Ok I'm sure this kind of post has come up before, but since we have some new members showing up I thought it would be a good post to see where everyone is at. For me, my favorite railroads are the the little three before Guilford, which would be the Maine Central, Boston & Maine, and D&H railroads. As a kid I lived in northern New England and got to see a lot of these railroads before they were covered under a dismal color of Guilford Gray I modeled in HO back then, because of the availability of HO products. At the time no one was producing MEC, B&M or D&H loco's so I ran mainly Santa Fe. When I got into N scale about 10 years ago I wanted to model the B&M and MEC, but was faced with the same problem I had with HO. I had started painting my own HO stuff before switching to N, so I started painting my N scale stuff. I soon had a small fleet of B&M loco's, then came college. I kept all my N scale stuff but started doing Santa Fe again as I was in the Mid-West. Now I mainly do BNSF for reasons that I have said before, and BNSF is the large part of my modeling. I still paint up a MEC or B&M engine or rolling stock every once in a while, and I planning on doing a Baldwin RF-16 D&H unit this fall. With all the new locomotives comming out, and so many BNSF loco's getting photographed, I'm busy painting up my BNSF fleet.( and trying to paint my wifes BN stuff when she's not looking) The BNSF will have a small permenant layout in my house, and my MEC layout is a small 6'X 3' layout. I love the large size of the modern BNSF and its equipment, but don't get me wrong, I still love the look of two EMD engines in Harvest Gold pulling a string of boxcars heading to a paper mill
Ah heck I can't resist. I model mainly the New York Central's proposed PA Southern Division. This was actually started being graded before calmer heads pulled the plug on it , oh well at least we got a turnpike out of it. I like the Centrals motive power and it being a former class one railroad just about every engine ran on it but six axle power and large steam. It also covered such a large area that just about any type of scenery can be found on it somewhere. My second favorite is the Reading railroad. For historical and because it differs from the Central in many ways. The Reading and the Central would have been very cooperative if this road had been built and I model that . Plus it gives me access to some of the SD 6 axles power . My favorite is anthracite hauling so with the Reading forwarding coal to the PA Southern its great for me. Now if I can find a Erie Lackawanna connection I can get those pretty EL SD45's and maybe down the road a branch to the East Broad Top.Hmmmmm if I get rid of the bed and sleep on the floor .....
I'm not in N, but, I'd like to jump in if you don't mind. I model the Norfolk & Western, Radford Division, Christiansburg District Fall of 1955. The N&W has great appeal to me. Homemade steam, somewhat of an underdog railroad, long coal drags and beautiful passenger trains.
Should we move this to the Pit? I didn't so much choose The Soo Line as it choose me. Growing up I spend summers with my Grandparents in Ladysmith Wisconsin. So the big white locomotives remind me of that time. I still think that 1980 Ladysmith would be a good thing to model, but I am interested in 1990's and by then Ladysmith was Wiscosin Central. My cut off date is 1995 (making my RR a BNSF free zone) and picked the Tomah Sub is Wisconsin because CNW had trackage rights, Amtrack runs there, there's a tunnel, my dad went to UW La Crosse, I went to the WI Dells as a kid, I'm a closet MILW fan. and on and on.... Plus - 1993-1995 gives me the chance to model CP.
Being a native of SoCal, I would mostly see only the Suffering and Pathetic (SP). They're my road of choice. Love those nasty ol' SD45's, tunnel motors etc. They always seemed to have more locos on the front end, then the entire consist of box cars! Mike
My own freelanced Grande Valley.Funny thing is I've got more CSX power than I do GVR power,and then there is CPR,NS,and two or three other shortlines and leasing companies.
Well I gotta say SP all the way!!! I grew up on the SP and that scarlet and gray just grew on me. Plus with all those lights to model Also love any small Northern California shortline. Amador Central, Sierra, CCT, California Western, California Northern and McCloud River.
As I am limited at scratchbuilding I decided to model UP due to the amount of rollingstock availability in N scale. I have altered my modeling now to also run some of the fallen flags, SP, DRGW just to add some variations to locomotives etc. As i become more focused on operations I am leaning towards grain terminals and grain trains. I am moving this topic to "The Pit" so we may get a broader group to post.
I'm not into "Nerds scale" either, I model HO "Horribly Oversized" as some have come to call it. I model U.P. and/or P.R.R. and collect UP & PRR too.
<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by UnionPacificBigBoy: I model U.P. and/or P.R.R. and collect UP & PRR too.<hr></blockquote> So why the mix of East and West coast Railroads? Is it the equipment? Have you spent time on each coast? Or do ya just love Big Time Railroading?
Big Time Railroading! Of course!! There's nothing but the excitment of seeing big trains run by big corporations. I've studied on both of these roads and their the best that's out there. Bigger does mean better! The more trains one system has, the more you get out of it.
I've done the Frisco in HO scale, and now that I've gone to N, I'm provided with a bigger challenge. There weren't many models in SLSF livery, and even fewer in N scale. But that's OK- it's like starting over, and it feels pretty darn good! I gotta admit to ya, ever since I saw a UP RSC2 at the local hobby shop, I've been getting ideas to model the Encampment Branch, circa mid-1960s, with lumber being the chief traffic source.
I model the UP, modern-day, and I do mean modern. I run nothing that was terminated before the arrival of the SD70Ms through today. So any older locos that have been renumbered I go and renumber them. Why? I like the technology and the big-time railroading. Stack trains, unit coal with DPU, unit grain, all the way down to three car locals. Plus with modern railroading, run-through power, foreign power, and bought-out power (SP, DRGW) can be run as well, adding a lot of variety.
It has been a loooonnngggg time since I last posted here.Another hobby has been taking up more time than I had anticipated but just recently I've picked back up the interest and the tools to continue work on the Cisco & Northeastern Railway Co..I've chosen to model it in the year of 1930,the year my father was born as well as the town.Oil,this being west Texas of course, being the main commodity as well as supplying no less than 8 wholesale grocers in the same small town.The Sanborn maps are trully fantastic to create rail traffic.Also Cisco was a meeting place for the M-K-T and the T & P allows for interesting switching...or rather will when its finally built and finished! YOS, Gene Jackson
Well, it looks like everyone is modeling the popular stuff. Well I am new to this, and haven't the layout, but have started the rolling stock and motive. I live in Utah so opted for a small fictitious interchange yard which meets the D&RG and the Utah Railway circa early, early 1900's at the base of the Uintah Mt. Range. While most coal is coming up from the South from both the Ut RR and the D&RG, I am exporting mostly small lumber (Pine and Aspen) to the arid valleys of Utah, as well as quarried materials (stone, gravel, granite) and only small coal (mainly to supply the local powerplant near the interchange yard). There is also an interchange w/private trackage to join the Santa Fe (haven't researched this, don't know where Sante Fe trackage really extended, but hey, it is my layout). Motive power consists of privatly owned small, poor steam, and some leased Consolidated from Santa Fe. The Utah Railway ran 2-10-2 (if I remember right) and a couple "Mallets" so I might use some of those if the radius will take it. The railline is the Myton & Uintah Mt. RR. They have a decal, but no paint schemes as yet. It is totally fiction, but it is all about the fun isn't it?
I model BNSF/UP, as the first railroads I encountered was the Tehachapi and Cajon passes, and the mix of roads (including the predecessor roads) is great. For even more variety, I have my own AWRR locomotives, and my own lease company CLLX. Had my first visit to the US been somewhere else, I would probably have based my layout on that area, but I am more than happy with southern California
Right now, my railroad is the "Benny's steam era boxed Hopi Closet layout." I drew up my first layout, and it is amazing how where you grow up determines what you model: This dream layout features the Prescott Peavine(AT&SF), only the mines are still up, the timber is better managed, and the price of silver has not dumped. Only with mine, It basically features all the way from a California Roundhouse, a section of the Colorado River(Including the steamboats!!!)a sliver of desert, and then it winds through a tunnel and into the Arizona Bradshaws, and then peaking out near Flagstaff(I am planning indian dwellings). Now if only I had the space!!!!
Grand Trunk Western Baby! the Good Track road! I like the GTW cause of the veriety of road names I can run.CN,DT&I,Chessie,PC,Ann Arbor,plus BNSF owns the mineral rights here so the daily coal drags have nice new motive power,and UP also hauls coal from here. The auto industry also is a big bonus for a huge selection of interesting rolling stock!
It's all Norfolk Southern for me! I model 80's on as a general rule. I like to model what I can go out and see first hand. My fascination with the NS came from days of their merger. I always enjoyed watching Southern trains back in Tennessee. Since I tend to lean toward modern railroading, I chose to model the NS of today instead of the Southern from years past.
I model the Erie Lackawanna including its predecessors. As I got more involved with the history of these two roads I started to gravitate towards the Erie side. My Pike is set somewhere in the Delaware Valley along the southern tier of the old Erie Mainline. Although I model in HO ,I did try my hand at N scale in the late 80's and early 90's. N scale was just too small for me although it does still have some appeal if I were ever limited for space. I have added a few engines from nearby roads (D&H and Penn Central) as these were often seen on or near the EL trackage in my area.
