Hello All,
First I chose the type (class) of locomotives I wanted to run. From there I researched where they ran and under what flags. From there it was freelancing a portion of the line.
I ended up with GP's in the 1980's serving a coal branch-loop somewhere in the Colorado Rockies.
Hope this helps.
"Uhh...I didn’t know it was 'impossible' I just made it work...sorry"
I have changed railroads from Conrail to SP then to my fictional Golden State Railroad. This was done to allow me to run what I want in the way to equipment. The railroad run in northern California up into sourthern Oregon. My time period is now. the railroad is a 700 mile regional railroad that is very prosperous. For motive power we run everything from GP9's, to FM Trainmasters and RS2's to SD70ACe's and ES44AC's. There has been a slow up grade of motive power,but most of the early locomotives will continue to run for many years to come.
dstarr Depends upon how you feel about steam. In the real world, US railroads retired their last steamer and went all diesel by 1957-58. If you like steam, and like being more or less realistic, you set your time period in the 50's or before. It also depends upon how you feel about diesels. In the real world, diesels didn't become numerous until after WWII. If you want to run both steam and diesel and call yourself more or less realistic, you wind up in the 1950's. I go for the more or less realistic idea 'cause I like it, not 'cause I feel any social pressure from other model rails to do so.
Depends upon how you feel about steam. In the real world, US railroads retired their last steamer and went all diesel by 1957-58. If you like steam, and like being more or less realistic, you set your time period in the 50's or before. It also depends upon how you feel about diesels. In the real world, diesels didn't become numerous until after WWII. If you want to run both steam and diesel and call yourself more or less realistic, you wind up in the 1950's.
I go for the more or less realistic idea 'cause I like it, not 'cause I feel any social pressure from other model rails to do so.
Another reason I chose 1956. I envision it as steam's last hurrah. My freelanced railroad is a subsidiary of the NYC and is the last bastion of steam on the system. It is getting cast off Hudsons, Mohawks, and Niagras from the parent company as well as other NYC subsidiaries such as the Toronto, Hamilton, and Buffalo. My excuse for not relettering them for my railroad is because the plan is to retire them in the coming year and completing dieselization of the NYC system.
Back in the late 1960s when N came along I wanted to just run trains. Era & gegraphical location were not even a consideration then. Latter, when I got back into railway modeling, & having spent my, "down years" reading MR, researching & making plans for the time when I could model trains again, I was as prepared as I would ever be. I chose the scale, HO for sensible reasons such as availability of kits, a road I was familiar with & an era that I had, still do, have an emotional connection with - the 1940s. The cars of this era & the 1930s, is where my automotive interests lay so combining railway and automotive modeling is my idea of hevean on earth.
Dusty
Pretty much the "transition" era for me, from about 1940-1954. That way I can run all the steam I want, some 1st generation diesel, and also have an excuse to run some "foreign" power besides my Southern Pacific/Rio Grande steam--the excuse being that during WWII, railroads were always "borrowing" power from one another as traffic patterns kept shifting. Which explains my Burlington, C&O and Pennsy steamers suddenly appearing in the California Sierra Nevada (not that I feel that I NEED to explain them, you understand, lol!).
Tom
Tom View my layout photos! http://s299.photobucket.com/albums/mm310/TWhite-014/Rio%20Grande%20Yuba%20River%20Sub One can NEVER have too many Articulateds!
I readily admit that most modelers haven't spent more than half a century polishing and refining a single master plan.
What do they say about opinions? *sigh*
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
I grew up in a northern suburb of Reading PA in the 60's and 70's and lived only a block from 'Temple Hill', which was the original first leg of the East Penn branch of the Reading Railroad out of the Reading yard. I watched...sadly...the formation of Conrail from my beloved Reading with five other roads.
I am modeling the Reading of the mid 70's in what was it's final years. The Reading survived the formation of Conrail, in my fictional world. My layout is modeled loosely after numerous areas of the Reading. I take alot of creative license in what I do.
I also model Conrail since I worked for them from 1988 to 1994. Once again in my fictional world...it mysteriously coexists with the Reading...so in a nutshell I model the Reading and Conrail in an alternate history. Like my signature says.
Mark H
Modeling in HO...Reading and Conrail together in an alternate history.
While trying to figure this out for myself, I had small layouts with tight curves so 4 axle diesels were needed (steam models weren't as reliable/smooth running back then). Now, I run with two modular groups and have those modules set up as my home layout (with 48" radius 180 degree curve) so I'm in the market for some 6 axle diesels.
My chosen location is where I rail fanned since I was young, the Delray area of Detroit. After researching the area and planning a layout, I wanted to include passenger operations as well as local and through freight so I narrowed it to the late 60's which is a little before my time. This helped me decide on what models and what paint schemes to look to purchase. Since I still have a pretty small layout, I can run 2 eras by swapping out the old cars with new ones (either the C&O or the Chessie era). I'd love to get some of the newer steam models but then I'd need to get another set of rolling stock for that era...A big Berkshire pulling Rail Box and Conrail cars is distracting to me :)
So, in my attempt to be prototypical and given my circumstances, I have chosen the C&O and Chessie eras (steam is too early and CSX is too late). Researching the operations during this time period cemented my decision...odd diesel lash ups, lots of locos on the point (5 locos wasn't uncommon) and some interesting models E7/8's, F units (Both A's and B's), U-Boats, RS3, RSD15, GP7's through SD40's as well as a few SW's for yard work are feasible for my area and era.
http://delray1967.shutterfly.com/pictures/5
SEMI Free-Mo@groups.io
I used to think I was going to have a contemporary layout that was always modern, however looking back I realize I got stuck in the 90s. Now I call it a fallen flag era layout, an era when there were still many railroads in the west, when most of the diesels were geeps and tunnel motors. I think my biggest stretch time wise is to have old kodachrome Santa Fe SD40s and also have brand new BNSF dash 9s in the war bonnet livery, but I never run them in the same latch. Having the time set in the 80s-90s allows me to have locos from Santa Fe, Southern Pacific, Union Pacific, and Rio Grande. I also have a CNW painted for Operation Lifesaver. I do have a steam engine, Santa Fe 3781, which is operated by my historical society. I also get to have Metrolink trains with the suicide cab. Nobody makes the modern safety cab yet anyway even though they do have the modern paint scheme.
I am also planning on building a small portable N scale layout of the Virginia & Truckee Railroad set in the gold rush days. I wasn't alive back then but I think it would be cool. There won't be any automobiles, only horses, wagons, stage coaches, etc. Don't be surprised if there are even train robbers waiting to rob the train as it slowly climbs the step grade.
My freelanced Toledo Erie Central is based in northwest Ohio, somewhere between Sandusky and Toledo in those tumultuous 1970's. A sort-of a "what if" scenario, where a short line was developed out of a need for local industries to be still served by rail when the Norfolk & Western had abandoned a segment of their line. I like that era because it had a lot of character that lends itself to some interesting modeling. Also, because of the many mergers that railroads engaged in at that time to try to stay solvent, you could have seen just about any road name/livery on locomotives (and sometimes cabooses). I do have a lot of Erie Lackawanna/Erie, Chessie System, B&O and just one PRR (SD9) within my roster as well as TEC RR custom painted equipment. Also, I am quite fond of first and second generation diesels. These are all things that I have grown up with and saw in my childhood as well as in my young adult years.
David Starr www.newsnorthwoods.blogspot.com
I picked the fall of 1952. The Maryland & Pennsylvania RR ended passenger service in 1954, so it had to be before that. They acquired 4 diesel switchers by 1951, so it had to be after that. 1952 they retired #42 and I have a kit for that locomotive. The 4 diesels (RTR undec) and 3 2-8-0 kits (#41, #42, #43) are all that have been available in S scale for the Ma&Pa, so 1952 it is. Fall, because I want to include fall colors on the layout.
One of the advantages of the Ma&Pa in the early 50's is that they were still using early 1900's locomotives - all their steam engines but 1 were built pre WWI, the 1 being in the 1920's. 8 of them were still on the roster in 1952. Also they were still using truss rod freight cars and open platform passenger cars. This allows a mix of equipment eras with interchanged freight from the 30's - 50's and home frieight from the early 1900's. I can also include PRR and B&O as these were connecting lines.
All that said, I'm not a purist. I have several billboard era reefers and some of the paint schemes on my freight cars are later than 1952. I also have a Gorre & Daphetid boxcar (as well as other fantasy road cars) that I use.
But it's all fun and captures the flavor of the Ma&Pa.
Enjoy
Paul
My layout models B & M...basically late '50s to late '60s...it was THE big regional RR in my area and still limps on under the "guise" of Pan AM/ Guilford in certain locations....
My setup is part reality, part fantasy.....the line is reality....WHERE the line travels is more fantasy than fact -- the rails used to transport goods to 2 of my industries were abandoned/torn up years ago.....!!:(
And....one major deviation on my yard tracks.....a GE 44-tonner, semi-modded to specs from our local Suncook Valley RR...boasting the number "3", the same as the Phase IV unit that saw service in my town until 1952 -- the year the line shut down.....and the year I was born (still trying to figure if those 2 events were somehow related.....!!
May your freight ALWAYS roll smoothly...and ON TIME!!
For my freelanced modeling I settled on October 1907 for a handful of reasons. October allows for colorful scenery - orange and gold aspens, red oaks and cottonwoods, and the first snow on the ground at higher elevations. 1907 means there's a wide variety of styles in locomotives - Russia Iron is still prevalent, a few older engines maintain some of their original fancy brass trim, diamond stacks are still around, and some new technology is starting to appear, evidenced by extended smokeboxes, straight stacks, and even an electric headlight or two. Choosing 1907 will also help me emphasize that my setting is the desert and mountains of Utah, because the Rio Grande Western (of Utah) and Denver & Rio Grande (of Colorado) have merged but not yet consolidated (that will happen in 1908), so RGW equipment dominates the standard gauge.
As one if the younger members, I chose between 2000-2014 Wheeling & Lake Erie. Plus I have thrown in a SMALL class three short line. Its what I know and have grown up with. BUT....I do have several PRR trains for club running to keep a prototypical feel.
(My Model Railroad, My Rules)
These are the opinions of an under 35 , from the east end of, and modeling, the same section of the Wheeling and Lake Erie railway. As well as a freelanced road (Austinville and Dynamite City railroad).
I started out with the intent to model the mid 1940s Pennsy, mostly steam. Due to space restrictions, I couldn’t do that justice so I switch scales to N. Steam was not plentiful and true Pennsy steam almost non-existent in N scale in 2002, so I switched to a freelance road. I was planning to model the then-current time period. Before I got too far down that path, we moved and I had a larger space.
I rethought what I was doing and my preferences. I formulated a history and purpose for the fictional road, placed in in the geographic reagion including Raton Pass, and decided to set the calendar in 1958 and gave the Bunter Ridge (named after the dog at the time) a preference for Alcos. At that point, between Kato and Atlas almost every Alco road switcher I could want from the era was available and available as undecorated. That also included PAs, and EMD E8s and SD9s. I always liked the classic look of the SD9, so it became the exception to the Alco road switcher preference.
Another move later and I have stuck to the plan. So, basically the timeframe was set by a preference for locomotives available for a given era.
I do have a couple of tank cars whose service date is about 18 months or so after 1958, but it is N scale, who is going to read it other than me with the magnifying glass or Optivisor? I’m not a rivet counter, but locking down the era (as well as the railroad business preferences) has given me a reason to to walk away from a few purchases over the years (I’d love to buy it, but GE C40-8s weren’t around in 1958). The exception to my discipline is an Athearn UP Big Boy that does not exactly fit the location and tugs at the year, but it was in tribute to our second dog who was a good friend for 10 years before he left us (he was often called “Big Boy”).
My other threatened deviation from 1958 is a bullet train. That would be one of those things that get trotted out occasionally to demonstrate the brilliance of the Bunter Ridge R&D department. So far, I have resisted that urge.
- Mark
2004-2006 Canadian National in Central Wisconsin so I can run all my Wi Central equipment. I ignore rivet counters and admire people who can model.
tomikawaTT Does it fit?" has a definite yes or no answer. "Yes," into the cart. "No," back on the shelf. I don't have to imagineer the scenery. I can look at my own and other photos
This is so true and I believe makes my modeling feel better to me and thats all that really counts!
Enjoy the day
TomO
A visit to the area I model in September, 1964 drove an anchor bolt into my modeling scheme.
There are advantages to modeling a specific place at a specific time:
I readily admit that most modelers haven't spent more than half a century polishing and refining a single master plan. I have, and I'm happy with it.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
BATMAN I love it all! I want to run anything from Stephensons Rocket to something that has just rolled off the assembly line. There are really some tightly wound rivet counters out there. Everything about their trains is perfect, however on the rest of the layout you will see things like mailboxes, light standards, vehicles, airplanes, the list is endless of things that came about well after the era of their layout. They brush those things off, but will give you the death stare if they see something not accurate on your favourite loco. My layout (in progress) will easily be transitioned to an early 20th century time period by having certain things easily removable and added from it, if I choose to be true to the time period.
I love it all!
I want to run anything from Stephensons Rocket to something that has just rolled off the assembly line.
There are really some tightly wound rivet counters out there. Everything about their trains is perfect, however on the rest of the layout you will see things like mailboxes, light standards, vehicles, airplanes, the list is endless of things that came about well after the era of their layout. They brush those things off, but will give you the death stare if they see something not accurate on your favourite loco.
My layout (in progress) will easily be transitioned to an early 20th century time period by having certain things easily removable and added from it, if I choose to be true to the time period.
I read that John Allen had an HO scale figure hanged from a bridge. When visitors would ask him about it he would simply reply, "Diesel salesman". I've thought about doing something similar and telling people it is a rivet counter.
I picked 1956 because I wanted to run late steam and first generation diesels. Most railroads were well on their way to becoming fully dieselized if they hadn't yet got there but it would still be plausible to be running steam on my freelanced railroad. I picked 1956 for what seems like a trivial reason. I had some HO scale posters that said "I Like Ike" to help set the time period and they would be appropriate for 1956.
I do cheat a little bit. Most of my automobiles are CMW makes and choices are somewhat limited so I do have a few 1959 Fords that have a styling that still blends in with 1950s styling. I also have a few Jade Green NYC boxcars which if I remember right came along in 1960. That's the nice thing about freelancing. Since I am running a fictional railroad in fictional towns, how much of a stretch is it to include a few things from a slightly later year.
I sometimes wish I could pin things down to one era, but I kinda like everything. My layout is being built with the idea of the time frame rotating from basically the late steam era (c.1940) to 'today'. For example, I'm working to make it so the steam/transition era Commissary and Freight House buildings can be removed in the more modern times to make room for an intermodal unloading area.
I model in different eras.
My main one is Union Pacific and BNSF sits in 1998 to 2007. But it's mainly in 2007 (early) because of the UP red to yellow reflection stripe. All my locomotives and freight cars checked in pictures and year it was photographed. I buy no equipment that's after a significant date in 2006.
I also model Conrail in 1987 (after the Maryland accident) thru 1989.
I'm very passionate about railroading and not a rivet counter.
Amtrak America, 1971-Present.
I liked the 30's and have found that a lot of stuff that came later could have been built in say 1939 like the diesel S-4, major visable difference being the trucks which were in contention for the original S-1 so I give them a pass. Just for you nitpickers out there, there were S-1's in 1939, just not production.
I model the Bangor & Aroostook in the 80's for two reasons. The red, black, and grey livery is my favorite of all the ones that they used and the early 80's was when I was old enough to be out on my own, with my own place, and my own truck, and could go watch more than just the local that ran nearby.
Rivet counting True Confessions:
I committed a serious gaffe once at a train show. I've studied B&O EM-1's pretty seriously and thoroughly over the years, and I know the variations among the thirty engines. I was at a train show where a fellow had done a wonderful job of detailing an EM-1. The level of detail indicated to me that this modeler must have realy done his homework, but I noticed a detail variation that seemed wrong for the engine number on the model. I asked the model builder whether the engine had a shop modification that I didn't know about, and he was highly incensed that I had pointed out an error on his model. Honestly, I admired his modeling work and paint job, and never had any intention to give offense. The error, if it could be called an error at all, could have been easily corrected by changing the number.
Hendrickson said we're all Pennsy modelers because there was a time when the PRR freight car roster was the largest in the land and PRR cars could be seen from coast to coast. PRR had many freight car classes and subclasses that had more cars than many roads' entire rosters.
ndbprrSome of us model a railroad rather then a time frame. Having early steam through the range of diesels can allow different time frames when operated. The buildings don't change much in cities over the years.
Actually, I have fallen into that trap, although if a RR has been around for a long time, it can get really expensive to have all the rolling stock necessary to cover a long time span. The D&RGW, for example could cover *phew* the 1930's thru 1996 anyway, as the coroporate image didn't have a sudden cut-off after the SP/D&RGW merger in 1988, but gradually morphed visually during the early to mid-1990's.
In my case, I have chosen, partly due to purely financial reasons, to limit my time-frame as 1965-1990, and even that I feel is a bit more than I can bite off, but to be fair, the diesel roster of the D&RGW didn't change much at all between 1970 and 1990 so that helps a lot! Freight traffic did slowly change of course but you can still cover it - bigger changes were change from Rio Grande Zephyr to Amtrak, and intermodal changed form 40' trailers to 45' trailers, and some slow morphing of freight cars.
RG5761: As Richard Hendrickson used to say, we are ALL Pennsy modelers. And his primary road was Santa Fe. Tom
Ah, you noticed I got sucked in with the Tangent X58 box cars (PRR and PC?). I canna help it Captain! Well, D&RGW did have Alfred E Pearlman so thats in common. That said, I don't own any Pennsy engines, zip, so I'm only a Pennsy modeler in that I need some freight cars for a prototypical mix as they went thru the Rockies.
As far as Penn Central goes, I know many considered it a disaster but for some reason many still love to model it - in all it's colorful glory. Me, I think the green PC freight cars are so cool looking, I can't resist having some too, and whats best, is it's prototypical!
For me I stumbled into the 78-80 time period because of my interest in collecting IPD short line boxcars.My 85/87 freelance C&HV and Huron River is because I had several cars that fit that era and of course my 94/95 Summerset Ry is because I wanted to model that era.
I also have SCL,Seaboard System,CR,CSX and NS locomotives and these will fit my freelance railroad eras.So,its turn out better then I ever dream it would.
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
BATMANThere are really some tightly wound rivet counters out there. Everything about their trains is perfect, however on the rest of the layout you will see things like mailboxes, light standards, vehicles, airplanes, the list is endless of things that came about well after the era of their layout. They brush those things off, but will give you the death stare if they see something not accurate on your favourite loco.
I have never seen this happen once -- the "evil rivet counters" meme is pretty tired.
In my experience, folks who are focused on time period accuracy are worried about what they are modeling and couldn't care less about how others are modeling.
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