Modeling Fantasy Railroads

Those of you that model fantasy railroads or real RRs under alternate scenarios, what does it take to do it? The lack of prototypical information must make it harder to realistically model a fantasy railroad, am I correct?

 

actually is easier as no one can proof you're wrong.

 

Buy Con-Cor!

Fantasy railroading could be called free-lancing and prototype railroading in an alternative scenario is called proto-lancing.

Having a locale that may have been surveyed for railroad building in the past could form the basis for either. A bit or research at the library or online could yield a mountain of information.

Anything fantasy is just that - fantasy. It's your reality in the end!

 

I've always wanted to bring the California Southern back to life. It was the predecessor to AT&SF in Calif. I wanted to make it the Main road in SoCal with the other roads making connections and trackage rights. For example I have SP meeting at Bakesfield for interchange and trackage rights to Los Angeles and Yuma,AZ. Santa Fe meets at Needles,Ca and has limited trackage rights to LA and Bakersfield. UP meets in Las Vegas, NV and has rights to LA, But Calif Sou. has rights to Salt Lake City. Also the SD&AE and SP's Coast line to San Francisco are CS lines.
And colors for my fictional road were going to be Florida East Coast livery.

 

Someday I hope to build the D&H Colorado Division. I think too that building a fantasy railroad would be easier because you don't feel obligated to hold to something that people can be critical about.

I believe both fantasy and prototypical both have there place so why not model the way that you would enjoy the most. Both methods can reference prototypical information but fantasy you can pick and choose what works best for their layout ideas.

 

I model an (once) existing railroad in a non-existing landscape that is based on my impression of Connecticut (which is difficult, because I have never been there...). I also have a freelance RR that makes use of the NH tracks. Building scenery that does not exist gives you the freedom in placing houses and tracks where-ever you want them, but you must do it in a prototypical way. Creating an existing scenery forces you to build it conform reality, but it also gives you more guidance.

 

Managment philosophy of the Grey and Grandure:
If it looks good, run it
I am working on a fantacy history of the GandG.

 

I found that modeling a fantasy railroad is much easier and a lot less stressful. My earlier attempts on building layouts were unsuccessful because I was trying to hard to copy the prototype. Now that I have gone outside the box I am enjoying modeling once again.

I am modeling the anthracite roads of eastern Pennsylvania, in particular the Lehigh & New England, Reading, and the Jersey Central. Now all three roads are real but in my model railroad world they are owned by my model railroad company. They are operated as three separate yet cooperating roads. The scenery is made not to copy the real but to capture the flavor of it. I am making the model railroad to be a series of interconnected scenes that the trains pass through or operate in.

One art that I am truly enjoying is the proto-lancing as someone called it. The L&NE went out of business in October 1961. Some of their tracks were sold to the CNJ. Their locomotives, and rolling stock were sold to the highest bidders. What lines were not sold to CNJ were torn up and sold for scrap. In my world the L&NE was sold to my model railroad company with all tracks, locos, and rolling stock. Since I operate trains in two different eras (1950s and 1970s) I needed to update the L&NE’s loco fleet. For this I got to design their paint scheme which I used their existing diesel paint scheme as a starting point. For the locomotive type I went with GE U boats. Why? The real L&NE used ALCOs. So I figured that they would replace their S-2, and RS-2 with more ALCOs and then since ALCO was no longer around that they would move to GE locos for their next replacement. The next area I will be working on is updating the L&NE’s rolling stock. This proto-lancing has opened up a whole new world of modeling for me and keeps the challenge fresh.

 

My "geologically impossible" short line the Wilmington and New York borrows heavily from the practices of its two connections, the Delaware and Hudson and the New York Central, with a goodly dose of the New York, Ontario and Western thrown in.

I enjoy research and reading about these three lines but I don't feel obligated to include anything I don't like (or can't realistically do). I don't make any attempt to model the towns along the line as they existed either; I figure that if the railroad is a "what if" so can the town.

Always remember Rule #1!

 

The railroad I model is based on the former Southern Pacific Toledo Branch, which runs from Albany, OR to the coast. In my world, SP never gained control, and the Santiam Pacific, as I call it, was continued over the Cascades and Rockies to a connection with the Milwaukee Road and Northern Pacific in Missoula, MT.

Modeling a freelance railroad can be as easy, or as difficult, as you want it to be. If you want to run Sharknoses and Dash-2s together, do it! If you want to be more realistic, and run your railroad more like the real thing, then there's a bit more work involved. I actually find the research stimulating, and it helps me keep my interest going.

It all comes down to, what do you want most? Now, go and do it!

Pat

 

I'm modeling a railroad that was never completed. Moving it up to the late fifties. It will require a few changes in history. Two segments of the proposed line are under water due to reservoirs being built. One reservoir will have to go, because it would flood one of the most interesting features of the railroad. A loop, in New York State!!! I also have to enlarge the hometown of the railroad to make it a little more interesting. My roster will be all ALCO, except for a switcher from the recently defunct NYO&W. It is a little more work to do a freelance railroad, but it does give you the freedom of having a roster you can afford. And your own level of traffic. Frank

 

When you are King of Your World, large leaps of logic, geography and history are possible and kind of fun.
Lately I have been interested in representing the MKT in Denison texas, but the headaches caused by my perfectionism running headlong into the realities of space, time and budget have lead me to consider developing a concept that will give me some structure or parameters but still grant me the freedom of freelancing. I still dont know what shape that will take, probably some merger of the old Katy with the new DGNO wrapped up in the "folds of time" but for me developing the "story" is as big a part of the hobby as anything else.

 

Pick a time and a place and then invent a little story. What would prompt a bunch of investors to spend the time moeny and effort to construct a railroad where you propose? What induustries would be served and why. Why would they choose rail over other means. How would it connect to the rest of the world and what sorts of bussiness arrangment would make that possible.It can be as simple or as detailed as you like. Like someone said, no one can tell you you are wrong.
But have a story in mind and build the layout to tell that story, at least in part.

 

Here's an example of something like what Av8rTX is talking about...

http://jon.beigetower.org/fbrr/index.html

That's an idea I've been kicking around for the past few days, I put it on the web just a little bit ago.

 

Boxcab,

Kinda sorta...

The original line was named the Oregon Pacific, and the plan was to build from Yaquina Bay through Albany to Central Oregon, then through Burns to a connection with the Union Pacific in western Idaho.

However in my world, when the Santiam Pacific takes control in the early 1900s, UP and SP were under Harriman's control, and UP would not have been a friendly connection on the eastern end. Besides, I sorta preferred the Milwaukee Road as an eastern connection. So I planned a route over Lolo Pass instead of the original route.

Much more scenic this way, besides!

Pat