Free-Lance Layouts

[Anonymous]

I was wondering what you guys thought about free lance modelists. I myself am one and I don't like trying to recreate a scene that I had seen elswhere because I don't feel that I am living to my potential to create my own creations. By the way if anyone is a free lancer I would love to hear what your layout is like...

[Anonymous]

Frankly, I think it is great! I have read some about people who are critical of free lancers and have not understood why. After all, this is supposed to be fun, isn't it?

[Anonymous]

For myself, modeling a prototype would not be fun, nope.
My layout is freelanced and because it is, I can stick anything that I want into it. The only rule in the overall plan that I've given myself is that it has to be plausible. For instance, you won't see any palm trees in my alpine scenes, no meat packing plants without supporting farms. As long as it is realistic or reasonably so, I am happy. Same goes for my fictional railroads history, it's fun and I don't have to defend it...simply enjoy it. That's what the hobby is all about for me.
Mine is the Ajax & Imperial Railroad. I've started a web site for it at: http://www.vennercs.com/users/aww
Not a lot there just yet, but I hope to add more this weekend.

[Anonymous]

I totally agree with you Bill. As long as there is no far fetched things on the layout then it is cool. As for my layout,I don´t have a website for mine but I can tell you its history. I began building it about a month ago,and have put small stories into its history. In the town of Allen the rail master forgot to put stops at the end of the unfinished mainline and a train carring toxic chemicals derailed and contaminated the whole town. And then there was the car race gone wrong were a young man was killed by my 0-4-0 while on its way to Lakeside. I would like to hear of your layout...

[Anonymous]

Kenneth, I forgot to mention my two layouts. First is my N scale Western Nevada & Pacific. It is set in the modern era and connects with the UP & BNSF in Oregon and the BNSF in Needles CA. It is primarily a bridge route but has "mineral" trains running from the thriving mines in western Nevada and lumber trains from eastern CA and Oregon. It has customers all along the line but Las Vegas and Reno are off limits do to an agreement with the UP. My HO layout is the SSCRR which is a switching line owned by the ATSF, SP, & WP in San Francisco late 50's era. It is set at a sea port with rail access only by car float. It has several LCL warehouses, cranes on the docks, and an ice house to service the reefers. The company handles about 34 carloads a day. Now how's that for imagination (cannot top the death you described though)

[Anonymous]

Dan, I found your tale of your car float access very interesting. Oddly enough, it's the same situation with the Ajax & Imperial. The railroad began in 1888 as a logging concern and has struggled along ever since. Almost all of the locomotives are leased, most from CN. CN would like them back, but due to the access difficulties and the monopoly that the A&I holds over shipping on the Imperial River...CN isn't likely to see them soon. I wanted to do a seaport, but I knew that I would never be able to afford the ship models that I'd want to use. As a result, everything is transhipped on barges to the outside world.
I'm having a vision just now, of Kenneth's toxified town. When I was wee, I recall melting toy soldiers from time to time...this is not a pretty picture! Any chance of rebuilding, Kenneth?

[Anonymous]

I think whatever you want to do is great. I have a frelance soon to be taken down & a larger one built. Its based on Pennsy & B&O but purely fictional. Called Maristo Valley (Combo of wife & dog names)I run early 60's but w/ plenty of steam and early diesels(up to GP9s. I love the freedom it allows me, Its plausible yet creative,,plus if I see a building, car or loco I like, I just get it w/o regard to it not being on my prototype. Good luck and start building,,,,,,that's what it is all about!!!

[Anonymous]

I agree. The best thing about free-lancing is that you can use any loco you want. About the town it won't be inhabited for another scale 10 years. And then the water supply has to be cleaned. My layout is built in the future and then not in the future. I have building bays for diesel and steam engines, and I have a few galaxy class star ships like from Star Trek. My layout hauls coal,a few passenger cars and during harvest wheat and cotton. I have created a few far out engine designs but they are still under constuction...

[Anonymous]

Hey Ken...
Freelancing is the ticket ! ! Absolutely!! However try to keep things in a positive perspective.... And too, don't you think that mixing starships and steam locos is somewhat BIZARRE if not surreal ???? Hmmmm....?
Go for it man... but not too far...
KIT :) Robert

[Anonymous]

hi guys: i think the biggest majority of modelers freelance, however try as you may you will be influenced by something you have seen either in person (railfanning) or things that you read about(trains magazine,modelrailroader magazine etc.) for example, i freelance but my layout is influenced by the santafe. most of my locos are of santafe vintage, and my scenery is typical of that railroad, but i do not consider it to be the santafe. i designed it to satisfy myself. i have friends who have layouts that are completely different, and we find it makes for more interesting operation to run different style and era railroads. hope this has helped bob

[Anonymous]

who's to say they don't bring back steam when there are ships that can fly at warp 9.9 and reach the far reaches of the galaxy. I just want to add a different focus on my layout. It's not my fault people don't use their imagination more, and like I said, I have created a few futuristic designs for my layout, of which I hope to convert into a futuristic scene...

[Anonymous]

Hi Kenneth, I'm Jesse. Just found this site this
evening. I made a living in aerospace but have
been in HO scale trains for over two years so I
am definetely a genuine freelancer and beleive in
my own creations. I invite you to visit my website
at: www.chuystrains.net, but I warn you, its more
than ordinary. My site includes a revenue producing industrial site, airport with about 20
aircraft, a unique Railroad, Air & Space Museum
and if thats not enough, pages and pages of stories relative to structures on my layout, and
plenty of thumbnail photos which include those of
excursions I made in the past few years. Just be
patient. Its pretty lengthy. There are about 40
locomotives in My Locomotives section alone. Take
a look and let me know what you think. Jesse

[Anonymous]

I love your site, but there is only one thing that I found wrong(in my opinion). You haven't weathered anything and it has an unrealistic shine to it. Other than that I love your layout. So have you received the Big Boy yet?

[Anonymous]

Whoa there Kenneth, we are freelancing remember?
When one freelances anything goes, or ungoes.
I will use weathered rolling stock but I don't
plan to do any myself. As for Big Boy's, I have
three of them. Did you take a look at MY Locomotives section, they are all in there.

[Anonymous]

I wich I could get a Big Boy. I didn't get a chance to look at your loco inventory, I had to go to the store for my grandmother and didn't think about the site after that. I just think that when the layout has a new glossy look it doesn't look real. I have weathered almost everything in my collection except my 0-10-0 Fleishmann engine because my grandmother won't let me... I really did love your layout.

[Anonymous]

Don't get me wrong Kenneth. There is nothing
wrong with weathering, its only that I have
been train modeling for over two years and I
don't have the experience to weather structures
or rolling stock. As for the big boys I have,
well I bought them at a very good price from an
older man (much older than I) who was who was
liguidating his collection. In 1998 Rivorossi
was selling them for $299.95, today you can get
a new one for $159.95. Perhaps the hobby is
experiencing a depression of some sort. As for
my website, well, I got carried away by including
stories relative to the individual sites in my
layout. Such as the airport and air & space
museum, and trips we've taken. So stay with it
and be patient browsing in there now and then.
I've collected most of my locomotives at yard
sales, train shows and through the Tehachapi
Railroad Club. Have fun. Sounds like your
grandmother is reacting to your weathering same
as I did when my son and I began our first
layout several years ago. At the time I didn't
what was going on but he did, he was way ahead
of me. Now, I'm using a few of his old locomotives
as fillers on display on my layout. Jesse

[Anonymous]

Ken,
Try doing what I'm doing. I call it ""What if?" modeling. Take a "fallen flag" railroad, maybe one that went to your home town, and model it as if it was still in operation. It could be a short line that had gotten swallowed up by a major player, then abandoned. It gives you the opertunity to run what loco's, and equipment you want, your own paint schemes. I won't worry about a paticular area to model, or industry, you can convey the area thru names and signs around your town. As you get more confident in your modeling then you can try the "nuts and bolts". What I found out doing this model was the research into the history of the area was just as fun as the modeling.
Good luck in your endevor!

[Anonymous]

Hi Kenneth
my parents moved to Canada about 10 Years ago and so I spent most of my holidays over there. That's where I got into model railroading again. So I decided to build a large layout (12x15 feet). It's free lanced and could be everywhere in the Rocky Mountains. I build a large and deep canyon surrounded by tree-covered hills. I used more than 30 pounds of plaster to create the rocks (using Woodland Rock Molds). Until now I alread planted more than 6000 (!!!) trees (made by Heki). Buildings are most from DPM, track is Code 55 Peco mounted on Woodland Track Bed. I never took the time to draw a track plan. So it's really free lanced ! I just build what comes into my mind. You'll find some pictures on my homepage "www.sschaer.homestead.com/sschaer_main.html".
would be nice to read a message from you in my guestbook :-))

[gerryleone]

Personally, I think what "prototype modelers" (MR's Tony Koester and his NKP come to mind) do is really pretty darned cool.

It's just not for me. I'm a freelancer who tries to keep a sense of reality (no '80s diesels running alongside steam).

If you think of model railroading as an art form, the difference between freelancers and prototype modelers is really like the difference between impressionist painters and photographers (both artists). Impressionists generally create the mood of an actual scene but leave out details and rearrange elements. Photographers start with raw reality and enhance it (through lighting, darkroom techniques, etc.).

Both are viable art forms!

[Anonymous]

Hi There,

Freelancing a railroad is great! In my case, as I live in Brazil (S. America, NOT Indiana) and model American railroads, it's just about the only way to stay prototypical and be convincing. My layout depicts a former Erie Lackawanna branch in northern New Jersey which was taken over by a shortline operating company (the Burman Transportation Co.). The main customers are a bulk cement distribuitor, a hardware distribuitor, a stone quarry, a feed mill and a fuel dealer. It's all freelanced, but it's all based on real shortlines (the M&NJ and the M&E) in the region. A webpage for the company is underway.

[Anonymous]

I Would like to include my Hazzard and Southern RR, Which I am sure you have heard of before

[Anonymous]

I gotta tell a RR story off the H&S. It just happened that the envelope that contained the tax payment for Boss Hogg had been misplaced somewhere inside the main interlocking tower. Thinking quickly, James, the H&S Yardmaster, ran The Junkyard Turn, train #426 behind the tower, Blocking Boss's Caddy!
Another Scene involves Roscoe's Cruiser in Hogg Creek after an unsccessful chase of the General Lee!
HAVE FUN KEN!

[Anonymous]

Yes James I have heard about it for I discussed color schemes with you.

[Anonymous]

Just HOW far out are you going, Ken?

[Anonymous]

My Charger 4-6-6-4+4-6-6-4 steam locos are destined to work well into the 21st century alongside Diesels, due to the Charger's propane firing and turbocharged as well as blast draught! It's not entirely wrong to model steam with 4th or 3rd generation diesels as long as you have a good reason to. why not model Multiple eras too, like me.

[Anonymous]

Hi, it's me again just to ask you guys to go and see my freelanced layout at http://www.geocities.com/greenwoodandpocono/
Then you can go to the "Greenwood & Pocono" topic in the forum and say how you like it (or not)

[Anonymous]

my HO is freelance, in that I took parts of three different layout designs from Kalmbach books, and then added some of my own to form a L shape, 4X10 and 6X13. works for me....

ken

[Anonymous]

Like many, I got "bit" by the modeling bug at a very early age. I have been reading Model Railroader Mag for about 20 years I guess and I must say I have considered every single issue to be a great value. As you probably know, there is a column that usually discusses the merits of prototype modeling. In my mind the idea of strictly adhereing to a protype is unrealistic. I have seen many layouts that try to represent a division, or even a branch line. While these generaly look good in photos and diagrams, my imagination has a hard time with my locomotive in Kansas City and the caboose just clearing the yard lead in Saint Louis. In the first place, unless you have a Kennedy fortune and access to the L.A. Colosseum, you are stuck with modeling a very small portion of the prototype or using the proverbial "selective compression." Well, as soon as you do that all that is left that is prototype is operation and consists. My layout is based on the traffic entering St. Louis from the West end begining with the yard in Fenton Mo. My era is 1954 and Frisco still runs into St. Louis along the route that is now I-44. The layout is built in a salvaged mobil home and is 12 X 55 feet. As you can see, by snaking about I can get only about 3 scale miles of main. I used "selective compression" made believable by putting in an island with a divider that represents the Frisco to the Chaffee area. Since my passions are FA/B's, PA's and E units and since there are darn few (most times none) of these units in Frisco paint, I can also justify Union Pacific, MOPAC and even some Santa Fe running through the area. In short, my layout too, while loosly based on a prototype, is done so in philosophey only. The actual layout and operation is relegated to a "free-lanced" version by definition. We have to remember this is a hobby, not a religion. If I want to run an old 4-4-0 then I do so with great glee. When the nay-sayers write about how we should stick to prototype I would like to remind all that what are considered the two greatest models ever built, John Allen's Gorre and Daphetid and George Sellios' Franklin and South Manchester, are BOTH freelanced lines. My advice is to simply have fun and not worry too much about it. I think of the trains as scale models and the layout as a display case.

[Anonymous]

Hey fellas,

One of my first issues of MR was the Aug 87? issue featuring the Yosemite Valley RR as modeled in a given month and year, I forget which. In any event, this was quite an eye opening experience for me. I had no idea at the time that you could model time as well as locomotives and structures, etc. I was changed forever. Over the next ten years, I would become fixated on different times and places and research what I could about them and make drawings and take photos and such to represent what I had been a part of when I was there. In a couple of cases, I created my own railroad to fit into the time and place I wanted to model. I was never really completely happy with any of my railroads, although I've always enjoyed the models I built during those times and kept almost all of them. It wasn't until my Grandfather, the man who got me into this wonderful hobby, died this year and I inherited his collection that I understood what really works for me as a model railroader.

I am relatively young (under 30) so I don't remember steam power actually working the rails (aside from the Durango & Silverton two blocks away) during my lifetime. So I suppose it's natural that I model diesel powered trains exclusively. And I should add that I've lived from Texas to Colorado to Georgia and Florida while most of my family lives in North Dakota, so you may imagine I have every railroad represented from Norfolk Southern to Burlington Northern to Texas Mexican to Canadian Pacific. I model whole trains more than anything else; in other words, whichever locomotives, freight cars, caboose, etc. were on the train on a particular day are what are modeled. Sure, I'm particular, but it's fun for me. The thing I was never happy with was not knowing what to do with my August 6, 1991 BN grain train from North Dakota on the same layout with my NS pulpwood train from Newnan, Georgia in 1993 which sat next to my Santa Fe intermodal train from July 1997 in Fort Worth, Texas. My problem was never so much "what" I modeled or even "when," but "where." When I inherited this collection of models assembled from 1950-2000, I received a dilemma which made my previous trouble seem nitpicky. How could I justify all this equipment representing turn of the century steam to modern diesel on the same layout?

The answer: freelancing. This was what my Grandfather did. His models were all superb and well representative of their prototype, but the collection is really just what he liked. I can assure you, the closest thing resembling reason to his collection was his childhood spent alongside the Louisville & Nashville and the single L&N locomotive he owned. But bringing this collection to my home and examining it and all the other reflection you deal with when losing one of your closest friends and family members really made me think about my own enjoyment of the hobby. I enjoy the extreme realism I get by modeling a specific train from a specific time and place. I enjoy reproducing these memories. I have too many favorites to model or even list. But just as my favorite memories come from different times in my life, so do these souvenirs, these trains. Just as it requires a certain amount of imagination to recall events from grade school in the same breath as those from college, it requires imagination to model different times and places on the same tabletop (or soapbox, which I have inadvertently climbed upon tonight). In a nutshell, we're all freelancers in some respect (even the most nitpicky of us). --> me
Thanks for reading this. I didn't intend for this to be a tribute to my Grandfather or anything, but I certainly owe him a great debt of gratitude for teaching me that "model railroading is fun."

[on30francisco]

My layout is freelanced. I am modeling in On30 an Eastern narrow gauge logging layout which shares some trackage with a line that carries freight and has limited passenger service. I use equipment from the Maine two footers as well as other three and two foot lines. The only thing I mostly care about is plausibility. In other words no modern trucks, adobe structures, palm trees or any other structure or equipment on the layout that does not fit in with the time period or the geographical area I'm modeling. Well I do have HO models of the BART and MUNI transit system that I run on the layout occasionally because I enjoy them. They enter the layout through a wormhole that connects our universe to a parallel Earth in another spacetime! I'm in this hobby to have fun.