When I see questions asking "Did this type of locomotive run on such and such railroad?" or "Did such and such do this or that?" I smile.
Off course one wants to get things right and I applaud such efforts to find out.
It reminds me of it happening to me.
A little while back I bought a 'job lot' from a friend who gave up modeling railroads. Amongst the items was a Class 50 locomotive (UK Railways.)
As I knew Class 50s ran London to Cornwall mainly, I asked around "Did Class 50s ever arrive in Leeds?" (The area I model.) Every answer I received was a negative. When I ran the locomotive on the layout it was as Rule 1, it's my layout.
Some time later I purchased a book about Railways around Leeds. On one page was a Class 50 departing Leeds Central on a journey 'back home'. Yes!!!
Just recently a colleague who lives in Ireland and is building a (superb) model of Hawick Station (Scotland), Goods Yard etc. asked, "What specific engines ran through the station?" I gave him a short list of numbers of engines 'that may have been seen' , but really I doubted it as the locomotives were from an out of the way shed.
"Oh yes," came a reply. He already knew about them. He had a photograph of one arriving at Hawick (from Edinburgh). Wonders never cease.
If you are wondering about such questions. Keep searching.
Happy modeling.
David
To the world you are someone. To someone you are the world
I cannot afford the luxury of a negative thought
NorthBrit Rule 1, it's my layout.
That is completely true.
Some people try to replicate one specific area very accurately, other want to run a collection of their favorites, all is fine.
I freelance my layout, but I have been very self-restrictive about the era, actually narrowing down to a specific day and time.
However, the area is completely non-specific. It might be Nebraska, North Carolina, or Washington. I have never stated, nor will I.
We all make out own rules to live by, but it is always your own layout.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
When asked I tell people (and only other model railroaders ask) that I model my memories of the Chicago & North Western as it ran through my home town in 1967 to 1970. If my memory says one thing, but absolute cast-in-iron proof says another, my memory still prevails. Some prototype modelers I know have a hard time grasping this distinction between modeling a given year and modeling my memory of that year.
Usually my memory is pretty good and fairly accurate. But there is a decent chance that something I saw in, say, 1963 or '64 might just be moved up a few years in my memory. Or that something I saw on the Milwaukee Road might get transposed to the Chicago & North Western in my memory.
That is not to say that a given photograph might not trigger an "oh yeah, how could I forget that" moment. I am willing to have my memory improved. And of course I "remember" not only the reality but also the photographs that my friend and I took in 1968, which take on their own reality. Those photographs have created memories that otherwise might not exist. A given gas station that I remembered as a Shell station was a Mobil station in my 1968 photo. I was stubbornly clinging to the Shell station idea until I found a 1962 photo that showed that, yes, it had been a Shell stations. That made me feel better about allowing a genuine photo to over rule my memory, because now I at least understood where that memory came from and when.
Dave Nelson
I try to stay accurate, but sometimes the best I can do is get hand-grenade close.
Chip
Building the Rock Ridge Railroad with the slowest construction crew west of the Pecos.
In 1959 we moved from Winnipeg to Vancouver and came out on the Canadian. I thought it would be cool to replicate that train and started the digging. There are many CP related sites online and I started posting questions as to what locos and what rolling stock made up the train on that date.
My sister gave me the date we rolled into Vancouver and that gave us the train we boarded in Winnipeg two days earlier. So far I have found what locos were not at the head end but do not know which ones were, the same with much of the rest of the consist. There are people on some of these historical sights that consider it a real challenge to hunt down that kind of info.
In December 1966 we took the train from Prince George B.C. to North Vancouver. I remember it being way below freezing and the tires on the car being square on the trip to the station. I was expecting a long train like the Canadian waiting for me but getting out of the car I found the entire train was 2 RDCs for the 14-hour trip.
The RR was the Pacific Great Eastern (PGE) and when Rapido came out with their PGE RDCs I was going to replicate that train we took. There was a kicker to my memory though as I remember two RDCs in Prince George but four when I got off.
I asked my sister who was 15 at the time as I was only nine and thought she could clear the air as she has a great memory and had a Kodak Instamatic, so she may have pics. She also thought there were two RDCs when we boarded and four when we got off.
Long story short the good folks at the PGE historical FB site told me on that date they would have added two more RDCs at a place called Lillooet on the Southbound train. So I wasn't crazy and while remembering what an interesting 14 hours it was through a blizzard, I don't remember them adding the two additional RDCs.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
David, I am sure you know but the first assignment of the 50's was in pairs on the WCML as the electrification crept north to Glasgow. It was after 1974 they were cascaded south. So Leeds? Maybe more often than you imagine.
NorthBrit When I see questions asking "Did this type of locomotive run on such and such railroad?" or "Did such and such do this or that?" I smile. Off course one wants to get things right and I applaud such efforts to find out. It reminds me of it happening to me. A little while back I bought a 'job lot' from a friend who gave up modeling railroads. Amongst the items was a Class 50 locomotive (UK Railways.) As I knew Class 50s ran London to Cornwall mainly, I asked around "Did Class 50s ever arrive in Leeds?" (The area I model.) Every answer I received was a negative. When I ran the locomotive on the layout it was as Rule 1, it's my layout. Some time later I purchased a book about Railways around Leeds. On one page was a Class 50 departing Leeds Central on a journey 'back home'. Yes!!! Just recently a colleague who lives in Ireland and is building a (superb) model of Hawick Station (Scotland), Goods Yard etc. asked, "What specific engines ran through the station?" I gave him a short list of numbers of engines 'that may have been seen' , but really I doubted it as the locomotives were from an out of the way shed. "Oh yes," came a reply. He already knew about them. He had a photograph of one arriving at Hawick (from Edinburgh). Wonders never cease. If you are wondering about such questions. Keep searching. Happy modeling. David
BATMAN In 1959 we moved from Winnipeg to Vancouver and came out on the Canadian. I thought it would be cool to replicate that train and started the digging. There are many CP related sites online and I started posting questions as to what locos and what rolling stock made up the train on that date. (...) I asked my sister who was 15 at the time as I was only nine and thought she could clear the air as she has a great memory and had a Kodak Instamatic, so she may have pics. She also thought there were two RDCs when we boarded and four when we got off. Long story short the good folks at the PGE historical FB site told me on that date they would have added two more RDCs at a place called Lillooet on the Southbound train. So I wasn't crazy and while remembering what an interesting 14 hours it was through a blizzard, I don't remember them adding the two additional RDCs.
(...) I asked my sister who was 15 at the time as I was only nine and thought she could clear the air as she has a great memory and had a Kodak Instamatic, so she may have pics. She also thought there were two RDCs when we boarded and four when we got off.
I like childhood train stories. Thanks for sharing.
dknelsonWhen asked I tell people (and only other model railroaders ask) that I model my memories of the Chicago & North Western as it ran through my home town in 1967 to 1970.
A while back one of the posts in "Show Me Something" requested a Steam powered bi-level train. Well, I looked around the layout and came up with this unlikely combination:
IMG_5642 by Edmund, on Flickr
Wouldn't 'ya know, a little while later someone replied with links to a photo of a New York Central Hudson (IIRC) pulling a string of C&NW bi-levels, possibly somewhere in Michigan.
I can usually justify having some unusual equipment on my layout. Afterall, the UP Big Boys were built in Schenectady, right? They had to get to Omaha, somehow, even if it was only once.
I like modeling passenger operations and I can easily justify having "off-road" equipment which happened quite often with special moves to political events, big car shows, the Army-Navy games, conventions and such. Also quite a bit of Pullman equipment was "deadheaded" to various shops. One was in Buffalo, NY, near the area I model.
There may have been rare or unusual circumstances for unusual equipment to be sighted but to say "That never happened" can sometimes be disproven.
Model Railroading IS fun!
Cheers, Ed
TheFlyingScotsman David, I am sure you know but the first assignment of the 50's was in pairs on the WCML as the electrification crept north to Glasgow. It was after 1974 they were cascaded south. So Leeds? Maybe more often than you imagine.
Hi The Flying Scotsman. (Now that is an unusual name for someone in the U.S.) You are correct about Class 50s on the WCML. Did one (or more) make it to Leeds? Now that a nice thought. One on a Liverpool to Leeds service? As I have twelve locomotives that are already on that run I shall keep my 50 on the Plymouth to Leeds service.
It just shows even the most unbelievable is possible.
As a mention for anyone running container trains. Some time back BBC (our main radio & television company) had a container in a BBC livery. They wanted to see where containers go etc.
This container went round the world. At one stage it was in the United States for over a month, arriving on the west coast and eventiually left on the east coast.
Happy modeling
NorthBritThe Flying Scotsman. (Now that is an unusual name for someone in the U.S.)
Not at all, mate. I recall seeing the Flying Scotsman come through my area in Cleveland, Ohio during its US tour:
LNER_Flying-Scotsman by Edmund, on Flickr
Plus there was the Royal Scot visit in 1939.
gmpullmanWouldn't 'ya know, a little while later someone replied with links to a photo of a New York Central Hudson (IIRC) pulling a string of C&NW bi-levels, possibly somewhere in Michigan.
Unlikely it would be Michigan, since the railroads served different parts of the state. The C&NW only served Upper Michigan, New York Central only served the lower part ('the mitten'). More likely it would have been in Chicago; maybe C&NW temporarily borrowing an NYC engine to help out on it's commuter trains, or some type of railfan trip (wasn't there an "Illinois Railroad Club" or something that did a lot of fantrips in the fifties?).
wjstixUnlikely it would be Michigan, since the railroads served different parts of the state.
Well, it was six years ago and I don't recall, hence the IIRC, who replied to my post but I was under the impression the photo was taken in Michigan on the M.C. Again I could be mistaken and I'm sure the person that replied is no longer active in these forums.
Either way, there was a NYC steam engine on the head end of a string of C&NW bi-level cars the first group of which were delivered in 1955.
Regards, Ed
NorthBrit Actually I am sitting on my prech in Shropshire currently although displaced from Scotland. I remember that container. The BBC Box. 2008 or something I think because it was in transit westbound out of LA at the same time I was on the Southwest Chief. TheFlyingScotsman David, I am sure you know but the first assignment of the 50's was in pairs on the WCML as the electrification crept north to Glasgow. It was after 1974 they were cascaded south. So Leeds? Maybe more often than you imagine. Hi The Flying Scotsman. (Now that is an unusual name for someone in the U.S.) You are correct about Class 50s on the WCML. Did one (or more) make it to Leeds? Now that a nice thought. One on a Liverpool to Leeds service? As I have twelve locomotives that are already on that run I shall keep my 50 on the Plymouth to Leeds service. It just shows even the most unbelievable is possible. As a mention for anyone running container trains. Some time back BBC (our main radio & television company) had a container in a BBC livery. They wanted to see where containers go etc. This container went round the world. At one stage it was in the United States for over a month, arriving on the west coast and eventiually left on the east coast. Happy modeling David
Actually I am sitting on my prech in Shropshire currently although displaced from Scotland.
I remember that container. The BBC Box. 2008 or something I think because it was in transit westbound out of LA at the same time I was on the Southwest Chief.
When Rapido loaded the Royal Hudsons in the container in China, Jason took a pic of the number and said this is for anyone that wants to track the progress of the container. Well, having spent 36 years in logistics I was all over that one.
It showed the route to the port, when it went on the ship and the route the ship took zig-zagging through the Aleutian Islands on its way to Prince Rupert. It showed when it was offloaded and where it was in the port until it was put on the train and I followed it across the country and had the time it got parked at Rapido Galactic Headquarters.
Curiosity got the best of me as this container felt like an old friend after a while. After it left Rapido it sat in the yard for a while and then went to a customer in Ontario and then to Quebec City where it was put on a ship bound for the Med and Italy (Hockey pucks maybe?) It then went to Europe and then headed to Africa where I let my addiction to this container die.
It is amazing the amount of info available at our fingertips these days.
gmpullman NorthBrit The Flying Scotsman. (Now that is an unusual name for someone in the U.S.) Not at all, mate. I recall seeing the Flying Scotsman come through my area in Cleveland, Ohio during its US tour: LNER_Flying-Scotsman by Edmund, on Flickr Plus there was the Royal Scot visit in 1939. Cheers, Ed
NorthBrit The Flying Scotsman. (Now that is an unusual name for someone in the U.S.)
I knew the Flying Scotsman had been to the U.S.A. but had never seen a picture of her there. Great photograph, Ed. Thanks for showing.
Here is F.S. at Locomotion Museum last year.
NorthBritWhen I see questions asking "Did this type of locomotive run on such and such railroad?" or "Did such and such do this or that?" I smile.
I never really thought about it; only that some like to mimic a real railroad in a certain area during a certain time period.
Rule 1, it's my layout.
That there can be a slippery slope. I'm sure most break from strict adherence to the prototype of time and place, but if abused, rule 1 can spend a lot of money with all the "shiny things" that come our way.
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
The title almost sounds like the start of a Dr. Seuss book!
Nothing wrong with being 100% accurate, totally free-lanced and everything in-between. I try to "orient" anyone who looks the layout to the area. That's done with industries and actualy companies in southern VA, the geogrpahic features, using signs of nearby universities on flag poles, and of course N&W locos. Whatever works!
NorthBritI knew the Flying Scotsman had been to the U.S.A. but had never seen a picture of her there.
At the risk of hijacking the thread would it be OK if I post three more for you, David?
Scotsman_Claytor-1969 by Edmund, on Flickr
The fellow on the left is Southern Railway (our Southern Ry. ) president W. Graham Claytor, Jr., an old-school steam fan.
Scotsman_Glendale-MD-1969a by Edmund, on Flickr
Scotsman_Glendale-MD-1969 by Edmund, on Flickr
These were taken on the PRR electrified NY-Washington high-speed tracks, today known as the N.E. Corridor, at Glenn Dale, Maryland, October 1969.