Hello All,
I'm a long time model railroading fan, but am just now getting into planning and creating a layout. Why now? Well, I've been married for close to five years now and am just now able to get away with more!
Anyhow, my question revolves around the time period I have selected to model in. As a historian and history major in college, I always appreciated the civil war diaramas in museums. So I thought a civil war themed layout would be right up my alley.
Is there enough modeling equipment (N scale, trains, buildings, etc.) to create a layout from this period? (~1860s). I hate to get into it if I will have a hard time finding the appropriate pieces.
Thanks for your input and suggesstions.
Greg
ouflyer wrote: Hello All,I'm a long time model railroading fan, but am just now getting into planning and creating a layout. Why now? Well, I've been married for close to five years now and am just now able to get away with more! Anyhow, my question revolves around the time period I have selected to model in. As a historian and history major in college, I always appreciated the civil war diaramas in museums. So I thought a civil war themed layout would be right up my alley. Is there enough modeling equipment (N scale, trains, buildings, etc.) to create a layout from this period? (~1860s). I hate to get into it if I will have a hard time finding the appropriate pieces.Thanks for your input and suggesstions. Greg
o:
If it floats your boat, go for it, but be advised that 1860s stock is smaller and lighter than more modern stuff, which will make it harder to keep running. (It's also harder to come by than more modern stuff, but it's relatively easier to circumvent unavailability than physics). Bachmann makes some N-scale 4-4-0s, for instance, whose size is comparable to Z scale modern steam (and smallish steam, at that)...and they're in Bachmann's standard line. Be afraid.
On the other hand, this is a really neat era, and for a Civil War buff it's very hard to beat the years in which this bloody war was raging on. You could also do that by modeling the modern Norfolk Southern. </snide>
Fortunately, being smaller also mitigates the space-disadvantages of bigger scales. I would advise at least HO, perhaps even O. I don't know what's available in O, but there is usable stock in HO...not a lot, but more than the 1840s modelers have available.
If you could settle for peacetime, and are in it for the history, move the date up to 1890, and you can run most of the "early" stuff out there, a lot of which is more typical of the late Gilded Age than the Unpleasantness Between The States. But really, do what you like. Don't be limited by what other people say...if MR was to publish a really successful and good-running layout set in 1848, you bet I'd snap up that issue in a heartbeat. It could be done, too. It's just not something a lot of mfrs. supply at present.
Do check out the Yahoo early rail group:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/earlyrail
ouflyer wrote: Hello All,I'm a long time model railroading fan, but am just now getting into planning and creating a layout. Why now? Well, I've been married for close to five years now and am just now able to get away with more! Greg
How did you manage that so soon?????????
Seriously, I imagine if you look long and hard enough you should be able to find something close enough to your desired items that only slight mods may be needed. It would probably help us (mainly them since I am fairly clueless about era specific stuff) if you mentioned exactly what you are looking for. I say that because it is probably a good chance that the North and the South did not use the same equipment.
There isn't much in any scale for the Civil War era. A couple of 4-4-0's and an odd piece of rolling stock. B.T.S. has a boxcar kit http://www.btsrr.com/#4 in HO. You'll need to research the differences between Civil War and 1870's/1880's, since many manufacturers are not clear about their eras (it's all "old time"), unless mixing the time periods is okay with you.
But everything was built more simply then, so building your own would not be complicated.
2 books that might help are:
The American Railroad Freight Car: From the Wood-Car Era to the Coming of Steel (Paperback) by John H. White
The American Railroad Passenger Car by John H. WhiteEnjoyPaul
Enjoy
Paul
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Civil_War_RRs/
Try the above group, they specialize in Civil War RR modeling (beware - some of them still call us Northerners Damn Yankees!) You have to join the group, but there are no fees or dues - just an interest in Civil War RRs
concretelackey wrote:it is probably a good chance that the North and the South did not use the same equipment.
it is probably a good chance that the North and the South did not use the same equipment.
cl:
Not huge differences. The South probably had more old stuff and strap-rail. A lot of southern railroads had 5 ft gauge. That may or may not have been a southern standard.
There was probably some railroad-to-railroad variation in standards back then, but not the same kind as later in the steam era. Repainting a K4 "New York Central" would never do, but the Mantua General could be decorated as the 4-4-0s of many railroads without violating believability. The loco builders had standard designs back then, much like they do now.
Here's what you have available in HO:
Mantua:
http://store.modelpower.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=113
http://store.modelpower.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=112
Not all are completely accurate or appropriate for 1869 (mostly the clerestory cars and cupola cabooses). Most are usable. Mantua/Tyco 4-4-0s are widely available on Ebay despite the obsessed weirdos who seem to be building armies of them...
Bachmann:
4-4-0s "Jupiter" and "119"
Experience with an old Jupiter was discouraging (plastic worm with molded axle, running in zamac bearing = no good). Improvements may have been made.
Old-time rolling stock - more 1880s than 1860s, but could be cut down.
"Lafayette" Norris 4-2-0 set, John Bull set - cars quite archaic, but may have seen limited use, who knows? Either loco could be modernized and used. The Bull served until just after the war, and the Norris was an 1830s GP40; I'm sure there were still plenty in secondary duties.
RR/AHM/IHC old-time 4-4-0s - these are newer, perhaps 1880s vintage.
MDC 2-6-0, 2-8-0, 4-4-0 - late 1880s-1890s brutes
Model Power 2-8-0 - see above
Omissions? Errors? Probably!
Thank you all for the great responses. It looks like I have plenty to research and read. Maybe bumping up my time period to the 1890s would be a good idea. Thanks for the tips!!
GZ
ouflyer wrote: Is there enough modeling equipment (N scale, trains, buildings, etc.) to create a layout from this period? (~1860s).
Is there enough modeling equipment (N scale, trains, buildings, etc.) to create a layout from this period? (~1860s).
Paging Space Mouse....Paging Space Mouse....
Don - Specializing in layout DC->DCC conversions
Modeling C&O transition era and steel industries There's Nothing Like Big Steam!
Thank you for the tips and the leads. I think a little reading and research will do me good! I've already made a list of the books everyone recommended and plan on purchasing them soon!