Help me choose!

[Lillen]

Hi everyone. Lately I've been going along building my railroad in HO up here in northern Sweden. Having decided early on to go American since I love the attitude, geography, trains and culture of the U.S. I have aquired three bachmann spectrum locomotives and about 17 other assorted freight cars from the U.S I find my self standing at a crossroad. I also have a Swedish engine, the powerfull IORE and a german engine, aswell as 15 german freight cars. I run DCC.

 

Now the crossroad that I'm at is that I can't decide what to get? I ahve read about 30 books the last month about american trains and I can not decide.At first I said PRR, the I felt for southern and so on...

So I came up with a list of things I need to do.

1. First off, to be patient, buying crap makes me disapointed. I rather buy good stuff, not necerssarily the best, but good.

2. Focus on one thing and do it right.

3. Choose an era and only that.

4. Choose a RR and go for it.

 

Now the thing is, I want to do the 1950's since I want both steam and diesels. I want to run coal trains and mixed freight trains. What railroad should I choose?

Second, if you could recomend a passenger car line that is of high quality and comes with DCC lighting I would very much apreciate it.

 

Thanks for your time

 

Magnus

[dragonriversteel]

Hello Magnus,

    Seeing your thinking of American railroading and you have listed what you would like to do. Why not model the Norfolk & Western railroad ? N&W was known as a coal hauling railroad ,along with passerger traffic as well.

 Patrick

 Beaufort,SC {USA}

 Dragon River Steel Corp {DRSC}

[ARTHILL]

You might choose your own, and then have it connect to lots of different roads. That allows you to have lots of different kinds of rolling stock and engines "passing through".

[selector]

I suggest having your cake...and  eat it, too.  (an English expression that reads, "You can't have your cake, and eat it, too.  One or the other, in other words.)

I freelance, but I love PRR, UP, NYC, N&W, NKP, D&RGW, TH&B,....heck, I like too many of them.  So, I have a small stable of 10 locos spread over five roads.  I concentrate on two at the moment, and make them the users of my main lines.

If you stick with one road, good for you...it will simplifiy things for you.  But you will always have a wish to acquire nice steam from other roads.  If you stick with PRR or Southern, I am pretty sure you will only ever have a Big Boy or an Alleghany as a weird guest on your layout (not sure about my facts, but you see my point).  So, by confining yourself to one road, you confine yourself in many ways.

I suppose you could let your interest in sharing your hobby, or in showing it to friends and relatives, be your guide.  Do you want to specialize, and grow knowledge on one road?  You could become and expert in very little time.  However, if you would like to occasionally impress others with a great layout and many different engines and rolling stock, you pretty much have to make it freelanced.

I have Walthers' Heavyweight passenger cars, and have not been able to use them to date...only a few minutes of trying.  I like them very much, but must wait until my layout is advanced enough to warrant risking them on the layout.  The Rapido cars look superb, if limited to Canadian roads...I think.  Otherwise, I would only look at Branchline...period.

 

I hope you don't lose sleep over this, Magnus.

[Anonymous]

You may want to start off by picking an area of the US that you want to model. One that has the scenery you like (mountains, desert, etc) and a railroad that serves the industries you want to mode.

[ChessieFan13]

Well here is an idea you want freight? you want Passenger? Cant go Wrong with the good ole C&O thats the C&O if you  cant see the yellow.  Great Scenery options and loco choices.  Just my

 

J.W...................for hire

[Texas Zepher]

(cut up, highlighted, and re-arranged)
I love the attitude, geography, trains and culture of the U.S.

Loving the geography, could you be a little more specific.  We have everything here from desert to rain forest, totally flat swamp/salt flats to steep alpine mountains. It can be assumed from the PRR and SO comments, you like the rolling hills, small mountains, and deciduous forests of the eastern US, but a statement to that effect would be nice.

4. Choose a RR and go for it.  I want both steam and diesels. I want to run coal trains and mixed freight trains. What railroad should I choose?

  For starters mixed freight trains is common place on almost any railroad chosen, so that is not an issue.   Coal trains is almost a likewise.  I can't think of any railroad that didn't have coal being moved either from the mines, to the smelters and power plants, or just through the territory.  When I think of coal trains I think of the Colorado Southern, D&RGW, and Utah Railway, but those are way out west!

read 30 books .... At first I said PRR, the I felt for southern and so on...

Yes, I always want to model the railroad of the last book I've read (except Katy - reading about it made me nausiated).  Please tell us which others you've already read about.  That might help.   The Pennsy had some fairly unique steam locomotives with the Belpaire fire boxes and all.  They also had the cool electrics like the GG1.  The good thing is that there are many Pennsy modelers so their unique locos are quite common in modeling terms.  The problem I would have wanting to model the Pennsy is that I would want a horseshoe curve......

2. Focus on one thing and do it right.

Ok, but are you more interested in the over all effect, or do you like to do specific single projects (like a single locomotive)?  If you are into the single project type things I might suggest a more obscure RR as there would be the thrill of researching a specific thing and then building it.   Something like the M&StL.

As others have said C&O or NW would be excellent choices.  They waited as long as possible before they began dieselization.  UP took quite a long time also, so long that they never had any FT class locomotives in their roster.   The B&O would probably be there for consideration as well, but they were much more aggressive moving to diesel power.  Smaller railroads that might be interesting would be the Lehigh Valley, the Western Maryland,  and more to the south theCentral of Georgia

Second, if you could recomend a passenger car line that is of high quality and comes with DCC lighting I would very much apreciate it.

I don't know if you consider this "comes with", but Walthers makes excellent cars that have lighting kits that can be added.

[ndbprr]

I would suggest you consider the Virginian if you don't have a preference.  They ran from the hills of West Virginia to Tidewater Virginia in the Roanoke area so you could logically choose from flatland coastal plane to mountains if you wished or anything in between.  Built to spite the N&W because of their rates it was a first class railroad to haul coal primarily.  It's passenger trains consisted mainly of three and four coach day trains pulled by pacifics.  Their freight power ranged from 4-8-2 to 2-8-8-8-2 to 2-10-10-2 with 48" cylinders and the 4-6-6-4 allegheny class.  They had electrics both side rod and the original owners of the E33c electrics.  When they dieselized they used FM trainmasters and baby trainmasters with the exception of one GE 44ton engine. There are a couple of paperback books available that include a lot of inofrmation. 

[Lillen]

Thanks everyone for your advice.  I belive the verdict is in, freelance it is. I have been contemplating this for quite a while and it feels more "right".

I think I will get some B&O passenger cars, they look stunning in my mind, should I get walthers or branchline is that what your saying? How about broadway limited? 

 

Loving the geography, could you be a little more specific.  We have everything here from desert to rain forest, totally flat swamp/salt flats to steep alpine mountains. It can be assumed from the PRR and SO comments, you like the rolling hills, small mountains, and deciduous forests of the eastern US, but a statement to that effect would be nice.

 

I love it all, I like the pacific northwest, the rockys, the southwest, the east and the south, I was thinking about trying to combine them, a little mountain range in the middle that is covered in dedicious trees that separates a swampy "southern" landscape from a an arid southwestern landscape.

 

Yes, I always want to model the railroad of the last book I've read (except Katy - reading about it made me nausiated).  Please tell us which others you've already read about.  That might help.   The Pennsy had some fairly unique steam locomotives with the Belpaire fire boxes and all.  They also had the cool electrics like the GG1.  The good thing is that there are many Pennsy modelers so their unique locos are quite common in modeling terms.  The problem I would have wanting to model the Pennsy is that I would want a horseshoe curve......

 

The Pennsy, the southern, the union pacific, the great nothern and of course books like Classic american railroads all volumes as well as the American........ and so on.

 

2. Focus on one thing and do it right By this I mean, get the trackwork done, then rolling stock, then industry and so on. When I first started I tried many things at once, spending a lot of money getting nowwere.   I don't know if you consider this "comes with", but Walthers makes excellent cars that have lighting kits that can be added.   What I mean by that is that the assembly is rather easy, no difficult soldering and weird cabels to attach all over the place, I wuite simply suck at electronics.   Do anyone know what the Swedish RC engine was called when built in the U.S, it's supose to have been built over there to, it's an electric engine and I have always loved them. If you know what I'm talking about where can I get one?   Thanks again for all of your advice, now it's time to find the cars, both passanger and freight, think of some background story and get going. Oh, I hope that my spelling and gramatical errors are not to painfull.   Magnus

 

[Virginian]

One correction, VGN did not have a 2-8-8-8-2, that was the Erie.  VGN's was a 2-8-8-8-4.

There are a lot of railroads that may satisfy your requirements, but how many have the availability of the variety of prototypical steam engines that N&W modellers enjoy?  We true believers think this is due to the fact that the N&W fielded the best in steam.  But, to model the transition era on the N&W, you have a pretty narrow window in time.  N&W did not haul just coal, just mainly coal.  They fielded the finest time freight steam engine ever in the Class A.

Take your time deciding, because the decision you are about to make is going to have a MAJOR influence on everything else you do down the road.

I model N&W and VGN, but the decision was made for me before I was born (I have no regrets though).  My Great-Grandfather helped build the VGN, and my father loved steam - hence he loved the N&W.

Good luck.

[Lillen]

Any good books on the N&W or Virginian that you would recomend?

 

Magnus

[Virginian]

N&W, Giant of Steam by Major Lewis Jeffries

Norfolk and Western, Pocahontas Coal Carrier by William Prince

The Virginian Railway  by  H. Reid

Those are the BIBLES to me.  There are a bunch of other good ones too, though.  There are a bunch of softcover picture books, N&W and VGN handbooks, N&W Mallets, VGN Locomotives, etc.  Look on Amazon, they usually have a wide selection.

[Texas Zepher]

I think I will get some B&O passenger cars, they look stunning in my mind, should I get walthers or branchline is that what your saying? How about broadway limited? 

So far Broadway Limited has only made California Zephyr cars.  Those would look really out of place on an eastern line, or running through deciduous forests.

I was thinking about trying to combine them, a little mountain range in the middle that is covered in dedicious trees that separates a swampy "southern" landscape from a an arid southwestern landscape.

That is almost the traditional joke of the "Atlantic and Pacific".  It is a 4x8 layout  with New York on one side, a tunnel in the middle, and Los Angeles on the other.

Please tell us which others you've already read about.  That might help.

The Pennsy, the southern, the union pacific, the great nothern 

  I started by modeling the GN, drawn to it first by the Big Sky Blue paint scheme on the Empire Builder;  However, I soon learned they had some very restrictive rules on their motive power purchases.  They had odd ball steamers (until the recent S2, available only in brass), and were very tight fisted when it came to diesels.  The steamers ate up all my budget really quick.  Other than the Cascades and Glacier the GN territory is mostly flat plains that is under snow or just bleak most of the year.  Modeling the GN can be fun, interesting, and a lot challenging but can also be discoraging.  I eventually switched to NP, then added the Colorado Southern and Fort Worth & Denver.   Lately I've been reading a lot about the D&RGW (mostly for electrolove) and have found myself buying models of its equipment. 

[emdgp92]

Are you referring to the Swedish locomotive Amtrak borrowed for evaulation, Lillen? If so, that eventually became their AEM-7 locomotive. Later, the AEM-7s were known as the "ALP-44." Atlas (www.atlasrr.com) had these a few years back, but I'm not sure if they're still available. Here are a few shots of Amtrak and NJ Transit AEM-7 locomotives.

http://rr-fallenflags.org/amtk/amtk900ags.jpg
http://rr-fallenflags.org/amtk/amtk907ags.jpg
http://rr-fallenflags.org/njdot/njt4401abs.jpg
http://rr-fallenflags.org/njdot/njdot4420l.jpg

The PRR had a huge electric system at one time. They had GG1s, P5s, and several other types of engines in service hauling both freight and passenger traffic. Most engines lasted through PRR, Penn Central, Conrail, and Amtrak service. Some even ended up in NJ Transit colors as well. Eventually though, they were retired and scrapped. A few GG1 locomotives are preserved in museums.

Here's a GG1 for comparison. This is a former Penn Central engine that's been sold to Amtrak.
http://rr-fallenflags.org/amtk/amtk928bgs.jpg

The Virginian (later part of the Norfolk & Western) had an electric operation as well. Their engines were later sold to the New Haven...which passed them to the Penn Central, then Conrail...who retired them all by the 1980s. Here's a pair of E33 electrics in Penn Central colors: http://rr-fallenflags.org/pc/pc4601abn.jpg.

Ok, now that I've bored you to tears with electric locomotives... The US has quite a varied railroad scene. We have everything from huge systems (BNSF, Union Pacific, etc.) to little short lines such as the Keokuk Junction Railway in Illinois and Iowa.

[Lillen]

First of all, emdgp92  thank you for those links and you were absoulutely right, I was able to find it later during the day in a book about american electric trains that had a surprising amount of info on Swedish ones as well.

 

I was thinking about trying to combine them, a little mountain range in the middle that is covered in dedicious trees that separates a swampy "southern" landscape from a an arid southwestern landscape.

That is almost the traditional joke of the "Atlantic and Pacific".  It is a 4x8 layout  with New York on one side, a tunnel in the middle, and Los Angeles on the other. " src="/trccs/emoticons/icon_smile.gif"> 

 

I didn't know it was so fround upon!  :)

The thing is at the moment I do have an arid landscape in place but not really a desert landscape, more a mountainous arid place covered in flock and a tunneled hill. In the middle of that there will be a large lake, almost a meter across. After that the RR continues over a river into a more mountaious area where a helix like hill splits the RR in two halves. One of them goes up and is to be continued for a full circle around the room ones and perhaps twice to give it some running time. This trip will be somewhere between 16-32 meters long and will be more mountainous with some snow at the end on the highest ground.

The other part of the railroad goes down into a flatland industrial area where it will come to a small industry first before it continues to a small town , perhaps with a harbour to justify all the freight going there. All in all I would suspect that the total length of track used to get from point A to B will be aproximately 50-60 meters, due to the use of walls as a mean to aquire length.

 

I do hope this is enough to justify changes in climate and landsape some what atleast. There will be hight difrences as well as distance. Please give me an input on this plan, is it feasable? Criticism helps alot.

 

Magnus

[Texas Zepher]

a helix like hill splits the RR in two halves. One of them goes up and is to be continued for a full circle around the room ones and perhaps twice to give it some running time. This trip will be somewhere between 16-32 meters long... The other part of the railroad goes down into a flatland industrial area .... All in all I would suspect that the total length of track used to get from point A to B will be aproximately 50-60 meters, due to the use of walls as a mean to aquire length.

Those are some nice long runs, however it is difficult to picture in ones mind.  Do you have any sketches you could post?

[nbrodar]

I'm partial to Northeastern railroads.   Rolling wooded nmountains, winding creeks, big bridges over wide river valleys, farms, small mill towns, and big mill buildings.

The PRR, Reading and Delaware & Hudson were big coal haulers, and ran steam and diesel during the early 1950s.   There's also the Lehigh Valley; Lehigh & New England; Delware, Lackawanna & Western; and Central Railway of New Jersey.

Nick

[beegle55]

I have to agree with Chessiefan. The B&O is very extensive and also is the C&O, that consists of 2 grrreat schemed roads, CSX and Chessie.