Mine is set in the late 50's early 60's of the remote hills of WV. I model after the B&O since that is the road many in my family worked for over the years from 1950-2008 when the last one retired. I have my own subdivision that I created so I didn't have to be 100% exact if I used a real subdivision. The name of my subdivision is: Blue Ridge. I had a different name for the division when I started to build the layout but later changed it because I thought it sounded better. My division has interchanges with C&O, WM, NYC, PRR and a shortline I created. The prime loads are coal, lumber, limestone, meat, livestock, and paper. I have several yards on my layout including a working hump yard. I run a 2 track main, but on section of the layout I run 3 track mains to handle the loads. On my 3 track mains is where NYC and PRR both cross over and run on B&O's mains before going back into their own tracks. On a different part of the layout where it's only 2 track there is a point where WM crosses over and runs on B&O tracks all the way to the interchange and then returns to home rails past the interchange where it heads into a tunnel and heads back toward Maryland. My shortline that I have on my layout is called: Twin Peaks and Southern (TP&S). My shortline serves part of a major corporation that owns one of the regions coal mines, the company branched out to max the revenue of their lands by starting a logging company and after they found limestone while doing some surface mining they opened a limestone quary. Also the shortline has a spur that handles a stock yard next to a slaughterhouse/packing house with ice house support. A spin off business from the slaughterhouse is a paper mill that supplies butcher paper and cardboard boxes for packing meat in as well as the paper mill has several major customers so they have a steady business as well as buying the pulp from the local logging company to use in making their paper products. Also the shortline has passenger service to remote towns back in the hills that my Class1 road doesn't go to so I have a passenger trains that my shortline runs, the shortline does run mixed trains of freight and passenger. I have one central passenger station where trains have to back in rather than a simple stop and go my station has trains from all of the roads that interchange with my subdivision. I have a train shop near the main freight yard where the B&O services and rebuilds engines and cars. Based on Mt. Claire's shops. On my shortline there are branches of the line that a wye can't be used or turntables used so there is tender first trains, sometimes the engine is in the middle of the train because of the sidings that are placed to get into a certain business so the crew has to run tender first with some of the cars ahead of the engine until they can reach a siding to set the cars on and pick them back up on the back end of the train. I use the theme of mid-late summertime. I have lots of team tracks on the layout to serve small customers as well as several freight houses for LCL's. I run alot of steam with some diesel, I know diesel was further along on the B&O at this time but my theme is this is a backwater division that was on the end of the new equipment lists so they always had the oldest pieces of equipment on the road. So there are still plenty of EM-1's and EL's as well as 2-8-2, 4-6-2, 2-8-0 for the equipment but they do have a couple of used VO's for yard work at the main yard as well as a few Geeps and a couple of F Units for freight service assigned to this division. On the mains you see mostly diesel power of the through freights and passenger services but still see the big steam pounding the rails with long coal drags and mixed freights. Plus most of the local freight is still steam but they know that diesel is coming but the hoggers still run their equipment with the attitude of trying to keep them running as long as possible before giving them up. The other roads run mostly diesel but a few steamers as well since this is the land of the lost for most RR's No one is getting factory fresh equipment sent into this area. My shortline is pure steam and their equipment is a motley bunch of equipment that they have bought from auctions of RR's that have gone bankrupt. So there is no set type of equipment that they have. This includes rolling stock and passenger cars too, they do have one doodlebug that serves one of the mines to carry workers and equipment back to this small mine. Basically my division is a bridge in WV for the B&O to get to Chicago faster as well as the interchanges that allow all the different roads to come to a central point as their tracks all come close to each other and there is no real competition for multi-roads trying to work each town. There is one town called Alexanderia that has B&O, NYC and TP&S all serve the same town so there are a couple of diamonds within the town. In this town there is a major factory that builds parts for the big 3 automakers. They build sub assembles for suspensions and as a result there are a couple of spin off companies in the town that supply the factory and they receive raw goods and parts by rail so this is the main industial point in the region and the biggest population too. My area is tough railroading where coal is king but there is enough other businesses to make it profitable to support a division rather than just being a spinoff or forgotten branch.
So there's my backstory of my layout.
Ray
B&O's Blue Ridge Division "Where the Iron Horses never sleep"
I DON'T think that my fellow forumites would be fascinated by a 400 year history of the sociopolitical hi-jinks that led to the complex conglomeration of rail activity in a region of Japan so remote that it has (to quote Wikipedia) only two local passenger trains and one limited express train per hour. It runs six pages of close-spaced small print.
More significant, I think, is my reason for modeling wnat I do. Five decades ago I was an Air Force sergeant, serving in the Tokyo area. My wife, who was fully aware that she had married a model railroader, suggested that we use some of my leave time to visit the Kiso Valley, home of, among other things, a narrow-gauge logging railroad. She had previously weaned me away from modeling the New York Central with a birthday gift - a brass locomotive kit that built into a nice little Japanese style tank locomotive.
So, we went to Agematsu, Nagano-ken, in September of 1964. The logger was there, powered by a bunch of four wheel diesel `critters' so ugly they were cute, running semi-disconnects coupled with link and pin couplers. Right next to it, separated only by a fence, the Japan National Railway was running steam! And the stretch from Agematsu to Kiso-Fukushima was a helper district. Twenty car freights and eight car passenger trains powered by D51 class 2-8-2s were pushed up the 2.5% grade by a C12 class 2-6-2T. Other passenger trains were operating with DMU consists that allowed an intrepid traveler to stand and watch out the head end, two thicknesses of glass removed from the view to the front. A little way down the valley, where the catenary ended, every train that had a locomotive underwent an engine change from steam to motor or vice versa. Occasionally a freight or passenger train would be headed by one or two of those new DD13 class diesel-hydraulics.
Away from the tracks, the area was beautiful. A lot of the buildings dated from the Meiji era and before. Being, literally, out in the sticks, there had been no direct damage from the WWII air strikes that had devastated urban areas. The locals had no problem with a squirrely gaijin with a camera and notebook meandering around the place taking pictures and making sketches and notes. They took my wife (who is also from a rural area - up-country Takamatsu-ken - and has a logging background) to their hearts, and spoiled our kids with candy and attention. We had a wonderful time and made some wonderful memories.
Then I decided to try to capture the spirit of the area in model form. I had already begun collecting Japanese prototype rolling stock in 1:80 (aka HOj) scale. My exposure to the Kiso country focused my buying, and I developed and refined a master plan (of which that six page history is only a part.)
Having survived the Air Force and 20 years of post-Air Force life, during which those two toddlers grew into adults and one of them made me a grandfather, my wife and I moved into our `last in this lifetime' home in 2004. One feature was a double garage. For the first time I had a space big enough to build my dream layout!
Progress is being made, slowly. Some of my past sins have come home to roost in the form of health problems - but hope and determination still carry me forward. I could wish that I could do more, faster - but I'm thankful for what I have and what I can do.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
Click on my web site in my sig
51% share holder in the ME&O ( Wife owns the other 49% )
ME&O
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Here's mine: The history of the Blackwater and Butte Creek Railroad
In 1882 J. Henry Coulter inherited the claim homesteaded in south central Oregon by his maternal grandmother’s uncle, Norman Shakespeare. Traveling on foot with his pack-mule, Daisy, he explored his property and discovered that it was forested with the usual Douglas fir trees, but that there were also acres of white oaks. It seems that Norm was a cooper and he planted the white oaks to grow his own materials.
Hank, as Henry was known to his friends, set about establishing a logging operation, but getting the logs out proved nearly impossible, between the surrounding cliffs and Butte Creek. The way was only passable via mule or on foot. Not to be deterred, Hank built a rail line, including two tunnels and a couple of trestles to provide quick passage to the little town of Blackwater. Business took off and Hank soon had a full scale logging operation. Three or four times per day, short strings of log cars, pulled by tiny shays, snaked down the narrow right of way to the mill at Blackwater. Seeing no use for white oak, Henry sold those acres to Ron Stave.
Being a family oriented kind of guy, Hank encouraged his employees to wed, and bring their brides to live in the logging community he named Butte Creek. Over the next 20 years, the logging town grew to a population of over 1,000, but it was still only reachable by rail. Hank had the guys in the backshop build a handful of short passenger coaches so the families could come and go in comfort. These little cars only have one truck, so they let the occupants enjoy every undulation in the track to its fullest
As soon as the rail line went in, Ron Stave started cutting white oaks and selling building lots as the land was cleared. The white oak logs went to William Stave (Ron’s Brother) in Blackwater. William established a barrel manufacturing business, the Stave Brothers’ Cooperage. The barrels were popular among the northern California wine makers. In addition, an eccentric fellow named Gordon Spock had fallen for the natural beauty of Butte Creek and established a small factory – Spock’s Wing nuts – Their slogan was “Bigger ears for a better grip - the logical choice.” There was a barrel hoop maker, and other small businesses. The thriving little town had roads, cars, grocery stores and a gas station, but the only way in or out was via rail.
As luck would have it, the Great Depression (and some unfortunate investments in buggy whip futures) led to the demise of Hank’s logging company, but the town wouldn’t die. In fact it got a boost when it was discovered that Norman was William Shakespeare’s cousin’s great great grandson. The theater patrons of Ashland, Oregon started visiting Norm’s grave in droves. (Ashland is the home of the Oregon Shakespearean Festival). The tourist traffic became so consistent that the main line was extended 13 miles to a small station at the end of Herbert Street in Ashland.
That brings us up to date (1937). The present Blackwater and Butte Creek Railroad runs from Ashland to Butte Creek, Oregon – with a stop in Blackwater. The motive roster includes a number of obsolete locomotives that were purchased second or third hand from other railroads. Included are 4 small class A shays, 2 Moguls, a Columbia, a Forney, and two railbuses. Speed is limited to 15 miles per hour, but the shays can’t go even that fast. The trip from Ashland to Butte Creek is described by the theater patrons as “leisurely.” They typically invite impatient railway patrons to “Have a glass of wine and enjoy the ride.”
Phil, I'm not a rocket scientist; they are my students.
The HVT is a tourist railroad set in 1985 with close ties to the Union Pacific Railroad. The railroad operates between the interchange yard and engine facility at Thistle and the popular resort town of Hill Valley, traveling through picturesque mountains and rolling sand dunes, passing the famous Mountain Dell Scout camp and historic Fremont Indian cliff dwellings. These Indian ruins overlook the fertile Hill Valley where the Fremont Indians most likely raised corn. Trout are plentiful at Browne Lake at the head of the North Fork of Clear Creek, site of the present day Scout camp. Buffalo still graze in the luscious grass near Tatanka Lake.
The HVT was originally a narrow gauge line which began in 1897 when silver was discovered in the Clear Creek mine located in Clayton Ravine. A new Rogers locomotive #3 found its home hauling silver ore to the mainline and supplies back to the mine. The new railroad connected with the D&RGW mainline at Thistle, located between Salt Lake City and Denver, where an engine facility was being built to service and turn the helper locomotives used to help heavy freight trains over the pass at Soldier Summit. After the silver vein paid out in 1910 the line sat dormant for several years. In 1921 several investors got together and reopened the mine, this time looking for coal. They were successful and the railroad was back in business, complete with new standard gauge track work and rolling stock. #3 was taken out of mothballs, converted to standard gauge and put back into service.
The flagship of the HVT fleet is engine #3, the recently restored 1896 Rogers 4-6-0 steam locomotive, pulling a set of restored passenger cars from the same era. The HVT also handles freight using an EMD SD40T-2 leased from Denver & Rio Grande Western and a GP9 in Western Pacific livery on loan from the Union Pacific, which had acquired the GP9 in the recent merger. The favorites of the younger crowd include excursions behind Thomas the Tank Engine pulling Annie and Clarabelle, and at times his companion Percy. HVT is contracted by the Southern Pacific to do turn-around maintenance on their FEF-3 GS4 which pulls frequent excursions to Hill Valley aboard the historic Coast Daylight train. A spare GS4 is often seen in the engine yard. The Central Pacific Jupiter and Union Pacific #119 find time from their schedule at Golden Spike Monument to visit Hill Valley. On occasion an Amtrak special chartered train will visit the railroad and a few stray UP locos can always be seen here.
What the heck? You asked and after all it is my railroad.
From Mt Pleasant, Utah, the home of the Hill Valley and Thistle Railroad where the Buffalo still roam and a Droid runs the trains
I am building a layout to help me escape from this crazy world to a better time and place when things were like my Grandpa used to talk about... and I'm a Pennsy fan because when I was a little boy, I went and rode the Straussburg Railroad and saw the Pennsylvania Railroad Museum... been a Pennsy nut ever since.
i am building a pike set about 1900, which strings together scenes from a number of railroads in my home state (Rhode Island.) i am building some models of specific buildings, usually somewhat compressed, but still recognizable.
My layout is based on a 'what if' extension of a Milwaukee Road branch line in SW Wisconsin. I basically extended the Mineral Point branch all the way to East Dubuque where it connects with the Milwaukee Road Iowa Division trackage. I also combined/removed some C&NW trackage so that a C&NW 'Ridge Runner' line train now travels over part on my line, and I use some of that trackage to reach my 'Pecatonica' branch. Everything is set in the late 50's, using 1st generation engines like GP9's and some steam.
The HO layout occupies an 'L' shaped 25' by 20' area and is DCC controlled. The layout was started in 1987, and most of the base scenery is complete. Ballasting was finally done last year(Arizona Rock & Mineral). Trackage is Atlas code 100, with the branch being redone in code 83. I use about 15-16 engines and 100+ freight cars on the layout.
Jim
Modeling BNSF and Milwaukee Road in SW Wisconsin
Ok, many of us have our own little world in our layouts, and we have reasons for why certain things or themes exist on the layout. So what is the back story of your layout, why does it exist? What's the history or the region that you have based your layout on? If you created a RR or a division of Class 1 RR that didn't exist in real life, what was your inspiration to come up with it. Does your layout have a single main theme or does it have multi-focal themes that helps create your world. Did you create your back story from real life? If not how did you come up with the idea of your theme? Does your layout feature any challenges that your RR had to overcome in order to build.
Looking forward to reading and seeing ideas and stories of your layouts.