Civil War railroads

[Anonymous]

I have seen a book on the subject of Civil War layouts, but I have never heard or seen one. Does anyone have information on where to get good locomotives, rolling stock, and any other items for the Civil War era. Does anyone know of someone who has one? (I already have plenty of soldiers and other military items.)

[Anonymous]

I think several makers created trainsets based on the Civil War. Bachmann might be one. The quality might be in question as they are train sets.

I do recall some of the 4-4-0's being driven by a shaft connecting to the tender where the motor was mounted.

There are rolling stock from that era availible but others may more precisely point you there.

[Anonymous]

On Ebay you can find both North and South Loco's and cars. I have a 36"x36" coffeetable that is Civil War with only 1 loco and didfferent cars representing the North. This was one of those projects that kind of got out of hand so the train can only go back and forth. Will try and get some good pics and post for you.

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Bachmann make several civil war era locos. I have one, though it's not the and doesn't run well. It's a tender drive setup. That is, the motor is in the tender and is connected to the loco by a driveshaft. The shaft has a tendency to fall out on tight turns. It mostly takes up space in my display cabinet. I'm giving serious thought to pitching it. Anybody wants it, better come running.

[conrail92]

when i went to gettysburg in one musseaum they had a civil war based train layout it was kinda kool i forget what engine type they had

[Anonymous]

I think it would be easier to model the Civil War in O scale. As it's been said, the HO scale offerings are rather lacking in quality. The larger scale locomotives run better and there appears to be more of a selection.
Track is easier to hand lay and you can make the ties from real twigs to simulate the old hand hewn ties.

[CNJ831]

Accurate Civil War era motive power and rolling stock are rather difficult to come by. Most of the plastic engines offered over the years have either been inaccurate representations or actually models from a somewhat later period (generally the 1880's). The very small size of the locomotives often leads to electrical contact and running problems. Likewise, the available plastic rolling stock has been more caricaturi***han accurate and also generally from a later era. At the affordable end of things, I expect that the Mantua offerings come the closest but are still well short of the mark.

There have been a few prize brass models of proper 1860's locomotives (the Golden Spike sets, for instance) but these tend to be rather pricey. The best Civil War layouts I've seen (and they are very, very few) tend to be the property of modelers heavily into scratchbuilding and who love tinkering with motors and drivetrains.

CNJ831

[BRJN]

If you can find the pair of "American 4-4-0 Locomotives, UP,CP" that is the Transcotinental Railroad set (1867, close enough).
Look in the Walthers catalog for Old-Time cars. Anything less than 40 foot long can serve as a fill-in until you can find more-accurate materials.
I found a very old-time LS&MS 34' boxcar at a train swap meet.
Art Griffin has decals and photos for old cars but they may be later than what you want; it would be a start anyways.

I cannot vouch for (or badmouth) the quality of any of these items. For me, anything that goes around in a circle without falling off the rails is good enough for now.

[Mark300]

In terms of equipment, the advise in the above posts are good.

In addition; Couplers would be link & pin, no air brakes. There were lots of stand by brakeman working on roofs. 4-4-0's were the norm with moguls and consuls (2-8-0's) being very new innovations and few roads had them yet. Lots of flying switching and no helpers since those big cow catchers got in the way and the rodded links were too weak.

In terms of layouts, just about any of the 'modern' layouts would work since our railroads grew out of the 19th century environment of which the Civil War was a tragic episode.

The buildings would be wood framed or masonry. Stations might have dining halls attached and instead of coal tipples; racks of wood.

I wouldn't use anything heavier than code 70 rail, with extensive use of code 55. Lots of trestles or masonry arched spans over streams and waterways; no steel or iron.

Lots of 'Street Running' too since most lines were not relocated to present locations until after the civil war. No fast moving trains; 20 MPH was fast. Speed didn't really happen until the Transcontinental RR became a reality in 1869.

No autos; only horses, wagons and buggys. No electric, only telegraph poles.

As far as actual railroad companies the B&O for instance, goes back way before the Civil War and was greatly affected by events as the armies moved about the region it operated. You couldn't do better than checking out their Historical Society and their web site with lots of links to photos and other sites.

http://www.borhs.org/

There are other sites too if you are setting your layout in a city like, Atlanta, Chattanooga, or or in other regions featuring RR's in the 1860's. The South, New England and the middle atlantic states all had thriving small RR's that were the beginnings of what became today's NS, CSX and other modern roads. The ATSF was a new road aiming for New Mexico and the UP was Chartered by Congress and Abe Lincoln!

The prototypical ideas can go on & on with some exciting results!

HTH & Happy Railroading,

Mark