Hello friends!
After a long layoff, I finally find myself able to come back to the hobby. Unlike my former "make up whatever" self, this time I want to try to base things off a prototype. I know what I want in a prototype, but I don't know how to find it! Where does one start looking?
What I want:
Any resources appreciated!
I am not the best guy to ask, but it intrigues me. I am a B&O fan, but surely the Pennsylvania RR comes to mind. Phila? Google "zoo interlocking" as a starting place. You wanted spaghetti. If you want to venture further south, all the track in the Union Station and Ivy City area in Washington DC is surely as complicated as one could like.I am a passenger train fan, but I hear the Pennsylvania has hauled a freight train or two.
If you grew up in the type of area you want to model, I'd suggest start at home. I model SP loosly, in my home area. I go back and take reference pix of geography, etc first hand. Google maps helps here too. But i include structures from my present location since i have the reference material at hand. Ones that could have fit in.
Choose a roadname and Google reference sites and interest groups for its equipment.
What local industries were there then, etc. Tailor your rolling stock to those demands just some suggestions. Dan.
BlazmoIntoWowee Hello friends! After a long layoff, I finally find myself able to come back to the hobby. Unlike my former "make up whatever" self, this time I want to try to base things off a prototype. I know what I want in a prototype, but I don't know how to find it! Where does one start looking? What I want: 1960s or 70s or thereabouts Dense urban environment - ideally east coast US, double ideally Philadelphia Switching galore - spaghetti track encouraged Any resources appreciated!
Within your time frame you can look at Pennsylavnia RR, Reading RR, and a host of others in PA. Or you can model the Penn Central or Conrail (1970's). Also some NJ rail lines that intersected with PRR. Plus suburban Philly had lots of industries including steel mills that had their own switchers (look at old photos of Conshohocken area for example).
There was (might still be there) a large Conrail yard in Bucks County that gives you plenty of switching opportunities.
Oh, and welcome aboard! Be aware that since you are new, it's going to be a little while before you can reply again, but then you can particapate after the waiting period. Won't be real long.Dan
I can offer two of your three "wants." This proptotype short line has operated from before WWII to the present so your 60's or 70's time frame is appropriate. The prototype serves a busy deep water harbor, a U.S. Navy Sea Bee base, several other industries and interchanges with a Class 1 railroad so lots of switching is appropriate. While it is located in a fairly dense urban environment, it is on the wrong coast.
The prototype is the Ventura County Railroad in Oxnard, California. Located about an hour north of Los Angeles, the Port of Hueneme offers a convenient alternative to San Pedro Harbor as well as a convenient port for the Navy base. The VCR connects with the Union Pacific (formerly Southern Pacific) so there is lots of interchange traffic. Best of all, the VCR is perfect for a model railroad as the prototype track plan is basically a rectangular loop of track. The UP/SP interchange as well as the VCR offices are located at the northeast corner of the loop with various industries located along the east side and southeast corner of the loop. The Port of Hueneme is located at the southwest corner of the loop with the Navy base along the west side of the loop. The Navy base has its own classification yard and rail served warehouses. The harbor also presents lots of switching opportunities. A 60's themed layout could model a Vietnam era status for the base and harbor with navy ships in the harbor and lots of military equipment being moved by the railroad.
The VCR loco roster has always been small so it would be relatively easy to model every loco. The VCR is well documented with lots of photos available on-line.
You can view the current VCR track plan on Google Maps as well as the evolving line on Historicaerials.com. Best of all, a model of this railroad could easily consist of N scale on a 4' by 8' layout to HO scale on an around the walls layout.
I have also looked at the California Steel (formerly Kaiser Steel) plant in Fontana, California as a prototypical spaghetti bowl of track itching to be modeled. You might want to take a look at east coast steel mill sites for similar layout ideas.
Hornblower
BlazmoIntoWoweeHello friends!
to the Model Railroader magazine discussion forums. We are happy that you have found us. Your first few posts will be delayed by the Kalmbach Media moderators, but that ends soon enough, usually after just a few posts. Please stick around through the delay and become a permanent part of the discussions.
BlazmoIntoWowee Unlike my former "make up whatever" self, this time I want to try to base things off a prototype.
Noooooooooooooooooo!
Stick with making up whatever you want! Freestyle-Freelancing is the pathway to happiness in 1:87 scale.
BlazmoIntoWowee What I want: 1) 1960s or 70s or thereabouts Dense urban environment 2) Ideally east coast US, double ideally Philadelphia Switching galore 3) Spaghetti track encouraged
1) 1960s or 70s or thereabouts Dense urban environment
2) Ideally east coast US, double ideally Philadelphia Switching galore
3) Spaghetti track encouraged
This should all be very easy to come up with. Dense urban environments with lots of track are very fun to build and operate. I am sure the proto-type knowledgeable participants will be able to help you out.
If you ever decide to come back to the Dark-Side of freelancing, I will be here for you.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
Welcome to the forum. A good place to start if you know the general area is the free online USGS topographic map site:https://livingatlas.arcgis.com/topoexplorer/index.html
A quick look at the 1965-era 1:12,000 scale Philadelphia map shows a lot of rail activity around the former naval base in the area between Windy Point and the Reserve Basin. (If you are interested in rail-marine traffic). Several other areas in the vicinity also look promising.
A rough notion of the space you will have available and your modeling scale may help others help you by suggesting prototype areas.
Good luck with your layout.
Byron
Layout Design GalleryLayout Design Special Interest Group
BlazmoIntoWowee What I want: 1960s or 70s or thereabouts Dense urban environment - ideally east coast US, double ideally Philadelphia Switching galore - spaghetti track encouraged
The search for a prototype can be hugely enjoyable especially in this era of the internet (AND I hasten to add, Morning Sun color books) but if it goes on too long or if the criteria are just too broad, it can also be paralyzing. I was a Pennsy modeler for decades until I realized I was too undisciplined and loved everything about the Pennsy, from four track electrified main lines to heavy traffic in Ohio pulled by articulateds. Then I discovered a wonderful book, Rails to Pittsburgh by W.A. Feibleman and suddenly that is what I wanted.
This is known as the "Oh look! A squirrel" school of prototype research.
And we won't even mention how broad and wide my chosen era was going to be. I ended up ditching all of it and modeling something I really knew - my own hometown in the era of my teens. So now I am sitting on a dog's breakfast of Pennsy stuff including some pretty expensive books. None of which I regret.
Don't make the mistake(s) I made. Narrow things down, then do research, then narrow them some more. There are surely neighborhoods maybe obscure in Philadelphia which now, or in the past, had the intensity of local switching you seek, be it Pennsy, Reading, Penn Central or Conrail. Just discipline your brain and emotions to put aside all the other interesting stuff. There is an excellent historical society devoted to the Pennsy and they publish a great magazine. See if you can find back issues. I'd give the same advice for any railroad -- in the absence of a Morning Sun or similar book devoted to a given city, the rail historical society magazines would be your best bet for ideas.
Dave Nelson
Philly as a spahgetti bowl is an understatement. I have been studing that for years it is just amazing what used to be here. American st, washington ave, Delaware Av Philadelphia belt railroad are a few things to look under. The city has a large online library of photos along with HAgleys. The problem will be chosing whereto concentrate. Philadelphia used to be the china of the world and it shows in the railroads. dont forget baldwin loco was right in the middle of the city before moving to larger grounds.
I have slowly been designing a layout based on the area. More than happy to help you get started.
Shane
A pessimist sees a dark tunnel
An optimist sees the light at the end of the tunnel
A realist sees a frieght train
An engineer sees three idiots standing on the tracks stairing blankly in space