I'm having difficulties

[Anonymous]

I've been an armchair modeler for many years, and now that I have the space and money to build a layout, I don't know where to begin. My first problom is choosing a time period. I love steam, and I have a great idea on a "mythical" railroad, and a good idea on what industries I want it to serve. But I also love the Rock Island line. And want to free lance a what if scenio, if the Rock hadn't gone under and were still around today. I guess what my problom is, is that there are too many choices, and I don't know where to begin, and how to decide. Does anyone have any sugestions on what I should do to figure all this out?

Paul

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Rock_Islandnut

My first problom is choosing a time period.

What period of railroading interests you most? Do you dream of articulateds straining to haul a coal drag up a 2° grade, or a horde of SD90MACs straining up the same grade? When you think of railroads what particular aspect strikes you first? That might give you an idea of the period to model.

QUOTE: I love steam, and I have a great idea on a "mythical" railroad, and a good idea on what industries I want it to serve.

That sounds like a good thing to model.

QUOTE: But I also love the Rock Island line. And want to free lance a what if scenio, if the Rock hadn't gone under and were still around today.

I model the New Haven in 1999, pretending that the PRR and other mergers didn't happen. This type of scenario appeals to me.

I have no interest in steam, but for a lot of people diesels are boring. There is no "right answer" to what you should model. You should be asking yourself "what would keep me modeling for years?" Determine what you're really interested in, then go for it.

[Anonymous]

im a diesel guy myself, so i would go with the modern rock island freelance. But this isnt something you should get other people to decide for you, after all, its your railroad.

[Jetrock]

One question to ask is: Do you like painting diesel locomotives? If you're free-lancing a present-day Rock Island, keep in mind that you'll want to paint your engines in a Rock color scheme. If you love steam, then go with steam!

One thing you might consider is modeling multiple eras. If you want to model, say, late steam era and modern freelance Rock Island, you can have two sets of things like vehicles and other very time-dependent scenic details. Most structures near the railroad tend to be older so you can simply use older-style buildings, or you can have some buildings that "swap out" when you want to change eras.

By having two sets of cars to put on the street, you can establish eras as well--when you want to run modern era, set out your modern cars on the street, and when it's time for steam replace them with some classic cars. You can even design building signs and billboards to be replaced when you swap eras.

Of course, it helps if your layout is small for such a project...you might try starting out with a small bookshelf-type layout for such a project. This will also give you more indication of what you really decide you like, and small layouts can easily be expanded to create a bigger layout--if you decide to model one era or the other for The Big One, the strategies learned on a smaller layout will serve you well.

[CBQ_Guy]

Maybe you can do something similar to what I'm planning in my basement. I am going to run a Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, double-track mainline around the walls of the basement, adhering to prototype fidelity as much as possible.

However, there will be a fictional branchline meandering around the central part of the basement and the two will swap cars in interchange.