General Discussion (Model Railroader)

DT&Ifan, although you joined the forum over seven months ago I don't believe I have ever responded to one of  your postings so I will extend a belated welcome.

Our whole model railroad environment is one of fantasy whether we are modeling the AT&SF or my Seaboard and Western Virginia Railway, a railroad which never existed in reality. We refer to my "type" of railroad as "freelanced ". Recently a term "protolancing" has begun to enter the model railroad lexicon implying a "real" railroad running in a fictitious environment but I still refer to that environment as "freelanced". My Seaboard and Western Virginia Railway is "freelanced" i.e. fictitious but it is--or hopefully is--real in that I aspire to being as accurate as possible to general prototype practice.

Our space limitations render us to particular prototype limitations; as an example were you to desire to model a five mile stretch of the XYZ railroad between point A and point B; were you to desire to model this stretch of track tie-by-tie, spike-by-spike, stone-by-stone would required 300' in HO-Scale--165' in N-Scale. As an N-Scaler I figure I have a reasonable--and average--amount of space for the erection of a model railroad but even that amount of track is prohibitive without cramming. We might, therefore, reduce the length of our track by a factor of 12--1/12th the number to ties; 1/12th the number of spikes; 1/12th the number of stones--and only have to lay down 25' of track instead of 300', a considerable savings of monetary resources and a considerable economy of space. We do the same thing with structures--instead of a 32-bin grain elevator we use one with 8 bins--instead of a fruit sorting shed which could handle thirteen reefers we compress it to handle four instead. The spirit and operational concept of our railroad will, hopefully, will be maintained with these modifications. We refer to these modifications to reality as "selective compression"--we [i]selectively compress[/i[ the structure we desire to model and, hopefully, that compression will still maintain the essence of the model! Except, on club trackage and the largest of home layouts space is always at a premium. In my hometown in Eastern Idaho the old Butte highway fronts the Onion Specific mainline but is set back a good 300'--that scales to over 41" in HO-Scale and about 21" in N-Scale. That's one heckuva lot of space I don't care what scale you are modeling in! As is true with most burgs in this neck-of-the-woods the structures along this "main drag" all stand on the west side of the roadway and face eastward towards the track; this makes it very conducive to modeling. I don't propose to ever do it but if one wanted to model this community the first thing which would have to be compressed is that 300' foot gap between the roadway and the railway.

Your idea of converting your DT&I from a "fallen flag" to a railroad still existant in the 21st Century is not really new; I recently toured a 21st Century Santa Fe layout and one of the N-Scale magazines had a photo feature of a 21st Century Milwaukee Road Pacific Extension. This is pure fantasy; the Santa Fe disappeared into BNSF years ago and Milwaukee ceased to exist in 1990 I believe and their Pacific Extension was abandoned prior to that. I find the idea of a steam locomotive operating alongside 3rd generation diesels preposterous and anachronistic--out of place in the sense of time. Others, however, have no compunction to this type of modeling and fine modeling they do. My Seaboard and Western Virginia Railway is a "real" railroad and runs in a "real" environment which precludes the inclusion of steam locomotives on the motive power roster. I might run an occasional "excursion" with a borrowed teakettle but that's about the extent of it. What you need to do is read about prototype railroad practice and insure that your railroad's operating practices are realistic for the DT&I existing in the 21st Century!

For certain someone is going to respond with that old bromide of "It's your railroad and you can do with it as you like!" THAT'S ALL FINE AND DANDY! IT IS, INDEED, YOUR RAILROAD AND YOU CAN, INDEED, DO WITH IT AS YOU LIKE!!!!! But that's not, however, the way R. T. Poteet runs his railroad!!!

Mine, the Blackwater and Butte Creek RR, is fiction-based and it has some warped time, too. 

I want the atmosphere of Mayberry and the look of Hooterville and yet I try to keep it plausible.

It's set in the 1930s but I casually left out the Depression and racism.  I also pretend that piston valves and diesels are still on the drawing board (I like the way slide valve era locomotives look kind of like espresso machines with wheels).  In my depiction of the world there's not much grit, automobiles and trucks last forever, everyone has a job, nobody litters, trains are kept clean and in good repair, and nobody moves very fast (trains included).

I model fiction based on fact.

 That is, my RR is freelance, but everything I do on it I try to base on fact, as if it would have been done on a real RR.

Dallas Model Works:

Fact, fiction and a little pure BS.

 

Same here, the Seneca Lake, Ontario, and Western (SLOW) is a fictional shortline railroad in the Finger Lakes Region of NYS.  It is based on the premise that something like the Finger Lakes Scenic Railway might have existed back in 1925.  Some of the buildings and scenes on the layout are of real local places, but most is freelanced.

R. T. POTEET:

DT&Ifan, although you joined the forum over seven months ago I don't believe I have ever responded to one of  your postings so I will extend a belated welcome.

Thanks,

 Yep I joined a while ago but when stuff woudn't work with a MAC I kinda just lurked.  When I did post I was accused of being a troll just trying to start trouble over ebay and their paypal stuff.  I don't hold that againt anyone on here except the person who did it, as I had been a member for 6 months and never really had anything to say.  It wasn't like I joined just to bash e bay.  All in all most members seem to great.  I hope to be here a long time and look forward to making some new friends.

Lonnie  

 My layout is mainly fiction but with a mix of reality.  Some of the fiction is a concession to modelling practicalities, like being a non-Amtrak passenger carrier.  Other stuff is a concession to space needs.  I model a good size chunk of downtown Chicago.  Old St. Patrick's Church, Union Station, and North Western Station are in the correct geographic relationship to each other, but the intervening streets have been selectively compressed away.

tstage:

I model a freight depot and fueling/servicing track along the New York Central (NYC) in the early 40s.  It's not really a specific location on the NYC but I'm trying to base it according to their practices and rosters.  So, technically, it would be called a "protolance" layout - i.e. more fact than fiction.

Tom

Yes, DT&I, Tom's right: you're modeling what Tony Koester coined "Prototype Freelancing," now shortened to "Protolancing."  Some, like me, feel a little guilty about changing the way their favorite prototype does things (when I left HO I was building models for a model RR based on the B&O of 1904, but since I didn't want to show the Pennsy influence from the 1898 Receivership, plus I loved 8-wheel cabooses--which the B&O didn't have until WWI and later---I called it the Potomac & Ohio), so they pick a slightly different name.  Believe me, IT DON'T MATTER!  More than 50 years ago there was a lively discussion in the MR "Railway Post Office (Letters column)" about this, and the old-timers like Wm. K. Walthers mostly agreed that if you freelanced using sound prototype practices, such as the "plumbing" on steam locos, it was perfectly okay.

Sounds to me like you're doing the same thing many others have done before you: bringing a "Fallen Flag" up to date in a realistic manner.  Welcome to the Gang!

My "St.Paul Route" is a mix of fact and fiction ("friction"??). It's based on a real railroad, the St.Paul and Duluth RR,  that disappeared in 1900 - what might it have been like if it had stayed independent thru the 20th century??

Mine is fictional this way I get the best of both worlds , because I like both the L&N and the Southern , but I also like the Florida Gulf Coast , so I invented an imaginary world well all 3 can meet .

Hi!

Like the barkeep in the "Blues Brothers" said, "we have both kinds of music here, Country and Western!"   In a like fashion, I model both fact and fiction.

My collection/layout represents the ATSF in the 1950s and the IC as a secondary road from that same time period.  And while I have nothing later than 1959, I certainly have ATSF steam locos running that never pulled a car past WWII.  And while the two railroads did come close to each other in some places (Joliet, Ill for one), they never shared trackage as I have them doing. 

ENJOY,

Mobilman44

Mainly freelance, from my own mind, screw the rivet counters. But, if I can find a fact or two to back up what i do, then I'll use that. But mainly, fiction from my head.

 I'm yet another protolancer. I'm going to be modeling an as yet unnamed and unbuilt section of the Wisconsin and Southern Railroad in SW Wisconsin. Rather do south central, but they don't have many lines in SW so it will be easier for me to make something up.

I model totally fiction RR line that includes many of my favorite types of scenes and character. Lots of bridges , tunnels, water falls , late 20' to early40's era  and dirty dusty roads. 

Not really a protolancer here.

More of a freelatyper.

Its a freelance layout loosely based on prototypical scenes, but not from any one line, yet plausible.

But then there are the implausible scenes here and there too, just for fun.

A little bit of both.