SeeYou190 nwsisu my Alco S4, GP7 and 2-8-0 Consolidation do narrow down my choise of era. . Welcome to 1954! . This is where all the cool kids hang out. . -Kevin
nwsisu my Alco S4, GP7 and 2-8-0 Consolidation do narrow down my choise of era.
.
Welcome to 1954!
This is where all the cool kids hang out.
-Kevin
Ok, I'll most likely do that :). Need to do some further research of that time.
I model the Modern Era, but I admit its hard to find cars with the yellow FRA reflective stripes, so it's tempting to want to backdate to the early 2000's.
In HO Scale, I feel the larger published track plans are the 1950 era. I never knew if that was to allow more of the small industry/single car type railroading while modern rail service has huge industries.
I have always been in the late Transition Era, but I found a steam engine, sound equipped, at my LHS and had to have it. After that, I accumulated equipment from the 1930s to go with my Transition Era trains. Now, I have enough engines, rolling stock, passenger cars and even vehicles to change eras when I want.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
There's a frequent contributer to another forum, railroad-line.com, "demery", whose tag line is: "Modeling the 1890s (because the voices in my head told me to)"
Gotta love it! Wish I thought that one up!
Jim
Why 1979ish?
- cabooses stills standard on most trains
- no graffiti except the odd chalk.
- colorful per-diem box cars
- 40' piggy back trailers on 85 and 89' flat cars
- Amtrak phase 1 and Rio Grande Zephyr
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
Born in 1952 and model 2015. I know I am in the minority but I like the big new modern stuff.
Tom
tloc52 Born in 1952 and model 2015. I know I am in the minority but I like the big new modern stuff. Tom
Actually Tom, from what I have seen, modeling present day is the one era choice that seems to be equally choosen by people of all ages.
Sheldon
I model 1930-1945 beause the cars were shorter and almost everything was steam.
A 40 car train in 1935 looks longer to me than a train of the same length in the modern era, because there are many more cars in a given length in those days.
Railroads ran everywhere, and so did their passenger trains.
And I just like steam.
My work in aerospace was always on the cutting edge of the future - the Galileo Jupiter probe, Space Shuttle, 787, V-22 Osprey and much more. But I like my model railroading in a fast-receding past.
Mark P.
Website: http://www.thecbandqinwyoming.comVideos: https://www.youtube.com/user/mabrunton
PruittMy work in aerospace was always on the cutting edge of the future
I kind of feel the same way.
My job is not as cutting edge as yours, but I need to constantly keep up to date with everything that is new.
My 1954 railroad never moves forward technologically.
Living the dream.
I originally (back in my 20s) wanted to do a model railroad that started when the prototype started, and would advance a year every real year - or maybe faster. Sort of like the Utah Western (IIRC?) featured in MR advancing the era modeled every so often. Being young and stupid, I didn't have any idea of what this would entail.
But I did know the areas I wanted to model - coastal Oregon, maybe getting somewhat inland. And a couple of decades later, I found a prototype that had similar ideas - the Oregon Pacific which started laying track in the 1870s. The 1870s are dreadful to model with any reasonable fidelity - link and pin couplers being my biggest objection.
I do enjoy switching operations. John Armstrong's 1954 article dividing model railroad operations into spectators, engineers, and dispatchers helped me realize that it was the engineer/brakeman role I wanted to play. Spectating was/is boring to me, and dispatching reminded me too much of work. After having been in a couple of clubs over the years, my guess is that most model railroaders actually prefer spectating. The rest heavily favor engineer over dispatcher, probably because good dispatcher layouts are few and far between.
To play engineer/brakeman conducting switching operations requires good slow-running locomotives and functional couplers. Which is the real reason I gave up my Lionel/On30 combination.
Then I became enamoured of West Coast logging operations, and the dog hole schooners that transported the lumber to San Francisco and points south.
Finally, the narrow gauge bug bit. Even though Oregon had minimal narrow gauge in comparison to California, I could free-lance a narrow gauge logging line to bring the trees to the lumber mill and the dog hole schooners.
The only decision left was era and location. I picked 1900 because that was about the end of the sailing schooner era as steamships took over, and inland rail transport would soon take over. Yet knuckle couplers were mandated starting in 1893, with completion in 1903. Geared locomotives were sought after for logging. So 1900 it was.
Port Orford became my dog hole harbor because the presence of highly valued Port Orford cedar made it worth the extra sailing distance.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
Fred W
Port Orford & Elk River RR (HOn3)
If you ever strolled out of your house on a Saturday morning in the early 70's and met up with us kids you would probably understand.
You met your friends before you went down to the reserve where the rails came through.
Like we all did so many times before, it was just a normal day back then, the Tom Sawyer days of our childhood.
We had a friend that always welcomed us. She was a dark black trestle with the smell of creosote so strong with the mix of the chocolate in the air from the factory across the tracks that was sweet like sugar in our noses.
Just talking about those old memories brings Goosebumps to my arms.
If I told all the stories that went with it, it would explain.
That's why I model the era I model.
TF
fwright a model railroad that started when the prototype started, and would advance a year every real year - or maybe faster. Sort of like the Utah Western
I believe it was the UTAH BELT that always modeled today's railroading, and moved forward in time.
I also thing the VIRGINIAN AND OHIO moved forward in time, but was never running concurrent with the date. I think it was always 20-25 years behind. Not 100% sure about either one, but it sounds like a lot of work.
On the STRATTON AND GILLETTE the calendar stopped at August 3rd, and the clock stopped at 2:00 PM.