The perfect town to model

[Anonymous]

Well, for me at least. Mexico, Missouri was served by the CB&Q, Wabash, and Alton/GM&O, with the Q and the Alton having trackage rights on each other from Kansas City to St. Louis. In the year I am going to model, 1948, the Burlington kept mostly steam on secondary main lines, keeping the newer diesels for the Chicago to Denver and the Chicago to St. Paul/Minneanapolis lines. The "Rebel Route" had almost 100% diesels this early, including Alcos, and the Wabash still had a good mix of both steam and diesels.

However, that's about all I know about these three lines in Mexico, MO, so I need some information on train schedules, passenger trains (even consists if you can manage it) and pictures or links about Mexico and the small yard there. I'd like info mainly on the Wabash and GM&O, the Burlington Route is no problem for me to research.

Thanks in advance-Christopher

[Anonymous]

Sorry - I don't know anything about Mexico, MO - but I have some ideas!

Try the internet (of course) , and any of the following - libraries, government offices, historical societies (these are often good - try the railroad ones, and the the town ones), railroad clubs, Kalmbach and NMRA libraries, the Fallen Flag web site (for any pictures of equipment or structures).

Hope that helps.

Andrew

[orsonroy]

Mexico, MO does sound like a great town to model. Sounds like your reasoning is very similar to mine for picking Peoria to model - 14 roads in a pretty compact area, all serviced by one belt line. Makes for some interesting variety in operations, and lots of colorful passenger consists.

Unfortunately, you're going to have to do your research the old fashioned way - lots of digging. The internet is a great place to do research, but not on railroads. You'll be able to get some information and leads from various discussion forums that target your specific interests. I strongly suggest joining several Yahoo Groups. Each of the roads you mentioned have Yahoo Groups, and there might even be some for your target region. I'm a member of over 30, and they've been an invaluable resource for looking up stuff. Most other online railroad sites only deal with images, so are of little use for the sort of stuff you're looking for. Dig through whatever you can find, however; you never know what you can find!

Other than the internet, you'll have to use foot power to actually dig up paperwork. Go to swaps to look for RR paperwork (there's a good one coming up in June at the DuPage county fairgrounds, which is the largest RR artifact flea market in the country), haunt Ebay looking for timetables, photos, and train orders, and start asking anyone you can find. One of the better sources for proto data are the Prototype Modeler's Meets, held around the country, generally in the fall (the one in Naperville is the weekend of Haloween). Not only will you find lots of photo sources, but you'll probably find one or two other modelers who are modeling the same place you are! One of your first targets should be finding RR maps for your area, which should give you a good basic picture of what you want to model, which will give you more targeted questions to ask.

Actually heading to Mexico should also be a priority. Take photos of anything you can find, including the surrounding countryside. The town MIGHT have a historical society, but it'll probably be closed more often than it's open. Call ahead for an appointment. Do the same for any county historical societies, town libraries (especially in the county seat), or college libraries. There's lots of good, hard information at all these sites, but it might take several trips to root it out.

Think about joining your target railroad historical societies. The GM&O and CB&Q both have VERY good societies, and will pay for themselves with the wealth of information they provide. Go to the annual meetings (I think the Q just had theirs in Oregon, IL) to talk to other fans, who might already have the stuff you need available.

And whatever you do, pay back the help you get by sharing what you've discovered. I've spent the past five years researching and collecting data for the Peoria area, and I've always helped others who are looking for similar information. I've ended up making some good friends in the process, as well as building up my database much faster.

[CBQ_Guy]

Ray has passed along some excellent info and advice that is right on.

As far as the Burlington Historical Soceity meets, he is correct that they just had their spring meet this past Saturday in Oregon, IL. Unfortunately I wasn't able to attend. But good new for us is that their weekend long Annual Meet is also being held in our state this fall, in Galesburg!

[Anonymous]

Hello!

Remember this: modeling a town can be fun to do the research, the sounds, the smells. However, capturing all of this is not an easy task. If I were modeling a town here are some of the questions I would ask myself:

1.) Where is the town
2.) Did it actually exist and is it still in existance today (some towns are not)
3.) Is your town a small settlement or is it a metropolis
4.) Does your town have industries that actually existed in that town I say this cause I modeled a town and I had a wrong industry in it and sure enough one of the visitors made sure he pointed it out to me..LOL
5.) Is your railroad freelanced or are you modeling an actual locale? If it is freelance who cares what kind of a town you model
6.) Always use the K.I.S.S. method. If you are modeling a town you want to get in make it and get out of it and move on to your next project only model what is believable to pass on to the visitor that, "hey that's Pittsburgh or that's London!" This way it doesn't seem like it is taking forever to model one part of your layout.
7.) And finally is it fitting for you? did you accomplish what you wanted to do

I could go on and on about this but I do not want to bore any of you just model what makes you happy and remember all of our comments are just what they are comments and some helpful advice thrown in. But once you're done modeling your town I want to see the pictures of it first!! ;-)

[Anonymous]

Ray-hold on a minute, you'll have to realize I'm only 14! I'll only be able to do a portion of what you advised, although this will be a very small layout that will probably only depict the industrial section of town and a portion of the small yard in Mexico. The one thing I don't like is that only 1 of the wonderful Zephyrs passed through-the Ozark State/General Pershing Zephyr. But, a full-fledged Denver Zephyr and say, the Galesburg yard and the West Burlington shops couldn't be modeled even reasonably accurately in the space I have. You have to be satisfied with what you got in this hobby- or else layouts will become a pain and not a pastime for you.

Right now, I think only a connection with the Wabash, and the main focus on the Q and the GM&O would be best. Both the Everywhere West route and the GM&O were local roads in their time where I live, so I could just as easily do away with the Wabash and model my own county-but that would mean never running passenger trains or hotshot freights, or backdating to the 1920s, which would mean no 1st generation diesels and cars that would be harder to find models of-If you've ever planned a layout-and I'm sure all of you that have posted have at least twice-you know how finding the perfect locale and era is difficult.

to Scott Catalano's reply:

1. Mexico is in Central Missouri

2. Yes, it did exist then and now.

3. A larger town, but not big enough to be called a city.

4.Yes, I found a site that lists America's railroad served industries.

5.an actual locale

6.----------

7. Yes, the town has two railroads that were very important in my region as well, and both the Q and the GM&O had thru trains in town-the Alton Red Hummer and one of the Q's silver streaks.

[Anonymous]

Hello,

By george looks like he has got it ... good luck friend!!

[orsonroy]

CJM,

You're only 14?!? Well, that would put a damper on your running all over doing research.

In that case, start asking (politely) around on the Q Yahoo Groups for some basic information. Someone out there has got to have a track chart for Mexico, and a track chart will go a long way towards answering many questions (I looked around last night; I have charts for the NKP, IC, P&E, ATSF, P&PU and parts of the GM&O for central Illinois, but nothing on the Q). Once you have a chart, you can start designing a layout with the town's flavor.

And see if you can con your folks into taking a drive to Mexico; sell it as a "bonding" experience!

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by PilotinControl

Hello,

By george looks like he has got it ... good luck friend!!

Hmmm... how did that old song go.. "You ain't seen nothin' yet!"

By george, I found an even better location-the Q's Hannibal division! I could still run GM&O trackage rights on the Q from Old Monroe to St. Louis, and thanks to the Rebel route's crossing with the Burlington at Louisiana, MO, I could still have the great ALTON RED HUMMER, along with 4 Burlington Zephyrs! Obviously, not all of that is going to fit on a starter layout... but I have plans...[:D]

And I have seen this section of track many times in Hannibal and once in Winfield, MO. In fact, outside of the Ol' Mississsipp' bluffs, it doesn't look too different from where I live. There are plenty of quarries along the line, I've seen mile-long trains consisting of nothing but limestone loaded hoppers in Hannibal. General Mills has a large mill complex in Hannibal, and I could have easy access to city maps and track diagrams...there is a map of BN era Hannibal in the desk drawer under my computer, even. I have relatives in "Mark Twain ville" and using the tips PilotinControl posted, I could easily get info on the line and town, I even have information on Hannibal already. And WHAT DO YA KNOW, the good old Wabash served Hannibal, too! Kind of like a Mexico, MO with added features, Hannibal is.[;)]

[CBQ_Guy]

QUOTE:

By george, I found an even better location-the Q's Hannibal division! I could still run GM&O trackage rights on the Q from Old Monroe to St. Louis, and thanks to the Rebel route's crossing with the Burlington at Louisiana, MO, I could still have the great ALTON RED HUMMER, along with 4 Burlington Zephyrs! Obviously, not all of that is going to fit on a starter layout... but I have plans...[:D]

And I have seen this section of track many times in Hannibal and once in Winfield, MO. In fact, outside of the Ol' Mississsipp' bluffs, it doesn't look too different from where I live. There are plenty of quarries along the line, I've seen mile-long trains consisting of nothing but limestone loaded hoppers in Hannibal. General Mills has a large mill complex in Hannibal, and I could have easy access to city maps and track diagrams...there is a map of BN era Hannibal in the desk drawer under my computer, even. I have relatives in "Mark Twain ville" and using the tips PilotinControl posted, I could easily get info on the line and town, I even have information on Hannibal already. And WHAT DO YA KNOW, the good old Wabash served Hannibal, too! Kind of like a Mexico, MO with added features, Hannibal is.[;)]

Well there ya go.

Congratulations! [:D]

[n2mopac]

Just wanted to throw in here that I'm from west central MO and go through Mexico periodically to visit family. I don't know much about railroading in Mexico, but does seem like a great town to model.
Ron