I see my post is near 10 pages and I would like to extend my excitment with every modeler who commented.
That being said, I have an update for my layout. I recently purchased a GN GP7 Non-Dynamic on the 26th, and an undecorated RS11 a few months ago to work alongside the C420 High Hood. I'm going to repaint/paint both locomotives renumbering the GP7 a number off from the Rock Island First GP7 to have the locomotive seem rare and the RS11 will receive a number and paint.
I also bought sold two Lifelike GP38-2s (conrail and CSX) due to the look and feel of the locomotives not pleasing to my taste.
Mr. LMD, Owner, founder
The Central Chicago & Illinois Railroad
Mine will be the Austinville and Dynamite city. The AVDC was originally built from an old PRR grade in the late 40's, and bought by the city of Austinville PA (fictional). The main motive power is an old, ancient, decrepit,etc 2-8-0 consolidation bought second hand. The AVDC originally started as a commuter service, with an old Harriman coach, and a matching combine- also bought second hand. But in the three years since it wasbuilt, a few new industries have sprung up, including a coal dock, a local furniture factory, and a farm that wanted service. It will be a 10 scale mile shortline between Austinville (where it shares a yard and ships stuff cars by the PRR) and Dynamite city pa. Dynamite city used to be a producer of dynamite, until the plant blew up under mysterious circumstances, and left a huge crater that can still be seen, almost 50 years later. Basically, I'm going to be modeling a standard gauge fictional shortline served and interchanged with the PRR.
(My Model Railroad, My Rules)
These are the opinions of an under 35 , from the east end of, and modeling, the same section of the Wheeling and Lake Erie railway. As well as a freelanced road (Austinville and Dynamite City railroad).
The Virginia Junction is a Class III that is owned by a Freelance Class II called the Norfolk,Carolina, And Danville.
The NC&D was formed by a merger between the Norfolk Franklin & Danville, and the Original Norfolk Southern. The NC&D also purchased the old C&O James River line (What is know known as the Buckingham Branch) and turned it into the VIrginia Junction. the NC&D also bought the RF&P from CSX int he early 90s.
" alt="1961 Cape Canaveral" />In those days a rail system was used to move launch gantries around. The parrallel tracks are about 18 feet apart center to center. The gantries were self propelled.
Planning (2 years) an industrial switching layout (HO) based on 1959-1961 space program.
Mr. LMD, right now am just collecting some athearn heavyweight coach kits for both my leelanau county rwy and cadillac & lake city RR. All in planning stages. CLK would be the original 21 miles of michigan track and cadillac-thompsonville-kaleva. my layout when built will be leelanau county : Lake Leelanau, Cedar, Hatchs, Solon, Lake Ann, Honor, Thompsonville and short branch to Interlochen. route of the lines can be found in SPV's Great Lakes East volume rail atlas book
Good looking stuff, Mr Beasley. I like the low angle shot.
LMD, another thing I don't really enjoy much is the track planning process. But there is so little of that left, it's just a matter of how I arrange sidings to fit whatever customers I come up with. That's still open. I was going to do a sawmill, but that's so stereotype of the area, I'll probably pass on it now. It would fit in like just another sawmill in Coos Bay. I could imagine a sizable paper shipping warehouse though. A lot simpler too.
Really nice work. As a beginner I am often torn between being inspired and yet thinking "I can never get there".
Ages ago I managed a small boxcar fleet dedicated to hide service. One load of hides and the cars were dedicated to that service until scrapped.
MisterBeasley Some history has come and gone since this thread was last active, so it's a good opportunity for an update. I've pretty much finished up with the carfloat terminal at Mooseport, somewhere on the western shore of Lake Michigan. A carfloat is a convenient ruse in model railroading. It can function as a small staging yard, or as an interchange track. I decided to add a lot of scenery approaching it, too, so it's a focal point for observers, too. The geographical location caused me to pick up a few related boxcars, notably the Port Huron and Detroit and Ann Arbor railroads, from the "other side" of the Lake. Mooseport itself is pretty much done now, so I've turned my attention to the other side of town. I'm building the Empire Leather Tanning Company, a multi-structure Walthers kit. The kit itself came with a 1-page writeup on tanneries, including the gozintas and gozoutas for such facilities. They take in hides, acid and salt, which gave me the opportunity to buy a couple of boxcars, a chemical tanker and a covered hopper. The tanker is an old Athearn Hooker Chemical car I picked up on eBay and spruced up with metal wheels and Kadees. The hopper is a Bowser kit that I painted and decaled for the fanciful Saltzburg Salt company, and the boxcars will be beat-up Tichys, nearing the end of their service lives, and marked "Hide Service Only" in this last job before the scrap heap. It will be an operational plus, too, because the hides will come from the Swift packing plant across town.
Some history has come and gone since this thread was last active, so it's a good opportunity for an update.
I've pretty much finished up with the carfloat terminal at Mooseport, somewhere on the western shore of Lake Michigan.
A carfloat is a convenient ruse in model railroading. It can function as a small staging yard, or as an interchange track. I decided to add a lot of scenery approaching it, too, so it's a focal point for observers, too. The geographical location caused me to pick up a few related boxcars, notably the Port Huron and Detroit and Ann Arbor railroads, from the "other side" of the Lake.
Mooseport itself is pretty much done now, so I've turned my attention to the other side of town. I'm building the Empire Leather Tanning Company, a multi-structure Walthers kit.
The kit itself came with a 1-page writeup on tanneries, including the gozintas and gozoutas for such facilities. They take in hides, acid and salt, which gave me the opportunity to buy a couple of boxcars, a chemical tanker and a covered hopper. The tanker is an old Athearn Hooker Chemical car I picked up on eBay and spruced up with metal wheels and Kadees. The hopper is a Bowser kit that I painted and decaled for the fanciful Saltzburg Salt company, and the boxcars will be beat-up Tichys, nearing the end of their service lives, and marked "Hide Service Only" in this last job before the scrap heap. It will be an operational plus, too, because the hides will come from the Swift packing plant across town.
Someone is going to be quite busy once operational sessions begins. hhehehehe
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Atlanta Dave I'm building the "Coosa Valley Railroad"...a modern short line with a connection with NS. The line operates over 20 or so miles of branch line trackage serving a very large kitbashed papermill located at the end of the branch. It also serves a large quarry operation and a couple of much smaller industries such as a log loader and woodchip loader. This is a two room layoug withe the first room comprised of the interchange yard and branch line trackage that winds through hills and a river valley to the second room. That room is an around the wall shelf terminating in the paper mill module which is about 2 x 10 feet. My first layout so I'm learning a lot. Coming along well though. Tracks all in and running with DCC. Scenery about 40% complete. Paper mill complex in place.
I'm building the "Coosa Valley Railroad"...a modern short line with a connection with NS. The line operates over 20 or so miles of branch line trackage serving a very large kitbashed papermill located at the end of the branch. It also serves a large quarry operation and a couple of much smaller industries such as a log loader and woodchip loader. This is a two room layoug withe the first room comprised of the interchange yard and branch line trackage that winds through hills and a river valley to the second room. That room is an around the wall shelf terminating in the paper mill module which is about 2 x 10 feet. My first layout so I'm learning a lot.
Coming along well though. Tracks all in and running with DCC. Scenery about 40% complete. Paper mill complex in place.
My model railroad is my second layout, but first in N scale.
Southgate I'm not good at real history, much less making up a time line that coincides with it, so I kept it simple. Facts: I grew up in Coos Bay, Oregon. Southern Pacific was the carrier there. Around a hundred years ago, There were plans to connect CB to Roseburg by rail. and Chrome was mined for a short time southeast of CB. There's a paper mill in the area too. Fishing and lumber were HUGE up to the '80s, lumber mills everywhere. Lots of ships in the bay then too. These are true facts about Coos Bay. So I thought, what if the bay (as in Coos Bay) was pushed a bit further south, into what is a sizable slough, say even only a half mile or so, opening up another industrial area? (called Southgate*) With a rail to ship or barge chrome ore loading dock? And a larger engine terminal than CB had? And those rails were laid to Roseburg? (Allowing through trains) That's what I'm working with. Southern Pacific is definitely the dominant road, but there will be some locally owned equipment too. So There's not much altering of history, and I like the given guidelines. Oh. about 80% of my track is laid an in good operation, including main lines and staging already fully operational, as of YESTERDAY! I have a couple buildings, 80+ cars on the rails, More in boxes, and room for them, (10x20 room, around the walls) More locomotives than I want to admit, no scenery yet. I do have 2 ship model kits, and some boats. And a ton of vehicles, sheesh! *The name Southgate actually came from a fictitious 1/24th scale tow truck company with 6 models I built, I liked the name. Years later, it fit the theme, ya know? Dan
I'm not good at real history, much less making up a time line that coincides with it, so I kept it simple. Facts: I grew up in Coos Bay, Oregon. Southern Pacific was the carrier there. Around a hundred years ago, There were plans to connect CB to Roseburg by rail. and Chrome was mined for a short time southeast of CB. There's a paper mill in the area too. Fishing and lumber were HUGE up to the '80s, lumber mills everywhere. Lots of ships in the bay then too. These are true facts about Coos Bay.
So I thought, what if the bay (as in Coos Bay) was pushed a bit further south, into what is a sizable slough, say even only a half mile or so, opening up another industrial area? (called Southgate*) With a rail to ship or barge chrome ore loading dock? And a larger engine terminal than CB had? And those rails were laid to Roseburg? (Allowing through trains) That's what I'm working with. Southern Pacific is definitely the dominant road, but there will be some locally owned equipment too. So There's not much altering of history, and I like the given guidelines.
Oh. about 80% of my track is laid an in good operation, including main lines and staging already fully operational, as of YESTERDAY! I have a couple buildings, 80+ cars on the rails, More in boxes, and room for them, (10x20 room, around the walls) More locomotives than I want to admit, no scenery yet. I do have 2 ship model kits, and some boats. And a ton of vehicles, sheesh!
*The name Southgate actually came from a fictitious 1/24th scale tow truck company with 6 models I built, I liked the name. Years later, it fit the theme, ya know? Dan
Keeping it simple is always great too. Ones layout doesn't need to be complex to be fun. :)
Any new projects or updates?
J.Rob
What stages are you in right now (planning, designing, building, etc.) because I'm sure everyone who has commented would love to see how far along you have come or are working on right now.
I have not yet started my layout. I may be moving in a short time if all goes well. My free lanced line will be located in 1959 and may also have a second era 1968. The two time periods are close enough that other than changing a few vehicles and rolling stock and locomotives I will be able to use the rest of the layout in either era.
It will be depicting the Wheeling, WV and Benwood, WV areas with some poetic license. The rail road will depict a merger that was actually talked about in the press but did not occur. The principal roads involved are the Virginian and Wheeling and Lake Erie. The two lines would connect end to end via some new trackage and the Ohio River Railroad that ran from Wheeling, to Kenova, WV.
Other railroads picked up would be the Akron Canton and Youngstown and the Pittsburgh and West Virginia. The line would also extend a branch from Zanesville, Ohio to Columbus, Dayton, and finally to Cincinnati, OHIO.
Wheeling will be the site of a small yard at the neck of the funnel to the Atlantic Coast. The major cities served Via the Northern end of Wheeling will be Pittsburgh, PA, Toledo, Cleveland, Akron, Columbus, Dayton, Cincinnati, Ohio. Going South from Wheeling will be the mill and coal mine at Benwood, Parkersburgh, Huntington, Kenova. The real Virginian would be able to connect to the Ohio River line in the area around Huntington both North and South of the city. From Kenova the line would expand into the Big Sandy coal fields of Kentucky.
The railroad would interchange with the B&O, Pennsylvania, C&O, Western Maryland, Norfolk and Western, Nickle Plate, Wabash, Ann Arbor, New York Central, Atlantic Coast Line, Seaboard Air Line, and Southern. Traffic base would consist of Coal, Steel, Manufactured Goods, Limestone, Chemicals, Aluminum, Automobile, Railroad Cars ACF plant in Huntington, Lumber and Glass from on line shippers. Due to the connection of the Great Lakes and The Atlantic Seaboard as well as the South a lot of bridge traffic will be rolling over the line. It will also have a couple of the components of the old "Alphabet Route" in the system and that will also generate traffic.
The Railroad seems like it would have a good traffic base and an excellent source of revenue until the Carter Years and the beginning of the decline that America is still going through.
The area actually modeled will consist of parts of 15 miles of the line to include Wheeling and Benwood. Liberties will be taken with actual places and industries. The line will be more about depicting the flavor of the area than actually modeling specific structures. The line will represent the sections of the railroad along the Ohio River with the river being in the isle.
On the section I am modeling The B&O and Pennsy will have trackage rights and have equipment running on the line. I may include some run through deals in the 1960s era depiction from other railroads as well. Passenger service will be non existent. This will be a freight only operation as all meaningful passenger service ended prior to the time periods being modeled.
At this point I have been acquiring rolling stock and structure kits for the 1959 version. I have the kits required to build the extensive engine terminal which will depict the main loco facilities on the railroad, and an integrated steel mill that will be better than what was there in reality.
Sorry for turning a post into a blog.
Rob
My update: I changed my layout blueprints adding a few industries and a medium size town with a harbor/pier/drydock business
Any modelers creating towns lately?
@ADELIE I am digging the history and the choice of locomotives the railroad choose to use. The CC&L is a mostly EMD (rebuild) type of railroad.
The Bunter Ridge, Raton Pass Southwestern exists because it reached and crossed Raton Pass in 1876, besting the ATSF by two years. This was accomplished through superior engineering, strategy, and the fact the Bunter Ridge hired better outlaws to protect their territory when the chips were down. As a result, the Bunter Ridge became an important bridge route for the Santa Fe and partner for the Rio Grande. Common interests (dollars) quickly brought an end to the Colorado Railroad Wars of the 1870s.
The primary industries included timber and related industries as well as mining. As time passed, the ability of the three railroads to quickly transport refrigeration trains became another major source of revenue.
The Bunter Ridge was one of the first railroads to dieselize, largely because of the flexibility in conquering the grades of northern New Mexico and southern Colorado. The weapons of choice were usually Alcos. In the fall of 1958 (era being modeled) the roster consisted of PA1/PB1 passenger locomotives, RS1s, RS2s, RSD4s, S2s and a small fleet of new RS11s. In addition to Alcos, the railroad also owned a pair of Baldwin VO1000s, and EMD E8A/Bs used primarily for freight (but available for passenger service), NW2s, and SD9s. RDCs were also use to provide passenger and mail service to small markets in the region. Needles to say, Santa Fe freight and passenger trains still frequent the rails, and passengers and freight are also interchanged with the Rio Grande.
While lumber and associated products and ore still are staples, literally any type of freight can be seen on the Bunter Ridge rails. Piggy back service, petroleum products, food products, and anything that can be loaded into a box car heading to or from the southwest will be seen. Couple that with the ability to see Santa Fe and Rio Grande trains on the rails and it is a rail fan’s dream.
- Mark
Recently purchased my two new workhorses, SD40-2s, and working on my layout some more while getting the car repaired.
Let's keep them coming.
caboose63Cadillac & Lake City Railroad
100 Million would not have been nearly enough to resurrect that one. More like a billion.
I have begun work on my "L" shape N scale layout fictional short-line (in the future, Class I) railroad. My railroad will have 22 diesels (mostly switchers) and 7 steam (3 switchers) on my layout at any given time, but I will have a dresser dedicated to all my model railroad needs for storage and organization.
The railroad customers are (in need particular order):
-Quarry
-EAF mini steel mill
-Lumber facility (sawmill, storage, lumber yard, manufacturing goods shop, Charcoal plant, and a bagging shop for the charcoal)
Cement plant (bag and concrete products)
-Bricks
-Rebuilt/restoration business
-A beverage plant.
Marc_Magnus Freelance a railroad is the best way to let play Your imagination. That's the way I followed more than thirty years ago and I am still so happy whith You must also know I am Belgian and never had the chance to travel to Us. However, works go slowly since a few years, because of a bad ending divorce. But all in all I never stopped to work on my Maclau River RR in N scale. Since the beginning I set the time in 1935-1945. My first vision for this fictitious line, was a freight hauler using the valley of the Maclau river as a route whith some small tow alongside. This give me the opportunity to have a good port on the line and modeling some ship facility along the river. I love cargo's of this period. But this vision changed whith the years, I became a N&W fan, read a lot about Georges Sellios work and acquired the book of Howard Zane about his Piermont division; in the same time I also read some books of Tony Koester about operation. All these things married togheter ended whith a new vision for my Maclau River. Because some big parts of the layout were already build, I didn't want to start again, so I included these finished parts in the new vision. The history tomorrow: The Maclau River is a connecting line between Norfolk and Cincinati like the N&W somewhere, the line started as a small private branchline running along the Maclau River, this river reach the sea near Norfolk and start somewhere in West Virginia in the hight hills, there it connect whith the C&O network. The N&W and C&O have both some rights on the line which allow me to use some equipments of these companies. The line is first a big coal hauler servicing numerous mines and some local industries all set in the Virgina scenery. The connecting point between these mines and town is the valley of the Maclau River. Most of the bridges and tunnel are largely inspired by the N&W and Virginian. The train start at a big town, inspired by Manchester on the FSM run trough tunnels and hills, servicing numerous mine and small town, reach a connecting town in the hills were it interchange whith the C&O and come back dow to a port where it connect whith the N&W. Both end offer staging. Most of the car are 33 tons hopper and steam is king on the line. The line transport "real scale coal" charged in working tipple and charged in ship at Norfolk; this mean I am in the way to scratchbuild a hight lift rotary dumper as he appeared on a famous picture of the N&W historical society. So, whith a freelance railroad I am able to operate the railroad like a coal hauler, whith interchange whith the real network. As mentionned before only port, the steam terminal, 80% of Corinnesburgh town, and 90% of alexander Yard are finished. A part of the hills and a town whith mine is under construction and will serve as a three module layout for future train show, I hope finish it for october when the US train convention will take place in Deutchland here in Europe. You can see more of it on www.Nscale.org, personnal album, letter M, Marc Magnus. And as a conclusion N is far for me the best choice!
Freelance a railroad is the best way to let play Your imagination.
That's the way I followed more than thirty years ago and I am still so happy whith You must also know I am Belgian and never had the chance to travel to Us.
However, works go slowly since a few years, because of a bad ending divorce.
But all in all I never stopped to work on my Maclau River RR in N scale.
Since the beginning I set the time in 1935-1945.
My first vision for this fictitious line, was a freight hauler using the valley of the Maclau river as a route whith some small tow alongside. This give me the opportunity to have a good port on the line and modeling some ship facility along the river. I love cargo's of this period.
But this vision changed whith the years, I became a N&W fan, read a lot about Georges Sellios work and acquired the book of Howard Zane about his Piermont division; in the same time I also read some books of Tony Koester about operation.
All these things married togheter ended whith a new vision for my Maclau River.
Because some big parts of the layout were already build, I didn't want to start again, so I included these finished parts in the new vision.
The history tomorrow:
The Maclau River is a connecting line between Norfolk and Cincinati like the N&W somewhere, the line started as a small private branchline running along the Maclau River, this river reach the sea near Norfolk and start somewhere in West Virginia in the hight hills, there it connect whith the C&O network.
The N&W and C&O have both some rights on the line which allow me to use some equipments of these companies.
The line is first a big coal hauler servicing numerous mines and some local industries all set in the Virgina scenery. The connecting point between these mines and town is the valley of the Maclau River.
Most of the bridges and tunnel are largely inspired by the N&W and Virginian.
The train start at a big town, inspired by Manchester on the FSM run trough tunnels and hills, servicing numerous mine and small town, reach a connecting town in the hills were it interchange whith the C&O and come back dow to a port where it connect whith the N&W. Both end offer staging.
Most of the car are 33 tons hopper and steam is king on the line. The line transport "real scale coal" charged in working tipple and charged in ship at Norfolk; this mean I am in the way to scratchbuild a hight lift rotary dumper as he appeared on a famous picture of the N&W historical society.
So, whith a freelance railroad I am able to operate the railroad like a coal hauler, whith interchange whith the real network.
As mentionned before only port, the steam terminal, 80% of Corinnesburgh town, and 90% of alexander Yard are finished. A part of the hills and a town whith mine is under construction and will serve as a three module layout for future train show, I hope finish it for october when the US train convention will take place in Deutchland here in Europe.
You can see more of it on www.Nscale.org, personnal album, letter M, Marc Magnus.
And as a conclusion N is far for me the best choice!
I love the history and wisedom you envoke in your comment and yes, freelance is the best if you do not want to follow a real railroad. What type of power motives do you have on your layout?
drzmark I'm modeling a freelance Milwaukee Road branch coming out of the Mississippi River valley into Iowa in HO. Kind of a continuation of the last narrow gauge the Milw owned in Iowa if it would have been standard gauge instead of abandoned. My year is 1966 and will have s1 (s2's another thread) H10-44s and maybe an older F unit all in a well used condition. Kind going for the narrow gauge look without the slim rails.
I'm modeling a freelance Milwaukee Road branch coming out of the Mississippi River valley into Iowa in HO. Kind of a continuation of the last narrow gauge the Milw owned in Iowa if it would have been standard gauge instead of abandoned. My year is 1966 and will have s1 (s2's another thread) H10-44s and maybe an older F unit all in a well used condition. Kind going for the narrow gauge look without the slim rails.
Cool. I seen some interesting narrow gauge railroads and i would love to see your layout.
kbkchooch I'm currently planing , then building my next layout, the"Western Maryland Midland Railway". Basically, its the WM Eastern Sub, From Baltimore to Hagerstown (staging) with selected scenes along the way. The main layout will occupy a 21 x 18 ft area, then follow a wall to a separate 10 x 8 area the back again, gaining altitude to a second level before returning to the main layout. I started as a Western Maryland modeler when I rejoined the hobby after the kids started coming. Then for 2 years, I worked on the Midland as a dinner train conductor,(part time) so I started modeling the Midland. Since the MMID runs on old WM right of way, I thought I would run both. Rocky Horror fans, "Let's do the Time Warp again!" For a taste of what it's like, here's a shot from my FCSME modules (soon to be dismantled) as a MMID cement train passes WM engine at the shops! To make things even more confusing, at one point, the MMID painted some of their engines in a pseudo WM paint scheme! Should be fun!
I'm currently planing , then building my next layout, the"Western Maryland Midland Railway". Basically, its the WM Eastern Sub, From Baltimore to Hagerstown (staging) with selected scenes along the way. The main layout will occupy a 21 x 18 ft area, then follow a wall to a separate 10 x 8 area the back again, gaining altitude to a second level before returning to the main layout.
I started as a Western Maryland modeler when I rejoined the hobby after the kids started coming. Then for 2 years, I worked on the Midland as a dinner train conductor,(part time) so I started modeling the Midland. Since the MMID runs on old WM right of way, I thought I would run both.
Rocky Horror fans, "Let's do the Time Warp again!"
For a taste of what it's like, here's a shot from my FCSME modules (soon to be dismantled) as a MMID cement train passes WM engine at the shops!
To make things even more confusing, at one point, the MMID painted some of their engines in a pseudo WM paint scheme!
Should be fun!
Loving the scheme and I remember another modeler also modeling Western Maryland, I believe his name is Lee. Looks awesome and time doest give you wisedom and experience with everyone can clearly see you have in your beautiful layout.
@HEDINSEN
How many yards do you have on your layout because it seems you have a really large layout from the sounds of it. What type of scenery does your backdrop have on it?
caboose63 LMD, the Leelanau County interchanges with Michigan Northern Rwy at hatchs in leelanau county and with Cadillac & Lake City Railroad (west extension) at Thompsonville in Benzie county. Leelanau County motive power is 3 GP15-1's, 2 RSC2s, 1 4-6-0 (52" drivers), 2-10-0 russian decapod, USRA 0-8-0, and 1 SW1. steam locomotives for weekend and holiday excursions.
LMD, the Leelanau County interchanges with Michigan Northern Rwy at hatchs in leelanau county and with Cadillac & Lake City Railroad (west extension) at Thompsonville in Benzie county. Leelanau County motive power is 3 GP15-1's, 2 RSC2s, 1 4-6-0 (52" drivers), 2-10-0 russian decapod, USRA 0-8-0, and 1 SW1. steam locomotives for weekend and holiday excursions.
I personally love switchers more than the larger diesel locomotives anyday. GP15 are perfect little diesel switchers and the 2-10-0 are some monster looking locomotives.