Here's my kit bashed SWeep painted for the Adobe Flats Municipal Railway.
A SWeep is a combination of an SW1200R and a GP-9 built by CN.
Tom
Life is simple - eat, drink, play with trains!
Go Big Red!
PA&ERR "If you think you are doing something stupid, you're probably right!"
Mike i like it too. I have been tossing around some ideas on a name for my railroad but as of right now I'm not set on anything. One idea is the G & H Railroad (Goodness & Howe) my good friend wants to help me build it so thats where the Howe part is from. but right now I'm not set on it as of yet.
Mike,Port Able has a ring to it.. I never notice that before.
I can envision a roster of SW1500s(modern) or 0-6-0Ts in the steam era.
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
The beauty of a ficticious railroad is you can create the name, the image, the motive power, the freight car traffic, and the pace that you want to individualize the railroad. You can go from a simple patch job to full blown graphics.
As far as naming is concerned, the name can be geographical or whimsical. It's your railroad, so have fun. My railroad is called the Port Able because it's portable and it will sit on my table (por table). I've had people ask me where Port Able is located.
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Mike Kieran
Port Able Railway
I just do what the majority of the voices in my head vote on.
Brakie -- I hope you're not saying that only a fully believable freelanced road is acceptable. The modeler is free to be as unrealistic or whimsical as he chooses to be. I agree though, that unrealism or whimsy should be a conscious choice, not done through ignorance.
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Exactly..One should chose wisely and follow the well known guide lines with whatever style he/she chooses..
Naming a layout isn't exactly a freelance railroad-that would come under the definition of a "paper" or jointly owned railroad that has no equipment or perhaps like my planned Slate Creek Industrial lead which is generic and could be used for a freelance railroad or a fictitious industrial branch of a real railroad and either one could be modeled in any era...
However ,we do have shining examples of freelance railroads that use establish guide lines and those railroads would include the former AM and V&O and roads like the Maumee Road,Utah Belt and other such like freelance railroads.
I do caution about choosing a whimsical name because such names can become tiresome and even the great John Allen had second thoughts about his Gorre & Daphetid railroad name.
BRAKIE Freelance railroad modeling is popular with hundreds of modelers but,freelancing has some guide lines that must be followed in order to create a fully believable railroad. My Columbus & Hocking Valley is a modern short line railroad that is named after the original C&HV of the 1800s. There is another form of freelance railroads called joint ownership where locomotives and cars is supplied by the owning roads. My Scioto Rail is one such railroad that is owned by NS and CSX...That's my excuse for using my CSX and NS cars and locomotives.
Freelance railroad modeling is popular with hundreds of modelers but,freelancing has some guide lines that must be followed in order to create a fully believable railroad.
My Columbus & Hocking Valley is a modern short line railroad that is named after the original C&HV of the 1800s.
There is another form of freelance railroads called joint ownership where locomotives and cars is supplied by the owning roads.
My Scioto Rail is one such railroad that is owned by NS and CSX...That's my excuse for using my CSX and NS cars and locomotives.
Connecticut Valley Railroad A Branch of the New York, New Haven, and Hartford
"If you think you can do a thing or think you can't do a thing, you're right." -- Henry Ford
Russell
BRAKIE There's another way to power a freelance railroad..You can buy(say) a CSX GP38 and "paint" over the lettering with matching trim film decals from Micro Scale.
There's another way to power a freelance railroad..You can buy(say) a CSX GP38 and "paint" over the lettering with matching trim film decals from Micro Scale.
Absolutely! If you plan on modeling in the present time period, that may even be the most plausible scenario of all. It seems that railroads that get their locomotives second or third hand these days aren't bothering to repaint them. If you're freelancing a busy class I railroad, maybe you'll want your own scheme, but any thing less and the patch seems very likely. Any secondary railroad usually has a few patched locomotives at least.
Good excuse to keep the factory paint job on the model too. They're pretty tough to beat any more.
- Douglas
Awsome thanks guys. I love reading your thoughts about your layouts and stuff.
A little background on me, I've been building Plastic models for several years now and I do own an air brush and i think im decent at painting and building things plastic related and what nots. So i think i will be good that. I do plan on doing alot of scratch building on my layout so hopefully when the wife ok's the approval for the space i will be posting some pictures soon.
Freelancing is very popular and can take many different forms, from a truly fantasy railroad to one that is more grounded in reality. Even strict prototype modelers usually have to deviate from real thing in several ways, even from the very beginning of the planning phase when choosing how to fit their layout into the space available.
As you develop your railroad, you might want to pay attention to how real railroads evolved, or why they now do what they do. Why did they run 4 axle diesels instead of 6 axles? What products did they carry? How often did it spot cars at this industry? Why did they interchange with that railroad in this town and not the other railroad in that town? There are tons of question you could ask.
You certainly don't have to ask such questions in order to have fun. But if you put a little research into a railroad that you like (which can be fun in itself) and use it to learn about how a railroad might work in your area, you'll be in a better position to build a layout that makes a little more sense.
Plausibility is a common word model railroaders use when designing a free-lanced layout. And since you came here to ask the question you did and expressed concern about deviating from the real thing, I assume that plausibility will be a consideration for you.
Myself, I like short lines or branch lines that use maybe 2 or 3 locomotives. Keeps things less complicated, which translates into less time to build the basic layout, and more time to add details and run trains. I've already deviated from my inspirational short line that I used to study, but in a plausible way, I hope.
One down-side of freelancing for a new modeller is you probably will want to have some experience painting and decalling models before tackling that $150 locomotive. Custom decals can be made from several companies, you'd have to work with them to design any heralds and the layout of the lettering. An airbrush is good to have to paint models, but I have recently been painting a lot of things with Tamiya spray can paint and it works very very well.
If you know the time you're interested in, one option for a first locomotive might be one factory painted in a demonstrator or (in more recent times) a lease locomotive. The good part of that is that a demonstrator or a lease company engine could realistically turn up anywhere, and on any railroad (real or imagined)....like this HO Athearn model of a General Motors / EMD SD-60 demonstrator:
I curently model the cripple creek valley and western (Lakeforest branch). this fictional model railroad is my third try. all of my other layouts were freelanced such as the western michigan railroad and the lakeforest central.
the layout that i have does as i want not as history dictates which is nice so i can't really get anything wrong.
"Mess with the best, die like the rest" -U.S. Marine Corp
MINRail (Minessota Rail Transportaion Corp.) - "If they got rid of the weeds what would hold the rails down?"
And yes I am 17.
aaaa i like it. Thanks!!! I think mine may be a Joint Ownership rail as well. But right now I'm In my extended planning phase which includes asking a lot of questions about everything. lol that and my wife says we dont have enough room lol!!!
On my Santa Fe in Oklahoma 1989, I am stricktly a proto modeler with one exception. The Santa Fe had a branch main that ran north/south through Oklahoma which was called the Orient. It was actually part of an old rail system that ran from Texas through Oklahoma. Santa Fe took over a part of it. The line came from the south into Cherokee OK. I decided I wanted a little taste of freelancing, so I created the Oklahoma Northern which ran over the Orient row. Diesels are red with white trim, freight cars, mostly covered hoppers are the same. Makes an interesting contrast.
Bob
Colorado_Mac Texas Zepher: Here are some pictures of the club's Freelance Platte Valley & Western equipment that I designed. I was just cleaning "flood mud" off a similar PVW boxcar earlier tonight!
Texas Zepher: Here are some pictures of the club's Freelance Platte Valley & Western equipment that I designed.
Here are some pictures of the club's Freelance Platte Valley & Western equipment that I designed.
I was just cleaning "flood mud" off a similar PVW boxcar earlier tonight!
Goodness --
A lot of people freelance their own railroads and devise their own logos and paint schemes. Our hosts do just that, with their staff layout, the Milwaukee, Racine, & Troy (MR&T -- which I'm sure is a tongue in cheek reference to their two most popular publications: Model Railroader and Trains). I think you will find it a very enjoyable outlet for your creativity.
I've taken a slightly different approach ("protolancing") by creating an alternate history for a real railroad (the New Haven). I have, however, repainted and decaled several models to better represent the NH mid-1950's equipment.
Wow thanks guys for your insite. I like what I've been reading. Thank you very much.
Note the CR&T logo for the Conemaugh Road & Traction that does not exist.
CR&T Layout -- Traction Rationale:
[1] What if the Pennsy completed electrification across Western Pennsylvania?
[2] What if the local traction company was an interurban plus shortline freight?
CR&T is based upon local circa 1956 Conemaugh Valley prototypes: Johnstown Traction Company (with the largest 3rd-class city PCC fleet), Conemaugh & Blacklick (Beth-Steel's industrial railroad), and freight for the Baltimore & Ohio. Local prototype includes Pennsylvania Railroad's mainline for freight & passenger service.
Conemaugh Road & Traction circa 1956
When I set up my first HO scale layout 6 years ago with steam only, I called it the "GB&S" railroad.
GB&S stood for "Grimy, Black and Sooty".
-G .
Just my thoughts, ideas, opinions and experiences. Others may vary.
HO and N Scale.
After long and careful thought, they have convinced me. I have come to the conclusion that they are right. The aliens did it.
Goodness,
The HVT is a freelanced (fictitious) railroad, but it has its own history and even a mission statement as found at
https://sites.google.com/site/hvtrailroad/about-hvt
I have found that once I defined what this model railroad was, is and will be and put a 'history' to it I now have a great peace of mind and a direction to follow as I work on this life-long journey.
Good luck Mr Goodness,
Regards,
Dave
From Mt Pleasant, Utah, the home of the Hill Valley and Thistle Railroad where the Buffalo still roam and a Droid runs the trains
Freelance, like this.
Roger Hensley= ECI Railroad - http://madisonrails.railfan.net/eci/eci_new.html == Railroads of Madison County - http://madisonrails.railfan.net/ =
Colorado_Mac My first model railroad was the Santa Fe Northern, a combination of branch lines in Illinois formerly owned by (drumroll, please) the Santa Fe and the Burlington Northern. I just imagined they were spun off as a short line - I never in my wildest dreams imagined the BNSF of today.
My first model railroad was the Santa Fe Northern, a combination of branch lines in Illinois formerly owned by (drumroll, please) the Santa Fe and the Burlington Northern. I just imagined they were spun off as a short line - I never in my wildest dreams imagined the BNSF of today.
Now, that is pretty cool, C-Mac. Greta foresight.
Rich
Alton Junction
Welcome to the hobby! My layout is a fictional/might have been/could have been short line/bridge line/interchange line set in the era when the major real railroads were sluffing off segments of rail that did not yield the aggressive profits that maxed out as shareholder value. Seems that my resources of time, space and materials match up well with the tight fisted, miserly owners of the Cascade Valley RR. Locomotive power was generally purchased on the cheap from dispersal sales for various fallen flags (usually operated without the added expense of a fresh coat of paint) , providing service to industries in and around the modest town of Plastville.
The point of all of this is that as you develope your railroad, it is totally your choice as to whether your layout has any theme at all, whether your layout represents a slice of real life in some specific time or place, or whether it exists solely as a pleasant place in your own mind. What is most important is this: Choose ideas that are satisfying for you to work on and with. The only requisite justification is that it become an activity for yourself, your family and friends to enjoy.
The spectrum of model railroad names runs from the precise (Pennsylvania Railroad Middle Division) to the, ~Say WHAT???' (Moonlight and Violins, Gorre and Daphetid,) as does the modeling represented. If you want to be hyperprecise to a specific full-scale railroad past or present it can be (and has been) done - but it requires careful research and a lot of soul searching about specific models (did this ever run there?) By modeling an imaginary route of a real railroad you can loosen up and indulge in more, `What might have been.' Or you can imagineer a railroad through real terrain to prototype standards (everybody mentioned the V&O, but much erlier there was Carl Appel's Norfolk and Ohio.)
A lot of modelers imagine both the terrain and the railroad serving it, sometimes using names from odd sources. The Tuxedo Junction was named after a Glen Miller song. And one of my friends, a Li'l Abner fan, actually built the Dogpatch and West Po'k Chop.
As for me, I have a boot planted squarely in each camp. My main emphasis (track mileage and rolling stock) is the Japan National Railway - including operating car and locomotive numbers I recorded in my field notes to the prototype's timetable. I am modeling the `feel' of a real place, the Upper Kiso Valley in Nagano-ken. But I also have a coal-hauling short line (no coal in Kiso country) that runs rolling stock of no known ancestry (or acknowledged parentage.) The Tomikawa Valley Railway exists mainly to provide a home for kitbashes that might have been, but never were,
The conclusion? Name your railroad whatever YOU think is reasonable, and equip it with whatever locos and cars YOU like, painted in whatever manner pleases you. If some visitor objects, remind them of the golden rule:
Whoever paid the gold, makes the rule.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - my way)
Sean
HO Scale CSX Modeler
Texas Zepher Here are some pictures of the club's Freelance Platte Valley & Western equipment that I designed.
There are a lot of freelancers out there or you can mix it up, like Jamis said. I model mostly CSX with some UP and BNSF interchange mixed in but my world is completely made up as I set mine in more of a high desert look of eastern Oregon/ Washington and on my layout I have a small short line that serves the local industries- Crabville Southeastern Rail. Right now CSER only has a used RS-36 (a custom painted undec. Atlas Alco RS-36) but it will soon have couple newer locos as business is booming in Crabville.
Goodness181 So i'm new to model railroading and had an idea for my own railroad company. Do people do this??
So i'm new to model railroading and had an idea for my own railroad company. Do people do this??
http://cs.trains.com/TRCCS/forums/t/140372.aspx
http://cs.trains.com/TRCCS/forums/t/5585.aspx
http://cs.trains.com/TRCCS/forums/t/137875.aspx
http://cs.trains.com/TRCCS/forums/t/29867.aspx
i was thinking about going the extra mile too and painting locomotives and cars to my company's colors and all.