Countdown to building a layout.

[Anonymous]

I have-as of right now-about 4 more months to wait to have room for a layout, which is going to be based on the Q and Wabash in Hannibal, Missouri circa 1945-1950. I have a good basic 4'x8' track plan picked out that I plan to add a removable section and a small yard to. (This plan is one of the MR starter layout series, the "Alkali Central, which ran a few years back in the mid-90's.)

Right now I can think of three good industries to model-Atlas Portland Cement Co, the icing deck in Hannibal, and the General Mills grain milling complex, along with a few fictional small industries. I have an A-B set of Burlington F-s, and plan to get a P2K steam switcher, as well as any Wabash steam or diesel loco that I'll have money for next year. I am going to set the layout's time in late summer/early fall, when the grain rush on Granger roads begins and anything that runs is pressed into service.

For a layout so close to being built, I have very little rolling stock- one B.R.E.X. reefer with another being built, and an Illinois Terminal flatcar, halfway assembled. Than again, because of my tight budget, the layout probably won't be operational until early next year.

Wish me luck on layout building, and my parents plan to get a digital camera sometime in the future, so when possible, I'll post pics of the progressing layout.[:D]

[CBQ_Guy]

Wow, Chris. I've got at least a couple hundred Burlington cars now (and a few dozen Burlington locos), but I've had 12 years head start on collecting them!

Are you planning to puchase highly detailed, RTR stuff as you go, or are you looking for anything Burlington , as inexpensive as possible? I'm curious because if I were starting from scratch, I'm not sure which way I'd go. I remember when I started there wasn't too much available for Burlington, but little by little it does become available, but it takes years. So in a way that might be a good thing for you just starting out and on a limited budget.

ASSuming you're looking to save some money and going slow...For your era you will need boxcars with narrow doors for grain mostly. I'm not sure when they started using the covered hoppers. Athearn has (had?) a Burlington boxcar. Walthers has (had?) a RTR, wood sided Burlington grain boxcar with the grain door installed which came out in the past year or two. They also came in a two pack. You may be interested in this car but it would cost a bit more than the Athearn.

Basically, I would say go to your LHS and start looking through ALL the cheap brands (again ASSuming this is what is acceptible to you) and look for mainly boxcars. And don't forget a wood caboose in mineral red paint!

For your cement plant, I don't know if they're still available, but many years ago Con-Cor sold older, two bay covered hoppers with black Burlington script lettering. I think they also had some with the Chinese Red lettering but remember, Chinese Red didn't come into use on the Burlington until the late 1950's! Again, though, I don't know when they started using the covered hoppers. Bagged cement was also shipped in boxcars for many years. I don't know about bulk.

The BREX reefer is good. Athearn has these in I believe, a metal and a wood version. Accurail also has a wood version, too. Don't buy the green one from Athearn as I believe even though it is a neat looking car as I think the color scheme is too new for you, and also the prototype car this paint was used on was a 50 footer - NO 40 foot cars were ever painted this way! You can do what you want, of course, it's your railroad, but just wanted to point this out to you in case it matters.

I'm thinking Athearn also has (had?) a short, two bay coal hopper for Burlington. Walthers had some many years ago, too, and I also think maybe Accurail, but I don't remember for sure now.

Anyway, if ya got any question on this don't hesitate to ask. If I can help I will or can maybe find out.

Good luck with the layout!

[orsonroy]

Paul,

You Q guys would actually be better off buying Accurail cars over Athearn. For the pre-PS-1 era, the Q didn't have very many steel boxes, and all three Accurail wood side styles of boxcars are usable for the CB&Q. And Accurail has them all decorated for the Q to boot! (heck, they're in Ellburn, IL. They had BETTER support local railroads!)

Accurail also has the USRA ribbed twin hopper for the Q, as well as the WWII war-emergency composite twin hopper. Five cars from one manufacturer will go a LONG way towards filling out a low cost, and mostly accurate, Q roster!

(most of my Q fleet is made up of Accurail cars, along with a few Red Caboose steel boxes, Intermountain USRA GS gondolas, and resin)

[CBQ_Guy]

QUOTE: Originally posted by orsonroy

Paul,

You Q guys would actually be better off buying Accurail cars over Athearn. For the pre-PS-1 era, the Q didn't have very many steel boxes, and all three Accurail wood side styles of boxcars are usable for the CB&Q. And Accurail has them all decorated for the Q to boot! (heck, they're in Ellburn, IL. They had BETTER support local railroads!)

Accurail also has the USRA ribbed twin hopper for the Q, as well as the WWII war-emergency composite twin hopper. Five cars from one manufacturer will go a LONG way towards filling out a low cost, and mostly accurate, Q roster!

(most of my Q fleet is made up of Accurail cars, along with a few Red Caboose steel boxes, Intermountain USRA GS gondolas, and resin)

Hi Ray,

Geez, I completely forgot about the Accurail wood boxcars. I've got a couple of these but Chris could use a bunch for his era...I'm modeling 1969ish.

Now the Accurail hoppers say Burlington Route on them, but are actually lettered for the C&S. I bought a five pack of these years ago not realizing this, and when I finally got around to thinking about building them, noticed this. I had ASSumed they were CB&Q. Still haven't decided if I'm going to change the C&S to CB&Q or not, or just let it go. This may not matter to Chris but wanted to mention it so he knows and can decide for himself.

[CBQ_Guy]

QUOTE: Originally posted by orsonroy


(heck, they're in Ellburn, IL. They had BETTER support local railroads!)
...Accurail

That reminds me. Why the heck didn't they come out with Burlington stock cars a couple years or so back when they came out with them for a bunch of other roads? That was really irritating. The only time I've seen a Burlington stock car model available was, probably close to 15 years ago now, when Walthers had some. I used to frequent train shows A LOT years ago and have been searching for the old Walthers ones ever since. In all that time and all that looking, I've only found two!

Both companies have come out with stock cars since, and neither has the Burlington. Very irritating and aggrivating.

[Anonymous]

Well, first off I DO like the high-end cars, but the KITS I tell, ya, the RTR high-enders are too expensive! To Orsonroy-I replied to your email, but keep those cars in mind still, If I find out I won't be able to buy enough cars to operate the layout smoothly in the beginning, I'll take them as stand ins for nicer cars until my budget and weathering skills allow for me to buy them. BTW Paul, the Q had 2-bay covered hoppers built in Havelock (or Galesburg, I can't remember) as early as 1940, but these were used for silca sand service only from what I gather.

I may be able to get some extra money in, my mom is seeing if any of her friends need any yardwork done, my dad says he's going to make me put up hay this summer, and I had to write an American Legion essay, and mines at least one of the top 5 best, the Legion gives you money for the top three essays.[^] I ordered 3 Intermountain XM-29 boxcars on TBA from Intermountain thru my LHS, but these will probably be the last RTR high-enders I buy, since I like putting together kits and will be buying an airbrush next summer when the layout's basic structure will be finished.

When progress begins, I'll post more and I'll also post pics of the new layout whenever my parents decide to buy a digital camera.

[CBQ_Guy]

QUOTE: Originally posted by cjm89

BTW Paul, the Q had 2-bay covered hoppers built in Havelock (or Galesburg, I can't remember) as early as 1940, but these were used for silca sand service only from what I gather.

I may be able to get some extra money in, my mom is seeing if any of her friends need any yardwork done, my dad says he's going to make me put up hay this summer, and I had to write an American Legion essay, and mines at least one of the top 5 best, the Legion gives you money for the top three essays.[^] I ordered 3 Intermountain XM-29 boxcars on TBA from Intermountain thru my LHS, but these will probably be the last RTR high-enders I buy, since I like putting together kits and will be buying an airbrush next summer when the layout's basic structure will be finished.

Silica sand service covered hoppers...ah yes, MDC has a couple of those, too, though I've asked and they're not particularly accurate.

As for making some $$$, this summer. When my older daughter was around your age, she worked one summer detassling corn. I don't remember if you have to be at least 16 or not, though. I'm ASSuming you're in/near a rural area as you mentioned putting up hay...

Since you're starting small with the layout, you won't need a lot of cars all at once. Since you prefer the more expensive, higher detailed ones, you can just save up and get one at a time as you go along, I would think. That way you could gradually build up a fleet of quality rolling stock. I didn't have these options when I started building up my roster a dozen or so years ago - cheap kits or brass was about it back then. You have a good opportunity here.

[Anonymous]

If your looking for rolling stock look on ebay.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Sante Fe 4-8-4

If your looking for rolling stock look on ebay.

I like to support my LHS as much as possible. They carry a lot of Red Caboose cars, and I wouldn't mind buying a few undec. 10' 6" boxcars from them and painting the origanal Mineral Red with script slogans. I'd also like to get a couple of AMB 4 window waycars, they're made in St. Louis, MO, while the Walthers cabooses are made in China[xx(] By that time I'll hopefully be pretty good at custom painting and kit building so I'll try the resin cars since Sunshine has quite a few Burlington models. BTW, remember, I'm also modeling the Wabash, which I could get some Branchline boxcars for since it will only be modeled as a secondary road passing thru town.

I also plan to use DCC, and believe I will get the Digitrax Zephyr (what a nice name to power a CB&Q themed layout with![:D]) ANd use TCS or Digitrax decoders, eventually stepping up to Soundtraxx decoders. I plan to buy a Life-Like 0-6-0 to switch the yard, and to have a good-looking, close to the prototype steamer. (I don't care for Bachmann, they don't make any Q prtotoypes anyway)

And CB&Q Guy, one of my freinds is going to detassle corn this summer, so the age limit for that isn't 16. (he's 14) He's going to make $500 a week doing this[:0]
At that rate, I could buy brass! Maybe next summer I'll do that, this summer I'll probably put up hay a lot, my dad knows quite a few farmers. (I actually wish I lived in a farm, that way I could watch KCS work the grain elevators uptown during the grain rush!)

Well, "see" ya'll later, until you ask anymore questions or give tips to me.