Help with Road Names

[Anonymous]

I'm just out of college and have been toying with the idea of starting a model railroad for quite sometime, but have never had the time to do it. I'd really like to start out with a truly prototypical layout, but I don't know anything about the different line and road names, and what road names exist in certain parts of the country (Obviously it wouldn't be prototypical to model New England using the Alaska road name!). I don't know quite what area I'd like to model, but I'm interested in doing a small town/city scene with a wintry mountain scene on the layout. I suppose this could be considered appalachian or new england, but again, I have no clue what lines/road names exist up there. Do any of you have any recommendations or books that I could buy to learn more about the different road names? (BTW George Sellios' Franklin and South Manchester is AMAZING, I would love to try and model a layout after his, but I am obviously a beginner[:(]).

[IRONROOSTER]

A railroad atlas is what you need. There are some for the whole country and some for regions. There have been some historic atlases as well, but I don't know if any are in print at the moment.

Of course you could always have your own name based on towns, rivers, etc, in New England such as the Bangor and Boston.

Enjoy
Paul

[Anonymous]

You will also need to consider what time period you'd like to model, because most of the railroads that exist today did not operate under their current names back in the 50's, and the multitude of smaller lines that existed before 1900 consolidated, went bankrupt, changed names, etc. I like "The Historical Guide to North American Railroads" (I think that is the title, compiled by George Drury) because it gives a good sense of what happened to the various railroads over time, and as a compendium of interesting railroads it's great source material. It won't have a lot of pictures, so you may need other references to get your interests narrowed, but once you do gain an interest in one particular road (or maybe two or three or ...) there are tons of books that can be found, specific to your interest, whatever it may be. Go to a local train show and you'll find dealers with tables full of books.

You might also consider subscribing to Kalmbach's various magazines, especially Trains, and start scouring them for geographic info. Old magazines are frequently sold at train shows for cheap, and you could sink a few dollars into a few years' worth of back issues.

[traingeek087]

I just bought a book entitled "Classic railroads you can model". This book has several different railroads in it and range anywhere from the New York, Ontario, and Western rr, to the Southern Pacific rr. They have layout plans and drawings in them, and are based on mainline and shortline routes. It also gives a small history about the railroad and has a great number of photos on each. Alot of these layouts are too complex for a beginner, but they do give alot of great infromation. If your not on a small limited budget and are looking for some good books too start out with and get some Ideas, I recommend buying this book. It sells for about $18.00.

[Anonymous]

Dear skulboep,

Welcome to the hobby!

For the largest railways, I would reccomend The Great Railways of North America by Bill Yenne, published by Barnes and Noble. It's thick, heavy, comparatively expensive, and jammed full of pictures!

If you can't find this book, might I reccomend Kalmbach's series of books Classic American Railways, or something like that, which have sections on many smaller railroads as well.

I would reccomend you join a railway museum if you can, as people there can probably give you more information than you ever wanted to know. And believe me, when three or four "old-timers" get together and talk about railroads, there seems to be a hurricane of information emanating from them! Furthermore, I would suggest you look through your nearest model railroad store, find books, and chat with emplyees and other customers there. If you are interested in modeling a shortline or such, there are often specialized websites devoted to them, and I finally would suggest you read the TRAINS magazine "Railroad Blueprint" each month.

I hope I have helped,
Daniel