Cumberland to Bristol VA.The CD&B is the flagship road.The CDB in CDB Industries is the same.
Kentucky Central.Cumberland Ky to Maysville Ky.
Artemus-Jellico Artemus,Ky to Jellico TN.
Toledo & Southwestern. Maumee Oh to Fort Wayne IN
Cincinnati & Lake Erie.Cincinnati to Toledo.
Detroit Connecting.Detroit MI.
Columbus & Hocking Valley Ry.

My fictional railroad, the Marrqutte Ontonagon & Western in Michigans upper peninsula is fictional, It also owns a few shortlines in the Keewinaw Peninsula. seen here: http://www.freewebs.com/fictionalrrdrawings/mow.htm

I combined my love of history with my infatuation with science fiction.  I write science fiction stories so it was that my layout emerged from one of the stories that I've been working on for several years.

For me, last night at 11:30 PM, I came up with my new fictional railroad. However, this is the first one i've seriously considered, despite being extremely afraid of taking the paintbrush to the locomotive.

I started with the general area of my railroad: It had to involve Massachusetts, western or eastern.

I wanted it to have a nice, catchy title. I came up with:
The NEW Lines
(New England Western)
I liked it because it gave a feeling of hope, and a new face on the declining state of New England railroads.

I therefore fit my railroad into the name.
I decided New England already has more than it's weight in raillines, so it'd have to be a rewrite of history of an existing line.

On my current layout, I'm modeling Worcester, MA, which is on the CSX Boston Line, from Selkirk to Boston. This line obviously fit the bill, running from New England to the West (New York State). This was a line I had been planning to model anyway in my future, but under CSX as it is now versus under my own railroad.

Now, how would I bend history to allow the NEW Lines to exist?
I thought about CSX selling the line off, but decided it wouldn't be plausible since CSX doesn't seem in any mood at this time to get rid of it.

Now, going back to the end of Conrail. This seems like a logical time for the line to be split off, but I decided that 58-42 was too well grounded and creating a 58-41-1 situation wouldn't work.

Now, here we are prior to Conrail. Here, the Penn Central is going bankrupt, as are many eastern lines. The Penn Central sells off the Boston Line, which has been losing more traffic recently.
A new corporation, seeing the possibilities of intermodal transportation in New England, chooses to buy, and forms the NEW Lines.

Later, Yoshi Friend Rail System, a branch of my fictional company YFCorp, purchases the majority shares for NEW Lines and takes control in late 2005 (This is because I started YFCorp in Late 2005 and refuse to change that time).

This is probably much more than I needed to say, but bottom line is that I formed my railroad backwards, which shows that as long as you like your way, it's okay.

dragenrider wrote:

Absolutely!  My railroad needs a theme and a justification for existence.  Therefore, I must have a history.

Ditto!  Heck, writing out the history was fun!

Back when I first decided what I wanted to model, I worked up a complete politico-economic history of the geographic area starting about the time that the Tokugawas ousted the Toyotomi Shogunate and working up to 1964 (which, at that time, was the present.)  How things got named, who was important and why the various rail links were built, changed ownership, merged and evolved was laid out in several pages of closely-spaced prose.  I still refer to the printed copy from time to time, even though I know it by heart.

The history is totally fictional, unlike the railroads (which have rather more than a nodding similarity to the prototypes that inspired them.)

Chuck  (who models the JNR and its connections in the Central Japan Alps in 1964)

I came up with my history to cover all I wanted to do and allow me to "get away with it".   The history is one of the best parts I think.  Either it can tie it all together, or give you some direction when building your layout.

 

Me?   I made it up as I went along to tie it all together.  I posted this in another freelance thread a week or so ago.   Basically, I came up with it so I could run my steam and modern day in dual era's on the same layout.  I love all of it, from steam to modern power, Classif Fallen flags to the Class One Roads of today.   I came up with the KVR to give me a way to run just about everything.   Plus, it helps if you have a wide margin of "creative light" to help with your finds and deals..

 Here are some good examples....   I scored 2 Hudsons super cheap at Trainworld, but what the heck was I going to do with NYC on a Arizona based road?   I got a Cab Forward from my mom and wife a few years ago, how do I pull that off? 

  So, I came up with this one night...

Kiva Valley Railway History  

  My road is based in central Arizona between Flagstaff and Phoenix.    It started as a small line that was supposed to compete with Santa Fe for movineg freight and passengers between the two.  After 18 years, and 3 owners it never went very far.  The line stopped in Kiva Valley, more or less halfway up, heading north of Phoenix.  But ended 80 miles south of Flagstaff.  Laying trackage to the north became quite difficlut as the mountain grades became exspenive with bridges, tunnels and huge fills to make it work.  

 It was purchased in 1928 by a new family who had a better vision and bigger plan.  Instead of trying to catch up at this point with SF and spend alot of money over some nasty mountains, they went east and west instead.   They connected a bunch of small towns with rail service that could be reached from Phoenix.    Things went well as industires moved to the high terrain to get away from the heat  (this was before AC ya know).   The list of customers grew slowly and by 1938, the Kiva Valley Railway had become a mainstay in Arizona Railroading.

When WW2 began, Arizona became a huge resource for everything from production industry, lumber, mining, Army Airforce training centers too prisoner of war camps (German POW's were quite popualr out here).  Kiva Valley, saw the boom, and  found banks too loan the money to join up with the Santa Fe line outside of Flagstaff. 

Once the northern half of  William Hunter Line was built, business was good through the war.   They also made money by allowing other roads to run acorss Arizona when the ther lines had MOW work to be done, damaged by storms, or were overloaded with all the traffic going to California for the war.

After the war, there was a small scale back of operations, but it was shortlived.   Soon, they "Were Coming Home", and the towns around the Kiva Valley and acorss central Arizona were perfect for new families, new business and new growth.  Passenger traffic was so-so, but the freight was a boomer.   Mostly due to the moutian roads around made trucking, almost a dangerous act. Even with the interstates being built, they still couildnt comepte with the railroad.

 By 1950, things were in full swing again and there was no turning back for the little road.  2 old Hudsons were purchased from NYC to fill in for extra road power.  They werent the best for the grades and freight, but they were cheap.  As by 1950, steam was going faster than the sunset and deals could be had .  Also, a Southern Pacific Cab Forward was on loan to help with the big drags to Phoenix and to Flagstff.   No one was ever really knew for sure how KVR managed to get it.   Some say back room deal, some say poker was involved, but the Cab Forward survived much longer on the KVR because it was out of the SP's sight and out of  mind.  Old 4124, turned out to be  the last AC-4 to be retired because of it.  It was officialy retired in 1954 and SP wrote it off the books, but the KVR managed to keep it away from the scrapper until the spring of 1957.   When at that point, parts were getting harder and harder to find.  If you search the world and the internet, pictures of the 4124 are hard to find as it spent the last 6 years of its life tucked away in the valley

In 1952 KVR stepped up to the plate and purchased their first modern power, a SW7 to work the yard and the Central local.  Followed by in 1954 a SD7 to take over the drags "up and down the hills".   These two can still be seen working along side the GE U-33 purchased in 1984 from Santa Fe.  There is, and was more power purchased, but at the moment, all that is listed  (still saveing my pennies for more engines)  

As of today, business is steady in the valley.   Too small with too much local traffic to attract attention of the bigger Class1  roads, by has had enough of a loyal customer base to keep it busy, the KVR is doing well.   Currently, it still  leases power from BNSF which KVR has had a good business dealings..  Both roads have had a great relationship dateing back to the 1940's and the Santa Fe (BNSF still  uses the William Hunter Line  occasionaly when the Peavine Line, BNSF's main run into Phoenix is overload or damaged).  It has been rumored that UP has tried several times over the 70's to as late the 97', to buy out the line to give them access to the north-south route across Arizona but the still family owned comapny has refused.  

So, in 2006, KVR is ticking away and the rails around the valley still screech and protest to the grind of the daily work.   If you come in the right part of the year, KVR still runs one of the 2 remaining Hudsons for Fall excusrions

 

Ya know, one could almost belive that eh?

 

Have you gone as far as developing the players? By that, I mean, what about the founders and the owners? Have you gone so far as developing the fictional characters that run or did run your railroads and industries? I' ve been thinking that the only way to make my railraod more plausible is to actually have the a history of the major players. In my case, I am basing there story albeit, rather loosely on the people that lived in the area and owned businesses. Obviosly, since none of this ever happened I will have to use alot of imagination. My aim is to model the 1930's and the 1940's. Having said that, the individuals involed in this story would in all likelihood have been born in the 1880's to 1890's, perhaps in Europe and later imigrated to the US or Canada and eventually finding their way to Western Ontario seeking there furtunes? Of course, there has to be a little controversy with the characters and even some scandel involved.

Anyone else done this? Just wondering .....

Sure..In the case of the CD&B Ry a one Mr.I.M.Rich build the CD&B 1888 to haul coal out of Southeastern Ky and Virginia..The CD&B was passed to his sons and several Grandsons..Today's CDB Industries is still own and operated by the Rich family who has extended the rail operations over the years to 6 other short lines,switching services and wreck clean up service...

My railroad, the Duluth, Superior, & Southeastern is a fictional line running from name sake cities across the U.P. of Michigan. It got to Marqutte Mich and connected with the D.S.S.& A. The particular section of the railroad that I'm modeling is the area of Champion, Huron Bay, La'anse. I'll have to interchange with Jays railroad.

Quote from GUB: "Have you gone as far as developing the players? By that, I mean, what about the founders and the owners? Have you gone so far as developing the fictional characters that run or did run your railroads and industries?"

I have not done that for the RAILROAD, but I have done it for scenes, structures and towns.

This scene on the residential part of Station Street implies the story of the fictional Messy family and Mrs. Neatnik:

 

No names for the moviegoers, but at the Eastwood Theater, I know the kids who have left the theater expect their mom to pick them right at the front curb and don't see her down the sidewalk.  But she sees the lone man lurking in front of the ice cream parlor who is eyeing the kids.

The woman in the slinky white dress at the apartment stairway near the jewelry store thinks she is the local approximation of Marilyn Monroe.

 

Photo not immediately available- my First Methodist Church has a sermon announcement kiosk out front with the name of the minister character in the "Great American novel" I started to write when I was a college student.

 

My Santa Fe affiliate is named for the city of Santa Vaca.  My favorite prototype is Santa Fe from the time I got my Lionel warbonnet streamliner set in 1950-something.  The Lionel catalog had an artist's painting of the train going through what looked like Monument Valley.  Romanticized Southwest.  Southwest.  A mission station like Albuquerque or San Diego or like SP's in San Antonio.  So many Santa Fe stations and towns had names in Spanish with some kind of a religious connotation.  Santa Fe = holy faith.  San Diego = Saint James.  Santa Cruz = holy cross.  And so on.  I thought of a real Santa Fe town in California-- Victorville in the desert.  And that reminded me of Vacaville, where there was some kind of prison disturbance.  And the name Santa Vaca came.  It means Sacred Cow, or Saint Cow, or Holy Cow!

            My railroading got started with a train around the Christmas tree, and after a while, I thought of a way the name Santa Vaca relates to Christmas.  I will tell you in advance it is entirely made up.

            The Legend of Santa Vaca

In one of the early Spanish missions established in Texas to convert the Indians, a priest was telling his congregation they should give to the church even though they didn't have much to give.  He said that God can use our gifts more than we know, and he told the story of the cow who gave up her feeding stall to make a place for the Baby Jesus to lay.  He said the cow's gift-- the manger-- became more a part of the Christmas scene than even the expensive gifts of the Wise Men.

But the Indians confused the cow in the priest's Christmas story with a buffalo cow who was worshipped in their pre-Christian native religion and they began to bring back the cult of the Holy Cow.  The Church tried to discourage the practice but could not stop it entirely.  The village near the mission took on the name Santa Vaca, and it grew into a major city served by a subsidiary of the Santa Fe Railway.

At the cathedral in Santa Vaca near where the mission once stood is a stained glass window with the manger scene featuring the Baby Jesus, the Virgin Mary and the Holy Cow, each with a halo.

 

I haven't built the city scene or the cathedral yet but I created art for the stained glass window and used it for a "company Christmas card" for my imaginary railroad.

 

 

Leighant: That's a great story and great modeling. What scale do you work in?

yes i do too, my story for my LEGO scale railroad, the Glasgow & Tweed River RR is that Hogwarts Railways(from Harry Potter) and  the BNSF merged with the Cinder Creek  Central(my previous attempt at a freelanced road,)  and  uses  castoff equipment from its parent roads, I even went so far as to say that BNSF repurchased all the ATSF SUPER CHIEF EQUIPMENT from various historical societies, museums etc.

Absolutely it is worth the time to write the history of your freelanced railroad. In my case, both my railroad and the towns it services are fictional but it connects with real railroads in real towns. Writing a history gives my layout both plausibility and purpose. It will help in developing your traffic patterns and schedules. A history will help define the goods your railroad ships as well as to and from points.

If you just like running trains back and forth over your layout, a history is probably not going to be of much value but if you want your railroad to operate with a purpose and create the illusion that it extends beyond the basement, a history of your railroad is invaluable.

GUB I just sat down and actually wrote out a History for my layout.  When I went to operate it again there was definately more continuity there.  I had a history in my head but actually writing one down brings the layout to life.  Thanks for introducing this subject.

We worked out the history for our freelanced prototype, the Roanoke & Western Railway after coming up with the name. It was also kind of added to over a period of time once we came up with a very loose outline of what we were thinking.

Below is what we wrote up, it still needs some work and details, but is pretty good so far.

 

A brief history of the Roanoke and Western Railway

The freelanced prototype R&W is an Appalachian coal hauler much like the Norfolk & Western, Clinchfield, and others.

The R&W was originally built eastward from the Virginia/West Virginia coal fields toward the coast by a consortium of coal companies who preferred to control their own product and destinies. When it became apparent the N&W would reach the coast first, the consortium wisely decided to strike a deal with the N&W whereby the consortium would stop construction of their railroad at Roanoke, Virgina. As part of this deal, their coal would be turned over to the N&W at a connection in Roanoke for haulage to N&W's own coal piers at the coast. This was a very cost-effective move at the time for the consortium, but was to limit the R&W's ability to compete in non-coal, time sensitive traffic such as merchandise and much later TOFC/COFC traffic.

Through the purchase of several strategically located smaller railroads and then filling in the gaps, the R&W was able to extend the mainline from Roanoke, Virginia to Sciotosville, Ohio. Sciotosville would be the interchange point with the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad and the Norfolk & Western Railway for the movement of traffic westward.

Later, a secondary mainline was constructed to further tap the coal-rich areas of Virginia and West Virginia which was named the Southern Division. As this line grew in importance and traffic, it became apparent an outlet to the south would be needed and could be had by building a line to Elkhorn City, Kentucky, where an interchange with the Clinchfield Railroad and the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad was established. This became the Little Creek Sub-Division running from Little Creek, West Virginia on the Southern Division, to Elkhorn City, Kentucky.

After this period of growth in the late 1800's and early 1900's, there followed a prosperous period of relative quiet and stability for many years. This lasted until the coal consortium (Much to the dismay of railroad management.) sold a large enough block of stock to the Norfolk & Western Railway, thereby giving N&W a controlling interest in the R&W. This was ostensibly done to raise capital to allow modernization of existing coal company and railroad facilities, although very little of this was actually done. This led to the widespread belief that the bored (And now very wealthy.) members of the consortium just wanted to grab some quick cash for personal gains. Although this association with the N&W was not viewed as advantageous by the R&W management at the time, it almost guaranteed the continuing financial prosperity of the railroad and would eventually come to be viewed as a very wise, if unintentionally so, move.

The most immediate effect on the Roanoke & Western Railway was the adoption of many of the N&W's standard practices, including motive power design for steam as well as many other areas. Due largely to the N&W's policy of operating steam locomotives until well after most roads had already adopted the diesel locomotive wholesale, the R&W didn't dieselize until after the period of F-unit, or carbody-style locomotives. Instead, the first road diesel power purchased would be GP-7, and GP-9's from EMD, along with RS-2's, RS-3's, RS-11's and RSD-12's from ALCO. One feature noticeably absent from R&W power is the high-short hood and the practice of running long-hood forward used by the N&W. R&W management deemed the extra cost of high-short hoods excessive and the long hood forward operation of locomotives not necessary.

 

And that's as far as we've gotten, we still need to fill-in names of the coal consortium and the coal companies. Some day.

While we base the look and feel on the N&W, we figure the R&W is roughly the same size as the Clinchfield, so we based the total number of units on our roster and the mix of units on the Clinchfield's roster.

We also developed a roster with a timeline that showed what units we had and the years they were on the roster, from 1st generation power in the late 50's and early 60's to the late 1990's. It isn't detailed down to the year, but more by the decade, which gives us some built-in flexibility. A lot of this was inspired by the Utah Belt, Allegheny Midland and the Virginian and Ohio.

Thank you one and all for sharing. It is conforting to know that there are others like myself.

I was thinking that one of the founders of the Buffalo, Windsor and Detroit would be no other than Ebenezer Bedford. Being somewhat of a spoiled rich kid, Ebenezer gained most of his wealth in a most dubious way. I imagine he is what we would call him today a sleazeball. His father Zacharia died of rather suspicious causes leaving all of his wealth to his only son Ebenezer. The details still need to be worked out. Always looking for an opportunity to increase his wealth and standing in the community Ebenezer schemed and connived the New York Central  and Michigan Central to route there trains via the BW & D rather than the accepted route through St. Thomas corridor with promises of extremely exagerated revenues and service.

Of course, the BW&D would not be his only source of revenue and/or business interest. Will need to work out the additional details.

Again thanks for all your responses.

GUB

GUB wrote:

Thank you one and all for sharing. It is conforting to know that there are others like myself. Again thanks for all your responses. GUB

It would scare the heebey-jeebies out of me! 

Why stop at history?

Fictitious Geography, Geology, Rule Book, Schedule, management, Livery, Documents... the whole works.

(I was going to say "the whole shemuzle" but I'm not sure how to spell it... or if it's rude - sorry bergie if it is )

Yes, haha I've built a history to my line, quite a history in fact. What I really did was thought about what I wanted in a train layout: urban switching in a large metropolis, fast commuter railroading through the city and through mountain suburbs, large bridges, and a place where the Canadian Pacific, Canadian National and CSX (former Conrail, former New York Central) all met.

Nowhere in the real world fit this bill (Toronto came close) so I decided to freelance the an entire region and its history. So to satisfy all of my criteria here's my history, please feel free to comment or critique:

On the eastern end of Lake Ontario, at the mouth of the St. Laurence, where in real life the Frontenac Islands and Kingston are, is the fictional island system (replacing the Frontenacs) of the Selenian Islands and Canada's largest city (about 7 Million) Selene. North of the city are the also fictional Azure Mountains, an extension of the Laurentians that sweeps down to touch the lake, much like the smaller Blue Mountains north of Toronto do on Lake Huron.

To serve this area and eastern Canada the Selene, Toronto & Southeastern Ontario (ST&SO) was chartered to build from Toronto to Selene and then connect with the existing railroads in Quebec and American Northeast. When the Canadian Pacific began looking for a warm water port in New England the ST&SO was a logical aquisition, however the New York Central System was also looking to complete its own Canadian route from New York to Detroit hitting the two major metropolis areas on Lake Ontario on the way.

Eventually the CP and NYC both jointly aquired the ST&SO, but unlike the Toronto, Hamilton & Buffalo, which was mainly an interchange line, the ST&SO was to be part of both railroad's mainlines. As such the company split itself into two holding companies, the Selene & Toronto (going to the CP) and the Southeastern Ontario (going to the NYC) both railroads allowed trackage rights over the other's portion to complete the bridge. The ST&SO portions were quickly merged into their new parents and dissapeared in the early 1900s.

The old ST&SO mainline from Selene to Toronto was largely rebuilt starting in 1910 with major grade reductions and four tracks, creating a speedway over long bridges, fills, cuts and tunnels, effectively making the mountains much less of an issue. CP's main yard in Selene is the Almsphalia yard west of the city islands and NYC's yard (now CSX) is in the suburb of Gatsby just on the Canadian side of the St. Laurence.

Canadian National built south into Selene making it part of their Toronto-Montreal corridor, but took greater interest when high-grade iron ore was discovered in the mountains north of the city. Once mines were open the CN built a series of ore branches terminating at CN's main Siobhan Yard and ore docks.

So that's how I got all three Class 1s to come to my layout, if you guys want I can also explain the history of the two freelanced lines on the layout, the Crown Corporations, Selenian Lines Commission (the commuter line) and International Port Commission (the governenment-run belt line and local switcher)

Cheers!
~METRO

I LIKE IT!

GUB

I LIKE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

GUB

Cool! Sounds logical to boot!

GUB wrote:

For those who freelance a railroad do you also develope, write, invent a fictisious history to go along with thhe railraod?

  Absolutely, and as others have stated don't stop at history.  Create its geography, meterology, demographics, operational philosophy, rules of operation, etc.  In my opinion, it isn't really a "freelance" railroad without all of these things.  In this reguard doing a freelance can be much harder, and require more work than just modeling a real railroad where all one has to do is research.

<BLOCKQUOTE><table class="quoteOuterTable"><tr><td class="txt4"><img src="/trccs/Themes/default/images/icon-quote.gif">&nbsp;<strong>Texas Zepher wrote:</strong></td></tr><tr><td class="quoteTable"><table width="100%"><tr><td width="100%" valign="top" class="txt4"><BLOCKQUOTE><table class="quoteOuterTable"><tr><td class="txt4"><img src="/trccs/Themes/default/images/icon-quote.gif">&nbsp;<strong>GUB wrote:</strong></td></tr><tr><td class="quoteTable"><table width="100%"><tr><td width="100%" valign="top" class="txt4">For those who freelance a railroad do you also develope, write, invent a fictisious history to go along with thhe railraod?</td></tr></table></td></tr></table></BLOCKQUOTE>  Absolutely, and as others have stated don't stop at history.  Create its geography, meterology, demographics, operational philosophy, rules of operation, etc.  In my opinion, it isn't really a "freelance" railroad without all of these things.  In this reguard doing a freelance can be much harder, and require more work than just modeling a real railroad where all one has to do is research.</td></tr></table></td></tr></table></BLOCKQUOTE>

I couldn't agree more, being an artist and a journalist however, I really do enjoy the creation of the fictional setting, and railroads, especailly historical aspect and designing all the paint schemes.

The next part of my history would be the history of the International Port Commission:

In 1911, on the southern industrial, called the Sivvan Rock, in the metropolis of Selene there was a horrific accident. A New York Central train carrying lumber broadsided a Canadian Pacific train carrying explosives for blasting tunnels on the old ST&SO Selene-Toronto line grade reduction. The explosion and resulting fire killed over 200 and burned a good portion of the wooden docks on the Sivvan Rock; one of the worst industrial accidents in Canadian history.

When it was found that the reason for the accident was conflicting train orders, the political outcry was immediate and the city responded radically. No private carriers were going to be allowed to opperate freight on the islands that made up the city of Selene. The city's International Port Commission (called Interport for shot) would take over all rail operations within the city limits and large interchange yards as well as a belt line would connect the major carriers to the city.

Canadian Pacific set up their main yard west of the city at the end of the Selene-Toronto line through the Azure Mountains in a valley called Almsphalia. New York Central built theirs just acrcoss the river from New York in the then farm town of Gatsby and Grand Trunk (CN predecessor) built theirs north of the city.

Throughout the Interport's purchasing history they've heavily favoured Montreal Locomotive Works and ALCo engines, and are currently the only operator of RS1s and MLW RSD18s in Canada.

From a modeling standpoint this railroad allows me to operate all of Selene as a giant plant. Locals originate at the three interchange yards and deliver cars to dedicated shunters throughout the city. My locals are usually powered by P2K SD9s that I justify were purchased from Penn Central and Conrail when the roads modernized and by high-nosed RSD18s built from modified BLI RSD15s.

The dedicated switchers are Atlas RS1s and Athearn SW1500s.

Transfer power includes Atlas U36Cs and Spectrum CW40-8s.

As well as operating terminal and transfer services Interport also provides the crewed helpers for CSX and CP freights over the older portions of the ST&SO main over the Azure Mountains. While this line is only lightly traveled in favor of the faster CP/NYC rebuilt line, it still warrants a Dash-8 and two U36Cs to push freight. The helper base as well as Interport's shops (jointly run with the Selenian Lines Commission) are located at the Almsphalia Yard.

Cheers!
~METRO

Metro very interesting and very, very nice. Can we expect another chapter perhaps? The more I get into this hobby the more I realize there is more to it than actually building a layout and running trains. When I was a teenager I didn't have the patience (not that I have a hole lot now) to do things right. Nor did I listen very well to others who obviously knew much more than I did. Now that I am much older and wiser hopefully my skills will match my imagination. As mentioned previously, I am a couple of years away from actually starting my layout so reading stories like yours provides a lot of food for thought and many ideas that I will incorporate into my own History of the BW&D railroad.

Thanks again,

GUB

My St.Paul Duluth and Canadian is kind of a mix. The real St.Paul and Duluth connected those two cities from the 1870's until 1900, when the RR was bought by the Northern Pacific. In my world, the "St.Paul Route" remained separate, and later merged with another real railroad, the Port Arthur Duluth and Western, which built a line from Port Arthur/Ft. William, Ontario (now Thunder Bay Ont.) down the northshore of Lake Superior into northern Minnesota. The new combined road built a line all the way down the shore to Duluth MN, thereby connecting the Duluth/Superior railroads to the CN and CP lines. By using a real railroad, I had the basis of a herald, a  real name for my top passenger train (Lake Superior Limited) and a slogan (Route of the Famous Lake Superior Limited).