What era do you model...and why?

[Motley]

I'm wondering what eras you model and why. I notice that the 50's seem really popular.

Is it because of your age? When you were a young "whipper snapper" in your teens and 20s.

For me it's a little different, I'm 41 and I really like the modern era 1998 - 2010

[sschnabl]

 

I'm 38 and I model 1945-1955 where both steam and diesels ruled the rails.  Obviously steam was long gone before I was even born, but to me there is something about a steam engine chugging up a grade or crossing a wooden trestle.  But then my diesels can sure pull a lot of cars, so this era gives me the best of both worlds.

Scott

[hminky]

I have always wanted to model civil war era trains and finally found a way.

Visit:

http://www.28mmcivilwarrailroading.com/

Harold

 

[West Coast S]

In my world it is never earlier then 1925 or later then 1927, I faithfully model the SP Ojai branch which was a major source of citrus and produce among other commidities, until 1932 the SP provided Pullman service for resort patrons, thus a good blend of operations are possible. As paved roads developed, many shippers abandoned rail service, changes within the industry also impacted later rail service. To be a glutton for punishment, i've chosen S scale where it has been necessary to scratchbuild or kitbash virtually all the motive power and a great precentage of the rolling stock.

I can't precisely say where I get my inspiration, perhaps growing up in the Northern California foothills where we harvested an apple crop each year and pears every other year for sale to the local co-op where it was shipped by rail might factor into it.8D]    

Dave

[cowman]

You are probably right about the majority of transition era modelers.  I'm one and it is because of what I fondly remember.  I remember stopping by the station when we went down the mountain to the "big town" and watching a steam engine pull a freight train through or a passenger train stop, uncouple the engine and it would go ahead a couple hundred feet to the water tank.  My mother had the foresite to take a friend and I on one of the last regularly scheduled steam passenger trains on the Rutland RR.  (One of the last passenger trains on the line, period!)

It's  not that I don't stop and watch modern locos pulling long (or short) trains when I get the chance, but they are few and far between close to me.  However, they are just big motors on wheels, steamers were action, parts moving everywhere, exciting to watch, though I doubt I appreciated the complexity of those mechanical machines at the time.

As the previous poster said, there's just something about watching them.  An alternative for those who like to run some steam, but prefer modern diesels, is a tourist train.  Thankfully many locations still have them operating with steam.  Our "local" switched to diesel, but it's still fun to go for a ride in the vintage passenger cars.

[slammin]

I model early to mid 60's. When I was in my early teens I always visited the nearby New York Central yard in Moraine, Ohio. I made friends with several of the car inspectors and was able to walk the yard with them. Occasionally I got to ride in the engine of the local down to West Carrollton and back. Those were the days!

[Pennsy nut]

I'm 42 and love Pennsy steam and early diesels...  not sure why... I think I have an "old soul"

[ATLANTIC CENTRAL]

Well I'm one of those transition era modelers, but I'm not old enough to remember the time period I model, it is three/four years before I was born!

I am about to turn 53, born in 1957 - I model 1954.

Why, because it was a good time for the railroads, lots of new stuff and lots of money being spent on improvements, but still had things like heavyweight pasenger cars and steam locos.

New ideas like piggypack were coming on line, passenger service was still "fancy" and CTC, radios and other technology was coming of age - a generally positive and exciting time for railroading.

And, I like history so modeling a time before I lived is a study in history as well as a modeling persuit.

Sheldon

[Eric97123]

I like the more modern diesels but I am not going for an era but more of an area.  I grew in rural South Georgia and always had pleny of CSX trains going through my town, so I am going more for so the southern rural look, which can go with just about any era building out on the market.   When the wife asked what I wanted for Christmas and I said an HO train I did specify that it had to be a CSX train. 

[tomikawaTT]

I don't model an 'era.'  I model one specific month at one specific spot - September, 1964, the Upper Kiso Valley in the Central Japan Alps.

As for why - I was there, my wife and our toddlers were there and we made some wonderful memories together.  Now one of those toddlers is a grandmother, but both of them remember that ride into the woods aboard a Kiso Rintetsu train.  As for my wife, she's busy cooking dinner right now.

And now a comment about luck.  Turns out that September, 1964, was the pivotal transition month for JNR rolling stock:

• Steam was being retired wholesale, replaced by ever-growing electrification and fresh off the erecting floor diesel-hydraulic locos.  However, on lesser lines steam was still a major factor and would be for another ten years.
• Entirely new classes of DMU and EMU cars were appearing, displacing locomotive-hauled passenger trains in everything from commuter service to long-distance luxury expresses.
• New classes of freight cars, of types never before seen, were taking over from the last of the war-weary survivors of WWII - those survivors were thinning out, but many of them would soldier on for a few more years before being white-lined and scrapped.
• Routes that had been operated by staff and ticket, with manually operated lower-quadrant semaphores, were being upgraded to ABS with tri-color light signls.
• After years of development, and months of testing, the Shinkansen was carrying paying passengers.

 

It was a great time to be alive, in Japan and a railfan.

Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)

[tbdanny]

Well, I'm 23 and I model 1954 in New Mexico - a full 32 years before I was born!

I think what attracts me to the 1950s is the sheer visual interest of the motive power and rolling stock.  An F3 actually looks different to a GP7, which looks different to an RS-2, and there's still steam around as well.  Modern era locos and intermodal cars all look the same - boring.

That's my  anyway.

[MisterBeasley]

When I was a child, I modeled as a child.  But, when my Mom told me to put away childish things, I carefully packed my trains...

Now, 40 years later, those "childish things" are the basis for my early 1960's layout.

But then, one day, I was at my LHS and a sultry, dark beauty whistled at me.  Not the classic 36-24-36, but rather a more well-rounded 0-6-0.  And, I was seduced by the eternal lure of steam...

So, I have a dual-era layout.  My structures could serve either the 1930s or the 1960s.  I swap out the trains and the automobiles, and there I am.  In my mind, the music changes from old jazz to British Invasion, the gas prices jump a dime, and the hiss of steam is replaced by the smell of diesel oil.

And somehow, the Wayback Machine brings me where I want to be.

[WPAllen]

I model the 40's to 50's for the same reasons as the above posts. You can do both diesel and steam. I model the Western Pacific and I also sneak in some later diesels such as the GP-35 and GP-40. 

[cahrn]

 I model the (former) Southern Pacific line on the San Francisco peninsula. I live on the peninsula and trains in the bay area have always appealed to me. I pretty much model the present day, though some of my equipment is modeled as it appeared in 2005, and it has since been repainted. By modeling this area I can have both modern equipment and some patched old SP and DRGW road switchers that have avoided the paint shop. This allows me to keep some locomotives from my favorite railroad on my roster and realistically run them in the present day. The transition era never appealed to me; Im strictly a diesel man. Theres something about a long freight being pulled by a consist of filthy SP diesels that steam just cannot compare to!

 

Cahrn 

[Phoebe Vet]

My layout is eclectic.  Most things on the layout are the result of a request by or a gift from my wife or grandchildren.

We have Two models of the Phoebe Snow, one with heavyweights pulled by F3 A-B-A as she was in the forties and fifties and one smooth side pulled by E-8s as she was when I rode her in the sixties.  We have K-4 Pacific steam, we have GP-38s in two different roads.  We have NYCTA R-17 and R-22 subway trains, and we have Hogwart's Express and Thomas the Tank Engine.

[jmbjmb]

I also model the transistion era, though I wasn't around until 58.  I started modeling the 70/80s but have been going backward.  For me that era had more variety in equipment, passenger trains, even industries and structures have more character than today.

[rrebell]

I model the 30's.  I can run steam or newer stuff that runs past  the old parts of town.

[IRONROOSTER]

 I picked the early 50's .  The Maryland and Pennsylvania RR had small steam 4-4-0, 4-6-0, 0-6-0, 2-8-0 and small diesels SW1, NW2, SW9.  It still had truss rod freight cars with archbar trucks in service and open platform wooden passenger cars with truss rods in passenger service (although it was the mail that kept passenger service profitable).  It connected with the B&O at one end and the PRR at both ends so I can include their "modern" locomotives and passenger cars of the 50's.  USRA cars were still on the roads along with "modern" cars.  Predating the Interstate system there were still a lot of railroad deliveries of single cars and some LCL freight.

I was born in 1947 so there is some nostalgic attraction as well.

Enjoy

Paul

[tgindy]

Traction + Diesel + Steam all co-existed circa 1956 -- providing a wide range of motive power flexibility!  So, the two-layout-in-one approach -- traction (plus "road") surrounded by the Pennsy.

[grizlump9]

 like many others i am influenced by the early contacts i had with railroading.  i was born in 1946, grew up in Memphis and went to work on the IC in my teens so that era (late 50's-early 60's) is my favorite.  after coming north, i jumped ship and went with the Big Four in 1967.

 i am not a purist by any means and i have a lot of equipment that would never had been in use at the same time but i do draw the line somewhere.   no chop nose diesels, no orange and white or split rail logos and absolutely NO AMTRAK!!

grizlump

[CSX_road_slug]

Up until 5 years ago, I modeled the B&O of the late 1960's to early 70's; IOW, right before the Chessie era.  Great variety of 1st- and 2nd-generation diesel motive power during that period. The Western Maryland was still going strong, too.  It was a great time to be a teenage railfan in Maryland with a drivers license.

So when I came back to the hobby in 1988, I resumed modeling the B&O for that era.  In 2000 I sold my previous house and put the B&O stuff in storage until I could build a new layout.  But when I finally built it in 2005, I decided I wanted to try modeling CSX since it was something I could see every day. 

But now, I've learned that I miss running cabeese as much as I hate installing ditch lights.  Going back to B&O would solve both those problems.  So I brought all my Stewart F units and Atlas geeps out of my mother-in-law's crawl space and am gradually installing decoders in them.

[wholeman]

I model BNSF in the modern times.  People look at me funny when I say that but the merger happen almost 15 years ago.

I don't know why I model this period.  I guess, when I was a kid, I got a train set that had Santa Fe trains in it and went from there.

 

[canazar]

I live in Phoenix, Arizona and I am 35. 

 I grew up with the Santa Fe and Southern Pacific around town, so thathas laid some influnce on me. 

I chose to model 2 eras.  With some careful modeling in age neutral buildings and a huge chunk of creativity...  with the changing of rolling stock and power, I can pull it off.   I model 1956 and present day.  I amazed by the old steam and the almost magical feel of the transition era.  But, I enjoy modeling what I can see around me when I rail fan.

 

[jwhitten]

 I'm modeling the late transition era (late 1950's) even though I've never seen a steam engine "in the wild". They were just a few years before my time. I was born in the early 1960's. I like modeling the transition era because it allows me to run both steam and diesels together. And also early electrics too if I want. My layout concept is based on the semi-fictional "South Pennsylvania Railroad", a real railroad that was chartered, surveyed, graded but never built. My version of the South Penn has the railroad cast as a small regional / bridge route operating between Harrisburg and Pittsburgh PA, which has grown up under the benevolent watchful eye of its principle patron, the Pennsylvania Railroad. At its west end, near Pittsburgh, it exchanges with the Montour RR, which was a small local line that serviced a number of coal, iron ore and other mineral companies. Those will be the main three railroads depicted on the layout. There will be some additional minor interchanges including the Western Maryland around Somerset PA, the Huntingdon and West Broad Top Mtn Rwy at Everett, and possibly the East Broad Top Rwy also at Everett.

 

John

[Paul3]

I don't so much model an era as I do a railroad (being the New Haven).  Since the NH existed from 1872 to 1969, I have a wide range of "eras" to model.  The oldest equipment I have is a pre-WWI electric right on up to the last diesels purchased by the NH in 1964 (U25B's) and everything in between.  This includes steam, electrics, and diesels. 

I have futher interests other than my strict NH-only pledge, and that's stuff I've seen, worked on, or ridden behind (which explains my CN M420, MBTA F40PH, and QBT U23B).  But these are oddballs not usually run with my NH equipment at all.  Instead, it goes to my club more often than not, where we are mixed to say the least (all eras, all roads).

I don't model the modern day because it's boring.  I have a strong interest in my home town (4th generation), and only the NH offers the variations I want to see.  If I wanted all identical equipment running back and forth with little to no freight service, I'd just model a subway and be done with it.

Paul A. Cutler III

[Cat]

Early steam period, very broadly freelanced with equipment ranging from c.1870ish to 1920ish. Because it's very cute. Because we can stick to very short equipment (also cute) and have it work well and look good on very tight radii and thus have much more operations on a shelf layout.

[toot toot]

Well, I'm 58 and i don't model the transitional era.  well, maybe i do,  but not that transitional era.  actually, I model two eras.  the 1870-1880s, and 1910-1920s. 

The 1880s: end of the pre air brake, men of iron, cars of wood, 28 foot cars wearing brakemen on the roofs, tiny wood burning 4-4-0s painted all the colors of the rainbow. 

a quick change of a few buildings, bridges and poof the early days of steel framed cars.  air brakes, billboard reefers, 80' passenger cars, and the first of big power.

 

 

 

[hardcoalcase]

1910 in NE PA...'cause if you can get used to camelbacks, you can get used to anything! 

Oh yeah, its in the genealogy too.

Jim

[UncBob]

 From the 1920s to the late 70s

I am redoing my layout and will be generic scenery only

I have  steamers from the 4-4-0 up to the Berk-- in diesels a  FA a GP20 and B23-7 

I run freight cars according to what engines I have on my tracks ( 2 ovals 2 trains staging in a drawer ) and the era they typify

I only run smaller diesels and no articulated steamers

No freight over 40 fters 

 I stopped in the late 70s because I don't like the modern diesels SD70s Dash 8s

 

 

 

[CP5415]

I'm modeling right now. Right now allows me the greatest flexibility in the way of motive power as steam & first generation diesels are still around in 2010. Steam in excursion services, first gen diesels in excursion as well as secondary services & SD40s & newer locos in mainline service. It's like the Grand-Daddy scenario of "what if?"

 Gordon