@MainLine Steam posted:I want to "Relive" the Transition Era as a Rail Fan.
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So the best I can afford to do, is recreate the transition the era of railroading in a model railroad. I have been purchasing the Locomotive and Rolling stock to build accurate consist. I then want to have a layout where I can sit and watch the trains roll by. Eye level, the same as standing alongside the track. In other words Rail Fanning at 1/48 scale. That is my objective!
BTW this has a major effect on the design of the railroad I am planning. A so called "display layout" not a switching or intricate operating layout.
What is yours objective? Why?
Jim, your objective seems very close to mine. I grew up in a medium-sized community, served by three Class I railroads' branch lines. I could watch many different railroad operations, but not repetitive, speedy mainline trains. That was something only experienced when en route to visit distant relatives. Mostly, my experience of mainline railroading was virtual, via Trains magazine. At one point during my youth, I acquired a circle of O-72 track, implemented a quarter of a circle, superelevated the outside rail, and ballasted it. The "look" of a Lionel 2343 F3 leaning into that curve was so "mainline". I acquired mostly full scale "mainline" locomotives and rolling stock from the transition era over the years and, upon retirement, finally had the time and space to build a layout, which remains under construction (as most do). I have, at my residence, that double-tracked mainline, with superelevated, wide curves, where bullet-shaped Hudsons prance and E-unit diesels dig into the curve at speed, hauling named trains. Plus freight drags with less prosaic locomotives, both steam and diesel. Some of the videos shot with my smartphone come pretty close to the real thing, as it was 70 years ago. I do have some prototypical operating features, but the focus of the layout is that double-track main - and enjoying watching the trains pass, at track level.
--Karl
