When your aim is to model a specific railway (questions)

[Jetrock]

QUOTE: Originally posted by JnM Lines

How do you diversify consist?

What type of time constraints to the era do you use?

How many branch lines do you incorporate?

The line I model (Sacramento Northern) mostly served as a bridge/feeder line for Western Pacific, so diversity of consist isn't really an issue, as most of my traffic is between interchanges--and that can call for any type of car. The character of the region was primarily agricultural, but could include anything from gondolas full of sugar beets to grain hoppers to reefers and all sorts of boxcars.

Era constraints: I use a fairly broad era of about 20 years, from 1946 to 1966. This runs from the end of electric trolley service on the line to the date when the tracks were taken up on the remaining portions of the Belt Line.

My layout is small--it all sits within a single city--so I don't model any branch lines.

Good research goes beyond the Internet. Historical societies, local libraries, visits to places the railroad you model ran and available books are all good places to get a sense of how the real thing did business. Old copies of the ORER are handy too.

[West Coast S]

Good research is the key, i'm using sandborn maps and Topo Maps to keep me objective. My operation is branch line as per my prototype.

Industries served reflect what existed in 1946 and thus traffic patterns and car types reflect that period. For example:

Lodi will serve as stagging for the branch and the CCT (A freight traction RR.)

Moving east, we arrive at Victor which is a major traffic producer with nine packing houses, the CCT has a crossing with the SP and interchange here as well.

Next populated berg is Clements with two packing sheds and a grainelevator

We eventualy arrive, after miles of unpopulated country at Valley Springs, with a house track, passing siding, lumber spur and two quarry spurs heading NE out of town.

The branch swings south and continues up a steady 3% grade before turning east once more, arriving at
Kentucky House, end of the line. The only traffic generator is a massive cement plant, runaround track and a wye.

Three trains per week were average with Victor requiring mutliple swich moves during the season.

There was massive dam construction occuring during my period, I could also incorporate soild cement train movements into the operation.
Typical power was any small to medium steam SP had in the roundhouse at the time with the C-8 and C-9 class the most common.

Well there it is for better or worse

[jrbernier]

1 - My consists reflect the industries in the area I model, along with 'thru' traffic that
bridges across my line. I model a 'fictional' Milwaukee Road line that might have
been built.

2 - I use a basic '1959' for time frame - it varies. Steam was basically dead after the
1957 recession. The Milwaukee them renumbered the diesels from 4 digit to 3 digit
once the steam was gone. Many of the branch lines were still intact and had
passenger or mixed train service. And like the grey/maroon/orange paint scheme!
All of this allows some steam, a lot of first generaion diesels and small passenger
trains.

3 - I have a main line with a small terminal, and 2 towns. I also have a branch line that
leaves the main line and goes to another small town. All of this is fed by a 6 track
staging yard. enough for a single operator to handle, but can be run with 2-3
operators if desired.

[Sperandeo]

I model the Santa Fe in 1947, particularly the line through Cajon Pass that was the gateway to Southern California for both the Santa Fe and the Union Pacific. I'm building my layout to suit myself and what I think is best may not be right for anyone else, but here are my answers to the questions posed by "JnM Lines":

1. How do you diversify consists?

I just follow the prototype. Both the Santa Fe and UP carried many, many freight cars from "foreign" railroads in the Midwest, East, and South to California customers, and they both had diverse rosters of rolling stock themselves. In the late 1940s there were still many wood-bodied or wood-sheathed freight cars in service, and that adds diversity too. On the passenger side, both roads ran some relatively well-matched streamliners, but they also still had passenger trains with interesting mixtures of heavyweight and lightweight cars. Because both roads were converting from steam to diesel, there were many different types of locomotives in service, although certain types dominated. The FTs were the main and only freight diesels on the Santa Fe, and 2-10-2s (in several varieties) were the primary steam freight and helper engines, but the passenger diesel roster featured four models from three builders. The UP had few freight diesels in service yet (but split between EMD F3s and Alco FAs) and depended mostly on 4-6-6-4s (of two different designs). And obviously having two railroads share the same line adds a lot of diversity.

2. What type of time constraints to the era do you use?

I started out to model 1947 because I knew I wanted to model the late 1940s steam-to-diesel transition era and I was able to obtain a copy of a 1947 Santa Fe employee timetable for the area I model. Since then I've stuck within the constraints of that one year because A.) doing one year right is challenging enough, and II., things were changing fast on both railroads in the period 1945-1953 (the last year of steam operation on that part of the Santa Fe), and mixing several years would make it harder to reach the kind of historical accuracy I enjoy. Perhaps it's making a virtue of necessity, but I've decided that 1947 is THE most interesting year to me on that part of the Santa Fe.

3. How many branch lines do you incorporate?

I'm primarily interested in mainline operation so I am not modeling any branch lines. I will model the terminal at San Bernardino, Calif., which is the junction of two mainline routes from Los Angeles, and that junction will add a lot of interest to the operation. There was a branchline mixed train that originated in San Bernardino and ran south and west to Highgrove on the Third District main line and from there down the San Jacinto District branch line to San Jacinto, Calif.. On my layout that train will be made up in San Bernardino and run into the Third District staging loop, where it will turn and lay over for a later return to its starting point.

So long,

Andy

[cwclark]

I model mostly the SP with the UP buyout....I model Texas along the U.S. 90 route from Houston to El Paso and points in between, my time period is versatile...from 1965 to the present...I keep my locomotives in consists relating to the time period though, like I wouldn't run an F-7 or an RS-3 with an AC4400 nor the newer rolling stock incorperated in the train...I don't do branch lines unless it's SP to Cotton Belt but that was prototypical anyway...many Cotton Belt equipment ran on SP lines or vice versa...Chuck

[orsonroy]

QUOTE:
How do you diversify consist?

I'm modelling the NKP mainline from Peoria to Bloomington, IL, circa 1945-1950. They ran 3-5 trains each direction each day. You could generally tell which train was coming out of Peoria by it's consist: reefers, boxcars, gondolas, stock cars. How did I figure this out? By doing a LOT of research, studying photos, and listening to old-timers who used to work the line. And by occasionally asking dumb questions! In general, my layout's consists will "sort of" match what the real RR hauled, at least on a surface glance. I may not be running exactly the same cars as would be historically accurate, but they're plausable.

QUOTE:
What type of time constraints to the era do you use?

Once I knew what RR I was going to model, and which mainline, I asked myself what I wanted to see run on my layout, and then did some research to figure out when the majority of thos preferances would converge. I came up with:

Passenger trains to 1952
Steam powered freights to 1953
Mosty wood boxcars in the national car fleet to about 1949
Farmdale Bridge construction in 1950
Most roads into Peoria dieselized by 1952
Front angled numberboards added to NKP steam in 1947-1952
Recession in 1946-1948, industrial boom 1949-1950s
NKP "High Speed Service" caboose paint scheme introduced in 1948, fleetwide application by 1953-54.

With this data, I came up with a "date" of 1948-1950, with some slopping over to no more than 1951 (no PS-1 boxcars on my layout). I'm modelling a railroad in transition: the end of all-steam mainline action, the end of passenger service to Peoria, the last year of operations at Farmdale tower before the bridge flyover, and the last years of the wood boxcar.

QUOTE:
How many branch lines do you incorporate?

However many the prototype had, minus the space available, plus what they offer you in terms of added operations. In my case, none; the NKP main to Peoria didn't have any.

BUT, I have what some could consider branches, since I have live interchanges with at least seven railroads. In Peoria, the NKP and all other roads feeding into town (except a few) gave thir trains to the P&PU, a local belt railroad. My one yard is owned by the P&PU, and is run as a seperate "layout". On the other end of my layout, the NKP mainline through Bloomington was paralleled by the P&E, a NYC subsidiary road. The P&E mainline is a continuous loop (the NKP is point to point) and is also operated as a completely seperate layout (70 foot long mainline, two passing sidings, eight spurs, two live interchanges, and a two track staging yard). In between those two cities, I've got live interchange witht he ATSF, PRR, TP&W, GM&O and IC. All of these roads are (or will be) set up so an operator can run a short train from staging to the interchange tracks, switch cars, and run back into staging. Those are all technically branches off my main, even though none will have more than ten feet of track!

[dragenrider]

I diversify my consist through the placement of industries with use for multiple cars types. I used team tracks, docks (the water type), and industries requiring more than one catagory of shipment.

If I get bored, I can swap eras. I have engines, cars and cabooses to match three different eras. See my "era swapping" thread for pictures: http://www.trains.com/community/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=31266

I have a branch line and it provides a lot of fun opportunities. It's 15 inch radius and and poor track cause trains to move very slowly up the branch to a handful of industries near a coal mine at the top of the mountain. Here's a picture of my incomplete coal mine, just for what its worth:



Good luck with your modeling!

[simon1966]

If possible, join the historical society for the RR you are interested in. Most have afiliated e-mail groups and web sites that contain a wealth of information. I am modelling the Q and all it would take is a message to the CB&Q yahoo group with a question and within minutes I would get an answer with incredible detailed answer. For example, I was able to find out all the other RR interchanges for the Q in my area and time era. This gave me a really good list of RR's to assume freight cars might have come from. Also, was able to gat accurate information regarding "foreign" power that might have been on the line.

[Anonymous]

I'm Pretty new to the forum but I modeled the Penn Central/ Conrail Era. Kept my dates in a 1975-77 time frame. I modeled after my home town, Mount Union, PA. and a surrounding town of Mapleton with a brickyard and sandplant as my industries. I kept my consists mostly of boxcars and closed hoppers however I also have consists of a variety of cars. I used old photos from the 70's to give me an idea on what cars were running on the rails at that time. Hope this Helps.

[Anonymous]

How do you diversify consist?

What type of time constraints to the era do you use?

How many branch lines do you incorporate?