N-Scale location Suggestions??

[Anonymous]

High evry 1,
I am planning on a model railroad. We r moving soon and ill probably get a house with an atic or something. I want to make a N scale layout with the time being ww2 and the trains taking all the tanks and stuff to the ships. I also want to include trooper cars. I want to make a layout with on one side, many industrial factories that put out tanks and jeeps etc. and i am also planning on including a steel mill with all the other things like grain. I am wanting to include a mountainous terrain with real water rivers. If i canot include water, i will put in fake water. Well i need help on picking a topic to build it on. I live in california, central valley fresno county, and i was wondering if i would make on the mountains, i think they r called the coastal gap that seperate the coast and the central valley. If any one else has an idea of a city or place to base it on, plz reply.

THanks,
~SsunnyY~

[DSchmitt]

Even the largest model railroads are small compared to the real world. It is best to not try to model too much. Let most of the railroad be somewhere else (not modeled).

A tank factory, steel mill or a port and their associated tracks could each fill a large atic or basement by themselves.

For a military theme I recommend modeling a military base with rail service. You can have various warehouse types (almost anything, food, clothing, crated small arms, furnature, appliances) for all the goods the military needs to operate, tracks with ramps to handle vehicles arriving or being shipped out, overhead cranes to load/unload large bulky shipments and tracks for troop loading/unloading. Coal in hopper cars or fuel oil in tank cars could be dilevered to the base heating plant. There would also be need to deliver fuel for the vehicles and maybe aviation fuel if the base has an airport. If the base is being expanded all kinds of building materials could be delivered too. I have seen very few military bases on model railroads.

There are some military vehicles (many WW2 era) available in N scale including jeeps, 2 1/2 ton trucks, half tracks and Sherman tanks.

As an N scaler, myself, I hope you will model in N scale. However I must point out that there is much more military equipment available in HO scale, and it is easier to find.

Real water is not a good idea (except on large scale outdoor layouts). It is difficult to control, causes electrical problems, corrosion problems and humidity and can facilitate the growing of mold which besides being yucky can have severe health consequences. It also does not look real on a small scale model railroad.

[Anonymous]

thank you for your input!

[leighant]

I agree that you should not try to model the entire cycle of huge operations--but you can suggest a lot of things. A port area is a great scene to model. Steel mills are often located in port areas. You might consider a port terminal railroad that serves areas of the port away from the mailine railroad-- the steel mill is there. You deliver cars for the steel mill- ore, coal, coke and limestone, by your mainline railroad to the terminal switching road. You could model a military dock. Often military shipments are sent from a general dock that is also used for civilian shipment. Your layout might include ONE CORNER of a military base as an excuse for troop trains. Modeling two, three or four things that are together , maybe one element in a lot of detail and space and others more as sketches, plus the traffic that comes to them from distant points. Not trying to model the entire cycle, the shipper AND the consignee which might be hundreds or thousands of miles apart.
But your scene might want to have a MIX of large and small customers. Ports both export and import, and often different things. I am planning a model based on Galveston Texas which exported wheat, rice, cotton, sulphur, and imported raw sugar, coffee, bananas, jute. Also used inbound loads of steel locally for shipbuilding, industrial gases, and for a medium sized town, such goods for local distribution- food, building materials, furniture etc.

See my military base layout at
http://www.railimages.com/gallery/kennethanthony

(Note: when I posted this link, a warning came up, but in a few seconds, the site shows up if you wait and scroll to it.)

[Anonymous]

When i clicked the link, it went to a page cannot be displayed. I really want to see this military base you have made soo if you could get me on Aol instant messanger or msn messanger?
AIM- Ynnusbackwrd
Msn- [e-mail]
Or plz e-mail me the picture @
[e-mail]
what i am thinking on doing is to make a layout that includes mountainous terrain because i am a fan of just sitting and watching trains in the mountains. If anyone has been through california on highway 580 to sanfransisco, it is a beautiful view all the way to sanfran. I am wanting to include that sort of a mountainous terrain. That is why i am wanting N scale. I am a big fan of HO and started out with a small pack when i was small. But i probably wount find enough space for a HO scale for my idea. I can have all the shippings on one side of the mountains like troop and grain and have a shiiping dock and steel mill on the other while still including a coal depot in or near the mountains???????

[Anonymous]

San Francisco was a hugely important port in WW2, so you might want to look up some info on that. I know that Model Railroader has done a number of articles on the area over the years.

California sounds like the right setting - mountains to ocean - for what you want. Do som eresearch on-line, and look into local libraries, historical societies, etc, etc for info not only on the railroads, but on what industries, towns, cities, and life in general was like at the time.

If you can get your hands on a Walthers Catalog (the printed version, not the web site) you can not only look at the stuff available (and yes it is true the HO has more military stuff than N - for now), but in past editions, they had a whole section on military dioramas which might give you some ideas.

Andrew

[Anonymous]

Thank you andrew, I will look into going to the library in the next few days. Thank for the info!

[Anonymous]

Maybe that was San Diego - sorry about that. Look them both up just to be sure!

The article (I think in MR) which I cannot locate showed a home layout that had the naval yard as part of the layout, and there were prototype photos from the 1940s.

Andrew

[DSchmitt]

The April 1980 Model Railroader had articles with track plans on both the STATE BELT RAILROAD and the ALAMEDA BELT RAILROAD.

The port of San Francisco was very active during WW2, the Alamada Belt served the Navel Air Station.

[Anonymous]

If it is aloud, I am not sure with the copyright, But could someone please scan the pages with the trackplans and e-mail them too me. If an admin looks over this, i do not know about ure rules of copyright and am sorry of posting if this is not aloud. Or if someone can please give me a website were i can find this info. I am also reaserching over the internet right now.

[jrbarney]

ynnusbackward,
To avoid the possible copyright problem you could send an Email to [e-mail] and ask what the cost would be for photocopies. Alternatively, you can do the same thing with the NMRA's Kalmbach Memorial Library:
http://www.nmra.org
You don't have to be a member to do this, but the copies will cost slightly more than for a member.
Bob
NMRA Life 0543

[Anonymous]

Another good source for back issues is your local train shop. Mine sells back issues for CAN$0.50 each. That means you can get an entire year's worth for less than the price of the current issue. I always find interesting stuff in the back issues - the 1980s and 1990s had lots of prototype drawings, which seem to be more rare these days.

Andrew

[cacole]

For a World War II port scene, you would have 4 basic types of train loads -- long strings of AAR 40' boxcars and reefers carrying ammunition, c-rations, and other items that could be boxed or crated; 8,000 to 10,000 gallon riveted single-dome tank cars carrying gasoline, oil, chemicals, and other liquids; flat cars with tanks, cannon, and other tracked and wheeled vehicles; and troop trains.

The main thing to keep in mind is the size of rolling stock available during WWII. Practically every box car in use then was a 40' AAR type, painted tuscan red or black. Flat cars were also short. A typical flat could hold only one Sherman tank or 3 jeeps. Troop trains used only the old Pullman heavyweight passenger cars, all painted Pullman green, because streamlined cars were not yet in common use. The 10,000 gallon or smaller single-dome riveted tank car was about the only type in use. You would also have had long strings of 40' iced reefers carrying fruits, vegetables, eggs, meat, and other perishable foods.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for calirifying the different cars! I was also thinging of a fourth of July train??