What "ERA" In 3 Rail Is Most Modeled?

PAUL ROMANO posted:

What era in 3 rail is the most modeled? I model the transition era from steam to diesel but also modern stuff.   

If I read that right, your era is from 1939 to 2017?

I don't have an era as such; I have a date.  Everything on my layout models a prototype that was built and still active on 28 Feb 1950.  For example, there were still some working PRR H6 steam engines, but no H1-H5 engines, so no H1-H5 engines are on my layout.  Keeps me focused.

I would be curious how many 3 railers model a particular time period.

For a future layout I dream of a layout that can be easily changed between different time periods. With different people and rolling stock that can be moved on or off the layout as needed. Has anyone ever attempted something like that?

CAPPilot posted:

PAUL ROMANO posted:

What era in 3 rail is the most modeled? I model the transition era from steam to diesel but also modern stuff.   

If I read that right, your era is from 1939 to 2017?

I don't have an era as such; I have a date.  Everything on my layout models a prototype that was built and still active on 28 Feb 1950.  For example, there were still some working PRR H6 steam engines, but no H1-H5 engines, so no H1-H5 engines are on my layout.  Keeps me focused.

I should have been more specific. I model 1946-1959 steam to diesel and 1980 to present day.

For some, defining an era in 3 rail would be easy - those who model the Pennsy, Santa Fe or N&W for example. There have been enough scale or semi-scale steam and diesels to model a year or decade. For others, especially in the south, you are more limited by what has been produced, which narrows what era can be modeled.

I think for 3 rail, more modelers choose a specific road or region to model, choosing to run just those lines. From there, you could probably create a 50s- 70s or modern look with motive power and cars. 

For me, I try to center my locomotives to the ACL, SAL, SCL, Southern or interchange routes. Due to what has been made over the last 10 years, the 1960s - 1970s era is the easiest to model based on diesel locomotives. Steam is few and far between, except for the Southern (plenty of Ps-4 or 4501 models).

For those who also like HO or N scale (like me) it is very easy to choose a railroad and time frame due to the amount of product that is available in steam and diesel. I have acquired HO locomotives to create a 50s - 70s era, I guess to mimic what I have in O. I am also branching into the 80s, since that what my high school and college years. 

That is the joy of 3 rail (and 2 rail O to some extent) - you can choose to model a certain area or year, or just collect and run what you enjoy and like to see on a layout.

I like most of the major northeastern railroads (in practice, that currently means PRR/NYC/RDG), but I limit myself to the 1935-1955 period.  Steam and first-generation diesels.

No specific era, I just buy what I like 

Chessie (B&O,WM and C&O) 1971 to 1987 mostly diesels. 

I'm like surefire above. No particular modeling era, however...

My main interest is streamline steam passenger trains (or name-trains as some call it) then streamline diesel passenger trains.

With that information you can peg me into an era of roughly 1934 - 1960ish.

Charlie

I model the Western Maryland, some B&O and a little Pennsy during the transition period from steam to diesel.  The most modern locos I have are Pennsy GG1's.

My era is "if its on sale" or "if its really cool and I need it". Or "if it seems fun". I'm more into the nostalgia the three rail trains create than the formality of it.

Definitely easier to shop with an open mind. :>

The postwar era.

Summer of 1953. Don

I think a lot of 3 rail guys don't have an era. They just run what they like. For those that keep to an era I think the 50s is the most popular. This is based on what I see, certainly not scientific, but an educated guess.

My layout is sorta set in the 50s but I'm not that fussy about everything being exactly right. Close is more than good enough for me.

I mainly but transition era equipment but I also buy others era's equipment from railroads I like.

A fictional era where steam, early diesel, and modern diesel coexist in perfect matrimony. 

September 30, 1940.  Railroads that ran in or through eastern Colorado.  Rolling stock for fallen flags such as the Colorado Midland and its remnant are occasionally seen.

colorado hirailer posted:

September 30, 1940.  Railroads that ran in or through eastern Colorado.  Rolling stock for fallen flags such as the Colorado Midland and its remnant are occasionally seen.

Sounds great. Lets see some photos of your layout.

Well clearly, thus far, there is no consensus to what era is modeled most in 3 rail. I would put my bid in that most have a base period but occasionally run motive power outside of that era. For instance, someone may model 1949-1955 but they like modern diesels so in a "backwards" excursion you could see that making its debut.  

I run several eras.  Three so far.  My main interest at home is the transition period between 1953 and 1957.  However, I also enjoy the 1968-1973 period and from 1982-1992.  No consensus even in my own trains other than nearly all my two rail falls in to the 1953-1957 period.

1950-1952, with an occasional side excursion to 1949 and 1939

The majority of 3-railers model the year 2359, oddly enough.  

-Eric Siegel

I model 1940 to 1960 mostly steam and F and E units of western railroads.

Mike

To be coherent I try to model 1969 to 1999. 

I have acquired some distinct items from before and after the time period. 

Andrew

If it's MTH and cool looking,at least to me and the grand kids, I model it! How's that for a plan! LOL

Eastern railroads 1956

ericstrains.com posted:

The majority of 3-railers model the year 2359, oddly enough.  

-Eric Siegel

Totally off subject Eric, but patiently waiting on that tutorial on how you made your roads. I'm specifically interested in how you did the sections between the rails. If YouTube fails try OGR(that's me thinking out loud)

ericstrains.com posted:

The majority of 3-railers model the year 2359, oddly enough.  

-Eric Siegel

2359 would be a good year to model, but unfortunately they don't have steam there. They have some oddball hybrid engines that teleport around, total nonsense if you ask me, what's the point of having track?

Seriously though, this is difficult to peg because there is so much out there. Every era or specific time has so much to offer in the way of the modeler. If there was more late 1800's variety out there I am sure there would be much more modeling done there as well. I do remember seeing in CTT way back in the 1990's someone had an old west layout with some vintage 1950's old west paper towns(I believe it was). 

If I like it, I buy it but nothing newer than GG1, F units  and any steamer.

I don't model a particular era. I get what I like, if my wife says I can, though I do have mainly steam engines, mixed with a few Diesels. Though if they had more mid to late 19th Century Engines, I would have to get some of those since those are the steam engines my wife is a big fan of especially during the Civil War Era, or anything around the time of Abraham Lincoln.

I don't agree that every era or specific time has so much out there, unless we are talking HO, and even there, current production is heavily centered on current railroading, so you can dig through old MR's and then search the auctions for relevant items.  Specific regions are grossly over-represented by multiple triplications of the same few prototypes.  But..if that is what many actually buy.. nothing you can do but kitbash and build your own.

What "ERA" In 3 Rail Is Most Modeled?

The Lionel Postwar "ERA".  

Happy Friday,

Steven J. Serenska

50 ish look. With a lot of anachronisms.....

The most modeled era in o scale is the "whatever I want" era.  Not trying to be silly, it's just my opinion.

I like trains, especially steam locomotives, that RUN. Go. Move. Do not stop unless I tell them to (via TMCC) to do so. No tripping on switches. No preference for shelf-posing. No attitude. Dependable.  Dispensing happiness, even for this owner/operator.

If an engine can do all that, it is welcome to stay. That is its "era," the era of movement forward, unabated.

(Was that enough of a rant? Maybe. I sure have enough scale steam locomotives that have not lived-up to my expectations.)

FrankM., aggrieved but not discouraged. Yet.

If you mean American railroad history era, for those modelers who comply with any specific era and don't just buy what they like, I would think the most popular era would be the steam/diesel transition era. 

You have the fascination of the most complex steam locomotives (with a few exceptions) and the colorful and sometimes streamline first generation diesels.

I guess a model in a model or toy train era which in O gauge is 3 rail post war. This rather automatically dumps me into the steam to diesel transition era. However, I did buy a Lionel 0-6-0 dockside last year so while it isn't post war it does fit the transition era. I also model HO in that era.

As a young lad in the 1940's I remember when my father just crushed my childhood love of steam locomotives when he told me that they are all going to be scrapped and replaced with diesel electrics. My young mind could not understand why anything so interesting to watch and so mechanically beautiful could be scrapped. I tired to reject the notion but by the early 1950's it was apparent the steam locomotive population was shrinking fast. I remain crushed to this day; so I make up for it in my basement.

Bogie

Many model railroaders (and a lot of 3-rail folks I know) buy whatever they want and run it. GENSET on the head of a Heavyweight Pullman train? No problem. NYC Hudson doubleheading with a SD-60 pulling a stack train? Bring it on.

This won't go over well here, but I firmly believe the concept of "transitional era" is in many cases a simple excuse to run whatever the modeler wants to. I've seen far too many modern locomotives and cars on supposedly 'transition' era layouts.

I never bought into the concept anyway, as the timeframe where a small class type of diesels operated at a 50/50 rate among steam is a very slim timeframe, regardless of the RR you model.

If you just wanna run whatever you want, fine by me. Just don't call it an era, in that case. A pal of mine who loves steam but modern rolling stock says his old HO layout took place 'In the 50s,' but was quick to point out he never mentioned what century in which it took place.

For me, as a youngster during the WW II shortages and immediate postwar  when a lot of things weren't available but new technology was being developed, stuff we take for granted today, the early postwar was an era. Hard to explain unless you lived it.  AS a youngster I saw  real steam engines working and stern wheeler river boats pushing barges on the Ohio River and DC 3s were the way to fly not photos in books.  I still remember the first time I climbed in to a new PCC street car, not a restored one in a museum but a real one. I thought it was beautiful. I remember my grandfather's early TV when a test pattern was all we had to watch, and the first automatic washing machine. So I like the old stuff but enjoy the new also.

SGP posted:

I would be curious how many 3 railers model a particular time period.

I'm one.  My equipment was all in service between 1952 and 1955.  I always say it's 1953.  I do have a pair of GP9's which are too new, and am expecting an RSD7, also too new, next year, so I can flex a bit when I want to.