What era do you model...and why?

[RRTrainman]

I'm 40'ish and I model the modern era.  I have plenty of steam power for my layout but I run them like UP does on excursion runs.  I can remember SP running behind my childhood home and they ran 2 old 0-8-8 switcher on the rails behind my house and they were something to remember.  They did the pusher duty over the grade and did the local switchout.  The transition was a little slow because of the 7% grade that we had over the coastal mountain range we had. 

Think about it for second Steam is the grand era.  Raw power, if you could see UP 3985 4-6-6-4 blasting its way thru our gorge that we have here its a site.  I've seen her twice here and just a couple of years ago I caught UP 844 4-8-4 working its way thru the mountain range here in eastern Oregon.  Granted they were excursions but its still a site to see.

I like the modern era because I work in and out of some of the Intermodel yards as a truck driver.  Don't get me wrong I love the steam and the raw power of drive rods pulsing back and forth to make iron meet iron to move freight or even passengers from point "a" to point "b" to get the job done.  Steam is where it started for all this.

I find it easier to to model today than yester-year for me.

[fireman216]

 I model a typical autumn day sometime between 1938 and 1956 on the NYC. I have a deep passion for the 20th Century Limited and the stories it has. The NYC also played a key part in railroad history where I live near Syracuse N.Y. There are still many signs around town that still exist...from signal poles to freight station platforms. Our current Time Warner headquarters is in the NYC station and they have kept the old building design and art deco look to it. Plus I love to run anything from a hudson to diesels. Tim

[MRSATURDAYNIGHT7BNSF]

My layout is set in modern times. I chose to do this because it seems everyone else models in the past. I like to do things different.

[fwright]

 I prefer 1900.  Why?  Because:

• Smaller locomotives - and all steam, too!  Which means an 18" radius curve in HO is perfectly adequate, and fits well with my small space.
• Smaller cars.  Very few freight cars were even 36ft long then, furniture cars being the major exception.  Smaller cars mean more realistic numbers of cars per train, in view of limited siding length.  A 4-4-0 pulling a 7 car train plus caboose is only 4ft long - and a lot more plausible than a 6 axle modern diesel with four or five cars in the same 4ft.
• Knuckle couplers and air brakes were in use - the final date for implementation on common carriers was 1903.
• Narrow gauge was still working, although dying fast.
• True interchange had been established.
• Open platform passenger cars (my favorite) were not an oddity.
• Small ports were still served by some working sail.  I can put a schooner at the dock, and it won't be wrong.
  
• Practically everything that was transported by land went by rail in 1900.  Freight houses and team tracks were very busy places.  Industries would locate to ensure adequate rail service then the way they look for adequate roads today.
• Industries were generally a size more suited for model layouts.  Small towns would have many small rail-served industries rather than one or two large ones.
• Rail served infrastructure was a part of normal life.  Ice storage and transport, fuel storage and transport, lumber yards, black smiths, grain storage and milling were all a part of a normal town's business core.
• Track without tie plates is perfectly prototypical.
  
• I don't have to worry about the wrong era automobiles giving me away.  Horse and mule drawn vehicles were all there were on the roads.
• The hobby shop is not nearly the temptation it would otherwise be to my wallet.  I can walk in, look around, and quickly determine there is nothing appropriate for my era in stock.  Yet there is enough in the way of kits and items to use to support me in my modeling endeavors.
• Paint schemes were still colorful within the limited range of practical colors.  Engines were wiped down at night by cheap labor.  Passenger cars were re-varnished at regular intervals to keep up appearances.  I don't have to do lots of weathering.
  
• Researching the history of that era is interesting.
• Not everybody else is modeling the same thing - I think there's about 20-30 of us. 
  

Fred W

....modeling foggy coastal Oregon, where it's always 1900....

 

[SeeYou190]

I model the Summer of 1954 because that was the magical intersection of most of the equiment that I wanted to operate.

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-Kevin

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[maxman]

SeeYou190

I model the Summer of 1954 because that was the magical intersection of most of the equiment that I wanted to operate.

-Kevin

Make up your mind.  A couple minutes ago you said you model in April. April is in the Spring.

You are up way too late.  Me too!

[SeeYou190]

maxman

Make up your mind. A couple minutes ago you said you model in April. April is in the Spring.

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I model August, 1954. The page on the calendar has not changed since I started my second HO layout 20+ years ago.

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It is in my signature line, and is a constant.

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If I typed the wrong month somewhere, well, I apologoize for any confusion.

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You can be assured that the STRATTON AND GILLETTE will not do the "Time Warp" back to April.

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-Kevin

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[maxman]

SeeYou190

 

maxman

Make up your mind. A couple minutes ago you said you model in April. April is in the Spring.

 

I model August, 1954. The page on the calendar has not changed since I started my second HO layout 20+ years ago.

If I typed the wrong month somewhere, well, I apologoize for any confusion.

-Kevin

 

Details, details, it’s all in the details!

Anyway, the only reason I commented at all was to let you know that I was thoroughly reading your posts, even if it were 3 in the morning.

Now, on the other hand, is there anything we can do about those standalone periods that seem to populate the left side of your posts? (to which you reply: and Merry Christmas to you and the sleigh you rode in on.)☃️

[BigDaddy]

Someone ressurected a necro thread instead of post in the current thread

http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/88/t/278169.aspx

[mbinsewi]

I caught that. 

Mike.

[maxman]

BigDaddy

Someone ressurected a necro thread instead of post in the current thread

An AMC show spinoff: The Walking Dead Thread?

[SeeYou190]

BigDaddy

Someone ressurected a necro thread instead of post in the current thread

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That was me.

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My searches could not find my newer thread, but I did find this one. I did not want to make a new one again, so I ran with what I found.

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Maybe a better search function will be in the update Steve Otte has told us is coming.

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maxman

Now, on the other hand, is there anything we can do about those standalone periods that seem to populate the left side of your posts?

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Nope.

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My employer's Information Management System was originally designed in the 1960s, and it has not been fully updated since then. Typing in the IMS, which is a big part of my job, requires all kinds of special "rules", or the whole thing becomes unstable.

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For instance, it will not separate paragraphs, so you need to install the "stand alone" periods on the left. The older entries in IMS are just a wall of text before someone allowed the periods to make it more readable.

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Also, no apostophes are allowed, so I cannot use contactions. There are a lot more rules I need to abide by.

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That is also why I type "1960s" instead of "1960's". My unusual use of Capitized Words in sentences also comes from the rules of usage for the IMS system.

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So... dealing with the fact I am a creature of habit, I just use the periods in evrything I type rather than try to develop different habits for different forms type to fill out. I use the IMS rules everywhere, sorry.

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-Kevin

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[riogrande5761]

BigDaddy

Someone ressurected a necro thread instead of post in the current thread

http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/88/t/278169.aspx

Modus operandi here at MR forums.  It seems to be either people searching on topics and not paying attention to the dates, or some in need of yet more coffee clutch type discussion.

BTW, what is your favorite color?  

[SeeYou190]

riogrande5761

Modus operandi here at MR forums. It seems to be either people searching on topics and not paying attention to the dates, or some in need of yet more coffee clutch type discussion.

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I have no idea why you feel it necessary to make the same comment every time an old thread comes back.

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No one will make you read them. You reply all on your own.

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Old topics can make for some good discussion.

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-Kevin

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[ATLANTIC CENTRAL]

SeeYou190

 

 

riogrande5761

Modus operandi here at MR forums. It seems to be either people searching on topics and not paying attention to the dates, or some in need of yet more coffee clutch type discussion.

 

 

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I have no idea why you feel it necessary to make the same comment every time an old thread comes back.

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No one will make you read them. You reply all on your own.

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Old topics can make for some good discussion.

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-Kevin

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On the GRAVELY garden tractor forum I post on, we have threads that are still active after 10 years or more. One of them is mine, it details all the improvements I designed for the GRAVELY riding tractors.

People are still reading it, still posting, and I still update it from time to time. I started it on August 19, 2011. It is still on the front page........47 pages, 931 posts, 148,000 views later.

Sheldon