Am I to ConcludeThat Many Modelers Here are Time-Era Accurate?

[Big Boy Forever]

 How many here have exact time period accurate rolling stock, according to your layout time period?

 

How many don't or don't really care about time period accuracy on your layout?

 

Just wondering, based on my last couple of threads asking for advice.

[Mark R.]

Accurate to within the mid to late 70's - so a five year time span.

Mark.

[Kyle]

I don't care that much about the accuracy of time.  As long as it is 2000+.  Though I am thinking of modelling a 250 ton crane for NS, since it seems reasonable that NS would still have one.

[Jimmy_Braum]

I am planning to keep it within 5-10 years, except for the museum I am designing.  It will be a Pennsylvania railroad museum, so that puts my cars in two eras- the 1950's and the 2000's.

[dehusman]

I model the 1900-1905 time period in SE Pennsylvania and Northern Delaware.   I found the traffic carried for 1895 so was able to translate the tonnages of commodities carried into approximate carloads  and approximate distribution of car types.  My roster is being built to reflect the appropriate car type mix and era appropriate road names.  For example I want every train to have at least one P&R car (home road) and one PRR and B&O cars (major connections).

[tomikawaTT]

Both of the above.  Well, not exactly.

On the Nihon Kokutetsu (Japan National Railways) all rolling stock (with one exception) was seen on the rails, and had number and critical data recorded in my field notes, in September, 1964.  The JNR operates to the prototype's September, 1964, master timetable for the secondary main through the approximate heart of nowhere that I model.

On the privately owned Tomikawa Tani Tetsudo, which serves two coal mines and a couple of freight houses, reality takes a vacation while imagineering and whimsey reign.  There was no coal in the area I more or less model.  The prototype inspiration came from a coal field several hundred kilometers to the southwest.  TTT rolling stock includes seven-axle articulated coal hoppers and the only simple-expansion 2-6-6-2T in Japan, designs which would drive purists fleeing into the night.  (I recently learned that the JNR had a substantial fleet of 0-6-6-0 Mallet compounds, but all were scrapped by 1934.  Japan never had a simple articulated, or an articulated with lead and trailing trucks.)

So, how do I explain this?  It's simple.  Unlike all of you, who inhabit the 'real world' (aka Universe 3, the Neil Armstrong Universe,) my layout exists in a bubble of Universe 13, Alfred E. Neumann.  What, me worry?

Chuck (More or less modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)

[dknelson]

"Exact time era accurate" is a tall order.  Let's say "I try."  But I am pretty sure I fall flat in a few respects -- probably running a few double sheathed boxcars that are too old for the era -- largely because years back I switched eras from circa 1950 to circa 1968 and really like some of the cars that suited the earlier era.   Not many cars that are too new I hope, but there may be one or two.    Frankly even if I was told authoritatively that a given car or locomotive or paint scheme was off by a few years I do not think I'd feel compelled to remove it from the layout just knowing it was wrong. 

I see some very fine layouts in MR and elsewhere by self described prototype modelers where I see some anomalies in freight car paint schemes or era.  Sometimes they are surprisingly off.   I suspect those owners are well aware and similarly, are not inclined to let a few errors bother them.  

When all the smoke has cleared while I tell myself my era is 1968 (so the cars and engines should have ACI labels and many cars should have the running boards removed) I suspect the reality is that it is more like 1961-70 but with a bias towards 1968.

Dave Nelson

[vsmith]

Well, sort of, in my world (G) 100% accurate era engines or rolling stock can be a bit challenging, not to metion prohibitvely expensive, sometimes impossible unless you want to scratch everything, so instead I'll try to capture the "feel and atmosphere" of my era, which will be pre-WW2 NYC harbor front scenes. 

[NittanyLion]

I'm oddly specific about this business, even as a protolancer.

I have an April 2008 ORER.  If its in there, then I can have it.  If its not, then no.

[chutton01]

I try to keep things within 10 years of current times,
Luckily, in general fashion, construction, automobile styling and so on hasn't drastically changed in the 14 years since the turn of the century (although technological advances have affected things in subtle ways, like a lot less active public telephones except in certain areas - I modeled the empty kiosk of a pay phone to reflect that). I guess computer & TVs are somewhat easier to model nowadays too.
Also, to me it seems that the last 14 years since the turn of the century have been a lot less dramatic in terms of railroading than,say the 14 years from 1956 to the bankruptcy of Penn Central in 1970...

[hon30critter]

I plan on running whatever tickles my fancy.

Most of what I have acquired is late 50s/early 60s Canadian Pacific, but that isn't going to stop me from running earlier steam from time to time, as well as my selection of scratchbuilt critters which range from the 20s to the 60s. I'm even going to go off-continent with Hogwarts Express! That was the first HO train set that I got from my wife as a Christmas present so it has to see some track time.

The layout will be set in the late 50s with a bit of leeway on some of the vehicles. Nothing past 1962.

Dave

 

[ACY Tom]

I have to hedge on this one.  The pat answer is 1952, but I have a few items that didn't appear on the prototype until 1954, and there are a few highway vehicles that are a bit iffy.  I avoid anything that is so out of place that it jars the senses.  That being said, I own at least 2 steam engines that didn't survive past the 1930's, plus a few diesels that are at least 20 years too new, and I'll run them when the notion hits me. 

Tom

[Southgate]

My time line floats. My structures are ones that could, and some are prototype specific that did exist from the '30s into the 2000s. Some were bult in the mid '40s. The era I want to model can be changed from the mid '40s to mid-late '60s.  So the only things I have to change out are the locomotives and automobiles to fit a more specific year. Freight cars are like the buildings, they mostly span the target perimeters.

There will be times I'll run 1870s 4-4-0s, ignoring the whole time line, just to watch them run. Dan

[bogp40]

I model 2 eras, (not at the same time of coarse), B&O has always been my original favorite '54-early 60s.  Over time I became intigued w/ WM, C&O and B&O in the Chessie System, modeling Chessie late 60s to '74-75 I have the option of running many paint schemes combined.

Or my fav steam

[rrebell]

I try to keep it within what is possible, I do 1939. I did resurch on a diesel that was built 1939, the S1. That type was not delivered till the begining of 1940 but could have been delivered in 39. A later upgrade the S3 built around 1950 was the same engine as far as apperance, the major difference being the trucks which were available in 1939 and could have been used. There is lots of that stuff. Recently saw a video of late 1940's yard work, lots of 1920's cars and being on a road that interchanged their reefers, all those billboard reefers were still there though they were painted a solid color now, lots of them. I know of one major road that most of the boxcars were outside braced in 1942, long after they had deisapeared from most major carriers except for MOW work.

[IRONROOSTER]

I'm pretty good for 1952-1953.  Although, the cars are okay, the billboard paint job on some reefers were gone then.  Other paint schemes may be off as well although most are okay.  And of course some cars are from the NMRA Heritage/Living Legends collection.

Enjoy

Paul

[FRRYKid]

I freelance in the mid 1970s to early 80s. (ACI era) (An ex-NP line leased to a new regional short line [similar to the modern MRL]) I try to have every thing accurate, but I know I have a few pieces or rolling stock that aren't the right era. (Not that they will plan to run on my layout as they are too new.) I also wouldn't be surprised if I have something that doesn't belong either because it is too old.

I even have a few cars that either didn't exist to the best of my knowledge (a pair of steam generator cars converted from RPO cars [I have even stumped a few people with them.]) or don't really belong in my area of the country (a pair of Duluth Missabe & Iron Range-type pulpwood cars converted from Athearn 50' gons. [I model Eastern Montana.] I wanted something a little different than the standard pulpwood car.) Both of these are for a couple of freelanced components of my layout.

["JaBear"]

Mid 50s, no later than 1958. While freelancing gives me some lee way I try not to get too excited. I'd like to think that my layout will be built on the "Looks About Right" principle.

Cheers, the Bear.

[mlehman]

"Looks About Right"

Sounds good to me, Bear.

I am a bit more flexible, because the world is when giving us cues about the time period in, for example, an old photo. If it's a natural scene, it could be "timeless." With a new car from the current model year, obviously recently, certainly no more than a year ago. Buildings age well and unless one knows a bit about architectural history, you'll have a hard time saying a building is 50 years old or 100 in many cases. All it takes to spoil the effect is one obviously contradictory clue. Many pcitures could have been taken any time in the last five years, but if you see the cover of a magazine well enough to make out or suggest a date, then game over.

Since I operate both standrad and narrowgauges, I use a time effect that is fabricated by space. In Durango, where the SG meets the NG, things are very 1974-ish or maybe a few years later. Travel up the line towqards Silverton and things grow older. Take one of the "thee little lines" up to the mines and they seem to get older still. I don't follow this strategy as closely as I could, but it generally works.

Of course, the more severe bending of the space-time continum is the simple fact that those lines running north from Silverton do not exist that late, with the last gasp in the early years of WWII saw things salvaged for the WP&Y out of what was left in town to pick over. In that sense both my modeler's and artist's licenses permit me to take whatever action I need to make things work. I do my best to noentheless make them realistic and believable, even when I totally fabricate something from my imagination.

In fact, I'd even argue we need a little more of that. Model railroading can be fun too, not just a grueling exam of prototype trivia. It's one of the goals of my initiative to raise the profile of art as a useful concept in many aspects of our hobby. You're welcome to contribute to that conversation at: http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/88/t/231838.aspx

[Phoebe Vet]

My railroad has many things that  were requested by the wife and the grand children.  That is why we have steam, diesel, NYC subways, Lackawanna passenger, Amtrak, Thomas the tank engine, and Hogwart's express.  It's a hobby, not a museum.

[BRAKIE]

Big Boy Forever

How many here have exact time period accurate rolling stock, according to your layout time period?

I would fall into that group..I keep my cars and locomotives correct for my modeled eras: 78-80,86-88 and 94/95.

However.

If the mood strikes and if nobody is peeking around the corner watching a Seaboard System GP38-2 may magically appear in 1979 switching IPD boxcars.Oppsy!

A Santa Fe zebra striped S4 shows up on the Summerset Ry in '84 but,that belongs to a locomotive historical group and for a small fuel fee we operate it for several days.

[MisterBeasley]

I also have a dual-era layout, Early 1960s and 1930s.  (I fell in love with a steam engine one day.)  Right now, I've got a mix of the two running, because I like to test my still-growing trackwork with everything available.  When I stop building track, I will have a roster of engines, rolling stock, passenger cars and vehicles that will move on and off the railroad depending on the era I'm running.

I'm not fussy about the born-on dates on rolling stock.  I'm happy with my coal hoppers in either era, for example, and I run my billboard reefers a bit later than I should.  But, in an imaginary town with a mermaid and a scene from the Wizard of Oz, who's to worry about the dates of regulations by the ICC?

[mononguy63]

I have steam & diesel locomotives that would be appropriate for a time span from the 1920's into the 80's (actually beyond the demise of the prototype I model). My rolling stock collection is similarly diverse. When I want to just set up some trains and railfan my layout, I do try to at least make the specific trains era-consistent. I do think it looks a bit odd, for instance, to see a 2-8-0 pulling a string of 50' boxcars, or a line of truss-rod cars behind a U23B. That having been said, I might have two trains pulled by those two engines running simultaneously on two separate tracks.....

But as has been stated by others, it's your railroad. If you're running what you like and having fun, then you're doing it the right way.

Jim

[BroadwayLion]

Era of LION is dictated to him by the availability of inexpensive, plastic, NYCT subway cars. These ran from say 1955 to 1990, so that is a large enough window, but LION will do as him pleases without undue regard for facts and stuff like that.

 

ROAR

[BRVRR]

I started my BRVRR with the dual-era idea in mind. I thought a few changes of signage and structures would allow operations with the NYC in the late transition era to modern NS/CONRAIL (1990s) times with appropriate locomotives and rolling stock for each time period. 

Didn't or hasn't worked out that way. Like Phoebe Vet/Dave I have a wide variety of locomotives from 1930s-40s steamers to SD40s and AMTRAK ADMs. My rolling stock varies just as much. 

Throw in Thomas the Tank Engine, the Hogwarts Express because the grand kids grew up with them and any logical era is out the window. 

I gave up trying to keep the trains on the layout time or even purpose appropriate when the grandsons are around. After having a Pennsy passenger train married to a 15-car coal drag with an AMTRAK passenger train on the outer mainline, I have just learned to live with it.

Who cares? The layout is for our enjoyment. There is nothing wrong with variety or even a spot of whimsy on occasion. And besides, when in the trainroom alone, I run NYC steam powered passenger trains or Santa Fe freights and anything else that strikes my fancy. Its my railroad.

[Jimmy_Braum]

Sorry for the double post, but I felt like I should elaborate on my post better. 

I have a lot of Pennsylvania Railroad cars from the late 1940's up to the middle 1950's, as well as a fleet of PRR heavyweight cars.  I have also created an imaginary car-I gave the Pennsylvania a Theater car.  I have two K4s's, a T1, a USarmy 0-8-0, several cabooses, and more stuff all Pennsy.  Well while I love the Pennsy, it just got too expensive to model an accurate era.  So I started looking around for a modern prototype that almost no one models often, and it struck me to do a local carrier-the Wheeling and Lake Erie railway.  So far for the Wheeling I have a SD40-2, and about 6 Wheeling hoppers.  I am also planning to have three SD40's done up in a freelanced railroad of my own design. 

  What of the Pennsy stuff you ask? Well, I solved that.  I am going to keep it and use it in a railroad museum, and sometimes run them as "Steam excursions" and "photo runbys".

[cmrproducts]

My time frame is from 1975 to 1985.

This way I can run some leftover PPR stuff - the Last of Penn Central and the beginnings of Conrail.

With this type of mix of equipment - most any thing eastern Road wise that the MFG makes is elegable to be on the layout as the Conrail merged RRs had so many companies involved!

So I can run PRR, PC, Conrail, Reading, EL, Erie, LV and the list just goes on and on - all on the same Layout!

Try that on your Layout and you would have the Prototype Police on your but real fast!

And with me modeling the Lowgrade line (which bridges between the Pittsburgh/Buffalo and the Harriburg/Buffalo mainlines) allowes be to run any engine type Conrail/PC/later PRR had as Conrail pushed all of the oldeset equipment up onto Coal Country (CR Lowgrade line) to haul coal!

I have seen as many as 7 GPs pulling a coal drag out of the mines - how many other modeled railroads would have this for a backwoods operation (nothing but the MAINLINEs would do this)!

So I have the best of both worlds - Heavy Trains - Lots of Power needed and slow traffic to make the trip seem longer!

BOB H - Clarion, PA

[peahrens]

I centered around transition era broadly, late steam to early diesel (a rather broad time frame), but violate that when I see locos I'd like to include that are outside that.  The stretch of that focal period would span from the latest retirement of a 2-8-0 to the earliest acquisition (by UP) of a E-6, SD-7 or GP-9.  The items that really strecth the time frame to impossible co-existence are a 2-6-0 mogul relative to an SD40-2.  May not even be in the same century.  They should avoid being in the same scene but the layout isn't very big! 

I limit freight cars to the 40' ones generally and passenger cars to the 40s - 50s late heavyweights to early streamliners. 

I have so far kept my locos to UP theme and feel no need to violate that but expect that may happen!

That's what fits my pistol (and the grandkids are not very particular).  Nonetheless, I admire the many modelers who focus on specific timeframes, railroads and railroad geography.  Many of these I see in the forum are very impressive.

[wjstix]

I'm building a layout that I can use to "rotate" timeframes between 3 or 4 different periods. It would be a progression - that is, it won't be 1930 one day and 1990 the next. It will go say 1949 for several months, then 1967 for a few months, etc. through into this century, then go back to the start. In some situations, buildings will be able to be changed out, so an older brick building might be replaced in more recent types by a "tilt up" on fitting the same space, or an active signal tower in the steam days might be replaced by the same model, only boarded up and unused, in modern era.

[NP2626]

Big Boy Forever

 How many here have exact time period accurate rolling stock, according to your layout time period?

 

How many don't or don't really care about time period accuracy on your layout?

 

Just wondering, based on my last couple of threads asking for advice.

 

I think I'm pretty accurate; however, I'm not hard core about it.  I figure if I don't know I've gota piece that isn't time accurate, the people who see my layout dang sure ain't going to know it anyway.