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freelance modelers, what are you modeling?

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Posted by vsmith on Monday, December 10, 2012 1:54 PM

Well time to update my layout, first listed here (on page 5 on my compfuser), couldnt shake that association with the SP Rat Hole, or other urban layouts like the self-contained transfer yards once common in NYC and the surrounding areas, so I gave in, and am reworking my layout into a harbor transfer layout, set in the Depression era days just before WW2, the layout drawing above is more non-gauge specific, but its the same as the layout on page 5, G gauge, motive power will be 0-6-0T and a couple smaller gas/diesel  units. rolling stock will be all short 20'-30' cars which are floated in on barge, offloaded, switched to various industries while other cars are switched out and loaded back onto the barge. gives me a chance to really make the layout work as a big switching puzzle layout.

   Have fun with your trains

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Posted by dehusman on Monday, December 10, 2012 3:29 PM

Mr. LMD

rdgk1se3019

Mr. LMD

RDGK1SE3019

I would love to see your layout and railroad play out in a video as you have an interesting and cool railroad that could probably be a great little or big line today. What is your logo for your railroad?

Here is a pic of the GP30`s

I love the detail and how they almost looks like lizards just sitting there.  Does your railroad or locomotives have a nickname?

The actual name for the piece of railroad he is modeling (Reading, PA to Birdsboro, PA) was called the Reading Belt Line.  Part of it was built by the Wilmington & Northern Railroad that I model (acquired 1900 by the Philadelphia and Reading nee Reading Company nee Conrail).  the actual operation was mostly a paired track arrangement.  Eastbound trains via the Belt Line  on the south sie of the Schuylkill River and westbound trains via the Main Line on the north side of the river.  At Birdsboro the eastbounds crossed the river and all traffic to Phillie went on the Main LIne. 

Flooding severed the W&N branch just south of Birdsboro and the only part of the north end of the W&N still in operation is to the Dyer Quarry at Trap Rock.  If the B&R wanted heavier operation,  Before the flood,  the Reading served a iron ore mine (taconite) at Joanna (Grace Mine)  and ran iron ore trains between there and Bethlehem.  Standard power was 3 dynamic brake equipped  AS16's, RS3's or GP40-2's.  If you look on a mapping program there is a "lake" near Joanna, that's the former Grace Mine pit. 

Dave H. Painted side goes up. My website : wnbranch.com

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Posted by Mr. LMD on Monday, December 10, 2012 4:04 PM

DEHUSMAN

I understand he is using a real railroad on his layout, I was just asking if he personally nicknamed them like a man naming his vehicle, people nicknaming their favorite railroad, etc. 

Mr. LMD, Owner, founder

The Central Chicago & Illinois Railroad

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Posted by Burlington Northern #24 on Monday, December 10, 2012 5:14 PM

ok, so here's an idea I was tossing around for the logo, slogans, and numbering of Coastal railways. but the locos will be blue and this will be white. Sharks are my favorite animal so I thought it'd be nice to represent them in a unique way. I was thinking that F units and modern locos would carry shark jaws on the front and SD,GP, U, C and any other locos of that spectrum will have something I just need to figure out what.  

SP&S modeler, 1960's give or take a decade or two for some equipment.

 http://www.youtube.com/user/SGTDUPREY?feature=guide 

Gary DuPrey

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Posted by dehusman on Monday, December 10, 2012 5:51 PM

The slogan is too long and the typeface is too hard to read.  Its a train, its supposed to be moving, If it takes more than a couple seconds to read its not a good slogan.  Most railroad slogans are 2-4 words. (Building America, Everywhere west, Mainline of Mid America, etc).

You have to see if the shark emblem will conflict with portholes and vents on the F units.

Dave H. Painted side goes up. My website : wnbranch.com

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Posted by Mr. LMD on Monday, December 10, 2012 5:56 PM

Burlington Northern #24
need to figure out what.  

I love it personally. I would love to see shark teeth on the front of the locos as they speed along the tracks to their destinations. The slogan needs to be in a new font and the color is fine as long as it's not against the same color background.  other than that, I love the Coastal railways. 

Mr. LMD, Owner, founder

The Central Chicago & Illinois Railroad

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Posted by rdgk1se3019 on Monday, December 10, 2012 7:49 PM

dehusman

The actual name for the piece of railroad he is modeling (Reading, PA to Birdsboro, PA) was called the Reading Belt Line.  Part of it was built by the Wilmington & Northern Railroad that I model (acquired 1900 by the Philadelphia and Reading nee Reading Company nee Conrail).  the actual operation was mostly a paired track arrangement.  Eastbound trains via the Belt Line  on the south sie of the Schuylkill River and westbound trains via the Main Line on the north side of the river.  At Birdsboro the eastbounds crossed the river and all traffic to Phillie went on the Main LIne. 

Flooding severed the W&N branch just south of Birdsboro and the only part of the north end of the W&N still in operation is to the Dyer Quarry at Trap Rock.  If the B&R wanted heavier operation,  Before the flood,  the Reading served a iron ore mine (taconite) at Joanna (Grace Mine)  and ran iron ore trains between there and Bethlehem.  Standard power was 3 dynamic brake equipped  AS16's, RS3's or GP40-2's.  If you look on a mapping program there is a "lake" near Joanna, that's the former Grace Mine pit. 

Please see my previous post about my RR and what trackage it uses on page 7 of this thread.

Dennis Blank Jr.

CEO,COO,CFO,CMO,Bossman,Slavedriver,Engineer,Trackforeman,Grunt. Birdsboro & Reading Railroad

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Posted by Mr. LMD on Monday, December 10, 2012 8:06 PM

Well it past that large milestone of 5 pages (lol), I will ask a question that everyone can answer to.

If you were given $100,000,000 and you had a choice of buying a fallen railroad from one of the Class Is-IIIs, what would you do?

Mr. LMD, Owner, founder

The Central Chicago & Illinois Railroad

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Posted by dehusman on Monday, December 10, 2012 8:11 PM

Mr. LMD

If you were given $100,000,000 and you had a choice of buying a fallen railroad from one of the Class Is-IIIs, what would you do?

 
Invest in something else.  There is a reason the "fallen flags" fell.  The stuff that is really worth something belongs to Class 1 railroads.  The stuff that caused them to fall are short lines or up for sale.

Dave H. Painted side goes up. My website : wnbranch.com

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Posted by Mr. LMD on Monday, December 10, 2012 8:22 PM

dehusman

Mr. LMD

If you were given $100,000,000 and you had a choice of buying a fallen railroad from one of the Class Is-IIIs, what would you do?

 
Invest in something else.  There is a reason the "fallen flags" fell.  The stuff that is really worth something belongs to Class 1 railroads.  The stuff that caused them to fall are short lines or up for sale.

I would probably invest and buy either the IC or Rock Island back, make sure I have railroad minded people help run the railroad, allow branchline and a few class I railroads to share trackage. I would buy back either RR famous train name depending on which one I use and make sure Amtrak have no access to my tracks. I would buy Evans, Illinois land since it's a ghost town and invest buying a reasonable  modern train yard and the rest I would invest into profitable companies like Caterpillar, Apple, etc.

Mr. LMD, Owner, founder

The Central Chicago & Illinois Railroad

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Posted by Flying switch56 on Monday, December 10, 2012 8:37 PM

I don't think you understand the purpose of a real railroad. It's a business like any other and depends on revenue to survive. Even if you were able to buy a stretch of rail for the purpose of running an excursion train you'd still need to provide points of interest and unique service to entice people to buy tickets.

On the other hand, if you were to buy it just for your own interest - a 1=1 scale layout say - the cost of maintenance would eat up all your money in no time.

I say spend your money elsewhere.

Edit: I see you edited your post before I replied.

Vic

Modelling the span between the real and the N-sane...

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Posted by Mr. LMD on Monday, December 10, 2012 8:45 PM

Flying switch56

I don't think you understand the purpose of a real railroad. It's a business like any other and depends on revenue to survive. Even if you were able to buy a stretch of rail for the purpose of running an excursion train you'd still need to provide points of interest and unique service to entice people to buy tickets.

On the other hand, if you were to buy it just for your own interest - a 1=1 scale layout say - the cost of maintenance would eat up all your money in no time.

I say spend your money elsewhere.

Edit: I see you edited your post before I replied.

That's fine with me. I'm sorry for editing it so soon.

I see many smaller railroads being sold for less than $1 million and I know the IC or Rock are huge railroads, but I would probably take up the Rock old trackage, improve any rail that needs fixing, propose a share trackage rights with Metra since they bought the Rock rails anyways because it will for one bring in extra revenue for Metra as well allow the railroad to enter Chicago.

I wouldn't go out and buy buy buy locomotives to be the biggest, I would probably share trackages with smaller railroad carrier and even allow the KCS run on the tracks to chicago.

But since this idea might cost over $100 million, I would probably buy land or the ghost town of Evans, Illinois, build a Grand Scale model railroad, i think, with a full functioning mini train yard and stations and industries. wht unused land would probably be sold for real estate. 

Mr. LMD, Owner, founder

The Central Chicago & Illinois Railroad

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Posted by dehusman on Monday, December 10, 2012 9:18 PM

Mr. LMD

I would probably invest and buy either the IC or Rock Island back, make sure I have railroad minded people help run the railroad, allow branchline and a few class I railroads to share trackage.

You can't buy the IC because its owned by the CN.  And they would want waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay more than $100M for it.

You can't buy the "Rock Island" because the major main lines are owned by various class one railroads.  You might be able to buy a piece of it, some secondary route or branch line.

I would buy back either RR famous train name depending on which one I use and make sure Amtrak have no access to my tracks.

Sorry, Amtrak can negoiate for whatever route it wants.  Federal law.  If you buy a crappy piece of the Rock they probably would never be interested, but you can't really keep them from gaining access if they really want it.

 I would buy Evans, Illinois land since it's a ghost town and invest buying a reasonable  modern train yard and the rest I would invest into profitable companies like Caterpillar, Apple, etc.

By the time you get done trying to do even half of what you have proposed you will be lucky to have enough money left to buy an Apple, let alone invest in the company.  8-)

Dave H. Painted side goes up. My website : wnbranch.com

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Posted by Mr. LMD on Monday, December 10, 2012 9:27 PM

dehusman

Mr. LMD

I would probably invest and buy either the IC or Rock Island back, make sure I have railroad minded people help run the railroad, allow branchline and a few class I railroads to share trackage.

You can't buy the IC because its owned by the CN.  And they would want waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay more than $100M for it.

You can't buy the "Rock Island" because the major main lines are owned by various class one railroads.  You might be able to buy a piece of it, some secondary route or branch line.

I would buy back either RR famous train name depending on which one I use and make sure Amtrak have no access to my tracks.

Sorry, Amtrak can negoiate for whatever route it wants.  Federal law.  If you buy a crappy piece of the Rock they probably would never be interested, but you can't really keep them from gaining access if they really want it.

 I would buy Evans, Illinois land since it's a ghost town and invest buying a reasonable  modern train yard and the rest I would invest into profitable companies like Caterpillar, Apple, etc.

By the time you get done trying to do even half of what you have proposed you will be lucky to have enough money left to buy an Apple, let alone invest in the company.  8-)

I know, it's called imagination and please sir READ the question before trying to bash people because I did say if you could buy ANY railroad. I'm really starting to think you are just trying to troll me. And the funny thing about amtrak is it might be a public or private railroad, but my company would be a private company and If i have to go to court to keep amtrak away from my line, then so be it. Law or no law. 

Mr. LMD, Owner, founder

The Central Chicago & Illinois Railroad

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Posted by Burlington Northern #24 on Tuesday, December 11, 2012 3:19 AM

dehusman

The slogan is too long and the typeface is too hard to read.  Its a train, its supposed to be moving, If it takes more than a couple seconds to read its not a good slogan.  Most railroad slogans are 2-4 words. (Building America, Everywhere west, Mainline of Mid America, etc).

You have to see if the shark emblem will conflict with portholes and vents on the F units.

that is the more modern scheme F's will carry a far different one, I've split this road into different logo eras. building america is UP's everywhere west is CB&Q's and the last one belongs to IC, because I am in a rather sour mood I will not continue because it will land me in trouble.

thanks Mr. LMD 

SP&S modeler, 1960's give or take a decade or two for some equipment.

 http://www.youtube.com/user/SGTDUPREY?feature=guide 

Gary DuPrey

N scale model railroader 

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Posted by vsmith on Tuesday, December 11, 2012 9:23 AM

Mr. LMD

Burlington Northern #24
need to figure out what.  

I love it personally. I would love to see shark teeth on the front of the locos as they speed along the tracks to their destinations. The slogan needs to be in a new font and the color is fine as long as it's not against the same color background.  other than that, I love the Coastal railways. 

Of course those teeth would have to be on some Baldwin Sharknoses now wouldnt it? Wink

   Have fun with your trains

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Posted by Mr. LMD on Tuesday, December 11, 2012 11:14 AM

Burlington Northern #24

dehusman

The slogan is too long and the typeface is too hard to read.  Its a train, its supposed to be moving, If it takes more than a couple seconds to read its not a good slogan.  Most railroad slogans are 2-4 words. (Building America, Everywhere west, Mainline of Mid America, etc).

You have to see if the shark emblem will conflict with portholes and vents on the F units.

that is the more modern scheme F's will carry a far different one, I've split this road into different logo eras. building america is UP's everywhere west is CB&Q's and the last one belongs to IC, because I am in a rather sour mood I will not continue because it will land me in trouble.

thanks Mr. LMD 

You are very welcome and I enjoy reading your comments about your railroad and the creativity into it.

Mr. LMD, Owner, founder

The Central Chicago & Illinois Railroad

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Posted by Mr. LMD on Tuesday, December 11, 2012 11:15 AM

vsmith

Mr. LMD

Burlington Northern #24
need to figure out what.  

I love it personally. I would love to see shark teeth on the front of the locos as they speed along the tracks to their destinations. The slogan needs to be in a new font and the color is fine as long as it's not against the same color background.  other than that, I love the Coastal railways. 

Of course those teeth would have to be on some Baldwin Sharknoses now wouldnt it? Wink

Clever dear sir. Now if baldwin had shark jaws decal on their sharknoses, i would probably buy a few, but they didnt. again, very clever with that pun lol

Mr. LMD, Owner, founder

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Posted by carnej1 on Tuesday, December 11, 2012 11:45 AM

In the Charlton Heston film of the same name, "Soylent Green" is a cracker like product. The cover story given to the publis is that it is made from soy protein and lentil flour. So boxcars would be loaded for outbound movements unless they use intermodal...

"I Often Dream of Trains"-From the Album of the Same Name by Robyn Hitchcock

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Posted by Burlington Northern #24 on Tuesday, December 11, 2012 11:54 AM

Mr. LMD

vsmith

Mr. LMD

Burlington Northern #24
need to figure out what.  

I love it personally. I would love to see shark teeth on the front of the locos as they speed along the tracks to their destinations. The slogan needs to be in a new font and the color is fine as long as it's not against the same color background.  other than that, I love the Coastal railways. 

Of course those teeth would have to be on some Baldwin Sharknoses now wouldnt it? Wink

Clever dear sir. Now if baldwin had shark jaws decal on their sharknoses, i would probably buy a few, but they didnt. again, very clever with that pun lol

why would the ones that I will buy for coastal not come with shark jaws, it's around in the perfect era. you guys are genius'

SP&S modeler, 1960's give or take a decade or two for some equipment.

 http://www.youtube.com/user/SGTDUPREY?feature=guide 

Gary DuPrey

N scale model railroader 

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Posted by Mr. LMD on Tuesday, December 11, 2012 12:14 PM

Burlington Northern #24

Mr. LMD

vsmith

Mr. LMD

Burlington Northern #24
need to figure out what.  

I love it personally. I would love to see shark teeth on the front of the locos as they speed along the tracks to their destinations. The slogan needs to be in a new font and the color is fine as long as it's not against the same color background.  other than that, I love the Coastal railways. 

Of course those teeth would have to be on some Baldwin Sharknoses now wouldnt it? Wink

Clever dear sir. Now if baldwin had shark jaws decal on their sharknoses, i would probably buy a few, but they didnt. again, very clever with that pun lol

why would the ones that I will buy for coastal not come with shark jaws, it's around in the perfect era. you guys are genius'

I really do like the idea and picturing the locos racing along the rails with their sharkteeth showing and thank you.

Mr. LMD, Owner, founder

The Central Chicago & Illinois Railroad

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Posted by Burlington Northern #24 on Tuesday, December 11, 2012 12:33 PM

Mr. LMD

Burlington Northern #24

Mr. LMD

vsmith

Mr. LMD

Burlington Northern #24
need to figure out what.  

I love it personally. I would love to see shark teeth on the front of the locos as they speed along the tracks to their destinations. The slogan needs to be in a new font and the color is fine as long as it's not against the same color background.  other than that, I love the Coastal railways. 

Of course those teeth would have to be on some Baldwin Sharknoses now wouldnt it? Wink

Clever dear sir. Now if baldwin had shark jaws decal on their sharknoses, i would probably buy a few, but they didnt. again, very clever with that pun lol

why would the ones that I will buy for coastal not come with shark jaws, it's around in the perfect era. you guys are genius'

I really do like the idea and picturing the locos racing along the rails with their sharkteeth showing and thank you.

me too, it's gonna be so awesome.

SP&S modeler, 1960's give or take a decade or two for some equipment.

 http://www.youtube.com/user/SGTDUPREY?feature=guide 

Gary DuPrey

N scale model railroader 

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Posted by Mr. LMD on Tuesday, December 11, 2012 12:34 PM

BURLINGTON NORTHERN #24

Your paint scheme shouldnt cost a lot to do if you keep the base color simple and nothing complex. 

Mr. LMD, Owner, founder

The Central Chicago & Illinois Railroad

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Posted by Burlington Northern #24 on Tuesday, December 11, 2012 12:49 PM

it was going to be grey or blue depending upon which species of shark the train's named after like, The Mako the train would be dark blue on the upper parts and fade as it goes down the sides of the locomotive.

SP&S modeler, 1960's give or take a decade or two for some equipment.

 http://www.youtube.com/user/SGTDUPREY?feature=guide 

Gary DuPrey

N scale model railroader 

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Posted by Mr. LMD on Tuesday, December 11, 2012 1:14 PM

Burlington Northern #24

it was going to be grey or blue depending upon which species of shark the train's named after like, The Mako the train would be dark blue on the upper parts and fade as it goes down the sides of the locomotive.

great paint scheme. what will the letting be?

Mr. LMD, Owner, founder

The Central Chicago & Illinois Railroad

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Posted by Burlington Northern #24 on Tuesday, December 11, 2012 3:27 PM

Mr. LMD

Burlington Northern #24

it was going to be grey or blue depending upon which species of shark the train's named after like, The Mako the train would be dark blue on the upper parts and fade as it goes down the sides of the locomotive.

great paint scheme. what will the letting be?

lettering? it may be the same as the one on the idea sheet, I may add the passenger cars in to interchange with the BN's forebearers when I run that time period. 

SP&S modeler, 1960's give or take a decade or two for some equipment.

 http://www.youtube.com/user/SGTDUPREY?feature=guide 

Gary DuPrey

N scale model railroader 

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Posted by Mr. LMD on Tuesday, December 11, 2012 3:52 PM

Burlington Northern #24

Mr. LMD

Burlington Northern #24

it was going to be grey or blue depending upon which species of shark the train's named after like, The Mako the train would be dark blue on the upper parts and fade as it goes down the sides of the locomotive.

great paint scheme. what will the letting be?

lettering? it may be the same as the one on the idea sheet, I may add the passenger cars in to interchange with the BN's forebearers when I run that time period. 

Cool. Are they going to blue or green?

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The Central Chicago & Illinois Railroad

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Posted by Burlington Northern #24 on Tuesday, December 11, 2012 4:07 PM

nah, they'll be blue. might end up with a rainbow fleet train.

SP&S modeler, 1960's give or take a decade or two for some equipment.

 http://www.youtube.com/user/SGTDUPREY?feature=guide 

Gary DuPrey

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Posted by dehusman on Tuesday, December 11, 2012 4:22 PM

rdgk1se3019

This time set in October 1974......the very month and year I was born.

At this date there are two lines going in three directions out of the home base of Birdsboro, PA.

The old Wilmington & Northern from Birdsboro south to Wilmington, DE and the Pennsylvania Schuylkill division east to Phoenixville, PA and west to Reading, PA.

The Birdsboro & Reading Railroad started out by purchasing the northern half of the Wilmington & Northern branch from Birdsboro,PA south to Coatsville, PA around 1931.

Then as a condition of the Penn Central the PRR Schuylkill division from Phoenixville, PA west thru Birdsboro, PA and up to Reading, PA was acquired in 1968.

Then in 1971 after the Reading Co. and their continuing financial troubles sold the southern half of the Wilmington & Northern branch from Coatsville, PA toWilmington, DE to the Birdsboro & Reading Railroad thereby giving the B&R a tidewater terminal in Wilmington, DE.

Fast forward to October 1974........the B&R has a brisk business as a bridge line and as a carrier of frieght to and from customers on its own lines ie, steel, coal, gravel, lumber, propane, chemicals, iron ore, cement, and sand.

Motive power consits of GP30`s , SD45`s, SD40-2`s along with leased power from the Reading Co. in the form of MP15`s, GP40-2`s, F7`s, FA/B1`s, RS3`s.......along with a few pieces of Penn Central power.


Cool.   I grew up in the Norristown area from roughly 1970 to 1979. One branch you left out was the Pickering Valley Branch that ran out of Phoenixville. There was an abortive tourist railroad that attempted to operate on that branch back in the early 1970's and they had a 4-6-2 and 0-6-0 in Phoenixville for a while. The 4-6-2 was sold and eventually restored to service on the RBMN as #425 in psuedo RDG Royal Blue colors. So in your era if you want a tourist train, you would be almost 100% prototypical. You could even paint the engine blue.

The PC Schuylkill Secondary used to run loads of auto frames stacked on flatcars (back when cars had a frame) out of the Dana Corp. in Reading. They would be rocking back and forth like mad on the ratty track. Phoenix Steel was still going and served by both the PC and RDG. The original Georgetown Loop high bridge was made by Phoenix Steel, as well as pieces of the Golden Gate Bridge towers. The RDG cut down USRA gons into low sided flat cars to ship the bridge pieces. Those cars were subsequently known as "Golden Gate" cars.

I had a couple really freelance N scale layouts, then started a freelance Lenape RR (pronounced le-NAH-pee) roughly sorta based on the W&N branch back in Jr. High. We used to go to Lenape Park (pronounced len-a-PEE) when I was a kid and I would occasionally see a RDG train running along the Brandywine River. In High School I joined the Schuylkill Valley Model Railroad Club in Phoenixville. For the next 4 years I modeled the PRR, PC and the SVRR of the club.

The SVRR paint scheme was based on the SOU paint scheme. This being back in the 1970's we used dry transfers for lettering and striping was all straight, you had to curve it yourself. That's where I learned from hard experience the challenges of complicated script slogans and trying to get complicated patterns around the curved noses of F units. Ick. Things are waaaay better now. After graduating college I did a little MP and a little PC, then went towards the LV. I went back to N scale with some modules, then some HO modular and a brief fling with HOn3.

As I learned more about the LV I realized that it really didn't have what I wanted. So I changed to the RDG and eventually modeled a freelanced branch of the RDG based on the Cattasagua and Fogelsville Branch. I named it a combination of Catta-sagua and Consho-hocken, the Cattahocken Branch. Mostly serving interchange with the LV and CNJ and the steel industry. A move killed that railroad. Lesson learned : never chose a railroad name that sounds like a cat coughing up a furball

After several subsequent moves I settled on the RDG W&N branch in the 1948-1952 era. I built a 12x23 layout. Gradually I decided to do something different and was drawn to the 1900 era. I had always admired the work of Irv Shultz and Rev. Gerry McGee. I actually go to run on two of Rev. McGee's wonderful layouts. About 3 years ago I redesigned the layout, back dating it to the 1900-1906 era (just after the P&R took control of the W&N RR, but before the Safety Appliance Act took effect). The old layout was ripped out , stripped to the bare benchwork and completely rebuilt with handlaid code 70 rail. I have been acquiring engines (0-6-0, 2-8-0, 4-4-0, 4-6-0) and cars. They are a mix of Roundhouse kits, wood kits, resin kits, homemade resin kits or cars kitbashed with plastic shells and resin underframes. 3/4 of the cars are ones I have painted and lettered with era appropriate decals.

If you ever need any info on the W&N Branch, holler.

Dave H. Painted side goes up. My website : wnbranch.com

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  • 683 posts
Posted by Mr. LMD on Tuesday, December 11, 2012 5:36 PM

Burlington Northern #24

nah, they'll be blue. might end up with a rainbow fleet train.

Cool. Keeping it basic and fun

Mr. LMD, Owner, founder

The Central Chicago & Illinois Railroad

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