Howard,Here's what I been seeing lately. It seems the transition era is slowly dying and interest in the railroads of the 70/80s seem to be growing and contemporary modeling as always been with us since there as always been modelers that model what they see.
I've notice my grandson's(he 24) generation of modelers knows far more about any diesel or freight car then they do about NKP 765 and could care less because they have no interest in steam..They know their modeled railroad history as well.
As I often mention I recall the last days of main line steam but,never had a real desire to model the transition era even though I have own some steam engines. I even tried modeling around 1900 but,couldn't stay interested just like my short live steam powered switching layout.
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
I'm 41, but model the 1940's. Not for post-war fascination, but during the war fascination. I've always loved the 1930's through WWII period: Steam locomotives, art deco, beautiful 1930's automobiles, radio was king, and a "can do" attitude from the country. There was a point in my youth where I was convinced I would model the 1980's, but luckily came to my senses! I had plenty of friends who loved my trains, but didn't model themselves, so Rich's statement may be partly true, but perhaps they'll remember when the time is right.
Mike
Howard Zane Rich, I ain't never claimed that my possum was fully cooked. Three wives will attest to that and thanks for the fine words.
Rich,
I ain't never claimed that my possum was fully cooked. Three wives will attest to that and thanks for the fine words.
That second part spoken in sincerity.
Rich
Alton Junction
I have decided yesterday to go with plan B.....leave the basement layout as is and build the smaller historic pike in a guest room. I'm now building structures and rolling stock. Over the years I have accumulated many Central Valley period freight cars, dozens of Labelle both freight and passenger car kits, and several others like Sequoia, etc,. I have a fine collection of period brass from this period. It is truly amazing how many brass imports are from this era. I will be focusing on 1900-1910, so still 4-4-0's could be found in service. But first my annual physical in two weeks.............
Also modeling a time when we had a fine president like Teddy Roosvelt seems to be somewhat of a driving force. Then of course my existing pike is during the Ike years. Today???? Sorry no more politics!!
HZ
Howard Zane Is there a future for millennials and generation X'ers to pick a period from history and build their miniture world around that particular peroid?
Is there a future for millennials and generation X'ers to pick a period from history and build their miniture world around that particular peroid?
Howard Zane After the new video on my pike comes out (still no links), I'm seriously thinking of striping most of the pike down to the benchwork,
After the new video on my pike comes out (still no links), I'm seriously thinking of striping most of the pike down to the benchwork,
Howard, are you nuts? Take down your masterpiece, your work of art? Don't do it.
In the US, there is a cultural fascination with the postwar period. This has manifested itself in many forms. I suspect that people will be modeling the postwar era (1945-1960s) for quite some time. The sheer availability of second-hand pieces from this era will only reinforce this choice.
I'm 16 and I model 1940s to 1960s sure I'll buy the occasional SD70ACE or SD40-2 but I still prefer the transition era but then again I like old cars and listen to and sing old music thats me. (Also I have Aspergers Syndrome so that leads to my lone wolf lifestyle) Anyway I truly think that enough people have an interest in model railroading that the transition era should continue to be a subject of layouts but I think it's imperative that people who experienced and witnessed the transition era pass down their knowledge to youngsters to help ensure that it remains an important subject matter.
Steve
If everything seems under control, you're not going fast enough!
Well, I'm firmly in the early 50's - steam and diesel on the Ma&Pa. However, with the Ma&Pa all steam locomotives were built before WWI except one - and that was 1925. Ma&Pa passenger cars were open platform truss rod. Their rolling stock was of similar vintage. This allows me to run equipment from the early 1900's through early diesel switchers.
If I were to change eras, it would be 1905. Although i have to say that 1840's in O scale would be intriguing as well. the larger scale would be offset by the smaller equipment.
Paul
Sheldon,Not to mention that most of the F&SM large buildings would fall down from their own weight. As masonry structures get taller, the walls must get thicker at the bottom and the windows should be fewer and skinnier. But the F&SM buildings have uniform walls.
BTW, one of my old hobby friends had been to the F&SM, and his quote was, "The Great Depression wasn't that bad." He ought to have known as he had lived through it.
Still a great layout, but just not as realistic as one might think.
I model the Tonopah and Tidewater and the Las Vegas and Tonopah circa 1915. It really isn't that hard to do. My sense is that the modeling the "1950's transition era" that was so popular is being replaced with a lot more different time eras varying from civil war era to pre-1900 to 2017 industrial switching layout.
Howard Zane Wow! I cannot believe the reaction I received in just two hours about changing my railroad including already a phone call. I may modify my thinking to building a new railroad in one of our guest suites which is around 20' x 10'. Years back I tried this, but with On3 and found it quite difficult to serve two masters as in which railroad do I work on today? Now that the present pike is near completion (or appears that way), possibly I can see just maintaining it for visitors and occasionally myself and proceed with a new pike upstairs modeling the earlier period as described. Actually should this work out, there is a way I could eventually expand it, but I could just eventually run out of years. This new railroad coud also be built in sections as to be moved as it would be in a room adjacent to our upper deck with a wide staircase. Now I have much to think about. I do have a rare and serious desease which most medical types probably never heard of...SIMS (Shark in motion syndrome) meaning that if I stop building, I'll croak up in record time. There is no cure other than more choo choos. HZ HZ
Wow! I cannot believe the reaction I received in just two hours about changing my railroad including already a phone call. I may modify my thinking to building a new railroad in one of our guest suites which is around 20' x 10'. Years back I tried this, but with On3 and found it quite difficult to serve two masters as in which railroad do I work on today? Now that the present pike is near completion (or appears that way), possibly I can see just maintaining it for visitors and occasionally myself and proceed with a new pike upstairs modeling the earlier period as described. Actually should this work out, there is a way I could eventually expand it, but I could just eventually run out of years. This new railroad coud also be built in sections as to be moved as it would be in a room adjacent to our upper deck with a wide staircase. Now I have much to think about. I do have a rare and serious desease which most medical types probably never heard of...SIMS (Shark in motion syndrome) meaning that if I stop building, I'll croak up in record time. There is no cure other than more choo choos.
Howard, one or two thoughts. Earlier you mentioned George Sellios and his F&SM. Personally, you and he are great modelers, but in my view, your structures and scenery are much more "realistic".
Photographic evidence clearly shows that virtually no part of the "depression" was as depressing as protrayed by Sellios. Just my view....
Unless you are set on changing trackage and terrain to match a specific place, would you really have to strip the layout down that for to change its era?
What about simply removing/replacing/modifying those elements that are too modern? A great many of your structures would clearly be correct well back to 1900 or before - as is real life - it is 2017 and I live in a 1901 house.
Sheldon
Wow! I cannot believe the reaction I received in just two hours about changing my railroad including already a phone call. I may modify my thinking to building a new railroad in one of our guest suites which is around 20' x 10'. Years back I tried this, but with On3 and found it quite difficult to serve two masters as in which railroad do I work on today? Now that the present pike is near completion (or appears that way), possibly I can see just maintaining it for visitors and occasionally myself and proceed with a new pike upstairs modeling the earlier period as described. Actually should this work out, there is a way I could eventually expand it, but I could just eventually run out of years. This new railroad coud also be built in sections as to be moved as it would be in a room adjacent to our upper deck with a wide staircase. Now I have much to think about. I do have a rare and serious desease which most medical types probably never heard of...SIMS (Shark in motion syndrome) meaning that if I stop building, I'll croak up in record time. A shark will die if it does not keep swimming. There is no cure other than more choo choos.
I was a teen in the 1970's watching the SP on the mainline between the bay area and Sacramento and over Donner Pass. I also saw D&RGW a bit in the 1970's and early 1980's so I am firmly interested in the last 1970's thru early 1980's. I find modern kind of ugly and boring and like the interesting variety freight cars of my period which included a good amount of fallen flags and color ful per diem box cars.
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
I disagree with Ulrich, the motive power is out there in the form of brass imports from years ago. Plenty of detail, most just need a fresh motor and painted. Greg's Garage had some pre WW1 vehicles I believe in thier cast resin line. Yes its more work, just like civil war railroad or pre 1900 modeling is. But there in lies the challenge. Do we as modelers take the easy route with all the RTR modern era equipment available today? Or do we take up the challenge that those like Howard and model an earlier time period that actually takes some "work" and "modeling skill" to achieve a believable result? I myself am 44, and enjoy pre WWII pacific northwest logging modeling. To me, modern era diesels are borring. I enjoy railfanning, but have zero interest in modeling what I see everyday. Mike the Aspie
Silly NT's, I have Asperger's Syndrome
Howard,
Generation Xers are people in their 40s and 50s. Millennials are people in their 20s and 30s. I think you should worry about the kids who are in high school.
I grew up in the 90s and early 2000s, and I'm 31. I was fascinated with New York City and I liked the NYC Hudsons pulling the Century. My modeling was going to be 1938.
When I was young I looked at a lot books with different railroads paint schemes which I thought were still around. But I was wrong.
I was going to that one guy who kept modeling the present day back I quit after 2006. Because the Union Pacific locomotives I had wore than red sill instead of the yellow.
I go through a lot different eras:
Late 1950s- New York Central
1960-1967- New York Central, Santa Fe
1971-present- Amtrak
1977-1999 Conrail
1979-1981- Burlington Northern, Chessie System
1990s- Burlington Northern, Southern Pacific, Union Pacific, BNSF, Santa Fe,
2000-2006- BNSF, Union Pacific some CSX, NS, and CP.
It looks messy and I might stuck to one when I more permanent layout. I love steam engines but I can't hold them for have a bummed hand.
Amtrak America, 1971-Present.
Well, I'm another transition era guy, but not old enough to have been there.
I model 1953, I was born in 1957.
I do not even own a model locomotive that represents a post 1954 prototype.
I only have about 3 pieces of rolling stock that represent post 1954 - let over from some earlier 1960's modeling when I was a teen.
I have a fair number of Victorian era structures for my layout, in real life I live is a 1901 Queen Anne - fully restored.
Model railroading would hold no interest for me without the "historic" component, modern trains just don't interest me enough.
So time is frozen here on the ATLANTIC CENTRAL.
So much for the notion that we model the trains of our youth........
Howard,I model the NHRR, which died over 6 years before I was born. Why? Because the trains that I remember seeing in my youth (in the 1980's to early-1990's) are boring. Amtrak F40PH's, MBTA F40PH's, and Conrail B23-7's. Amfleet cars, MBTA Horizon cars, and CR local freights. That's it; that's all there was. I could model my entire youth era with 3 engines, a dozen passenger cars, and a dozen boxcars. Ho-hum.
Instead, I choose to model what we had before I was born because the NH was just so much more interesting. A 4-diesel MU could have 4 different locomotives from 4 different manufacturers in 4 different paint schemes. Not only did the NH have cabooses, but they were in 7 different paint schemes. The NH's passenger trains weren't all the same car body, they routinely had 6 different kinds of passenger cars on one train (in multiple paint schemes). Commuter trains were 4 or 5 different kinds of heavyweights, Budd cars, or The Comet. The NH used to run mainline freights (not just locals), and these would leave Boston at 5:00, 5:30, 6:00 and 6:30 every night, right in the middle of the evening rush.
I have little to no interest in modeling my youth. Nothing that has followed the NH has been better except the Acela; it offers faster service than the NH did, but that came after my college days.
Instead, I model the NH. No particular era of the NH, but if it's NH I want it. My plan is to be able to model the NH in any era, but the oldest equipment I have dates to 1907 (an original NH electric EP-1). There just isn't much pre-WWI that's accurate for NH.
When I was a kid in the 1970s and 1980s it seemed like everyone was modeling the transition era of the late 1950s. Mostly those were guys who were teenagers or in their 20s then and were recreating their glory years. I wanted contemporary because I had not yet reached that age yet. A lot of my equipment I bought in the 1990s and the thought was that I would keep my layout contemporary but the reality is that I have an 80s-90s model railroad. I have no nostalgia for the 1950s since it was before my birth so I have no interest in modeling it. However I do have an interest in the late 1800s and I have been doing research on the Virginia and Truckee railroad, and I have begun collecting locomotives and rolling stock for it. My current layout is whimsical but I plan on having my V&T layout be as historically accurate as possible. Having the internet helps make this possible because I can find information a lot easier than in the past. I can even use google maps to see where the old turntable was. You can still see the remnants of it. Why 1800s V&T? Part of me likes the wild west, stage coaches, mining, gun fights, train robberies, cattle drives etc. I use to live in Reno so the V&T is local and I have actually been there. Also Kit Carson, a wild west pioneer, was a distant relative of mine.
I'm with ya dude!
I model a freelanced regional anthracite carrier in the year 1910. The location stems from my family history. The time period from my favorite locos - early Mallets and small to mid-sized Consolidations, and my interests in that turn-of-the-century.
Adding to the attraction, is the architecture, the unusual equipment (camelbacks and the wide variety of "experimental" freight cars), and the overall fun of doing something just a little bit different.
There appears to be a little more interest in this TOC era than we typically see in the pages of MRR, the Yahoo Early Rail Group claims almost 1400 members. But going forward, I'd expect modern era modeling to dominate at the expense of transition period, with historic modeling continuing as a small speciality interest.
Jim
Steam engines, with all sorts of moving parts out in the open, are fascinating machines. I'm pretty sure there are, and will be, a lot of model railroaders modeling steam era roads just because they like to see and run steam engines. The "transition era" is popular because it allows one to operate both steam and diesel engines with plausibility.
I'll grant you that doing a model railroad set before 1914 might be a little difficult, but there are a few appropriate steamers for that era on the market, and some kit bashing and scratch building should yield enough motive power for a decent model RR.
David Starr www.newsnorthwoods.blogspot.com
This is my 1,000th post!
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I model 1954, which for me is "historical" I guess. I was not around for another 15 years.
Model Railroader has done many surveys through the years that seem to always show the "transitional" period is the most popular to model. I wish they would break it down by age. I would not be surprised if a lot of people like me in their late 40's are modelling this era.
The only steam locomotive I have ever seen in real life was when the Freedom Train rolled through Florida in 1976.
I think my love of steam engines comes from my love of all things heavy and mechanical. I have been involved in the repair of heavy duty and high horsepower diesel engines my entire life. Steam engines have always fascinated me. Steam locomotives were necessary for my model railroad.
I prefer freight cars from the late 1960s and early 1970s, so that is a problem. I decided to go with steam power instead of colorful freight cars.
In N scale I modelled 1968, so I have experience with both. Steam is the better choice for me.
My layout is not a "time machine" taking me back to my youth, but a stage for the machines I love to perform on.
If I was going to switch eras again, I really think I would go to S scale Dystopian SteamPunk.
Now THAT is something that could really get the creativity transmission into overdrive!
-Kevin
Living the dream.
I think I'll just stick with the transitional period. It was hard enough to buy all of the autos and so forth for that era but I can't even imagine how hard it would be to try and model the early 20th century...
Howard - modeling the pre-WW I era is certainly an intriguing thought, but not an easy task to do. It starts with a lack of good quality, well detailed motive power from that period and ends at missing vehicles, figures clad in period clothing and other nitty-gritties, which are so important to establish the period atmosphere.
I see both in person and in video (you tube) many quite nice pikes of mostly contemporary settings or periods. I realize that most model what we have a history with....henceforth my modelng the 40's and 50's, but us dinosaurs who model this period soon will be gone. Is there a future for millennials and generation X'ers to pick a period from history and build their miniture world around that particular peroid?
I do remember years back folks from my generation doing exactly this. During the earlys 60's I did visit several layouts set from the civil war period right up through the early 20th century. There is still today much available either in RTR or kits of this period. I do know a fellow in my area in his 40's who is modeling the NYC west of Albany in 1942. I seriously doubt that his parents were alive then. His fun is in the research, constructing, and acquiring models from that period. last time I saw his work, it was rather impressive and seemingly accurate as I'm from that era.
I have seen a few modelers imbibe the John Allen type of modeling. Then there is George Sellios modeling urban decay during the 1920's and 30's New England influence....and quite well at that!
After the new video on my pike comes out (still no links), I'm seriously thinking of striping most of the pike down to the benchwork, selling most of my 40's and 50's models, and try to recreate the turn of the century (19th to 20th) in the north Jersey area. Only age (once relic....now collectible) is my concern. I've been lucky with health issues, so there is a strong possibility that I'll do this. My wife, Sandy is quite supportive as long as I do not knock out another basement wall.
I have been building Victorian home models now for years and commercial buildings that would have been from this period. If you do reasearch, check out what Morristown and Paterson looked like in this era vs. today's structures. Of course I'm a history nut and this would work for me.
Just a thought if some get tired of diesel lashups and today's architecture.