mahor dilemma help needed

[Anonymous]

You have many options with this dilemma. You can sell off your current equipment and a good starting place for that would be ebay.com, or you can keep your equipment and start your collection of older CE&I equipment. I would recommend the latter option. I had the same problem before when I modeled the Fort Worth, Texas area in the modern era, but then moved to Atlanta, Georgia to go to college. I became fascinated with the Norfolk Southern railroad and began a large collection of their unusual looking locomotives. Then I became interested in modern day grain operations in North Dakota. Then, earlier this year, I inherited my grandfathter's entire railroad collection which is mostly steam era stuff. I finally came to the conclusion that I don't have to model a specific geographic area or time. Think about it--how much does the landscape change over fifty years anyway? The structures and cars might change, but basically most things remain the same. Maybe you could model a specific location but run different equipment to represent different times. I have decided to model terrain that could be found anywhere and change out the railroad equipment to represent different eras and locales. You can get pretty realistic with your modeling and represent a specific location, but just let your imagination run wild and your model of Galveston could transform into Joliet, Illinois or Los Angeles, California. Just something to think about...

Have fun.

RCHarris
Durango, CO

[Anonymous]

that is a very interesting idea. but i have been bitten by the protypical bug. i am thinking of modeling a certan section of the road set in the eairly to mid 1940's (mainly so i can run my city of san francisco brass passenger train) also i am starting to get more and more interested in steam locos. i guess i am going to spend a long time thinking about this. one idea i came up with is to keep on with my idea for the Galveston railroad, while in the mean time, keep collecting info and equipment for the C&EI. that way i can build the current railroad, get more experience and learn from my mistakes, then go all out on the C&EI and hopefully do it right. if any of you have been through this too, please let me know what you did. i would like to know how your story ended.

[Anonymous]

Actually, if you study the history of the road, you don't have to sell anything! The Chicago & Eastern Illinois, was controlled by, then absorbed into the Missouri Pacific Lines. In turn, the Missouri Pacific was merged into the Union Pacific. What you have now, is exactly what the C&EI IS right now!
Of course, you can also let your thinking out of the box. I model the MOPAC as if it still existed today (becoming the domanent partner in the merger, and absorbing the UP). So I can model the MP, C&EI, T&P, UP, SP, DRG&W, WP...etc.
Have fun! MOPAC 1

[Anonymous]

i am in the middle of a crisis. my problem is all my models are modern union pacific prototypes and other modern eqipment. i was going to build a railroad based on Galveston Island texas and going north to the oil refineries. now, i have been looking into the chicago and eastern illinois railroad (C&EI) and i am thinking it would be a much more interesting railroad to model, and more of a challenge. plus my dad worked on this railroad when he was young. if i decided to go this way, i would have to sell off my entire collection (which rivals most small hobby shops) and then try to track down undecorated steam locos. have any of y'all gone through this dilemma? and what are your thoughts and suggestions? any help you can give would be greatly appreciated.