What do people model?

[81F]

Just out of interest what do people out there model and what era?

My model is (or will be if I ever finish it) will be based on Chirk Station on the Welsh/English Border on the Great Western Mainline between Shrewsbury and Chester. The era is between the late 1920s and 1935 to enable me to model the interchange between the Narrow gauge Glyn Valley Tramway. The narrow gauge Tramway locos are 009 built from PECO kits using Graham Farish (now owned by Bachmann) n gauge chassis, while the standard gauge is British outline OO using Bachmann, Hornby and various other manufacturers stock.

Best wishes

Steve

[rogertra]

HO Scale, strictly 1958 with hopefully no anachronisms even though I freelance.  Freelancing to me doesn't mean I can run 4-4-0s pulling container stacks alongside some 2000 technotoaster diesel.  To me, that's unrealistic but if someone else gets their pleasure that way, go for it!

I subscribe to the saying "I'm a railroader modeller, not a model railroader."  In other words, I model from the real world and not from what I read and see in the magazines.  I don't model other people's model railroads.  That's not to say I don't borrow ideas from articles but they have to suit my area and my era and be prototypical.  I also model the everyday and common place.  I do not model something just because it's "cool".   Being this strict in my modelling avoids impulse buying.  Some 25 plus years ago, I wrote a history of my model railway from its beginnings in the mid 1800s up to 1972.   1972 because the first GER was set in that year.  I have a complete roster based on steam types typically seen in the Montreal area during my modelling period and therefore I don't impulse buy.  If it's not on my roster, I don't buy it!

However, having said that there are two anomalies.  I have three Spectrum 2-10-0s, which are substitutes for the CPR 2-10-0s rebuilt from the CPR 0-6-6-0 helpers discussed in another thread and three Atlas RS-1s, which never ran new in Canada.  I have the RS-1s as the GER's history says the New England division dieselised in the early 1950s with RS-1s for way freight and yard service and FA-1s for through freights.  I used the RS-1s I like them and they are not untypical of the era and region.  The switcher the CPR actually used was not available at the time.

Freight forwarding using car-cards and waybills and, eventually as the railway expands, timetable and train order operation.

Well, that's it.  You did ask.  

P.S.

Steve, you in Oxford?  If "yes", 81F gives you away.  

[Balrog21]

I like too many roads to model just one so I made up my own line so I could incorporate and have all of my old favorites running on the layout. I set my line in the San Jose mtns so it would have some sense of being there in the first place. It can connect the up line and the bnsf line when the need arises. I love the old ICG out of all of the lines so I'm heavy in those...a lot, and while I was making up this history I've decided to try and collect ICG's SD40/SD40-2's complete roster. So far I've gotten a pretty good jump on the endeavor.  The SD40-2 is my all time favorite engine. My line will also have some old green BN, and the Chessie system engine and rolling stock. Of course the loco roster of those are SD40-2.  Well, there ya go.
B

[jward]

in the past, I have modeled my own line because the railroads I liked didn't run through the places I liked with the locomotives I liked. by creating a fictitious line I could have it all. I even drew up a roster of diesels, and painted and numbered my models according to this plan.

recently, I have taken a break from that and run whatever catches my eye, mostly eastern railroads I saw in person. there are way too many models of old friends to pass up.

my all time favourite locomotives were the alco centuries, followed closely by the emd sd45 and sd35.

[Desertdweller]

My model railroad is N-scale.  The Denver Union Terminal Railroad.  Era is late 50's to mid-60's.  Almost all operations are passenger.

I picked this subject because the actual place is not too far away and I have ridden many long-distance trains
into and out of that place.

Another reason I chose it is because most of my favorite railroads of that era used it.  I have made up a schedule for sequence operations with arrival and departure times for 40 train movements, and appropriate power and cars for each train.  I model the station and its platform tracks, tracks for the former D&SL station, and three engine terminals.

Railroads represented on my model railroad are: AT&SF; CB&Q; C&S; D&RGW; MP; RI; and UP.

It was a welcome challenge to model an urban area, as my previous model railroads were rural.

My normal operations are all Dieselized.  I run a mixture of first-generation EMD and ALCO locomotives.
My newest prototype engines are a GP-40 in AT&SF, with backdated 1960's paint, and a AT&SF U30CG.
I do run some off-line baggage/express cars from railroads that connected with my home railroads, for variety.  Also, on my UP trains, Milwaukee Road pool locomotives and cars are seen.

Both streamlined and heavyweight equipment appear.  The premier trains are streamliners, but heavyweight equipment is dominant in secondary trains.

I researched the consists, destinations, and arrival and departure times for each train.  I think that someone familiar with that era would be able to recognize my trains.

Les

[Pops]

Full details on my web site -  www.HeritageValleyRailroad.com

[GG1onFordsDTandI]

I used to seriously model Autos, running brake and fuel lines, wires, etc. making up small diorama scenes. I just ran my Og trains, but I don't remember not owning a train. The trains as is, were good enough, but I did make up loads, like toilet paper tube cement pipes, "logs", popcorn coal, and pine cone Christmas trees. Then, one day a couple of years ago, there was an accident at the crossing. One of my MPC hoppers got some model paint on it, calling for a quick weathering of it before it set. From there the paint just seemed to just spread. , soon the loads got a bit more realistic. Then suddenly the 50 year old accessories weren't enough by themselves, I felt I needed telephone poles, and ...gulp ..streetlamps . . I am now managing these impulses quite well. I've learned to not leave a "plain" item to close to a worked one, else the need to introduce it to "mother nature", might conquer my willpower. My challenge is sometimes not modeling anything too well, so that it doesn't clash too bad with the older or more colorful stuff.   

[ebtnut]

I model O/On3 circa 1955.  My working theory is that you will most likely enjoy modeling the trains you remember from adolescence - around ages 10-12 or so.  That puts me in the steam-diesel transition era (I was 14 when the N&W dropped the last fire).  My layout is primarily On3, based on the EBT but set a little further east, where there were once a couple more narrow gauge lines.  My road connects the WM with the EBT, which is about 25 real miles.  Coal, brick, limestone and lumber are the primary article of commerce.  The WM side has one Russian Decapod, an RS-3, and a pair of Alco FA's.  The narrow gauge includes a Shay (Kemtron) and a Climax (Bachmann, regauged) for the mine branch, a pair of leased EBT Mikes, a heavy Mike, a pair of Moguls (one NWSL, one regauged Bachmann) and a D&RGW C-19 which is to be rebuilt one of these days to resemble EBT No. 7 as it looked after the shop fire repairs. 

Note this - The WM dropped steam in 1954, but kept some locos around in stand-by for a couple of years after.  The prototype EBT quit as a common carrier in 1956.  There were Shays and Climaxes in service in West Virginia into the late 1950's, so all this more or less hold together. 

[WoundedBear]

Quick description.........a small fictional shortline on the BC-Alberta border in the Yellowhead Pass region, circa 1932. We run a few mines, a sawmill, a logging area, 2 small towns and a central yard. The layout room is roughly 12 X 22 and I have a 12 X 15 studio in the room next to it. Staging runs through an access hole in the wall and is in the studio room. Minimum radius is 18, but the small equipment I use looks fine. Max grade is 2.2% and there is provision for a continuous run route through staging, or it can be operated as a point to pointer.

The names are fictional as well.....the small town of Lye Flats is where Lye Flats Lumber Co has their mill. Main street consists of a store, fire hall, station, and other buildings. It leads up a road past some company houses to the largest mine on the layout. The centrally located Stihl Yards look after servicing and repairing all of the LS&D's equipment as well as doing work on the privately owned units of the mines and lumber company. The other town on the line is Djheet Valley with a number of various industries and a layover stock yard. There is a station here as well.

Down the line is the logging area and a wye, then on towards a few more mines and finally into staging. It's a single main with limited passing. At Stihl there is only a small 4 track stub yard. Big power is a Mantua 2-6-6-2....it brings the weekly freight drag into the area.  The workhorses of the fleet are three Bachmann 4-6-0's with the 52" drivers. They are responsible for passenger service and hauling the local freight.

The mines and sawmill run Shays and Climaxes. The mines have both 2 and 3 truck Climaxes, a 2 truck Climax will handle yard switching and Shays pulling Rivarossi log cars are everywhere. There is also a Concor Pierce Arrow Galloping Goose that hauls hot shot freight to the mines.


Sid

[Desertdweller]

These railroads all sound very interesting!

Let me tell you about my previous railroad.

This too was N-scale.  It was a small railroad built of two layers of Celotex textured ceiling tile over 3/4" plywood.  You might say it was overbuilt, but it traveled well.

It was the West Central Nebraska.  A fictional UP branchline in the 1960's.  It began life in Minnesota in 1979, then moved with me to South Dakota, then to Texas, then to Mississippi, then finally to (you guessed it) West Central Nebraska.  After 28 years it was scrapped and replaced by my Denver Union Terminal Railroad.

It featured reverse-signaled CTC main line and full structure and area lighting.

It featured freight operation with a car-card and waybill system.  This was very realistic, in my opinion, but it also was a problem in that, for eight years of operation, my job was in station operations where my work consisted largely of car distribution, train planning, and record keeping.  At times, it was too much like my own job to really be an escape.

My first N-scale railroad was the Bonanza Borax Road.  This was an unfinished layout I bought from a friend and completed.  It was actually built in a desk drawer.  A twice-around folded loop, complete with a suitably spindly trestle I scratch built.  It featured Death-Valley style desert scenery, and all rolling stock and locos looked like they had been left in the sun too long.  I could only use small locos and 40' cars.  Power was a pair of Bachmann 6-wheel Plymouths and an Atlas Geep.  One siding that had a switch in it served the mine: a Quonset Hut made from a paper towel tube and a Heljan gravel loading tower.  Another single-ended siding in front was the interchange with the rest of the world.  Switches were operated by stiff wire rods.

I loaned this railroad to a friend of mine who was killed in an industrial accident.  His girlfriend, thinking it was his, sold it at a garage sale.

I modeled in HO from 1968 to 1978.  I just couldn't build the size layouts I wanted in the space I had, so switched to N.  I have plenty of room for HO now, so I built a good-sized N scale railroad instead.

Les

[Mdaskalos]

I'm modeling the C&O, New River Subdivision, in N scale in the late steam era. Modeling it rather loosely, but the two bridges will resemble the one at Hawks Nest (although only a single truss), and the deck truss bridge over the New River near Gauley Bridge.

Since the purpose of this is mainly to get my sons into model railroading, I'm going to have to be flexible regarding what runs on the railroad...they're buying some of their own engines and rolling stock that suit their fancy.

A major home project has interrupted construction of the railroad in a rather early state. my sons have called it the "Great West Virginia Desert Railroad", as I just barely have the landscape built and painted an earth tone, and only about 3 feet of track down.

Manuel

[Len]

While I dable with several scales, my primary layout is the KL&B Eastern Lines Railroad Museum in HO.

Originally much smaller, the KL&B was able to expand when the Class-I (CSX) serving the area decided to abandon a 35 mile branch line. Local businesses that depended on the branch worked a deal with the KL&B and the Class-I where cars would be dropped off near the KL&B, and the KL&B would use it's equipment to make deliveries along the branch.

This generates much greater revenue than general admissions and scenic rides that the KL&B is able to use for restoration projects that otherwise wouldn't happen. So any given day you may see a ex-New Haven RS-3 hauling pellets to the styrofoam cooler plant, or an ex-NC&StL 4-6-2 bringing a string of boxcars from the paper box plant down to the interchange.

By the way, the museum defines "Eastern Lines" as anything that operated east of the Continental Divide.

Len

[Thomas1911]

My layout is similar to Sid's except quite a bit smaller with logging and local freight only.  It is a fictional HO railroad set on the edge of a forest somewhere during the transition era (mid-late 50's).  I wrote a history for my railroad as Roger did, however, it hasn't helped me at all with the impulse buying.  I do have some what-if's, but try to keep things plausible.

Layout is 10'x11' and includes/will include a logging area, sawmill, engine terminal and small town.  Originally planned to have coal operations, but recently decided to concentrate on just the logging as I don't quite have the room for both currently.  Trackplan is a folded loop, single-track main with passing sidings.  Will be reworking the layout over the coming few months to make things flow a bit better.

Motive power is the typical geared locomotives, currently two Shay's and a Heisler.  Also, run a 2-4-4-2, two GE 44-Tonners, two SD7's, and a VO-1000.  Pretty full on locomotives already, but would like to add a 2-6-6-2T, one or two smaller rod engines to the fleet and possibly a Climax.

If all goes as planned, this layout will be incorporated into a larger layout at some point in the future.  Hopefully, get those coal mines and some other industries going.

[ryeguyisme]

Mainly HO freelance version of Standard gauged Denver and Rio Grande Western steam from early as 1920's to 1950's, but Primarily I like to stick to the 40's mainly for wartime traffic.

I do model N scale but my idea for that is for travel and a background forced perspective layout from my HO layout.

I'm BIG into STEAM, like articulateds and heavy duty mountain road engines.

I collect private freelance railroad cars as well as if to add to the dimension of my freelance world.

I spend more time on steam locomotives than anything else, which means the layout gets highly neglected, both time spent on it and financially. Brass engines are expensive despite my efforts bargain hunting, my dedication to my steam locomotives is definitely a labor of love. I would spend up to 4-5 hours daily just researching different engines and styles and the history surround certain railroads in the time period I model.

I still have steam locomotive projects lined up that need to be finished before I start new endeavors so I'm going to start focusing on them for now like my recently finished 2-10-4.

I have plans to do HOn3 Narrow gauge now that Blackstone has announced the K-36 so that will be a prominent  part of my layout as well.

My inspirations in the Hobby include the likes of John Allen, Malcolm Furlow, John Olsen, Jim Findley among other 'artists' and kitbashers in the hobby.

Right now my funding is cut short due to pending hospital bills and the need for a car, and regular bills.....darned responsibilities

[GG1onFordsDTandI]

On the subjects of names, places, scenarios,... I give names all the time, change them even more. My time machine can produce some incredible scenarios (I.e. I like my imagination). Most often Im running a Great Lakes loop from Detroit either north to the Straights of Mackinaw over the converted Mackinaw bridge, to SOO station, or east thru the Port Huron Tunnel. Both go to Buffalo thru Canada. The return leg of the loop is southwest around Erie. Penn., Ohio., back to Mi. ..The Alternate is any other Great Lakes loop combo that comes to mind. Chicago was never rebuilt after the fire is the only given factor . 
Or maybe it goes like this, After departure from the Watsamatau yard, the C&O Kawanna, with a mail/baggage combo, and milk car in tow already, crosses the Nolike bridge stopping at the Tis City industrial park for a liquid Tanker and a flat of scrap Iron, copper, etc. from JOC E's repair shop. Then Around to The Best, Meataume, & Herattatha Station for a Fri night private Party car. The station stop is lightning fast. Mail and baggage handlers buzz around quickly and the next thing you know she off and roaring, not due to stop Till The AM. Just Kiddeg mountain tunnel to go Though then home.
Sorry, sugar crash, will finish next time...need food