Thinking about going with 1 Roadname

Being from the hometown where the Seaboard Air Line originated, I've always preferred only running SAL trains.

 

However, my 1st train was a gift and was a HO 2-8-0 in Great Northern Glacier paint scheme.  Man what a beautiful engine.  My first passenger engine/train was a N&W "J", also HO and Tuscan red cars.

 

I'm still a SAL only type, but if I ever venture away it'll be one of those 2 (and maybe the ACL).

Well, except for Santa Fe red and silver Warbonnet F3s, and the Blue Comet, I have not been seduced by color scheme.  I don't do one railway, but three: Union Pacific, Santa Fe, and Rio Grande.  The unifying theme being that all three ran through the southern Colorado/northern New Mexico region where I grew up. I think it is fun to focus on a region or RR and model that.  I imagine most of us pick the area/RR we saw growing up . . .

 

But I buy locomotives that I like regardless of roadname, trying to get UP, SF or D&RG when I can, but buying what I like regardless, because they are noteworthy (NYC Hudson, Blue Comet) or cool (UP Big Boy, Challenger) or I just like them (French Chapelon 4-8-2). 

 

A few of the very famous or pretty ones (Hudson, Chapelon, Blue Comet) I leave in their native livery, but most non Up or non-ATSF locos, I repaint.

Steamers I repaint as either Union Pacific or ATSF: I repainted the Southern Crescent in black as a UP (I know, sacrilege, but I did it) and will paint the N&W J I have one order in UP's grey and black scheme (a la Challengers) when it arrives. 

Any diesesl I repaint become UP only - I can do the UP armour yellow and gray with red band well and re-letter with no problem.  I don't repaint in ATSF warbonnet, because I can not do the curves/bands between the red and silver accurately and well  enough to look good.

 

After many years and too many trains, I settled on Alaska RR as my primary road and U.S. Army as my secondary road (the two can logically work well together).

 

I chose these roads because there is not a whole lot available (but certainly a sufficient amount) and that helps keep the hobby budget in check.  Also, I just like the two roads and even like the color schemes.

 

I have a number of Southern Rwy and other misc. trains to dispose of over time, but I'm in no great hurry.

Just like many of our colleagues, I started out with impulse purchases.  Then as I got more into the hobby, I went HI-rail.  To limit purchases I went with one railroad.  It made me stay on track so to speak, eliminating impulse buys.  Eight years in and only five Engines.  It help me pour money into scenery especially, expensive turnouts and command system.  Just my opinion, it looks like a real railroad.

 

Chris

 

"I got the B&M blues!"

Minimizing road names is at least a method of somewhat controlling your finances. (And I need to do that)

I don't know that going PRR will save you much money though. Seems there are more PRR locomotive choices than any other railroad.

 

I've decided to try to stay with L&N. That choice will same me much more money than PRR for sure. 

I started down the PRR line so to speaking living in Pennsylvania, but I did not want to stay in that time period, I wanted the modern locomotives. Then I went to Alaska and have been back 3 times since and fell in love with Alaska and the Alaska RR. I have been buying Alaska ever since but I still live in Pennsylvania and do like the Norfolk Southern my grand children can identify with Norfolk Southern and they love those trains. So I have an imaginary rail line where the Alaska and Norfolk Southern meet. I still have several steam locomotive NYC and NPR and a few post war but my focus is now on those two.

 

Aside from the fact that I live in PA, I gravitated toward the PRR because it had K4s and GG1s. It also had a number of "name trains", including the Broadway Limited. As a graphic designer, I appreciate the fact that its colors and graphics are subtle, yet rich (the "Fleet of Modernism" passenger cars are a prime example). My second choice would probably be the B&O.

Part One

Seems to me that everyone has a "favorite" railroad. Call it the home road.

Part Two

Almost every railroad has end connecting lines and crossing roads. 

Part Three

Nearly every major railroad was made up of consolidating or absorbing other railroads.

 

So, for a period pike your selection can be primary, secondary, or tertiary roads and still be "prototypical." Then, if you are modelling the present with today's practice of power pooling, almost anything goes - particularly where some railroads have heritage units.

 

You can argue yourself into nearly any combination of equipment, however, the General has yet to pull the Empire Builder...

 

Bottom line? It's your hobby and your road so sit back and enjoy the ride!

 

Neil     

Since I was raised in the Seattle and Spokane areas my railroad of choice is the Spokane Portland & Seattle RR. Not a lot of locos are manufactured for the SP&S and I have just about all of them, about a dozen or so. But fortunately the SP&S was owned jointly by the Northern Pacific and Great Northern which gave me a bunch more options. Then when the Burlington Northern was formed by merging the SP&S, NP, GN CB&Q, and Frisco more options became available. Then came the AT&SF merger with the BN and a bunch more options, it just never ends.

"LIONEL LINES"

 

Mike

See a pattern emerging?  From the outside, it seems those that have had a personal experience with a particular prototype (Like me and the NYC) seem to gravitate towards a single roadname, and even an era.

 

I have nearly all NYC equipment, as my grandfather worked for them and retired the year of the merger.  He had not only told me stories of the Central in its heyday, but I have a lot of memorabilia, as well.  I don't know if it was the love in his eyes or the passion in his stories that sealed the deal for me.

 

You would think that Big Blue would be it, because it grew as I did, as we were both born the same year, but its in second place.  And as they say, second place is the first loser, so I do not even own a piece of Conrail equipment.  Its the OCD in me that keeps me from running them together.

 

Good topic!

 

Thanks,

Mario

 

 

Being originally from the midwest I went with the Rock Island with its plethora of locomotive styles. I was raised in a town that had a large Illinois Central division yard and most of my neighbors worked for the IC...so I naturally model that road also. Because the IC bought/merged with the Gulf Mobile & Ohio, I got "snookered" into collecting some of it's stock. I do have a few pieces of the more obscure roads (NYC and PRR)

With the PRR you will still have a vast variety of locomotives to choose from.

Early on I tried sticking with one road...C&O.  As my interests expanded more towards the toy train side of the hobby, I expanded to include Lionel Lines, and roads that ran through Michigan and Ohio.  There are still exceptions...someday I want a Texas Special F unit.  I am not sticking with any time period anymore as I like modern diesels and stack cars too.

I grew up in Pittsburgh, PA and still reside there. A teenager in the 60's.  However, I never got to see a train run even though I wasn't that far from a railroad or yard and really didn't have any interest in trains.

 

Fast forward to 1999 while in a hobby store in Cranberry, PA I saw a MTH  (had no idea who they were) catalog with a Jersey Blue Comet (Proto 1) on the cover.  I was hooked ever since and now by engines based on visual appeal and features.

 

However, focusing on "one" railroad may save you $$$ in the long run.

When I was young and my grandparents bought me trains for every birthday and christmas gifts I got road names from all over.  They always got me stuff that they liked for the colors and paint schemes.

 

When I got back in the hobby about 8 years ago I did the same, but after 2 or 3 years of that  I decided to only buy things from 3 different road names.

 

Pere Marquette

C&O

Ann Arbor

 

I have since now narrowed it down to just buying things for the Pere Marquette.  I still will get something once in awhile for C&O and Ann Arbor if they fit into my era, 1946 to 1959, but I have really stuck to my guns on getting just PM equipment.

 

Now that being said I do buy things to repaint to my own RR's name, M&GL or to re-letter to something that the PM really owned such as my new C&O Legacy Mikado that will shortly be a re-lettered for PM.  

 

This has really cut my spending down to something that is manageable and I now invest in my actual layout instead of just the trains.  

When i got into O scale trains in 2002 i decided then going to stick with Chessie System Railroad and mix some B&O,WM,C&O in with it and also i try to stick with the prototype rolling stock as much as i can and what i seen on the railroad here in the 70's In West Virgina

That's why I run Lionel Lines.  So I can run any road name on my layout in helper service or an interchange with the Lines.  I have collected all the TMCC GP7/9s and run them all, so I have a fair amount of different road names, if not the cabs & rolling stock to match.  I'm good on engines for now, but if I buy any more engines, they will be Chicago & North Western.  

When I returned to the hobby, I planned for a good while what and how I planned to purchase.  The biggest decisions up front were:

 

1) all conventional,

2) all Lionel, 

3) Fastrack,

4) ignore scale issues,

5) one road name.

 

Growing up in the southeast in the early 80's, I developed a love for the Chessie livery.  Now I own just about every Chessie locomotive Lionel has produced, and at least one of every piece of Chessie stock.  After a while, this began to feel and look a bit stale, so I expanded the theme by adding a CSX locomotive and some stock from BO, CO, WM, SCL, SAL, and Conrail.

 

I went with a different theme for our carpet central layout... a combination of M&StL and EL, with four engines and ~25 pieces of stock.

 

Between tuition and regular bills, the only expansion I can see to any of this in the coming years is a few pieces of stock every once in a while. Can't afford modern Lionel locomotives, and wouldn't buy them with all the electronics I don't need anyway.

 

Short answer... one road name is fun, but I like to grant myself the flexibility to include a predecessor or successor line when I spot something I like.

I grew up across from the north end of the PRR's Povonia Yard.

 

I decided my model railroad would replicate the Pennsylvania Railroad as it was in 1952 +/- 4 years.

 

I do run engines that the PRR purchased or leased from other railroads during that time period.

 

When I started, my goal was Pennsylvania and New York Central.  As MTH and Lionel came out with great trains, that goal did not last long.  The only thing Pennsylvania that shows on the layout  is the catenary system.  I am a toy train guy who runs scale trains.  I love all roads.  I guess that could be called MY WAY.

I initially thought about running only Long Island Rail Road steam era trains because it was the railroad near my childhood home in Floral Park. As I designed my layout, my thinking changed to running passenger trains that served the New York Metro Area in the late steam era. Doing so gives me a rationale for running B&O, Central New Jersey, Erie, Lackawanna, Lehigh, NYO&W, Reading and Southern Rwy besides the obvious Long Island, New Haven, New York Central and Pennsy. I like variety.

My Grandpa retired Clinchfield . My Dad worked many years for them as well as other relatives. I am now retired and live where I was born in Erwin TN. That's Clinchfield. I go after those as well as the lines that followed right up to currently the CSX. Everything from FEC, ACL, and Seaboard and Southern. Now after saying that about half (a section 12 X 16 feet) of my layout is all military. Go figure. I guess I just like all of them.

Larry

If I had to choose one railroad to model it would be the Reading Railroad, as I grew up in Berks County PA. Would be my hometown railroad. It operated tracks before the Pennsy went through the paperwork stage to become a railroad.

 

Lee F.

I went with Milwaukee Road in the early 50's because I like steam, big electrics and first generation diesels. Also mountain railroading and underdogs. I had only one option. Milwaukee. 

Like most, I started with whatever caught my eye.

Now I buy Rio Grande or what can be repainted to Rio Grande.

I run the UP Big Boy & FEF as they connected with RG lines not too far west of my home town.

Limiting the Lines makes my Layout more regional and personal for me.

I may live in NH but my heart will stay in the Colorado Rockies.

When I made the switch from tinplate to Hi-Rail, I decided to model the Penn Central.  I was only 6 years old when the merger took place and 14 when Conrail took over.  This caught me in important developmental years; old enough to appreciate trains and young enough that cars and girls weren't distracting me. 

 

There is not a lot of PC equipment out there, just enough to keep me encouraged.  I can run PRR, NYC and NH equipment also.  All of my locos are PC or PRR.  My CABIN CARS are PC, PRR and NYC as is my MOW equipment.  As far as rolling stock goes, I run almost anything appropriate for that era.  There are quite a few colorful fallen flags that look authentic in my trains.  I do quite a bit of research in deciding what I want to put on my wish list.  The limited PC offerings helps keep the budget in check.

 

Tom

I only do 2 roads and they almost merged.  Chicago South Shore &
South Bend and the Monon. I limit myself to these 2 and it has kept expenses and needless buying down.

I primarily model the Milwaukee Road. However, some Rock Island, CB&Q, C&NW, and UP items are also on the layout from time to time. I would model the CGW, but no one in O scale has offered F-3's and a proper caboose yet.

I went with one Road Name the NYC&HRR....of 1879-1910...once I bought the 2 engines and 3 sets of cars, i was unable to locate anymore locomotives.

In my pain, I gave in and added a 2nd level to my layout...can you guess the road name?

PENNSY!!!

No more being sad about not being able to buy cool PRR locos!

I have always run either Lionel Lines or various northeast roads. My one exception was the first Railking UP Challenger, making the excuse that it was on lease. Run what you like and make-up your own "logical" excuses for it.

Delaware Lackawanna & Western.

I like what GTW said - my road of choice is the Nickel Plate. Never saw it run, for it merged 16 years before I drew my first breath. But my connection is through family. 

 

I have a locomotive each for the two other roads that ran through my hometown also. I also picked up a C&O GP-7 earlier this year, after reading about the NKP leasing some of these units while having a motive power shortage waiting on GP-9's. So there are ways to "creatively expand"  

 

My rolling stock is era appropriate but well representing of many railroads across the nation, the Nickel Plate was a bridge route so lots of variety was common. 

 

But it's your road, enjoy it! 

I grew up near one of the Reading Lines during it's last five years in existence and currently live near one of the B&O lines.  Thus, as I've moved into scale equipment, I have limited my purchases to the Reading and B&O.  I also have a pair of CSX's SD70MAC that run on the former B&O trackage and plan to buy a NS Reading heritage unit (and a regular NS unit) to run over the old Reading trackage.

 

Jim

Southern and some N&W. Also love Clinchfield territory and history.

N&W and the Southern along with the NKP for me....

When I got the bug, picking the Pennsy was the way for me to go since I grew up along The Mainline here in Western Pennsylvania.  The PRR was a daily visual occurence as a youngster playing baseball and doing other outside things.

Fast forward to my problem: on my layout the Pennsy owns other roads and they occasionally show up.  The NP,SP,N&W,W MD,P&WV have a presence.  You see my problem?  Sometimes there are extenuating circumstances.

When I lived in Upstate New York thank goodness that I did not live near the rail lines.  Even though it was in the final years of the NYC,who knows how that would have worked out.

Good luck sticking to a single railroad.  

 

Norm Rish

I'd say it's natural if one picks railroads that you saw or see now. For me that's the Pennsy and the B&O. So my engines and cabooses are either one. That way I can have colorful cars of other roads. Narrowing it down to one or two railroads keeps one focused- instead of buying a variety of road names and increasing one's costs. Not to knock anyone who does that, of course.

I had many different roadnames in different scales in the past and I never was really satisfied with my collection. So when I got back into O-gauge I decided to go with Union Pacific exclusively. All of my locos, passenger cars and cabooses are UP. I like all of the old railroads, so I bought a bunch of boxcars and other freight cars with the other roadnames I like. This keeps things under control as far as what to buy and I still have plenty of other roads well represented. It is more prototypical running my trains as a single road although I am not a rivet counter or a prototype modeler.

 

I have Southern RR only in HO and I recently pared my N-scale collection down to five roadnames and I have enough equipment to run each road independently.