Did a Real Railroad Influence Anything on Your Layout?

The prototype railroads have always had an influence on my model railroading.

How successfully I implement that influence is another matter.

Rusty

Absolutely.... will even have a couple things that look real similar

Although ours will NOT have a certain round logo on it

It will go behind our roundhouse so the base will be hidden. It was left on for securement in mounting to the layout. It is quite heavy and we don't want it to topple over on anything. 

Most definitely.... 

In 1975, I was 13 years old.  The Penn Central had been bankrupt for several years, but Conrail had yet to be formed.  My buddy's dad was the manager at a small grain elevator in Convoy, Ohio, on the PC Ft. Wayne Line.  This was still a double track "Raceway" that was straight and flat across Northwest Ohio.  We would spend hours at a time sitting next to the Main Street RR crossing and watch the local switch the two grain elevators, and sometimes the lumberyard, in town.  The sound of the GP9's engines and generator whine are ingrained in my memory.  There were usually several train that passed through town each day, including the Amtrak Broadway Limited and the "3:30 mail train" as we called it.  This was a train of Flexi-Vans that ran at passenger train speed through town.  It was originally pulled by 3 or 4 E8 locomotives, but switched to SD40s later on.  We would sometimes sit on top of hopper cars spotted at his dad's grain elevator and watch trains pass on the adjacent track (Don't even think of trying a stunt like that today)  There are many more memories from those days.  I have tried to capture a few of these in vignettes on my layout.  It is why I model the Penn Central.

Tom

This reminds me of the discussion  we have had regarding model railroaders that aren't interested in real trains.  There is nothing wrong with it of course, but from a guy that everything has always revolved around real trains and trying to replicate it, it seems strange.  I used to think that all my model railroad buddies would just naturally like to watch real trains, but some of them don't.  It's a wonderful hobby that can be enjoyed in many different ways.

Art

I get someone who doesn't want to waste their time sitting by the tracks (especially in places with bad summer or winter weather) and dealing with a post-9/11 paranoid world. I grew up where the mainline had VERY few trains and you could sit for hours waiting to see one. Frankly, I'm surprised I stayed interested in pursuing and photographing trains in a place where you rarely ever saw any.

But the idea that a person could be really interested in model anything and not interested in the 1:1 scale version of the same is downright baffling. "I love building models of trains but I've never been a train fan."  man, that makes no sense at all.

It's like saying you enjoy collecting diecast Ferrari's, but if someone offers to give you a ride in 1:1 version, you say "no that's boring".

My layout theme and design have been heavily influenced by the Middletown & Hummelstown Railroad in Hershey, PA. Mind you I've never been there, but I have watched plenty of YouTube videos and I've spent time on Google maps.

The M&H is a Tourist railroad that also sees a small amount of revenue freight. It is nestled in between two interchanges with larger railroads. One at either end of the railroad. They have a few customers that they serve and of course they run excursion passenger trains.

I've taken this concept and I'm designing a point to point 2 rail layout that is very similar, although my equipment will be a mix of what I like from PRR, B&O, Chessie, Erie, and EL. I plan to operate in in a realistic fashion with a computer generated switch list and time table. I think I will be able to operate with 1-4 operators per session. Maybe more, but most of the time it's just my son and I.

I've never seen anyone design a layout and operations based on a modern tourist/shortline RR so maybe I'll be a pioneer

Its a great idea, but it has come up elsewhere.

 Another modeler had done the Toonerville Trolley from the U.P. of Michigan when I was just a kid. That sees little freight though. Like none. And 2" narrow gauge.

Prototype? It is a nice trip. Not so much a rail fan adventure unless you like the little diesel stuff too, but it is 5.5 miles long. There is a boat ride too. The Taquamenon Falls are the icing on the cake. Put the area on your scenery not to be missed list. 

I thought of doing a real tourist trap loop I used to love. It had Jervis, maybe a bicycle? But I loved it as a kid. Just a soothing ride in the woods. But would be easy with just one station, water/sand/fuel oil/gas (for an Astro-train copy) I rode it once and when I learned it wasn't diesel I refused to board it again, I wanted a "real" train pulling me and stuck to the steam engine from then on  

All the talk of it at the time, actually inspired my to start research on a UP of Michigan's logging RR legend, Con Culhane.

 If I can ever find out the type of train he had I will seriously model the area he had a lumber mill, the Ghost town of Shelldrake, Mi. 

He bridged across the Taquamenon River in many known spots, and I can spot the old grades on satellite images.  

It may be a Schenectady. Just a guess by me because one very old German man said it was a German name, but he couldn't remember the name.

 Another spoken story said it was a Virginia based shop that built it. Who could that be?(I don't know my shops geographically).

 But it was built along the east coast, in a port town, and was ordered by Calumet & Helca before 1895. Likely a smooth move by Con & the C&H Co. They cancelled the order while the train was on a boat in Lake Superior en route. Con was ready and bought it. There was an uproar among local loggers, and they got the Munising area docks to refuse to let him unload. He unloaded it along Lake Superior's shore a few days later.

  Some say at a point off Little Lake at the Two Hearted River, and that it was unloaded right onto tracks that Con laid the water.

Which sounds right for Cornelius. 

Others say Whitefish Bay. But no records of the unloading of "The Ellen K" loco or him moving the RR west to the Two Hearted River where a lake also has the name Culhane. 

 There are plenty of stories about moving east from there to Shelldrake, across the cedar swamp during the winter while the cedar marsh was frozen. He did it by pulling the rails from behind him and putting them up front.

 "A man who is willing to fight for a job will likely work to keep it."

Your job app. was at the pub. Win or lose you got hired.

 If you know of any books that mention him let me know.         

Engines

The Reading ran passenger & freight, PRR had a freight line along the Schuylkill river.

I could hear the shifters at night working at the Bethlehem steel plant a few blocks from my parents house.

Paul,

   You bet, the Legacy Shay Engine and the rest of the WAG Logging train my Great Grandfather actually ran when the Pa Grand Canyon and mountains around Galeton, Pa were logged, many many years ago, that sir was definitely a real railroad.   In fact I have a B&W picture that Clark took of my Great Grandfather coming down the switch back outside of Galeton, on the mountain as the logging was going on.  When I return home to the log cabin where it hangs on the wall, I will post it for you to see.  Does not get any more real to me, than being part of the family business.

PCRR/Dave

Real-life railroads influenced me in our hobby. I'm pretty sure they did. You see, I grew up in the metropolitan Pittsburgh area, so trains were all around us during the 40's and 50's, omnipresent, like the steel mills.

So, when I started indulging myself with our hobby, having a layout and crafting stuff, I had a definite preference for RR names I think saw, as a boy, around and in my hometown, especially: PRR; Reading; B&O; Lackawanna; Erie Lackawanna; Erie; NYC; Chessie. I tended to buy those RR names.

Then, I discovered the Union Pacific and the Sante Fe, and the Southern Pacific liveries and their big-brute locomotives.

Thus, when I run trains on my layout, I take all what i consider to represent the east-coast trains off when I run west-coast trains, and vice versa. I don't mix the two.

Like this:

And here is that same confluence area on my layout changed over to UP trains...

FrankM.

Nice layout pics Moonson! Thanks for sharing.

Yes, everything about my layout is inspired by a stretch of Stony Brook RR tracks that is part commuter rail and part freight, and that stretches from a wye at Ayer Junction, Mass. to another wye in Chelmsford, Mass. That is, it's inspired by the original if you can overlook the fact that my floorspace doesn't have enough room for either wye! And the fact that pretty much "everything" on my layout but the track and trains is in my imagination at this point or suggested by photographs of the prototypes placed on movable stands.  As the expression goes, "like old maids' husbands and children", everything about my layout is "perfect" .

But seriously, Moonson, your pictures are amazing and quite inspiring! (And that comment is from a former Pittsburger who also understands the draw of the Union Pacific but has so far resisted the temptation. Your Wyeth quote underscores your photos nicely.)

Tomlinson Run Railroad

Not so much the physical layout, but ...  Since I live in the T of ATSF I have to have ATSF.    Seems there are two ATSF Mikadios buried deep in the mud of the Kansas River, so when I bought a new Lc+ is was the ATSF Mikado version.  Secondly, Washburn University, where I work, has an alumni (and major donor) who worked his way up from brakeman to Chairman and CEO of Union Pacific, so my LC+ diesel is a UP GP7.   Most of the rolling stock is either ATSF or UP.  Plus, I have the advantage of driving across Topeka's Rt 75 and Westgate bridge at least twice every workday, crossing up and over both UP and BNSF mainlines, and often see the working trains below.   Sitting on my back porch I can usually hear the UP trains journey across our city.

Yes!

I have trended towards unit trains, I have found that some need buffer car behind the engine(s), depending on the time do they need a caboose or fred. Box cars before WII were basic brown after WII more colorful (of course there was a transition time). I recently purchased a Kalback book Heavy Hauls-How RR move America's big tonnage to help when building trains.

Another area is I have two modules that depict a Circus. One is the tent and Midway the other an old time Circus Train unloading. I also purchased another Kalback special Trains of the 70's mainly because there were interaction between different trains in the book and I. But also on page 29 there are three Lionel grain elevators lined up.

One thing I don't like, like others that the big train makers aren't making dummy engines.

Yes, besides specific lomotives and associated railcars, also a few buildings that are prototypes of those in towns the rr services.

thought about it some more and the NYC Subway system has influenced the development of the Subway line on the TMB Club layout

The steam era of the Long Island Rail Road is the predominant influence on my layout.  My railroad has steam era trains from the East Coast as well as the Long Island Rail Road.

Your comments are much appreciated. A big part of this hobby of ours, for me, has evolved into sharing the layout with others, and OGR is a nice place for such camaraderie, isn't it. Thanks again for your approval.

FrankM.

Here's a little B&O train I am fond of running on the UP-off days, too...

Thank you, Paul Romano.

FrankM.

Did a Real Railroad Influence Anything on Your Layout?

YES

S.I. 1970

Several hundred area related photos on the link below.

Ever since beginning to learn railroading back in 1970 or so, what I was learning was translated into replication via modeling beginning about 1974.

What the prototype did during my era(s) of interest still influences my modeling philosophies to this day.

SIRT  When I worked for NYS&W I had details at the Arlington Yard and the AK Bridge until Susy Q pulled out. Lot of memories of those places.

Another influence real-life railroads had on my layout and purchases involved the steel mills of greater Pittsburgh. I worked in National Tube Works, of U. S. Steel, in McKeesport, PA, back in the 60's, and saw these cars regularly, though not so weather-worn as modeled here.

Did you know that the so-called "bottle-cars" were lined with bricks, due to the immense heat of their contents. Also, they were so heavy that a special bridge had to be built exclusively for them to cross the Monongahela River for the delivery of their contents from the McKeesport mill to the Duquesne part of the steel making process.

Allan Miller informed me that a flatcar or gondola would have been inserted between either of these cars and any caboose or engine when traveling as a train. However, here, on my layout, I am featuring them as though they are on their way to the scrapyard, so they are empty and not emitting any heat, and I am featuring them in a train out in the neighborhoods, which of course would never have been permitted were they to have their surface-of-the-sun-like contents aboard. When I have them on the layout once again, I will have the flatcars/gondola in proper place, of course.

FrankM., one of the broom-pushers in the mill (for one summer's torture)

Sure, especially the roads in my sig line.  Also, the related "Frisco Silver Dollar Line," the Sligo & Eastern, and the Mississippi River & Bonne Terre.  Specific places, too, such as Marmaros & Notch, MO, and Enon, AR.  And geographic festures such as Roarke Mountain; the White River; and North Indian, Long, and Yoakum Creeks.  I have had to shift history around a bit and relocate some things to make it all fit--call it selective compression on a regional scale

U.S.S. Detroit supplied the bulk of this families paychecks from the 1930s, till the 80's.

When I think of diesel switchers, scenes like this come to mind more than yardwork.

I'm surprised you don't have one that "glows" too.  

No,  I can't say that it has - not even the use of two rails.