Because I like that era.
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.
RR_MelI got into HO scale in 1951 at the ripe old age of 14. I went grocery shopping with my Mother and found this book that she bought me.
Mel,Back then you couldn't model,operate or work on your layout without wearing your engineer hat as the photos show.
I wore one to train shows and clubs with various railroad pins until the mid 80s. I finally tire of wearing it and placed it on a closet shelf with the rest of my railroad caps.
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
My favorite timeline 1987-1994. I stretched it out to 1995-2007.
A young age when designing my train set I chose the year 1991 when I was 8 or 9 years ago in 1994 or 1995. So I also backed track in the late 80s and moved into the mid 90s before I knew about the CNW/UP & BNSF merger.
My main interest are New York Central, Conrail, Cotton Belt/SP, ATSF, BN, Chessie System and Amtrak. In 1998 I got into Conrail by a LL train set. Then I continued the railroad timeline into the modern present day. That started in 2005 and ended in 2007 because of the UP yellow sill locomotives and more safety stripes on freight cars.
Now I'm thinking late 80s and early 90s because of lack of prototypical locomotives with ditch lights and replacement headlights on N Scale models.
As my fictional railroad it can easily fit within any timeline.
Amtrak America, 1971-Present.
angelob6660 That started in 2005 and ended in 2007 because of the UP yellow sill locomotives Now I'm thinking late 80s and early 90s because of lack of prototypical locomotives with ditch lights and replacement headlights on N Scale models.
That started in 2005 and ended in 2007 because of the UP yellow sill locomotives
I hate those yellow sills. Couldn't they just put yellow stripes on the red sill?
Lack of ditchlights is a problem in HO too, but its getting better. I'm finally beginning to see more SD40-2s in modern schemes being produced with operating ditch lights than just the generic as-built schemes with none.
- Douglas
Doughless angelob6660 That started in 2005 and ended in 2007 because of the UP yellow sill locomotives Now I'm thinking late 80s and early 90s because of lack of prototypical locomotives with ditch lights and replacement headlights on N Scale models. I hate those yellow sills. Couldn't they just put yellow stripes on the red sill? Lack of ditchlights is a problem in HO too, but its getting better. I'm finally beginning to see more SD40-2s in modern schemes being produced with operating ditch lights than just the generic as-built schemes with none.
One of the joys of modeling the 50's is no ditch lights to worry about or control. Some railroads had been experimenting with Mars lights, but even that was hit and miss, road by road.
Many roads had just started turning headlights on in daylight.........
Ditch light, what's a ditch light?
It is interesting how simple stuff can easily change what you need or want. Lack of need to control lighting is another reason why DCC has no appeal for me.
Yet I can see why it is important for more modern era modeling.
Sheldon
Not ditch lights, no Mars lights, no beacons, and the close to the right year rulebook I have says nothing about turning headlights on during the day on road locos, just yard switchers. Which is why even with DCC, I generally don't use a programming tool like JMRI, there's nothing complicated to set in my locos, basically just an address, an all systems do the hard part of that automatically.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
ATLANTIC CENTRAL Doughless angelob6660 That started in 2005 and ended in 2007 because of the UP yellow sill locomotives Now I'm thinking late 80s and early 90s because of lack of prototypical locomotives with ditch lights and replacement headlights on N Scale models. I hate those yellow sills. Couldn't they just put yellow stripes on the red sill? Lack of ditchlights is a problem in HO too, but its getting better. I'm finally beginning to see more SD40-2s in modern schemes being produced with operating ditch lights than just the generic as-built schemes with none. One of the joys of modeling the 50's is no ditch lights to worry about or control. Some railroads had been experimenting with Mars lights, but even that was hit and miss, road by road. Many roads had just started turning headlights on in daylight......... Ditch light, what's a ditch light? It is interesting how simple stuff can easily change what you need or want. Lack of need to control lighting is another reason why DCC has no appeal for me. Yet I can see why it is important for more modern era modeling. Sheldon
DLs are those two bright lights that have been added to the front of locomotives since 1996, either above or below the sill depending upon the RR. Sometimes to the back too in the case of road switchers (Norfolk Southern does this more than any other Class 1, IMO). They need to be illuminated when traveling at least 20 mph over grade crossings. Some RRs have them alternately flash when the horn is blown. Some decoders can be programmed to do this too, which is really nice.
I'm not a huge stickler for details, but it would bother me if my layout models a, say, post 2000 era and the locos dont have them. They don't have to be lighted, but its even better if they are. They are not too difficult to add since several companies produce kits, both for lighted and static options.
I suppose adding them, and decaling conspicuity stripes too, is like adding any other details to models to make them more specific. The factory does a much better job than I can do, so I prefer factory models that represent more modern versions of the locomotives. They are appearing more frequently in the market.
Its not really a DCC/DC thing. You can add working ditchlights to DC locos as well, and I would do that if I stayed with DC. They would simply be an extension of the directional headlights circuit. The only function lost would be the alternating flashing, which isn't even that big of a deal.
Before I had space for a layout I was a Pennsy modeler, but with very imprecise notions about transition era and no clear idea at all about location (which matters a lot for the PRR by the way). Then after I moved to a house and began to think about benchwork and a track plan, LifeLike Proto2000 released a model of the very C&NW switcher that my teenage best friend and I used to watch do its work in our home town. In an instant the PRR was ditched and I became a C&NW modeler (I had long belonged to the C&NW Historical Society) and realized I wanted to model what he and I saw back then. My friend and I took some photos circa 1968, me with my bad Brownie camera, he had a fairly decent Argus "Brick" for 35mm. The pictures are not publishable but thanks to digital and scanning and cropping I have been able to unearth a fair amount of really useful 1968 era information, often in the fuzzy background of our train pictures, about track plans, structures, common freight cars, passenger train consists, freight loco assignments, signals, street lights, rail served industries, and all sorts of small details of that sort. I also rely on my memory and when all else fails, memory wins. Even if an employee timetable contradicts it!
The available information dictates my chosen era of late 1960s -- not too precise about month or even year but I consult those 1968 photos often, so let's say 1967-70. And it is an interesting era. Still steam era freight cars to be seen, including single sheathed wood cars and some wood reefers. It was pre Amtrak. Freight cars were starting to lose the running boards and starting to show the ACI labels. Tank cars were starting to get very long, something I forgot about until I reviewed those 1968 photos. Solid bearing trucks were still common but on the way out. Ditto for ice bunker reefers - they were seen but on the way out. I needed to get red bay window cabooses, but a reasonable amount of the freight car kits I had built and equipped with Kadees for that hypothetical PRR layout were able to retained and used, but many had to be set aside for being just too improbably old by the late 1960s. Fortunately the PRR was such a huge railroad that there is reason to prototypically run plenty of my PRR freight cars on a C&NW layout.
Dave Nelson
Douglas, I know what ditch lights are, but they don't exist yet in the 1954 world of my layout.
If I have to narrow it down I would say 1938, the year before WWII started for Canada. I have very vivid memories of the conversations of my parents, aunts and uncles and older cousins talking of that period and how life went from being pretty good too as bad as it can get. I have lots of photo's of family leaving the farms, getting on the troop trains and not coming home for six or seven years ( the ones that made it home )
It was a real time of transition as diesel power had arrived but also the steam rosters were at their most varied as the end was in sight. My Grandfather worked the RH in Winnipeg through the war and I remember him saying nothing had the maintenance it deserved and he never saw an engine get a bath through the entire war as they did not stop long enough.
Winnipeg was a major North American RR crossroad and when the Lend/lease act came into effect Winnipeg had a vast selection of U.S. railroad everything coming and going from the South. That is how I ended up with a C & O 2-10-4 on my layout.
The RR was huge in our family either as employees or because someone was always going somewhere. Maybe I don't model 1938, but 1938 to 1946 as those stories tend to fill the shadows of my mind.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
The railroad I am planning is based on the late NYC, probably about 1965-66. It will be based on the area I grew up in and what I saw at the time. It could very easily be updated to PC or Conrail as not much changed in the 15 years until service ended in 1981 and the tracks torn up in 1982.
1969. I was only six years old that year but I really liked that year.
TF
Track fiddler 1969. I was only six years old that year but I really liked that year. TF
I remember 1969, I was 12, my parents bought a new 1969 Checker Marathon automobile.
My layout then was two 5x9 platforms in an "L" shape that my father built for me a few years earlier. I was by then building freight car kits and adding things to the layout.
It was a good year.
Track fiddler1969. I was only six years old that year but I really liked that year.
.
I used to model 1968. I switched to 1954 with layout #4.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
I model the late 50s albeit rather loosely. There are a couple of reasons:
One is because I absolutely love the look of covered wagons! I get giddy when I see an E6! Sexiest locomotive ever made!
The second is that I got to ride the Canadian from Toronto to Vancouver in 1965 with (I believe) FP9s in the lead. As a matter of fact a young chap who I met on the train convinced the Conductor to let us ride in the cab through northern Ontario. Unfortunately it was at night, but I will never forget the rumble of the engines, or the fact that I froze my butt off! It hardly seems real these days to imagine having been allowed to do that. I guess there were fewer lawyers and insurance salespeople in those days.
I also happen to love Canadian Pacific's maroon and gray livery. For some reason it just appeals to me despite the fact that is is actually a bit dull. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder!
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
I don't have one specific era, I like 'em all!
Mid 1960's to mid 1970's. Not too long after the Erie and DL&W merger, so the equipment I have has Erie, EL and a smidge of Lackawanna in the roster. Even though I grew up along the Erie in the southern tier of New York state, when I moved to Ohio and Indiana after college, I saw the EL there too and so I rememnber that era best. I may also acquire some Conrail equipment eventually, so as to further reinforce the feel of that era. Having lived in Ohio in the '70's, I was also influenced by the Chessie System and I have a fair amount of equipment in that livery as well. So, its Erie Lackawanna and Chessie in nortwest Ohio that I'm modeling.
No specific era I guess. I grew up a block from the New Haven mainline in Ct. I went to and from Bridgeport and the city on the New Haven. My grandfather and dad rode the New Haven to and from work for decades. I cheat so I can run I-5's, DL 109's as well as FL-9s. The New Haven had such a diverse roster of power that it is impossible for me to ignore iconic locomotives they ran. These days I live a mile from the Danbury/Norwalk line and my shop is backed up to the Housatonic on what was the Maybrook Line both New Haven. I have been working on a layout that incorporates the Danbury balloon yard as well as the raised line in two track form as it exists on the shoreline. This is what I do for relaxation after work and I'm just not interested in getting more specific. As others have said, it's your railroad.
Because the area we all went to was a Tom Sawyer Wonderland to us kids when we were young.
ATLANTIC CENTRAL Douglas, I know what ditch lights are, but they don't exist yet in the 1954 world of my layout. Sheldon
Sheldon,That's why I choosed 94/95 for my "modern" era ditchlights wasn't around then. Ditchlights was mandated in '96.
It looks like only a handful of modelers are modelling an era from before they were born. Maybe the steam-to-diesel transition era won't be modeled prominently for very much longer.
SeeYou190 It looks like only a handful of modelers are modelling an era from before they were born. Maybe the steam-to-diesel transition era won't be modeled prominently for very much longer. . -Kevin .
It is not just because fewer people model a time before they were born, it is also the fact that with each passing year there are more different choices.
If we assume that railroading really got going in North America in 1850, and we count each decade as a modeling choice, when I started in the hobby in 1968, there were 12 decades to choose from, today there are 17.
It is unlikely from what we see that the number of modelers has grown in proportion to that, so there are likely way fewer modelers in each era.
Combine that with the fact that a fairly high percentage model what they see today, and a fairly high percentage model "the trains of their youth", the decades before 1960 or 1970 are dwindling fast.
I was born in 1968, but originally chose the 1950's because of the fact that you could run steam or diesel, roundhouses were still used, there was still passenger service, and freight houses were still in existance. Just a more interesting era for me. Probably because I never got to experience it.
The railroad I chose to model is becoming very complex to me and very challenging trying to keep it to a manageable size. I never cared for modern or freelancing, but the Utah belt has started to intrigue me. All this is a totally different conversation
Ed
Semi newbie HO scale modeler coming from the O scale world
1890-1913, in the center of Colorado. I love to build wooden equipment, and that era allows you a tremendous range: old 28’ wood cars in 1890, and early steel and composite equipment by the end. Air brakes and automatic couplers (required from 1900 onward by the 1893 Rail Safety Appliance Act), with steel underframes, meant dramatic growth in train length, and so in equipment power: in 1890, your loco fleet will be 4-4-0s, 2-8-0s and 4-6-0s, but by 1913, it will include 2-8-8-2s and 2-10-2s. The ICC implemented rules requiring replacement of iron boilers in 1913, so that (and the skyrocketing price of scrap) meant that the older engines started to vanish once the war broke out.
In Colorado, towns still had both wooden false front buildings and brick, and lots of raft and pack animals in the streets- plus some early automobiles (including inspection cars). I can’t imagine it was as comfortable as today’s world, but it has a definite visual appeal to the modeler- and the scenery is still the best there is!
http://mprailway.blogspot.com
"The first transition era - wood to steel!"
I think steam will long be popular. Steam is still a big seller in all scales.
The time period may spread out some, since if steam is before your time the 30's, 40's, and 50's are pretty much equal - with the biggest and smallest steam available.
And the narrow gauge folks (most of whom aren't here) are pretty much all steam.
And there seems to be increasing interest in the 1900-1920's as well - all be it on in small numbers compared to other eras.
Paul
1950-1955 era, as I like the steam to diesel mix, and also I like the automobiles of that era. Seeing photos of railroads in that time and era had also been an inspiration to me, though part of me wants to model the late '80s early '90s NS or Conrail as I was a young railfan in awe of trains of all kinds at that time too.
Alvie
I have not completely settled on an era yet, but I will probably choose steam or just at the transition. The reasoning for is that steam engines are simply much more interesting for me. Going into transition gives a bit of leeway to do some different things. The modern era does not hold interest for me, even though being born mid 70's it is what I have experienced in real life. I can see trains sitting stopped on the track across the field from my back yard on a weekly basis. I live close to two different rail lines and mostly now it is sitting at a crossing 10 minutes or more waiting to get to the grocery. In the last six months I have seen engines from Norfolk Southern, Union Pacific, BNSF and cars from Canadian Pacific, but it just does not hold the same romanticism. I do still enjoy the Conrail from my youth though, so who knows what I'll do. lol
IRONROOSTER SeeYou190 It looks like only a handful of modelers are modelling an era from before they were born. Maybe the steam-to-diesel transition era won't be modeled prominently for very much longer. . -Kevin . I think steam will long be popular. Steam is still a big seller in all scales. The time period may spread out some, since if steam is before your time the 30's, 40's, and 50's are pretty much equal - with the biggest and smallest steam available. And the narrow gauge folks (most of whom aren't here) are pretty much all steam. And there seems to be increasing interest in the 1900-1920's as well - all be it on in small numbers compared to other eras. Paul
I think present day (or very recent past) and the transition era will continue to lead as the most popular eras to model.
But as explained above, percentages, and thereby numbers, will continue to be more diluted as time passes and there are more possible choices.
It seems unlikely that the number of modelers would be growing at a rate that would keep the number of modelers in any given era at the same level or growing.
And this is the challenge for manufacturers, ever growing number of prototypes, ever shrinking customer base for any one prototype.
I model the modern era (1975-present), but I recognize that there is a definite nostalgic bent to this hobby where people want to harken back to the glory days of their youth, whether it's the school trip to Washington DC aboard the Silver Meteor (to the fantastic Union Station) or watching ACL geeps pulling endless strings of pulpwood out of the Okefenokee.
I have a decent fleet of modern equipment painted in current- and near-current livery. I particularly like double-stack stuff.
But I also have a couple of steamers and a set of heavyweight passenger cars as well as about 50 or 60 brightly painted freight cars from the 'billboard' era. The heavy Mikado can only pull about 15 cars, so I have an ABA brace of F3s for billboard duty.
I also have a Japanese shinkansen Nozomi and a French SNCF TGV, and I take them out for a spin every now and then.
Most of the structures on my layout could be from just about any decade of the 20th century, but the reason there is a specific date of 1975 to frame my modern era is that one particular structure (the hyperboloid cooling towers at the coal-fired power plant) did not exist before then.
Robert
LINK to SNSR Blog
ROBERT PETRICKand I take them out for a spin every now and then.
My way of enjoying it all as well.