If you could see any location in North America modeled in ho scale what would it be?

[chatanuga]

In no particular order:

1.  My hometown of Bucyrus, Ohio with the T&OC route still in operation

2.  Marion, Ohio at Marion Union Station and AC Tower

3.  Fostoria, Ohio Iron Triangle

4.  The former B&O route across southern Ohio, particularly the area around Moonville

5.  Bellevue, Ohio

6.  Horseshoe Curve and the tunnels

7.  Thurmond, West Virginia

8.  Crestline, Ohio

9.  Mansfield, Ohio

Kevin

[up831]

There's so many good locations.  I suppose I'd want to see the Georgetown Loop, The Palasaides (DSP&P), of course Tehachapi, and my own "back yard" growing up.  Then there's Harpers Ferry for the East.  You can't leave out Horseshoe Curve.  Too many!

[gregc]

the Mahanoy Plane

[The Ferro Kid]

Buffalo, New York in the early to mid 1960s. Which I am setting about to do in HO, but of course greatly compressed. You'd have a hard time doing it justice with a basement sized layout in N Scale. There was an incredible amount of trackage. Buffalo Central Terminal still hosted passenger trains, and there were two hump yard operations, Bison and Frontier. And numerous other flat switching yards. Trains came in from Canada via the City of Niagara Falls, particularly the Toronto Hamilton & Buffalo, but also C&O and Wabash with trackage rights thru Canada from Detroit and the Midwest. The South Buffalo RR served Bethlehem Steel. The Buffalo Creek shortline served the grain mills. And mainline trackage emanated out of the city in virtually every direction.

[PRR8259]

BNSF Abo Canyon, New Mexico, current day.  Remote, rugged and beautiful.  A true masterpiece of contemporary railroad engineering (2 tracks, 2 independent alignments required, lots of cool bridges).

[PC101]

The Buffalo and Susquhanna Railroad, maybe, in the early fall or spring, Galeton, Pa. to Warton, Pa.

[Enzoamps]

What I grew up with:  the B&O along the potomac, from Point of Rocks to Harpers Ferry.

[Jared the Artist]

selector

Or, the fabulous Othello Tunnels & Bridges complex in the lower Kettle Valley Rwy.  Five tunnels separated each by a bridge with the Coquihalla River sinuously winding under it all.  The mostly costly km of railbed in the world.

I can't believe I've never heard of the Othello Tunnels... I just googled it and it's stunning!  Hard to imagine what it was like building that line.

[Jared the Artist]

BEAUSABRE

THE CURVE, of course. But also, as a bridge fan

I'm also a bridge fan and I don't think I could stop the drool coming from my mouth if I saw the CN Quebec bridge modeled.

[Southgate 2]

That's a cool connection. Dan

[York1]

Southgate 2

Bingham Canyon Mine!  Aka Kennecott Copper Mine. You'd have to get an excavation permit even for HO, but say you go back 65 years, it could fit in my back yard.

My father worked there starting in 1939.  In 1940, he joined the army.

I have a letter from a Kennecott official from 1945 offering my father a job after he got out of the army.

[Overmod]

Southgate 2

You said I could fantasize!

He's asking precisely so he can prioritize early 'vignetting' for a layout 3.5mi x 2mI with about 92 miles of track, and this is precisely the sort of grand-scale scenery at full proportion that he originally talked about a few months ago...

[Southgate 2]

Bingham Canyon Mine!  Aka Kennecott Copper Mine.

You'd have to get an excavation permit even for HO, but say you go back 65 years, it could fit in my back yard.

You said I could fantasize! Dan 

[Doughless]

If a contrarian answer is acceptable:  I've always been a freelancer, so an exact replica of any place or thing is not particularly interesting.

Especially since things do change over time, so I would be confined into also picking a particular year for that specific place.

Which of course, makes it inaccurate for just about every other year.

[Tin Can II]

Would love to see the Cleburne shops modelled in the late 1960s when they were rebuilding F units into CF7s.  

[DrW]

ATSFGuy

Santa Fe's "Super Chief" route from California to Chicago, and maybe the "San Francsico Chief" Route from there to Houston.

 

I would be happy with just a small portion of it: the Colorado side of the Raton Pass, between 1947 and 1955. Several streamlined passenger trains and lots of helpers: several classes of 2-10-2s, the short-lived 2-8-8-2s that Santa Fe had bought from N@W, and later my favorite diesels, the 6-axle Alco RSD-5s. The landscape is not looking too shabby either.

 

(Clicking on the pics will get rid of the lateral compression.)

 

 

[Overmod]

A northeast Pennsylvania in which both the Ramsey survey route (either 1906 or the improved 1930 route) and the PRR Sam Rea line had been built and then 'logically improved' at least through the mid-Fifties as TOFC as a priority began to replace fast passenger service...

[MisterBeasley]

New York City prior to WW2.  This was the main terminal for goods and passenger service.  It was also a major seaport.

[ATSFGuy]

Santa Fe's "Super Chief" route from California to Chicago, and maybe the "San Francsico Chief" Route from there to Houston.

[groundeffects]

A few ideas:

3-5 scale miles of the SP coast line near Surf, CA, halfway between Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo.  It would be cool to see a scale 1940's Daylight train rolling above the cliffs and ocean.  Crashing surf sounds would be needed.

SP's Cascade line in Oregon between Odell Lake and Oakridge.  A lot of tunnels, bridges and track that hugs the cliffs with tons of evergreens. 

GN's Cascade line over Stevens Pass, including the old Cascade Tunnel with the loop at Martin Creek.  This would be between Skykomish, WA and the summit tunnel.  

SP's Cuesta Pass from San Luis Obispo up to the summit tunnel.

Anyway, those would be my favorites.

Jeff

[selector]

Lenora & Mt. Sicker Mine switchbacks, Nanaimo, BC.  You could do it on a 3X8 against a wall and build the mountainside switchbacks up the hillside backing onto the wall.

Or, the fabulous Othello Tunnels & Bridges complex in the lower Kettle Valley Rwy.  Five tunnels separated each by a bridge with the Coquihalla River sinuously winding under it all.  The mostly costly km of railbed in the world.

[JDawg]

I'd have to say the convergence of GN, NP, Milwaukee road and a few others on minneapolis. Either that or the Duluth area.

[Heartland Division CB&Q]

My two cents. 

The best answer is "to each his own". 

There  are so many excellent choices with good reasons for each.

 

Happy Model Railroading . 

[dknelson]

I'd say the entire situation east of Chicago, such as Hammond/Whiting, State Line Tower, and such.  I have  been there but I get disoriented by the complex driving around (and the confusion over who owns or owned what tracks when there is such a maze).  There are maps of course, and Google satellite view, but a really accurate model viewed from above could clarify things in my mind

Another example would be Brighton Park near Chicago back in the manual semaphore days.  Again I have been there but the road situation makes knowing what the rail lines do and where they go before they get to the crossing hard to grasp.  

Dave Nelson

[Trainman440]

1. Horseshoe curve (PRR modeler's dream, but takes up too much space)

2. Richmond's Triple Crossing Bridge (three railroad tracks stacked ontop of each other, cause why not?!

Charles

[Harrison]

The middle of my railroad, the D&H, between Oneonta, Saratoga, and Mechanicville via both mainlines, one through Schenectady and the other through Albany. I would say the north end, but it's been done (although not perfectly) and I am modeling a portion of it myself. The old A&S section of the D&H has the most traffic and I would love to operate on it, not to mention the scenic features.

[nealknows]

I grew up on Long Island, NY. If I could see one area, I would enjoy seeing the LIRRR Jamaica station as well as the tracks from Jay tower to Hall tower, which covers both ends of the station. 8 passenger station tracks, plus the adjacent staging tracks for passenger trains. 

Gives a whole new meaning to switching...

Neal

[7j43k]

I think Donner Pass, in all the various fascinating eras.

 

Ed

[BEAUSABRE]

As a SPF (Slobbering Pennsy Freak), THE CURVE, of course. But also, as a bridge fan, PRR's Rockville Bridge https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockville_Bridge and Havre de Grace Bridge https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amtrak_Susquehanna_River_Bridge C&O's Sciotoville Bridge https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sciotoville_Bridge CN's Quebec Bridge https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_Bridge ATSF Canyon Diablo https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/LocationPhotoDirectLink-g31411-d21270973-i485452984-Two_Guns_Canyon_Dyablo_Bridge-Winslow_Arizona.html

And, greatest of all, Gustav Lindenthal's Triumph, reproduced in Standard and O Gange by Lionel, Hell Gate on the New York Connecting Railroad 

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hell_Gate_Bridge 

https://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/topic/hellgate-bridge-300-and-305-the-definitive-comparison

I guess that's not one location, is it?

 

 

 

[tstage]

The New York Central "Big Four" facilities and yards @ Bellefontaine, OH (Ohio Division) during the 40s, including BS ("High") Tower, the long grade coming up to the tower from the south, and the T&OC & Big Four crossing...

Tom