Freelance or Prototypical, that is the question!

Both of my layouts are freelanced.They both do interchange with prototype roads though.I have never done proto modeling and most likely never will.They are both of the same railroad (Grande Valley) and based in Michigan and the scenery reflects that with out modeling any specific place.

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Catt!

 

I chose freelance as trying to replicate an actual railroad seemed too daunting. I imagine we all base our freelance layouts on prototypical railroads. I certainly have used Canadian Pacific through the Rockies and both Canadian Pacific and Canadian National as they follow the banks of the Fraser river enroute to Vancouver. The CN line through Georgetown where I live as a fair amount of traffic on it and includes a bottleneck where the double track main line has to go single track to cross a bridge across the Credit river. This bridge was built in the 1850s and has never been doubled. It is a great spot to watch trains and ideas like this can easily be used on a freelance layout. Following a prototype seems the way to go but how close does it have to be to actual operation to really be considered prototyp? I am sure there are many variations.
Robin
http://members.xoom.com/Matthyro/index.html

 

Hey,

I am 100% freelance. I would never be able to look at a prototype line and model it with a certain degree of accuracy. I find that freelance is perfect, al least for what I want! I want to take 3 good railroads that are spaced apart (1 in BC, 1 in Ontario, 1 in Quebec), combine them, use my favourite scenery in my province, and them slap a name on the side.
The

EASTERN BRITISH COLUMBIA RAIL LINK
AN OPERATING SUBSIDURY OF
SOUTHERN RAILWAY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA

It really is quite enjoyable to do, however my dad is doing, in Alans words, a "freelance prototypical" layout of the CANADIAN PACIFIC RALWAY from Vancouver to an unknown location (in Eastern BC, for obvios reasons), and it is a large distance. He is compressing it into a very small space though.

Personally I think free lance is the way to go,
but there are some die hard prototypical modellers out there, and hey! when their layouts are done they are awsome!

Just one persons opion




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TAMR2860-AKA BC Rail King
TAMR2860@hotmail.com

 

My East Texas Sub of the Santa Vaca & Santa Fe is based on Santa Fe's line through the East Texas Piney Woods, with bits of Navasota, Conroe, and Silsbee.
But with the fictictious name of Johnston, Texas, a memorial for my late great modeler friend Ron Johnston who died in 1973.

Creotex wood preservation plant is a condensation of the real life Conroe Creosoting, now long gone.
My lumber mill at Big Piney is based loosely on the Kirby Mill at Silsbee.
The logging tram that operates trackage rights over Santa Fe tracks is based on the Kirby Lumber Co. tram which ran over Santa Fe from Silsbee.
The logging company owned but officially common carrier on a short line which connects the mill to the trunkline railroad is operated similarly to the Moscow, Camden and St. Augustine which connected to the SP.

My portable "United States Naval Air Station TIDELANDS (Lighter than Air) Roadroad was based on actual buildings, scenes, etc at Hitchcock Texas on the Santa Fe. (I used an on-base Navy switcher for the free-standing layout. I suspect the Hitchcock base had so little traffic, it was switched by Santa Fe crews)


I am planning a new layout which is "MY VERSION" of the Santa Fe at Galveston. Almost everything, every bldg, spur etc will based on actual building, operation, prototype plan, in as close to proper relation to each other...but greatly condensed with lots left out...

 

A case for "prototype simulation"

For me, the inspirational moment was visiting the locale of one of those M.R. project layouts and actually recognizing the real place based on elements seen in layouts! I took the time to visit the real towns that were featured on the M.R. BN project layout years ago. I have to tell you that this idea really works!

It seems that their concept is "Simulation"; modeling enough essentials of the real place without modeling it down to every detail. I think this is where many of us get hung up. It is not necessary to exactly model the real place to every detail! And frankly, it can be a real pain! The revelation is realizing that you can really capture the "flavor" of a place without bothering with every detail. Later you can always go back and update things if the prototype bug really bites.

I have modeled some real towns along the CB&Q using this concept. When "a local" comes up to you at a show and recognizes the place right away, you have reached your goal. A young girl saw my layout and exclaimed "Hey, thats the little crossing I ride my bike over every day." Now that is a true compliment.

It is not difficult to recreate key buildings and other structures using existing kits. Often simply painting them the "real" color can go a long way. I would add that it is very rewarding (read -fun) to watch these elements come together. Your chunk of lumber actually begins to look a lot like the real place. Sometimes a manufacturer will be nice enough to sell a kit that "pert near" matches some element found at the real place. I have found inspiration in existing (and readily bought) signal bridge kits and depot models.

It begins to get a lot more fun as your research into a real place begins to accumulate through the years as well. You begin by physically visiting the real place (and photographing the heck outta it). Then you find pictures and maps from various sources. The real fun then comes when you take your creation to a local show and have a chance to talk with the "locals" about it. Or post pictures of it online and watch as others who also share your interest pop out of the woodwork. Through various conversations, your unanswered question get answered and your appreciation grows.

So my point? Relax, you do not need to model every detail. Prototype modeling is indeed daunting, at first. Try some simulation as a way to get started. Start with some of the "main features" of a place and watch your knowledge and fun grow! You can stop there, or your interest may take you farther.

 

I model a specific region with prototypical elements. However, as my passion for steam engines has grown, my first generation diesels are soon to be mixed with steam. I'll probably have a 1940 to 1968 ananchronistic layout when I'm all done, but i can live with the fun of having steam and diesels simultaneously running.

 

this is freelanced, prototypically speaking

 

Mine will be a little of both. A railroad planned during the Anthracite boom, and only partially completed. It would have stretched from Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania to Schenectady, NY.

It was going to run south of the O&W, crossing it east of Hancock, NY. The actual part built became the Delaware and Northern shortline. It ran east to the Ulster and Delaware (later NYC's Catskill Mountain branch) , at Arkville, NY (Current site of the Ulster and Delaware rail ride, a tourist line.) It would have had trackage rights on the Ulster and Delaware to Grand Gorge, headed east on a large trestle over the town, gone into a curved tunnel, come out on a trestle above a waterfall. It would have headed south down the Schoharie Creek, done a horseshoe curve in Prattsville, and gone back under it's own trestle heading north and east through another tunnel. Although sparsely populated, I thought that was a very model worthy area.

I plan to model the late 1950's. The coal business in fading, and so is the line. One through freight each way. A passenger train with mostly head end traffic serves the industrial city of Schenectady. Very few on line passengers. A few local freights ply the line, most less than daily. Some coal and perishable extras.

Since the line serves ALCO's hometown, most power is LL FA-1's, a couple PA-1's, and Atlas RS-3's. (Roster on a budget) I have a LL switcher painted for the O&W. I'm looking at the coming Walthers RS-2. The railroad presumably picked one up second hand after the O&W folded.

The little online traffic will be a dwindling volume of anthracite, pulpwood, gravel, bluestone (a local type of slate, once popular for sidewalks) and general freight, mostly picked up at freight houses.

Since finances appeared to have improved, I hope to have it underway soon. Will start with the division point and shops at Margaretville and work east. Since I work full time, who knows how much progress will be made, but I like the concept. Have fun planning yours. Frank

 

Well... a little of both for me too. I'll try to incorporate scenery from the region... but... probably nothing that depicts 'exactly' the area. It probably will be more on the freelanced side as a result, but, it will certainly be representative of the Colorado & Utah mountainous terrain.
What I wonder is the term "PROTO-LANCING"... which is a combination of prototype & freelance modeling. At which point would one consider their N scale layout as strictly prototype or strictly freelance? Most of us can only represent the prototype faithfully in a small area... beyond that most of us are probably freelancing anyway.

 

Hemi, I would say you were prototype simulation from everything I've read on your threads. Now if you lettered your equipment Denver, Salt Lake & Western, then I would agree with your prototype/freelance reference. You've put in way to much work in getting the scenery and trains right to call it freelance.

 

My still in the conceptual phase little table-top layout is going to be heavy on the "lancing" and light on "Proto"...the legendary (in my mind) Fictionalville on the OY&B (Over Yonder & Beyond) branch of the Santa Fe..

Why small town? That's what I grew up with...a couple hundred feet from a branch of the Wabash line. From my house, the houses of friends and relatives, from my school yard, and even my church I had ring side seats to a show that consisted almost entirely of one small switcher servicing the small businesses of the town...the coal yards, the grain mills, the heating oil depot. After 50 years of it, it still facinates me.

Why the Santa Fe? The "Warbonnets" and vista dome cars look so cool...LOL. I can still remember 40+ years ago watching a travel log film in like kindergarten or first grade. I was hooked on Santa Fe passenger trains the second I saw the image of that red and silver streak flying by with the smiling family waving from the vista dome.

Why lite on real world prototype? This 48"x80" or so slab of door cores and foam is meant to be my escape from the real world....no a monument to it.

 

Prototype layouts are not all that hard to make these days, with Google Maps and XTrkCAD to help you. Since even the biggest is going to need some shortening of the actual run, a lot of planners do prototypical scenes and then omit the uninteresting parts in the middle. Walk around operation is a must, since you miss the true liberating power of DCC if you are going to sit in one location.

Of course, if you are in a club you are almost required to make a prototypical layout. This is to avoid embarrassment and disappointment, since the people who you want to impress will know if you fudged. Woe be the club who fashions a fanciful layout and titles it something specific! :teeth:

 

To my mind recreating a real railroad can be a blessing or a curse depending on your level of fidelity. I have a deep seated passion for the Western Maryland Thomas Subdivision. It's a 112 miles and no way I can model all of it, Ahla vignettes and compression. There is a lot of information out there on real railroads and doing the research is almost as much fun as building it. I have hiked it, photographed it, collected anything I can find on it. Just so I can get as close to the prototype as I can. With freelance you can create from your own thinking and no body can fault you.