Does anyone Not Model Their Hometown?

[Erie Lackawanna in Georgia]

I grew up on a Erie Lackawanna branchline in Northern New Jersey, but I model one of my favorite EL rainfanning spots - Scranton, PA in 1970.  Used to love the pushers out of town, roaming around the shops and yard, and chasing trains on the Bloomsburg Branch.  Taking the liberty of moving a steel mill complex for operational interest.  

But it was my boyhood affection for the EL that certainly help drive my choice

[caldreamer]

I grew up in Brooklyn, NY.  Remember the Brooklyn Terminal Railroad which handled the cross bay barge traffic,  The South Brooklyn Railroad and the Long Island Railroad.  Grew up with American Flyer S gauge.  Moved an number of times and had small layouts.  When I worked for the government in California I modeld the SP.  I had full access to their Santa Clara yard and rode with an engineer friend of mine in the cab of the FM Train Masters on the commuter runs and freights at night.  Chased trains over Dommer summit from Colfax to Truckeee.. I now live in Pennsylvania, but I model the BNSF's Pikes Peak Sub which runs from Denver southe to Pueble Colorado.  I love mountain railroading and think that they are the best run railroad  and enjoy modeling them.  I model the entire life the BNSF plus a few engines that they did/do not have just because I like them.  For example I have  U50B's, RSD15 Aligators and C430"s. Which are what Con Cor called C630's, but the actual size is within a few inches of a protoype C430.

 

[doctorwayne]

I grew up in Hamilton, Ontario, but model the late '30s using real place names from southern and southwestern Ontario.
Most of the industries are also named for real ones, but I was never all that interested in modelling them after their prototypes.
My railroad is freelanced, but also able to host the real railroads which operated in my hometown, and they included Canadian National, Canadian Pacific, the Toronto Hamilton & Buffalo, and the New York Central.

Much of the layout is built around fond memories and recollections.

Wayne

[dknelson]

I did not model my home town UNTIL LifeLike Proto2000 released the very Chicago & North Western switchers that my best friend and I watched almost every summer day work the local industries.  It was like flipping a switch and decades of Pennsylvania Railroad modeling (and acquisition of books and research materials) ended in an instant.

Dave Nelson

[mlehman]

Another Air Force brat with lots of choices in home town if I wanted. However, I may have already been a bit jaded when I took up model ralroading at age 14. I'd seen a lot of railroads, but all of the sudden I ended up near the end of a stone belt branch of the Monon, back home in Inidiana b/c the USAF was sending Dad to get his MBA at IU. Back in those days, you had to be far more enterprising  - and I wasn't quite there yet.

And I got narrowgauge fever and I, too, liked Colorado. But you had to handklay the track. In a state of confusion , I became distracted by trucks and women for a few years and became inactive in the hobby. I kept reading MR then about the time I decided to come back I found the Narrow Gauge and Shortline Gazette and HOn3 flex track along with Shinohara turnouts and I ended up where I am today. I model a little Monon, but mostly it's the Rio Grande and it's deriative RRs on narrow gauge rails.

[herrinchoker]

I live on an Island nine miles long, three miles wide, split almost in half by a long cove. The closest thing to a railroad we have is trackage that was laid in the 1880s in a large feldspar quarry that would move the product down to vessels that carried the feldspar to New York to be made into china. There are three fishing villiages, and several clam flats, and one state park that has two sand beaches, one mile in length, and the other 1/2 mile in length. We had one shipyard where schooners were made for the coastal trade, and for rum running..

So....no, nothing to model.

I have a very eclectic collection that I run on my trackage. 1860s, to 1970s. Mostly run steam, change vehicles when the mood strikes me, per era, everything else is generic. Most pleased when engine is cast, and comes back to the starting point with the same amount of cars it left with. 

Grew up in Brownsville Texas, Grandfather was Yard Master for the Missouri Pacific, intoduced to steam in the mid-1940s. Wasn't fond of cactus then, still not.

herrinchoker

[SBX]

I grew up in South London so all I saw was Southern electrics so the same experience as you. Hence, I have modelled freelance US outline all my modelling life!

[jjdamnit]

Hello All,

I grew up in Long Beach, CA.

The Santa Fe ran through areas of the city towards the port. It also served the Boeing plant at the airport along with other industries surrounding the plant.

On the west side is Santa Fe Boulevard that runs parallel to the 710 freeway.

Nearby is the city of Hawthorne known for its refineries.

I now live in a small town in the Colorado Rockies.

My pike is based on coal mining in Colorado rather than the industries I grew up near.

Also, on a 4'x8' there is little room for a port or a refinery complex. 

Hope this helps.

[NSNYSW74]

I grew up in Norwich NY which the Susquehanna ran through. Late 70's early 80's were prime business time with a train every day between Binghamton and Utica. Once Great American, local grocery chain closed, twice a week through freight. Norwich has plenty of railroad history. I now live in Sidney NY. My protofreelance will have NS & NYSW running. NS owns 40% of NYSW. I plan on having industries from both towns on my layout, once I get space to build. Collecting everything needed. Era will be late 80's to present.

[hardcoalcase]

I model a freelanced regional anthracite hauler c. 1920-ish, that has its home base in Carbondale, PA... where my father was born and raised.  Plans are to include a compressed representation of the downtown on the layout.

Jim

[angelob6660]

No I don't model my hometown in Tucson, Arizona. I did like the Cotton Belt and Southern Pacific locomotives though. 

My interest is Conrail, New York Central, and my fictional G.N.O. Railway.

It's sounds better modeling the east side than modeling desert, rocks, brushes and cactus.

[MisterBeasley]

Many of us probably model aspects of our home towns without even realizing it.  The memories we have of our youth will always be with us, and shape what we do every day.  Certain images are burned into our brains.  As modelers, we remember them and they often appear in our models.

In a nearby town, there was a Railway Express Depot.  I never went there, but I always remembered it and just looked at it as we drove by.  Decades later, when I was creating a passenger consist for my own railroad, I ended up with a pair of express reefers in Railway Express livery.  I ended up with the Branchline Munnsville Depot kit, which converted nicely to a Railway Express facility.

 

[Eilif]

Well, half my layout will be a mining site (undecided location, possibly Southern Illinois) far from where I grew up.

But the other half is based on where I live now (West Side of Chicgao) emphasizing the lines where I grew up (town of West Chicago).  I'm a slave to nostalgia and love of Chicago.