Hi, was curious, does anyone model a prototype railroad that's not related to their hometown? If so, why?
(For ex. I live in Pennsylvania yet I love the Santa Fe, because of how their steam engines look)
PS I'm looking more for non-freelancers, but feel free to chime in!
Cheers!
Charles
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Modeling the PRR & NYC in HO
Youtube Channel: www.youtube.com/@trainman440
Instagram (where I share projects!): https://www.instagram.com/trainman440
I grew up on Long Island, NY. All we had was commuter service on the Long Island Railroad.
I started my HO layout, after a total hodge-podge of Lionel, with Milwaukee as a teenager. I still model that road at 73.
I do have subways, being from outside the city, but I didn't grow up there.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
I grew up in Gainesville, Florida.
No mining, no through trains, no industry, no hills, no tunnels, no bridges, no rivers, and so on.
University of Florida and Sonny's Barbeque.
No, I do not model my hometown.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
My dad was career Army. I moved every year and so don't really have a home town. I eventually picked the Maryland & Pennsylvania because after reading George Hilton's book I realized that it had all the characteristics I wanted.
Paul
I use Southern Pacific but not because of the fact it ran near me but it fit my era and was plentifull and cheap and I like alot of their paint designs.
I live in OH and model the New York Central (NYC) but grew up in NE FL. While I've always loved trains, it wasn't until I moved to OH and started modeling in HO that the NYC became my modeling focal point.
The NYC has a deep and fascinating history and I've grown very fond of their steam and early diesel locomotives. While I can enjoy and appreciate the locomotives from other roads, to me - the NYC Hudson is THE most handsome steam engine ever designed.
And the fact that the NYC ran through my area and one of its major yards is only a few miles down the hill from my house also makes it a great choice of roads to model. The national headquarters of the NYCSHS Historical Socity is located in town, too.
Lastly, I think the white on black paint scheme is a classic look - e.g. like a handsome tuxedo. Throw in an occasional lightning stripe cummerbund and you've got one good-lookin', stylish dude.
Tom
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.
I live in PA, have attempted to model PRR and Reading (see forum name), but always always revert to the western roads. I love the scenery and history of the far west more, though am not tied to Santa Fe steam...in fact excepting the 2-10-4's, I really do not like Santa Fe steam at all. I do not care for that "look".
In steam I love the rarely seen and even more rarely photographed Western Pacific 4-6-6-4's, and most open cab DRGW, NP, SP&S steam, along with SP 4-10-2's and Texas & Pacific 4-8-2's. Generally speaking, I prefer Alco steam and Worthington BL feedwater heaters.
The Western Pacific 4-6-6-4 is the most beautiful steamer ever built imo.
I also like many 2-8-8-0's including the late versions of B&O and UP.
John Mock
Hi all
I would love to do a model of my home town my scratch building isn't good enough for that.
Sn31/2 is hard to come by so is std gauge WAGR stock in HO so pre seventies is out so is post 70's.
Oh! and if modeling my home town I would need to be on a different forum all together so would miss out on the contact with the members here.
regards John
Nope, I model my hometown (where I still live today) and the railroad that runs through it because it used to run right by my house. I even have a laser cut model of my hometown depot ready to build. I do model an era that ended years before I was born.
If I define "hometown" as where I currently live, modeling it would be quite a challenge. The town is located on a busy mainline, with 400 train movements each day. The station tracks alone would require a benchwork of a length of about 30ft. - in Z scale!
I have built numerous layouts in those 57 years I am in the hobby, none of which had anything to dowith the place I lived at that time.
Happy times!
Ulrich (aka The Tin Man)
"You´re never too old for a happy childhood!"
Tinplate ToddlerThe station tracks alone would require a benchwork of a length of about 30ft. - in Z scale!
That would be an impressive station! What are you waiting for?!?
I have no desire to model my home town, Oshawa, Ontario. Nice place. Still some good friends living there. Fond memories, but nothing exceptional railroad wise.
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
hon30critterThat would be an impressive station!
Just long, but not impressive. In fact, rather boring.
UK Railways are chronic. USA Railroads are fantastic. I lit upon the Chicago South Shore Freight & Suburbans because the area around Lake Michigan South Shore, reminds me of the South Bank of the River Tees Estuary, between Middlesbrough and Redcar in Cleveland, North Yorkshire - where I used to live. The Orange Geeps & the Suburbans + of course the Street-running are just brilliant. There is nothing like that, in the UK. Paul
"It's the South Shore Line, Jim - but not as we know it".
I mix it up. I model a seaport ISL based loosly on Coos Bay Or, where I grew up. I use real yellow dirt from that area for some banks and fill on my layout. Sort of a "could have been" extension of the bay. That puts me in SP territory and my trains reflect it. But the only scratchbuilt prototype based structures I have are from Bend Or, where I am now. Dan
I live overseas, so I have chosen to collect trains from the parts of the US I'm originally from because it reminds me of my "other" home! Since for the most part I would say Eastern Washington is my US home that means I model NP/GN SP&S. I was born in West Michigan so that means I am also partial to Pere Marquette/C&O, Grand Trunk, etc. But I don't have any models from where I have lived overseas because there either are no models available, or no prototype!
Regards, Isaac
I model my railroad and you model yours! I model my way and you model yours!
No.. Columbus,Ohio would be hard to model even around NYC's McKinley Ave yard,PRR's Cleveland Ave yard complex C&O's Parson Ave yard(by Buckeye Steel) or N&W's Joyce Avenue yard.
B&O's Port Columbus yard could be modeled since it was a small yard but you would need lots of nearby homes and businesess.
Even when I modeled NYC back in the mid 60s I built a generic ISL and simply called it NYC's Dorcy Ave industrial lead a fictitious name I made up on a whim with no known location.
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
I do model my hometown - - - Chicago. As a lifelong Chicagoan, it is hard not too because so many different railroads, from the east, west, south, and even north, came into and out of Chicago.
Rich
Alton Junction
Technically I don't. I'm from Easton. We had CNJ, LV, and L&HR. I model the Reading. NOW I live near the former Reading.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
I was born adn raised in Las Vegas but have never modeled the Union Pacific there. It would be fun and tempting but I just don't have the space. When I lived in Nevada I modeled the Tonopah & Tidewater RR in Goldfield Nevada circa 1915, which might count as a "sort" of home town.
I've tended to model somewhere close to where I am living. When I lived in Morgantown, I modeled the B&O and WM in Morgantown. Now I am modeling the Maryland Midland whcih is about 4 hours away.
I model my home railroad town, the town I live in doesn't have a railroad, but is about 20 minutes from Plattsburgh, NY, where I model the D&H. The unusual thing is I model the late 1970's and early 80's, while I didn't start railfanning the area until about 8 years ago. (when I was old enough to actually enjoy trains). For some reason I find the 70's and 80's much more interesting the the present day.
Harrison
Homeschooler living In upstate NY a.k.a Northern NY.
Modeling the D&H in 1978.
Route of the famous "Montreal Limited"
My YouTube
Count me in for not doing that. I live in Northern VA, but model N&W in the early 1980s in Southern VA. Coal is king! Other industries in southern VA I model include grain, cement, and LPG/AA.
My town on the plains would be a boring layout. The BNSF tracks come through our county in a straight line, and normally the trains don't even slow down.
RR Mel has inspired me to try something that does involve my hometown. He has scratchbuilt houses that he and his his kids live in. I would like to try that.
York1 John
Well, I do model the "region" where I grew up and still live. I freelance and model interchanges with three major railroads of this region from the time period I model.
My "hometown" only had a small short line with one locomotive when I was growing up.......
The setting for my layout is fictional, but it represents geography about 50 to 100 miles west of where I live or grew up.
And it represents a time period three years before I was born.......
So while my inspiration is related to my life experience in this region, it is not driven by some desire to recreate something from my childhood.
Sheldon
Harrison The unusual thing is I model the late 1970's and early 80's, while I didn't start railfanning the area until about 8 years ago.
The unusual thing is I model the late 1970's and early 80's, while I didn't start railfanning the area until about 8 years ago.
Strange, but perhaps not so strange, because I too model an era way before I was born, 1970, more than 30 years before I was born. I think it's because I like the same railroads as my grandpa, and those railroads ceased to exist in 1971 (BN merger).
Although I free-lance, I have chosen a couple of areas from southern coastal Oregon as the region where my free-lance lines are located. Coos Bay is the terminus for my standard gauge line running the southern route to the interior - smilar to the Oregon Pacific in its vision, but chose a better port. Port Orford is where the narrow gauge line reaches the sea to ship the famous Port Orford cedar to California and Japan.
I also model the year 1900 - the tail end of the logging schooner and narrow gauge era, but the beginning of knuckle couplers. The research for plausible free-lance is a lot of fun. I can borrow from similar railroads in Washington, Oregon, and Northern California but am not limited to a particular line.
I grew up in Northern Virginia - attended elementary school alongside the then-working tracks of the Washington & Old Dominion. I was home-ported in Coos Bay for 2 years - my only Oregon tie.
Fred W
I saw the Ma & Pa cross the main drag in my suburban hometown exactly once before it became extinct. Baltimore had lots of trains, but my only experience until much later, when I prowled all over the industrial areas with a camera, was Penn Station.
I model a region a couple hours west of where I grew up.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
SeeYou190 I grew up in Gainesville, Florida. No mining, no through trains, no industry, no hills, no tunnels, no bridges, no rivers, and so on. University of Florida and Sonny's Barbeque. No, I do not model my hometown. -Kevin
I'm hearing rumors that Burrito Brothers has closed down. The horror!
Oh well, at least Al's Cubana is still in business.
Now I'm getting a craving for a medianoche.
Robert
LINK to SNSR Blog
Trainman440Hi, was curious, does anyone model a prototype railroad that's not related to their hometown? If so, why?
Well, I don't really have a home down having grown up an Air Force kid. But I lived in Davis California from 6th grade into early college years and the RR that ran through town was the Southern Pacific. It is a favorate of mine to the present day, but for modeling purposes, inn the early 80's I drove to and through Colorado several times and the scenery there was awesome - and that was the D&RGW that traveled though it, not around it! I'm departing from many D&RGW modelers and choosing the west Colorado desert into eastern Utah - near Grand Junction.
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
ROBERT PETRICK'm hearing rumors that Burrito Brothers has closed down. The horror! Oh well, at least Al's Cubana is still in business. Now I'm getting a craving for a medianoche. Robert
There keeps being rumors that Leonardo's on University Avenue will be closing, but it was still open a few months ago.
That place is a time machine for me. I rode my bike there when I was 7-8 years old for a slice if Big Leo,I can still get it!