building rr in 30's-40's era in Chicago or NYC

[Anonymous]

anyone,
I want to build a section of railroad set in the 30's-40's in Chicago or NYC with scenery, steam loco, passenger or freight cars. I need direction- books,etc.
thank you,
tom sawdon
[e-mail]

[Anonymous]

WELCOME ABOARD! What's your scale?

You should get some good replies. At that time Chgo , with
six plus primary passenger RR stations was considered the rail capital
of the country, IMO.

Should you select Chgo, at least 15 + RRs terminated there.

What RR would you model after?

[orsonroy]

No opinion necessary, Chuck. Chicago was and still is the RR capitol of the country, and the world (if I'm not mistaken). Chicago has more track in it than 75% of the COUNTRIES on the planet. And many more than 15 roads terminated there in the pre-merger days (more like 40!).

Tom: your question is WAAYYYY to broad for us to answer. You basically said "tell me about the history of Europe" You need to ask more targeted questions. Chicago had five major terminal stations in the steam-era, and dozens of smaller stations. Each one served a few specific railroads, and each had it's own character. The approach tracks for each station fed through several yards and interchanges each, as well as several short industrial branches. There's no way we can hope to give you a brief rundown of the whole shebang in an email!

Your best bet is to start digging through railroad BOOKS. Websites and discussion forums can help with some images and filler information, but your best bet for overview and basic information is still the print media. Kalmbach makes two very useful books to begin your search:

http://store.yahoo.net/kalmbachcatalog/01108.html
http://store.yahoo.net/kalmbachcatalog/01109.html

These two books will give you a basic overview of what Chicago looked like in the 1930-1960 era, including maps and basic schedules. One thing to keep in mind: these books will give you a skewed view of the Chicago railroad scene, since they deal with passenger service. For every passenger train that ran in Chicago, there were 10-25 freights running at the same time! Don't ignore freight movements on any railroad you plan!

[Anonymous]

Maps. Look at old USGS survey maps for the cities. Check the date the map was compiled since rail yards & routes in your selected city will likely have undergone radical changes since the period you are discussing. City libraries have historical archive sections with maps, photos etc that might be helpful if you are in or near either of the two.

Sounds like you are thinking about mainlines passing miles of freight yards & building flats. This could become the ultimate switching layout.

Wayne