Well, sort of an opposite scenario- I model a place where I have been. Many times. But there was never a common carrier railroad. Boxcab E50
I model my layout based on the time I was never around. The 40's and 50's. It's at Savannah, Iv'e been there a couple times. Beautiful place. It was a whole lot different back then when people flooded the Central Of Georgia train station to get a ride on The Orange Blossom Special. Now it's quiet there. Buildings have been erected or destroyed around the area.
I model Espee's Oregon Division, July, '67. Went to Oregon a few times when I was real young, but have not been back since. Plus my era is 14 years before I was born....
I've never been to the USA. So I model a fictitious layout. From Model Railroader I've got an article about "The yard at Westport". So I've got the name. :angel: Wolfgang
Hey sean! Yea I would like to see some photos of your layout sometime. Hey thanks for advertising my forum :teeth:
When I originally got into model railroading in HO scale I intended to build something fictitious but similar to the old Wabash line through/around the small town where I grew up...adding a couple interesting scenes I'd encountered on other railroads in the NW-Ohio/NE-Indiana region. When my situation evolved to where that would never be a possibility, I switched to N scale. Since there is little Wabash N scale stuff out there, I switched to Santa Fe, but kept my small town theme, and shifted it it about 800 miles west to somewhat/remotely similar terrain in Kansas. Never been there, probably never will be, but it lets me keep the flavor of what I know...small farm town...and be able to still use some of the scenes I originally had in mind, without them looking out of place.
Hello Alex! I am gonna have to post some pics of my layout. I have to get my camera fixed. the focus is off a bit, but I'll post where I left off last. Gonna have to wait until June to get some real work done. until then. No Prob!:shade:
I was beginning to wonder when the bug would bite you:teeth:! Actually seeing and hearing steam in person has made many fans of those awesome machines.
:teeth: Well im still a diesel fan but I would rather see steam anyday then some peice of junk GEVO....LOL
That makes 2 of us, although I have been to Germany many years ago - went to Koln, Bonn and Trier. Jon
I am preparing to start on a series of modules using Proto:87 that capture the Erie Lackawanna / Conrail transition period. I plan on hitting highlights along the Erie Main through Orange County, NY - including Goshen, Chester, Monroe, and Harriman. While I was too young to remember the actual transition, I do have vague memories of consists that were made up of both shiny, fresh painted Conrail motive power and EL units that hadn't been repainted, yet. The devil is in the details, and I have been obsessively working on getting as much prototype information as possible, including photographs, postcards, topographical maps, Sanborn fire insurance maps, etc. Now, if I could only find the stuff after our recent move, I would be set. ;-)
I model the Great Northern in the mid-fifties over Stevens Pass here in Washington State. I have the town of Skykomish, with all the buildings,(including the old power house), up to the west portal of Cascade Tunnel. Did I mention it is built in Z-scale, with all Micro-Trains products and everything else scratchbuilt!:teeth: Great thread by the way! It's neat to see all the different roads and locals!
I have been there, walked it, shot it, lestened to it, felt it, and got a minds eye of it. The Western Maryland Thomas Sub, would liked to have been there when she was running. I have to settle for the echos of the past and all the vido and audio I can find on her. "Still Training After All These Years"
I model Tacoma, WA in 1949. I have been to the States several times, but never to the Pacific Northwest. Lucky me Tacoma Public Library has an excellent Internet page, so I can go there for inspiration and reference. http://search.tpl.lib.wa.us/images/ Also there are many very good books available and there is always Trainboard for help and encouragement. Cheers Dirk
I consider myself very lucky to live in the West. I have traveled through about 30 or so states, two Canadian provinces, the District of Columbia, and Italy, Spain, France, Ireland, and Scotland. There are lots of places I would love to go see again and many other places I would like to go see, but I love railfanning the Pacific Northwest. I ended up picking the PNWR/WPRR to model simply because it runs over a lot of trackage that I love to go check out when I get the chance, and because you will find all sorts of motive power over parts of the trackage, including ex-SP locos, ex-ATSF locos, ex-BN locos, PNWR locos in the GWI paint scheme, and sometimes BNSF and UP locos, and lots of one-off schemes, like WPRR's 1801 "black widow" paint scheme GP9. The 4449 runs on PNWR/WPRR trackage on occasion, too. Recently, it ran to the Albany, Oregon, yard to get service on some of the drivers simply because the PNWR has a facility that can handle driver wheels that huge. Having said all that, I am modeling a location more than a specific timeframe. The thing is that I also love the old Mikes, and a lot of the lines I model were electric intercity service at one time. Almost everyone in my NTrak club is a huge GN fan and that is starting to rub off on me, too, and there is even a GN-painted F7 that sometimes runs these tracks even today, so I have a pretty wide range of possibilities. I live in Portland, Oregon, so, no, I can't say that I am modeling something I have never seen. Anyone modeling the Pacific Northwest who is contemplating a first trip this way to do some railfanning should feel free to send me a PM for more information. I have been thoroughly impressed with some of the stuff I have seen on this board by people who are modeling places they don't live in or have never visited. Adam
I freelance my own railroad corporation. I do not even have a layout yet, but the name and theme has changed a few times over the last few times. Currently I am focusing on freelancing the Gulf & Ohio Midland. Basically this allows me to model the Northern Ohio Valley and Pittsburgh area, but have strng influences from "southern" railroads such as the L&N, ACL, GM&O, & SAL. My time frame varies from about 1966-to 1969. The late sixties and early seventies was a colorful period that would allow the mixture of modern and transition era freight cars (such as a 1937 40' box with a brand new 60' autoparts boxcar), locomotives (F3's with GP38's), and passenger cars (1919 Pullmans with late 50's Budds), ice reefers and mechanical reefers.Very diverse, yet prototypical.
I was around during the time frame on my layout, but I was only nine months old and a couple of hundred miles to the southeast. My freelanced Tioga & Great Lakes RR is set in north central PA and southern NY in Septemper of 1956. I'm modeling the southern portion of the railroad, the Williamsport branch. That way I can have interchange and some pooled operations with my favorite prototype/fallen flag, the Reading. It also helps set the time and place of the layout.
My plans have changed so many times, but they're starting to settle down. I grew up in the Suburbs of Chicago close to C&NW's high speed (and near me elevated) tracks to Proviso Yard and on to Council Bluffs. The former Milwaukee a few blocks north then Soo then CP. The former B&O Chicago Terminal ran 2 blocks from me. Actually, at that point it was Soo Line, then Wisconsin Central. A few miles south was the BN racetrack and then Santa Fe. So, I had a lot of interests, But I have to admit that I was always drawn to western railroads. I was a Santa Fe fan from the start. I loved the pictures of Burrow's Cat Mountain. The loop, Donner... Then in 2001 I moved to Portland Or. It was over. Since then I moved to San Diego and have seen the loop and Donner and more. Now, I'm modelling ficticous in Or. Eventually when mone and space allow, I plan a double decker with the bottom being Chicago area and the top being the west. Two ends of the same fake railroad.
