I'm Lost? new kid on the block.

[Anonymous]

I'm trying to find some information on the trains in Texas or that run through Texas. I'm a full time Police Officer and my wife made the suggestion that I find a hobby that helps me to relax and distress from the job. I sat down and tried to think of what I did as a kid and remembered my train collection. Well now I live in Texas and I’m trying to get back into this stuff after twenty-eight years, WOW what a change. I did find a lot of my train stuff still in my parents’ attic and brought it back with me. Now starting over from scratch I’m thinking of doing the trains of Texas. If anyone can help guide me to a site that will help me find the info that I need I would be grateful.[:D]

[fishplate]

If I may suggest, try to narrow it down to a part of Texas, prototype, and a time, ie;
1954 or the 60's or what-ever. But what ever you do, make sure that it's something that will be enjoyable. This forum is awsome for getting help and direction. So WELCOME
back to the hobby and ask????????. I think that you will find this form very informative,
with great advise. [:D][:D][:D]

[tstage]

Tony,

[#welcome] to the forum! Good to have you aboard! [:)]

Your dear wife has given you some very good and very wise council. As a police officer, I would imagine sometimes it isn't always easy to just leave stuff "at the office." MRRing is a terrific way to relax and unwind.

Fishplate is right. It would be best if you could decide on a few things first. Do you want to model steam or diesel? (That will help to better determine what era and RR you end up modeling.) How much $$$ are you wanting to "invest" in MRRing? Do you have a designated place or room that you could design and set a layout up in? These are all important questions that would be good for you to answer first.

Tony, there's a number of fellas here on the forum who are from Texas and they should be able to answer your question about about specific Texas RRs. Please feel free to join us anytime on the forum if you should ever need any assistance or have a question. This is a great place to learn, to share, and get ideas. Most of the folks here are very eager and willing to help newbies like you because we were all in your shoes at one time. (Actually, most of us are STILL learning.)

Tony, again, welcome to the forrum and please join us as often as you can.

Tom

[dehusman]

I would suggest either Houston or Ft Worth as a place to model. In Houston you had the ATSF, FWD/CBQ/BN, CRIP, MP, MKT, SP plus now the KCS and switching carriers of HBT, PTRA. At Tower 55 in Ft Worth the MP, TP, MKT, SP, ATSF, CRIP and FWD all crossed. Trains magazine has had articles on the Tower 55 area.

Either one of those areas would let you have multiple railraods that operated in Texas.

You might want to check E-bay or Simmons Boardman (www.transalert.com) for a "railroad atlas" that would have maps of Texas and its railroads. If you have a favorite road, search for it or its historical society on the web or on Yahoo groups and you can mine more info.

Dave H.

[Anonymous]

check your history of the southern pacific railroad. about the mid 1880's they were pushing east through texas to new orleans for their own transcontinental route, and took over whosever path they crossed.

[RMax1]

There is or was a lot of action around Taylor and Granger also the Sherman Denison area were busy at one time. Tons of different roads and time periods in Texas. I started modeling Amtrak many years ago but have always had a love for the KATY. There are several sources for information on the net and in books. One of the best picture research site is this one.

http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/ You can spend hours just looking.

Play around and look for historical societies on the net and they will usually give you maps and info. I know the KATY, Rock Island, Frisco and the UP all have one.

RMax1

[egmurphy]

Welcome back to the hobby.

I kind of agree with the guys who said that you might want to read a bit and try to narrow down the scope of your search. You've picked a topic that is, as they say, as big as the State of Texas. Finding info once you've picked a couple of roads won't be that much trouble.

You might want to check out any local hobby shops (LHS) as they'd be a good source of info on local lines. I'm sure there are shops in San Antonio and Austin. In fact, there are a couple listed in the index of advertisers in the back of Model Railroader Magazine. Or, you can use the hobby shop finder search function on the Model Railroader Magazine home page:
http://www.hobbyretailer.com/

You might also want to check out any local clubs, as they can also be a help, as well as being fun to belong to. I know there is a N-Trak club in Austin:
http://www.austntrak.org/index.html#
although you might well be in HO instead of N. In that case there's also a club finder function:
http://www.trains.com/clubs/findaclub.asp
And I'd point out that there's a listing of historical societies for railroads also in Model Railroader. Some of the more popular ones have their own websites with information.
http://www.trains.com/story/story_list.asp?idMenuCategory=6&idMenuSubCategory=63&idMenuMinorCategory=6302

Finally, there's your old friend the Google Search which can turn up info on old railroads, websites of currently operating railroads (usually with system maps), and all kinds of other good stuff.

Best regards,

Ed

[tjsmrinfo]

traain bandit i too am from tx sherman we had frisco, t&p (missouri pacific) plus some modern shortline/regional lines
rmaxt is right on the fallen flags site there are some others out there as well like www.railroadforums.com www.railimages.com. join a model railroad club in your area i am in a club in denison amd we're modeling the mkt (katy) from the 50's thru the 60's or 70's.
also you didnt mention what scale your modeling in.

happy modeling have fun as this is the worlds greatest hobby

tom

[ereimer]

one fun idea might be to look up what railroads ran in the year you were born in the part of texas you live in now . scenery should be fairly easy , you drive by it every day . local libraries and historical societies should have lots of info , and once you've done some inexpensive or free research there you can start searching the internet for books on the specific railroads you find . you'll be surprised how much you find . or you could do whatever is running there today , researching that is real easy , just hang out down at the train tracks [:)] . or you could go back in time to when your dad was a kid , or even your grandfather . all depends what you feel like running

[cefinkjr]

[#ditto]

I'd add some brilliant advice but the folks who responded earlier beat me to it. I'd just be repeating what most of them said so I'll just say:

[#welcome]

Chuck

PS: Hang onto that wife of yours. Not many of them will encourage their husbands to take up a new hobby.

[ericsp]

http://houston.railfan.net/
http://texas.railfan.net/
http://www.trainweb.org/southwestshorts/home.html

[Anonymous]

[:D] WOW what a forum!!! It's great to find a bunch of KIDS that have the same hobby as me.[8D].
Well to answer some of the questions that I was a dummy and left that info out of the first topic would be…. I live in southern Texas just outside of Austin. I am leaning more toward diesel but could run a few steam for effect. I’m in HO scale mostly because that was the scale of the first ATLAS train set that I got when I was eight, Lord that was thirty-two years ago. I still have most of the cars and some of the track as well as things that I picked up along the way. Unlike most MRR’s I use my imagination and don’t model after any real track. My hobby house is 17’ X 21’ a total of 357sq ft of clear room to do what I want. Thanks for all the good advise and I’ll defiantly be staying around this site.

May your trains run straight and be safe on the streets.

[tstage]

Hey! 17 x 21' is a VERY nice space for a medium size layout. You'll have all sorts of possibilities in that size space.

Tony, just an addtional word of advice for you. You mentioned that you "still have...some of the track" I assume from when you were a kid. If that is the case, then any of your old track that is either brass or steel, you should really forego trying to salvage any of it and just buy newer nickle-silver (NS) track. It will be far less of a headache for you maintenance-wise in the long haul.

The overall quality of NS track is far better than track 20+ years ago. Unlike the steel, NS does't rust. And, unlike the brass, NS actually still remains conductive after it oxidizes. Track is also relatively inexpensive, as compared to other items you'll spend on your layout. Best to go with consistency and get new stuff.

Tony, you don't want to chinch on track quality. If your track isn't any good or it turns into a constant maintenance nightmare, I can guarantee you that you WON'T be enjoying model railroading as a hobby. Remember the original intention you are wanting to get into MRRing.

Tom

[dehusman]

If you want to model the Austin area you can incorporate the MP, MKT, SP, ATSF, GRR and AUNW, they all run within a 50-100 mile radius.

Dave H.

[Anonymous]

Don't want to move your hobby too far back toward wrok... but... I would suggest that you begin the same way you would an investigation... you have some known points... then assume nothing and spend a bunch of time looking around just to see what is going on. Also dig around for history... both in the real train world and the toy trains. Picking up back issues of mags is really useful... doesn't matter what date... just use them to get a wider picture. The net is great but you can get swamped... simple example :- pics from sites. i sugest you develop two things 1. a folder of pics you just like and 2. a collection of folders of specific things...e.g. locos, boxcars, gons, tankcars, bridges etc.

the first should help you identify the things you like lookking at (though this might not be what you choose to model) the second will give you pics to help you detail models/choose which models. Some pics want to go in several folders. It's also useful to edit out specific deatils... but that maybe comes later.

Although this may seem very organised (and horribly like work) it really makes progressing the hobby a ;lot easier... especially if you start early rather than before you have a pile of stuff. It can be incredibly absorbing (which for some reason is relaxing) just getting the ideas together and sorting them out for your head (rather than trying to recall where you saw something0.

it's also really worth starting with some thing small as a model/layout... either as a trial run or to include in to bigger things later. there are many curves to be learnt

Have fun!

[jawnt]

Tx Train,
You might pull up www.rypn.org/codney/saaphome.htm --------- It's a site devoted to the San Antonio and Aransas Pass RR. Within that site you can find a map of the railroads in the Eastern 2/3 of Texas about 1920. Might give you some direction.

John T. in the cow pasture

PS: Sorry 'bout that! I tried the above site and it didn't work. Will do some research later and get back with the correct info jt

[jawnt]

Tx Train,

Carl Codney moved his SA & AP site --- new address : http://saap.tnorr.com/saaphome.htm This works and you can get a lot of info abt late 19th/early 20th century railroading in Texas. Have fun!! John T.

[Anonymous]

How are you getting on with all the information?
Are you clarifying your own ideas yet?