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yesterday's tomorrow

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  • Member since
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  • From: St. Louis, Missouri, USA
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Posted by alfadawg01 on Tuesday, August 25, 2009 6:28 PM

Bill

http://www.wjwcreative.com
http://www.soundcloud.com/wjwilcox

"Never try to teach a pig to sing.  It wastes your time and annoys the pig"

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  • From: Enfield, CT
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Posted by Doc in CT on Tuesday, August 25, 2009 1:07 PM

MILW-RODR
I personally would say go for it, but I am also a bit biased. I love the art-deco comic book look of movies like Batman, Dick Tracey, Sin City, V For Vandeta, The Spirit, etc. etc. Just make sure to include some slick late 30's and 40's cars, they had that stream lined look.

 

Responding your your post and one earlier.

Was going to suggest Sky Captain and  the World of Tomorrow, Batman Begins (partly CGI Chicago and partially VERY large set).

I think what ever theme you want for your model RR is correct and proper; as someone said it is a hobby.

Doc

Co-owner of the proposed CT River Valley RR (HO scale) http://home.comcast.net/~docinct/CTRiverValleyRR/

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Posted by Phoebe Vet on Tuesday, August 25, 2009 11:10 AM

Any layout set in 2150 would be sheer fantasy since the Mayan calendar says that the world is going to end at 11:11 am GMT. on December 21, 2012. That is the conjunction of the Winter Solstice Sun with the crossing point of the Galactic Equator (Equator of the Milky Way) and the Ecliptic (path of the Sun).

There, now that THAT is out of the way...

I have Thomas the Tank Engine because all of my grandchildren are big Thomas fans.

I have Hogwart's Express because my youngest daughter is a big Harry Potter fan.

I have 2 versions of the Lackawanna Phoebe Snow because I used to ride her between NY and Chicago and my wife's paternal Grandfather worked on the Lackawanna (DL&W).

     Version 1 is the original F3 ABA pulling heavyweight cars.

     Version 2 is the latter E-8s pulling smooth side cars. (The one I actually rode.)

I have one Delaware and Hudson GP-38-2 because D&H, Lackawanna, & Erie all had yards in my home town.

I have 2 Atlantic Coast Line U-30Bs.  The first because it was reasonably priced and satisfied my burning desire for my first sound engine.  The second was so I could run a 2 engine consist.

I have a Southern GP-50 because it came bundled with a Bachmann EZCommand and I was curious about DCC.  GP-50 is still on the layout, the EZCommand is in a box somewhere.

I have a PRR 4-6-2 K-4 Pacific because my wife wanted a steam engine and a horse ranch.  Actually, SHE bought it for me for Christmas for the above stated reason.

I have an Amtrak F-40PH because my eldest grand daughter saw it and pleaded for me to buy it.  She had seen one at the NC Transportation Museum in Spencer, NC while attending A Day out with Thomas.

And I have a set of NYC-TA R-17 Redbird subway cars because I just wanted a subway.

All of them are DCC.  Five of them have sound.

Dave

Lackawanna Route of the Phoebe Snow

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  • From: good ole WI
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Posted by BerkshireSteam on Tuesday, August 25, 2009 10:06 AM

Phoebe Vet

If you just keep buying engines from different railroads and different eras just because you like the paint schemes, go for it.

I have to plead the fifth on this one Blush When I first signed up for everything I chose MILW (hense the screen name) because it's paint, and well it's Milwaukee and I live in the state. I plan to get the Atlas N GP38-2 in CSX for $20 at the LHS budget rack because it is cheap and it looks neat. They also have a nice $20 Amtrak set in N scale that has two F40's (one powered, one non) with caboose that would be neat to have, and I also want to get an Athearn F45 in Sante Fe blue scheme (again, the paint job).

I personally would say go for it, but I am also a bit biased. I love the art-deco comic book look of movies like Batman, Dick Tracey, Sin City, V For Vandeta, The Spirit, etc. etc. Just make sure to include some slick late 30's and 40's cars, they had that stream lined look.

As for basing a layout in 2150, well that would be extremely hard. There is no way of telling. Humans could be so fat advanced that there is nothing like trains or cars, we could all be floating around blind and deaf in thought controlled soap bubble thingy's. Something could have happened in that 100+ year time span that also threw us back into the art-deco age where we have all the modern comforts and knowledge of today, but with higher technology like computers completely wipped out. In 2150 it truely could be a Superman/Batman/Dick Tracey comic book art-deco world. It's sort of ironic that 141 years ago in 1868 all we could imagine is humans wearing some kind of feathered kites strapped to our arms and flapping around like a bird, yet a few thousand years ago Davinci was drawing these crazy looking vehicles that people would ride up into the air to fly.

And now that I see the Bowser add next to the posting screen for an Alaska F-7a I think I might want to add one of those to my collection. Well at least I will be a modeler/collector, not just a collector.

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Posted by NittanyLion on Monday, August 24, 2009 12:47 AM

It doesn't seem that gimmicky to me either.  In fact, it feels fairly believable and comfortable.  This is going to sound weird, but that's exactly the world that was depicted in the Batman: The Animated Series cartoon in the 1990s.  Despite being "current day," everything was very Art Deco.  The buildings, cars, clothing, certain pieces of technology (heavy use of blimps and large scale flying wing airliners) all had a distinct and intentional 1940s look.  Even to the point of Batman running into trains headed up by pale blue streamlined Hudsons of a notable real world lineage.

It worked well and produced a very unique end product.

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Posted by ruderunner on Sunday, August 23, 2009 7:51 AM

Actually except for the preponderance of streamlined motive power this doesn't sound like anything different than a 30-40's era setting.  Look at the Chicago or Milwaukee areas during that time when all the streamliners visited those cities.  Now futuristic buildings may be a stretch but a union terminal layout may be interesting...  Take your time to plan the layout for operations to keep things interesting for years to come since scenery and trackwork didn't change much for decades though rolling stock and motive power did.

Modeling the Cleveland and Pittsburgh during the PennCentral era starting on the Cleveland lakefront and ending in Mingo junction

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Posted by EM-1 on Saturday, August 22, 2009 10:36 PM

Mea Culpa.  I definitely meant 60'.

In my steel plant example, an exact scale proprtioned model of the plant would need a table roughly 90' X 120'.  Even oar boats bringing in Taconite would be more than 7.5' in HO scale if modeling the 50s.  Today's oar boats would be as much as 11.7' with about a 14" to 16" beam.  That's if one wants absolute scale.

As was stated in another post, decide what you want to do, use an adaptation of business or engineering product planning methods, plan ahead on how best to fit what you want into your available space and budget.  And consider that at some point in the future you may want to make some minor changes, or even throw everything out and start over.  Or maybe start with a trackplan you like and over time just change some buildings and structures to match a change in rolling stock period.  A lot cheaper than ripping out a whole layout and starting over.  MR has carried articles about this approach over the years, along with coverage of people who have done this over decades.

But it's your world.  You're the boss.  Don't let anybody convince you you're wrong.  You're not!

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Posted by mobilman44 on Saturday, August 22, 2009 8:47 PM

Yup, an HO mile is a good 60 or so feet!   Kinda makes our layouts really puny, doesn't it!

Mobilman44

ENJOY  !

 

Mobilman44

 

Living in southeast Texas, formerly modeling the "postwar" Santa Fe and Illinois Central 

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Posted by Graffen on Saturday, August 22, 2009 5:36 PM

EM-1

 An HO mile is somewhere around 60"  And that doesn't include the two railroads that bring in the cars.

I suspect you mean 60 feet not inches, right?

Swedish Custom painter and model maker. My Website:

My Railroad

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Posted by mobilman44 on Saturday, August 22, 2009 5:18 PM

Hi!

May I add some words of caution/experience - something you might want to consider.......

Of course it is your RR and you can do what you want.  I know I do, and have done so on every layout from my first basement Lionel in 1957 to the room filling HO I am building at this time.

Over the years I have bought locos from different eras, different roads, different scales, and different price ranges.  I've had locos that only had one or two prototypes, and some frankly that just never existed in the real world.

When I really got serious about model railroading, meaning that I knew I was going to be in it "for the duration", I took a long hard look at what I had, and where I wanted to end up - insofar as layout theme.  By layout theme, I mean the particular prototype railroad, time period, scale, and price range of locos and rolling stock.  I ended up with the ATSF (minor in the IC), time period from late '40s to 1959, HO scale, with locos in the Stewart/P2K/Atlas/BLI price range.

To get to the point, before you spend your hard earned money or put in a lot of time and effort, think carefully about what you want to end up with, and will it stand YOUR test of time.

In any case,  ENJOY !!!!

Mobilman44

ENJOY  !

 

Mobilman44

 

Living in southeast Texas, formerly modeling the "postwar" Santa Fe and Illinois Central 

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Posted by EM-1 on Saturday, August 22, 2009 4:30 PM

It's your world, do what you want!

I seem to remember a guy in he late 50s built a fantasy layout with considerable influence from J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle Earth.  One deviation was Rapunzel's castle as a station.

In Model Railroading, one can only suggest an operation, anyway.  For example, I've seen many fine selectively compressed steel plants in the various mags, but living in a city in which a full service steel plant in a fact of life, I realized a long time ago that probably NOBODY would ever be able to build a model plant to true scale, except maybe in Z scale.  Just our plant, with two blast furnaces, BOP shop, various casting, rolling, and tubular mills, and internal railroad (something like 8 switchers, nothing over about 1200 hp, is something over 1.5 MILES deep by almost 2 miles long.  An HO mile is somewhere around 60"  And that doesn't include the two railroads that bring in the cars.

For myself, my next layout will be combining current AMTRAK rollingstock, closed auto rack cars and modern diesels, mostly short side ladder and none- roofwalk equipped freight cars, with steam, including my Bachmann John Bull and King of Prusia trains and even the Hogwarts and Thomas rolling stock that well-meaning family members got me for things lik Christmas, Father's Day, and the like.  And if somebody doesn't like it, there's several old Military sayings, that apply, including "Go tell it to the Chaplain, and get your TS ticket punched."

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Posted by Phoebe Vet on Saturday, August 22, 2009 7:11 AM

It's a hobby.  There are no rules. 

If you want to run a John Bull out of the same yard as an ICE, go for it.

If you want to create an as exact as possible replica of a particular railroad during a particular year, go for it.

If you want to build a fantasy world that might exist in 2150, go for it.

If you just keep buying engines from different railroads and different eras just because you like the paint schemes, go for it.

Dave

Lackawanna Route of the Phoebe Snow

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  • From: Culpeper, Va
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Posted by IRONROOSTER on Saturday, August 22, 2009 6:58 AM

 Post some pictures as you go.  It's not my cup of tea, but I would be interested in seeing it.

Enjoy

Paul

If you're having fun, you're doing it the right way.
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Posted by Graffen on Saturday, August 22, 2009 3:28 AM

 I find your idea totally fine! Model railroading can and probably must be a way to let your creativity flow. I can buy that concept but maybe more as a work of art, wich is my normal trade. I just love the concept of Loewy and Fritz Lang designs along with other Art-Deco designs.

Swedish Custom painter and model maker. My Website:

My Railroad

My Youtube:

Graff´s channel

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Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, August 22, 2009 12:22 AM

Midnight Railroader

Be aware--gimmicky layout themes like this usually run thin very quickly.

 

I second that - even in the best time of art deco structures or stainless steel cowlings of locomotives, there were only few of these "gimmicks" apparent . How many Aerotrains were in operation - was it 2? How many streamlined Otto Kuhler designed 4-4-2´s did the Milwaukee Road operate? I think the answer is 4.

Adding some as a highlight to your layout is fine, a complete layout in this style is Disneyland...

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Posted by Midnight Railroader on Friday, August 21, 2009 10:31 PM

Lionel 773 hudson

       I am thinking of themeing my layout in the 1960's of the 30's.  Like a Buck Rogers or Bioshock (a vidio game) reailtywhere all my locos would be streamlined and all the steam locos most of my roster would be covered in the streamlined bodys and the dieseles would be 4 or 5 car "sprinters" like the M-10000 or the Burlington Pioneer Zephyr.  And all other things would be art deco.  So has anyone ever done this?  If not is there any one who has built art deco buildings or steam loco covers.  Thanks!

 

 

 

Be aware--gimmicky layout themes like this usually run thin very quickly.

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yesterday's tomorrow
Posted by Lionel 773 hudson on Friday, August 21, 2009 9:06 PM

       I am thinking of themeing my layout in the 1960's of the 30's.  Like a Buck Rogers or Bioshock (a vidio game) reailtywhere all my locos would be streamlined and all the steam locos most of my roster would be covered in the streamlined bodys and the dieseles would be 4 or 5 car "sprinters" like the M-10000 or the Burlington Pioneer Zephyr.  And all other things would be art deco.  So has anyone ever done this?  If not is there any one who has built art deco buildings or steam loco covers.  Thanks!

 

Speling? Optional. Ricky.L

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