Do you design your own RR, copy a plan, model an actual RR, or a hybrid

[grayfox1119]

I am torn between doing a real section of local RR, but is is rather unexciting scenery to model, or another part of the country that has great scenery. And I don't like many of the plans that I have seen. However, some folks seem to have designed their own generic RR, and have some spectacular scenery. Granted, it is all personal choice, but I would like to know what the stats are on each type of layout. Is there one that stands out, and why?

[TomDiehl]

Not sure exactly what you meant by "generic railroad," which is the one I clicked on. I've made up my own railroad name, and roughly follow the paint scheme of the Reading RR. I don't try to duplicate any sections of a real railroad, but I do try to make the layout believable (ie, not spagetti bow track plans).

[TrainFreak409]

Well, at this moment in time, I am working on my own model railroad plan. It is a freelanced road, so I have nothing to base the plan off of. And, this also gives me more freedom to mold the railroad to my liking, instead of following prototypical boundaries.[:D]

[ARTHILL]

I made up the name 40 years ago, and copied so many plans in my hybrid it is pretty original. I used pictures to stimulate my imagination.

[BNSFNUT]

I model a free lance section of railroad based an BNSF practices and equipment.
I would like to model a real part of the railroad but space just isn't availble.

[Anonymous]

At this point it is my own design. Some features will be representations of the real world in my area, but not enough that I would say I was modelling an actual section of the railroad. I also borrowed a fair part of my yard design from Andy Sperandeo's Freight Yard book with some inspriration from Wayne Roderick's Teton Short Line Malfunction Juction ( http://www.ida.net/users/tetonsl/railroad/mfjhome.htm )and Craig Bisgeier's Ten Commandments of Yard Design ( http://www.housatonicrr.com/yard_des.html ) Of course John Armstrong's Track Planning for Realistic Operation, and other of his plan books were referred to.

So maybe it is really a hybrid, but I'm sticking to generic!

[selector]

First was freelanced (and not that great, all things considered), but the next will be done with an eclectic approach...a little this, a little that...

[howmus]

I almost said other, but voted for Generic (my own). My RR (the Seneca Lake, Ontario, and Western or SLOW) is mostly created from a figment. You know, like in imagination. The plan came from a figment my imagination had and has, and probably will continue to have, hopefully......

[Anonymous]

So many great RRs, so little basement, so little time !!
Will

[Anonymous]

prr, but semi freelanced, and some prototype locations

[Billba]

I've built a few small layouts, and assisted on some large home and club layouts. Some were "generic", but most were "Hybrids". I did build one from a published plan, John Allen's Timesaver.

I am currently planning a basement layout, that will be mostly "home grown", but will have elements adapted from some layout design books and a little bit of a real RR. I voted for "Other" with a heavy emphasis on the hybrid aspect.

[JPowell]

Hybrid ***! I'm designing part, and using parts of several other layouts. Of course, I'm dreaming up my big around the wall basement layout for years down the road.

Howmus -
Living out in Geneva, do you follow the FGLK RR at all? I live in Syracuse and see them on occassion out in Solvey switching Solvey Paperboard.
JP

[Texas Zepher]

Modeling a section of a real railroad is almost always going to be pretty boring because real railroads take up so much space. Compressing a section of a real railroad is even hard for the same reason. Totally smushing a section of a real railroad starts getting a bit interesting if one has choosen a busy section with lots of real traffic and industries.

[ereimer]

i picked hybrid . haven't finished a track plan , or even figured out exactly how much space i'll have available , but my railroad will be based primarily on the Sante Fe , Prescott and Phoenix Rail Road in the 1900 - 1910 era . i probably won't copy the prototype track arrangements . staging will represent Phoenix (and interchange with the SP) in the south and Ash Fork (and interchange with the ATSF) in the north , and i'll also include some of the copper mining district around Jerome that was actually served by narrow guage railroads that will be standard guaged on my layout . unless i get really ambitious and try some narrow guage modelling

[Anonymous]

The layout I am building now is completely freelanced. You might say I have no plan at all beyond the basic shape of the mainline and the shape and number of the sections that will go into the layout. I am trying to make it look realistic and logical. As logical and a railroad with less than 5 miles or track can be.

[Anonymous]

I am doing I guess a hybrid. A co-owned RR by UP and BNSF and soon GW. It is a bridge route for UP from Villa Grove to South Pekin in IL and BNSF out of Prairie City IL to the power plant.

[howmus]

QUOTE: Originally posted by JPowell

Howmus -
Living out in Geneva, do you follow the FGLK RR at all? I live in Syracuse and see them on occassion out in Solvey switching Solvey Paperboard.
JP

I see quite a bit of them down on 5 & 20. Hard to stop and just watch on a major highway though. LOL I have pulled into the Finger Lakes Trail parking area in Canandaigua and some other places to watch them. Very friendly crews. They are doing very well building up RR business in the area and are expanding and improving quite a bit of the line. The LHS has decals and other items in their colors.

An unofficial website about them: http://fglk.railfan.net/

and the "official" one: http://bnle.railfan.net/flmap-ct.htm

[Anonymous]

Generic all the way for me - with a little help from AbraCAData! I'd need an entire gymnasium to get an exact model of a Great lakes steel mill, so I just focused on the scenic elements I really liked, and found ways to fit them into the available space [a 22' by 22' garage].

[icmr]

I model ILLINOIS CENTRAL but I don't model a specific part of IC. I also have my own railroad that I'm working on.



ICMR

Happy railroading.[:)]

[Anonymous]

I model CSX and Conrail along with CP and NS in Grand Rapids, MI. I have a fictional museum on my layout so I can run my steam[:)] and a fictional railroad called the Midwestern RR that shares CSX's yard in Grand Rapids.

[IRONROOSTER]

My current layout is a generic design, with PRR and MA&PA for the standard guage and Maine two footers for the narrow gauge. If I get enough space I'd like to model some sections of the MA&PA.
Enjoy
Paul

[Anonymous]

I'm also doing an "everything" hybrid -- it's my own plan, with bits and pieces borrowed from books and magazine articles, based on the Santa Fe in New Mexico in the mid-50s, with real world places but freelanced track between them. [:D]

[SpaceMouse]

I model a real (was real) interchange and two specific sections of track. I don't model a zillion miles of track but rather I have chosen scenes from the route to model. I'm not sure how that lays out in your scheme of things.

[dgwinup]

I model a free-lanced, ficticious, hybrid prototypical railroad. Huh?

Okay, current N scale layout is based on the original 4x8 trackplan of John Allen. It's what got me re-interested in trains after a long absence. Nothing great about it, and it's about as finished as it's going to get, so I'm ready for another layout.

The problem is, at my age (57), it's time for my "Dream Layout". I have two areas I can use, one is 11 x 12, the other is 12 x 16. The larger space is the fourth bedroom in a finished basement. The other space is a first floor bedroom where my current layout resides, and which I will probably use for the new layout.

Most of my motive power equipment is decorated for Santa Fe and Union Pacific. I have researched geographical areas where the two shared trackage. There aren't many, Cajon Pass being the principal area. As much as I like Cajon Pass, I don't want to model it. So my current line of thought is to create a fictional area where the two COULD have shared trackage. I am almost settled on an area about 100 miles east of Pueblo, CO, where the UP and ATSF had east-west lines only about 60 miles apart, ATSF going into Pueblo, UP into Denver. If an earlier railroad had built tracks between two points on either railroad, there would be justification for the two railroads to have joint operations. Of course, there would be a large engine service facility shared by both RR's, and classification yards for interchange, etc.

So they are real railroads, operating in a geographical area where they both had track, a free-lanced fictional bridge railroad to connect them forming joint hybrid operations. Make sense now?

I haven't finished researching the topography of the area. It is mostly flat or rolling hills, but I can use modeler's license to make the terrain more rugged to include more mountainous areas justifying the use of bridgework over shallow canyons.

I guess I'm trying to have it all, but then again, it is my "Dream Layout". After this one, I doubt there will be another.

BTW, I am open to suggestions on my mental plan. Eventually I will have a layout plan for you to critique.

Darrell, eventually planning on being quiet...for now

[twhite]

The Yuba River Sub is a fictional portion of a fictional Rio Grande "California Extension" that runs through the Sierra Nevada mountains of California along the Yuba River watershed between Nevada City and Sierraville, CA, generally following state route 49. There never was a railroad along this route, so the design is original, the equipment is Rio Grande prototype (WWII steam), and the country is as authentic as I can model it. So whatever one wants to call it, that's what it is.
Tom [:P][:P]

[ddechamp71]

I'm modelling chosen parts of the Tehachapi Pass, mainly (of course with selective compression) Bena-Illmon-Caliente-Bealville location. That's why I voted for "model a section of RR".

Dominique

[CP5415]

I took the basic idea of a track plan from Kalmbachs 101 Track Plans "Wisconsin Central" & modified it slightly.
Almost half of it is now double tracked with 2 through passenger station tracks, a passing sideing for freight trains, a small yard & a couple of "major" traffic producing industries to keep the switchers busy.

Another modifcation to the track plan has a wye, an interchange with another small yard so that I can have what ever "other" brand of locomotive ( aka NOT Canadian Pacific ) interchange cars in a small but useable space.

As we plan on moving next year, this is only a test if you will on my layout design.
My next layout, I plan on having it in an area where I can have it about 4-5 feet above the floor or so that I won't have any duck under as the one I have now is literally a pain on the back to get under.

Gordon

[Pruitt]

My layout is based on the CB&Q line from Orin Junction to Frannie, WY, with a link to Laurel, MT, where it interchanges with the NP transatlantic line. Staging represents the NP and the CB&Q east of Orin Junction and south of Orin towards Wendover WY.

I also include the C&NW Cowboy line from Shobon WY to Lander WY.

[Anonymous]

My layout itself is generic, meaning no particular place or time. The trains are mostly C&NW but I have others - especially ones that I have actually ridden or others that have just tickled my fancy. After all, it is all my own little universe so it runs my way.

[cmrproducts]

Doing the CR Lowgrade line from Dubois to East Brady, PA. The line includes 4 shortline interchanges that were on the real rail line and extensions/staging to Driftwood, PA. Additional trackage includes parts of the Pittsburgh to Oil City mainline through Ford City, Kittanning and Redbank (Low Gread Line interchange)

I used the CR 1984 ZTS maps to layout each of the towns as close as posible to the maps within the limits of the room.

BOB H - Clarion, PA