The "Nicollet Avenue" layout from Model Railroad Planning was based on Progressive Rail's former Minneapolis Northfield and Southern "high line", about 8-9 miles south of downtown in the suburb of Richfield MN. There were farms directly along side the tracks in Richfield through 1970, it's neither urban nor industrial.
You can learn a lot from modellers modelling urban areas in the east like New York, Philadelphia, or in Chicago or other areas, but keep in mind Minneapolis wasn't exactly like any of them...heck, it's not even that much like St.Paul 10 miles away. Not many downtowns are located alongside a waterfall!! (St.Anthony Falls provided the power for running the flour mills.)
Plus "urban renewal" of the sixties really changed Minneapolis. The city that existed in 1958 was pretty much gone by 1970, block after block of old brick buildings were torn down, some for new buildings, some just sat as parking lots for years. Some of the area's finest buildings (including the Metropolitan, once called the finest building west of the Mississippi) were demolished. So any pictures etc. taken after the early/mid-sixties may not really help that much in modelling 1960. The Mill District itself didn't change that much, but many of the buildings surrounding it were torn down.
Other books you may find usefull are:
Lost Twin Cities by Larry Millett
Twin Cities by Trolley
Minneapolis and the Age of Railways
The Mill District was served by the Minneapolis and St.Louis Ry, so any books on that railroad would probably be helpful. 1960 was the year the M-St.L was purchased by the Chicago and NorthWestern, so if that's the year you're modelling you'd probably see some of both railroad's engines. You can stock up on those ALCO RS-1's the M-St.L had, each in it's own unique paint scheme!!
REALISTIC HOPPER.
This is a great thread. Thank you very much.
Bob
Photobucket Albums:NPBL - 2008 The BeginningNPBL - 2009 Phase INPBL - 2010 Downtown
I also built a layout featured on the September 2007 cover of RMC
Nicholas Kalis
I have many photos of my LIRR Montauk Branch if you care to see them
703 917-6632
I've read all the replys and haven't come across George Selios' F&SM...
He has to be one of the pioneers in huge cityscapes although I understand he is concentrating on a bit of rural scenery lately.
http://www.horailroad.com/fsm/fsmlayout0.html
George has been an inspiration for me in my urban scenes although I can't seem to master his knack for getting that "run-down" look!
ED
You guys have supplied both inspiration and jealousy . I've not had a layout for nearly 20 years but am planning one now. My modelling skills leave much to be desired, but as has been stated in numerous threads, "It's supposed to be fun". And I am having a blast planning and building rolling stock, structures and mini-scenes to place on the layout, once started.
My first pike (back in 1957) was based on the original John Allen road, and this one will have elements of that famous plan, but will only be part of it. I've chosen the Cadiz (Ky) RR and the area around Cadiz Ky in the early to mid 1950's for this attempt, but expanded it by a lot of miles (the 1:1 RR was only 10.3 miles long). The fun of building from an actual prototype brings to the hobby a lot of elements, such as photo searches for building styles and actual businesses from the time period you are working in. The biggest help has been the internet which, when I first started, wasn't yet invented.
This thread has given me a kick to get trains running as soon as possible, and I thank y'all for that.
Gary
that Ca means circa not california
Are you sure it's not Cyano Acrylate, the popular glue?
Or maybe the third letter of the Canadian alphabet ( C, eh? )
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
I too grew up in the 'burbs and I am looking to model the industrial scenes of Long Island city or northern NJ together with commuter rail. I am trying to find a good viaduct solution for an elevated section of track-thing the #7 subway line snaking through the buildings of LIC. There is a MicroEngineering model that is a real pain to build but I have not seen anything else that serves as a good example of what I want to model. scratch building something like that may be beyond my abilities right now. any ideas? thanks
I'll start with a question. Why is it that most urban MR's don't have any sharp curves of around 15 degree radius? I have used 13 and 14 with no trouble on a previous RR and will be again as things progress.
More references: From Model Railroader, April 1980, San Francisco Belt Line and in the same issue The Alameda Belt Line. Both of these were focused on the water fronts, but included a fair amount of regular industrial switching.
From Railmodel Journal, Oct 93, Water front switching but with some very intriging street running to get to the docks.
Also from the same mag: Sept 2000, CNR Wayfreight at Grand River, Great model photos;
June 92, City Scenes, 2 1/2 x 6 1/2 HO city with a back drop made of structures down the center. A ot of RR and city packed into a small area, with a discusion on what he found to be possible.
Last is another photo story. July 05, Operations in South Pittsburgh on the PRR's Whitehall Branch
This is a great thread. Thanks for starting it.
Jack
I guess I lost track of the article for a few days,but, THATS IT!!! the article on Nicollett ave.I guess thats why I couldn't remember where I'd seen it. The article dealt specifically with urban Minneapolis. I worked in St. Paul back in '71' and so that article held my interest. One of the reasons I didn't mention Sellios as his work is focussed on inner city railroads in the 30s and Stein was looking for Minneapolis in the 50s and 60s. A whole 'nother scene.
For a foreigner Jon Grant has got a real handle on american urban railroading BILL