That's a good one. I also like Toy Soldier Co., Classic Toy Soldiers and Toy Soldier Depot. I populated my holiday O and S layout with 54mm Boy Scouts, Firefighters, Police men and Union and Confederate troops. They are a bit big for O, let alone S.
Becky
Trains, trains, wonderful trains. The more you get, the more you toot!
Train Doc, I don't know much about civil war models but I do have some of the open vestibule cars that were made for the NYC&HRR by MTH. These cars were wood but are probably too late for your period. They remind me of the early trains however.
Come on over to the Coffee Pot thread and meet the rest of the guys and swap lies er tales about the Civil War, I mean War Between the States or War of Northern Aggression. Nothing Civil about it.
Good luck and welcome aboard,
Ray
SPMan
I've posted this link several times, but it should definitely help with populating a CivilWar period layout...
www.hobbybunker.com
In particular, check out W.Britains Civil War "Valley" series, as well as the Petticoat collection.
Bob thanks for the information. In regard to the building of the transcontinental railroad there is a great book by Steven Ambrose called Nothing Like It In The World. It tells the whole story from a historical and train lovers perspective Train Doc
Seayakbill I checked up on your suggestion on the 19th centurt MTH cars and purchased several. They are very nice rolling stock. Thanks for the great tip. Please tell me what you are doing with trains at this time? Glen Train Doc
Daniel my family fought for the South so no problem, but I am a civil war buff and am especially interested in Abe Lincoln.
Thanks Robert for the tip on SMR i have two of there engines, they are quite expensive but there products are beautiful. I went to there web site and it is very helpful. Once again Thanks Glen Train Doc
Thanks Joe for the point about time period, in reality I am modeling the period between 1850 to 1870. Once again excellent point Thanks Glen train doc
Becky thanks for the excellent information i have purchased some very good civil war soldiers{hand painted} from gettysberg but obtaining other figures O scale is very difficult. I will follow up on your information Thanks Glen train doc
Thanks Terry the information you gave me is excellent, I am frequently in the Washington DC area and would love to here more about your civil war museum and anything you are doing with trains. Once again thanks for your help. Glen Justice train doc
Unless he models perhaps the midwest.
I'm a bit confused about your "time span". IMO, there is a huge difference between the "look" of the Civil War era and 1920...so how this will look on a layout is beyound me. People figures and transportation (buggy vs. cars) are 2 that come to mind.
One problem that came up recently on another thread was the subject of 19th century citizens. O scale figures can be difficult to find. You'll probably need to heavily modify/repaint Plasticville, Woodland Scenics or other 1940's or 1950's era figures.
Also, I don't know if it would fit with what you have in mind, but there is the "Steam in the Bush" company at www.ozsteam.com. They sell kits for modifying Bachmann On30 logging locos and cars. They also have a mill structure, bridges, water tower and other kits that look very 19th century.
I've got a couple of their RK 4-6-0's, and always looking to add more. They are great little engines with some pretty good rolling stock to match. The complete line seems to be extremely popular and a good seller so why hasn't MTH, or anybody else for that matter, come out with the period appropriate passengers ?
Remember the Veterans. Past, present and future.
www.sd3r.org
Proud New Member Of The NRA
Welcome back. I am a Civil War Museum director. We once considered doing a model of the Great Locomotive Chase as an exhibit. Sadly we didn't do it though. Sounds like a great project and am looking forward to seeing some pictures as it develops. One good source of photographs of Civil War scenes and buildings as well as rolling stock and engines is the Library of Congress. Here is the link:
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/cwphtml/cwphome.html
Just do a search for railroad and you will get a bunch of images. Try other searches and you may find more.
Good luck
Terry Thomann Fredericksburg, Virginia That is me on the left. My brother got the train TCA 09-64381
The Lionel General (with tender) is about 12 scale feet or 3 inches too long. Locomotives were much smaller back then. The rail used on the trans-continental railroad was only a few inches high, more like what you'd expect to see today on an amusement-park railroad.
Bob Nelson
Mersenne6 -
I was looking at SMR's web site and they are REALLY beautiful, and full of detail. I couldn't find any contact information and am very curious about power requirements. If running on 3 rail track, is there any concern regarding the voltage or type of transformer. I was able to find out that if you have Command Control in place there is a switch to disable the E-Unit. Unfortunately the information I saw didn't indicate which position was which. A friend of mine has one of the engines, and I was reluctant to put it on my layout for potential damage. Thanks for any information.
Don
Thanks Bob, your request/comment is much appreciated.
To the original poster question:
There are a number of possibilities some of which have been mentioned. What you didn't indicate is if you are interested in scale, semi-scale, or toy or a mix of all three. If it is a mix then there are many options, if it is scale then you might want to think about limiting the time frame a bit more. The Civil War era could extend from roughly 1860 to around 1880 or so but not much past that. Around 1880 there was a big change in car and engine size as well as paint schemes. There was another big change in construction and size around the turn of the 20th Century and there were additional changes in 1911, 1913, and in the post WWI period.
Obviously, you can run whatever you want on a train layout but if you are thinking about scale you might want to restrict the time period just to have more consistency with respect to the look of your model railroad.
I run primarily toy trains but I do like the 1860-1880 period for 2 rail scale modeling. There are some models available for that time period with SMR being you best bet for motive power and some cars. There are eariler models available but you would have to walk the isles of various O scale meets to find them and they would most likely be in the form of unbuilt kits or unpainted brass.
As for sawmill kits there are a number that have been produced over the years. Again an O scale meet would probably be your best bet. Another possible source would be the for sale ads in Narrow Gauge and Short Line Gazette. There have been a number of construction articles concerning sawmills in that magazine as well.
If you are looking for prototype information on the 1860-1880 time period you might also try posting over on the early rails group on Yahoo.
richhotrain ChiefEagles: 027_Daniel: Or the War of Northern Aggression.... AMEN!!!!!! Welcome and visit the Coffee Pot. [in REB gray] Recent research has revealed that the Civil War had nothing to do with states rights, slavery, or economic and social differences. The real cause was track. Southerners all ran their trains on three rail track, while Northerners ran their trains on two rail track. Hostilities began when Rebels attacked Fort Sumter, a local hobby shop in South Carolina, in an attempt to secure two rail track to make their layouts look more realistic. Following the Confederate surrender to General A. C. Gilbert at the Appomattox Court House, Southerners formed the Coffee Pot Forum, and they still can be found there today. Rich
ChiefEagles: 027_Daniel: Or the War of Northern Aggression.... AMEN!!!!!! Welcome and visit the Coffee Pot. [in REB gray]
027_Daniel: Or the War of Northern Aggression....
Or the War of Northern Aggression....
AMEN!!!!!!
Welcome and visit the Coffee Pot. [in REB gray]
Recent research has revealed that the Civil War had nothing to do with states rights, slavery, or economic and social differences. The real cause was track.
Southerners all ran their trains on three rail track, while Northerners ran their trains on two rail track. Hostilities began when Rebels attacked Fort Sumter, a local hobby shop in South Carolina, in an attempt to secure two rail track to make their layouts look more realistic.
Following the Confederate surrender to General A. C. Gilbert at the Appomattox Court House, Southerners formed the Coffee Pot Forum, and they still can be found there today.
Rich
RICH,
AWESOME!!!!
laz57
My roots are from the south i am sympathetic to the valiant cause. This should create some stir train doc
I have The General and it is truly a much smaller model with meticulous detail but it is signifently smaller than my other civil war engines. Does this bother you? Also are you building a predominantly civil war pike? Thanks for your kind input train doc
Think we could confine the civil war stuff to the Coffee Pot thread guys?
Bob Keller
ChiefEagles 027_Daniel: Or the War of Northern Aggression.... AMEN!!!!!! Welcome and visit the Coffee Pot. [in REB gray]
Alton Junction
That sounds like a great idea as I love that era myself. Keep us posted!
Welocome to the forum, over the past few years MTH has been releasing some very nice early 19th Century rolling stock.
Bill T.
027_Daniel Or the War of Northern Aggression....
God bless TCA 05-58541 Benefactor Member of the NRA, Member of the American Legion, Retired Boss Hog of Roseyville , KC&D Qualified
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