Who modelsa specific RRs

Not sure exactly what you mean, but are you asking if anybody models a point-to-point railroad?  That is, it starts in Hicksville and wends its way through Hillbill and

Backwater to Podunk, where it must be reversed to retrace its route?  Here that is

the plan, but it won't be interstate, it will be just a shortline with multiple Class 1

connections operating in one state.  It ships from coal mines, sawmills, and ore

mines to a couple of plants but mostly to the junction and off line.

I'm modeling about a 60 mile stretch as the BNSF, CP, UP, CN and a couple regional and one local railroad as they pass through the Minneapolis/ St Paul area. It is mainly point to point with multiple routes. The mainline is actually a giant reverse loop, so trains can do the loop eastbound or westbound, then return to the hidden yard (staging) which is also a reverse loop.

 

I own copies of most of the post war accessories, but plan to use none of them on this layout.

Although I'm in no danger of building it any time soon, the layout I'm designing in my head will be a folded dogbone disguised as a point-to-point.  That is the return loops will be hidden in such a way that it will look like (and when I so desire, operate like) a chunk of a real railroad (in my case, a yet-to-be-determined segment of the Reading Shamokin Division) but it will be built in such a way that with the points aligned correctly a train can just cruise up and down the mainline unchecked.  There will probably be a second level that will depict a branch of one of the other coal-region roads, either LV, L&NE, or PRR (or maybe all of them depending on my mood.)

I've been focusing on two areas, with a minor interest in a third:

1. The Redlands Loop in San Bernardino County in California (ATSF). The industries are primarily citrus packing houses and supporting industries with a lumber yard, smudge oil, and a cattle ramp at one time (of all things).
2. The Sheboygan Falls to Kohler Area of Wisconsin (CNW). The industries are/were a lumber yard, a grain elevator, a small passenger depot, and Kohler plumbing fixtures.
3. Sugar Land, Texas near Houston (SP, MP). There's quite a bit of history here and the "scars" of the old tracks are still in place for an unusual track layout. That's the kind of stuff that peaks my interest.

A lot of rail branches are over 100 years old and some buildings transition several eras. Case in point, the Redlands Loop dates back to the late 1800's. Some of the buildings are well over 50 years old, so if you set things up right, you can run old steam, modern diesel or the transition era.

 

My best friends are Google Earth (http://maps.google.com) and Historic Aerials (http://www.historicaerials.com). They're great for research. Google has a street view which also provides a lot of insight into areas you're researching, provided the branch in question is near a road.

 

My collection of locomotives and rolling stock is pretty eclectic, so I have some equipment to support all three of the above areas.

Funny you should mention Google maps Matt. I was actually planning to make a Youtube video, giving a virtual tour and background for my layout. I have to see if the video will work with the monitor refresh rate without getting that annoying roll.

 

There is so much cool stuff, railroad and non, that gets captured from above and at street level. You can do a lot of research from the comfort of your home. And if you choose a subject near where you live (which I have) it is easy to take short field trips to supplement the online resources.

 

I also buy DVD's of local railroad action. A non train buddy of mine has nicknamed the DVD's "train porn". I have a pretty good collection.

All great ideas. I like Womack idea as in having a mainline that can just be run if points are set so you can just run em if you want. Thanks for the great replies.

Sorry Wowak

Talking about the field trips. I've made so many out on the Redlands Loop that between photos, aerials, and site visits I'm almost able to draw a map of the loop by hand and sketch in industries. I attended a lecture about the loop's history last year and was able to actually fill in some blanks for the lecturer afterwards since I had been to virtually every accessible area of the loop.

 

Another good source if you can get at them is Sanborn Insurance Maps. These were used by insurance companies to reference structures and improvements they might be insuring. These were fairly detailed and showed locations and names of buildings and railroad rights of way down to the track arrangements. They weren't good on physical dimensions, but they give good reference points of how things were oriented.

Matt, I'm curious, how did you develop an interest in such varied railroads in totally different parts of the country?

I grew up in an area served by SP (PE Torrance Branch/El Segundo Branch), but my first major job was in Santa Fe territory (ATSF Harbor Sub). So I saw SP and ATSF equipment frequently.

 

How I connected with CNW is a mystery since to date I've never set foot in CNW territory proper. I used to see CNW power pull into the UP Commerce Yard all the time when I worked for the LA County Registra-Recorder/County Clerk. Maybe that's the link. It's even stranger as I'm not really a big fan of the color green or yellow, but that lightning-bolt paint scheme did something for me.

 

Sugar Land, Texas (SP/MP) was a fluke. I've been job and home hunting in the Houston area and blundered across Sugar Land. In doing aerial and street view surveillance of the area I blundered across the Imperial Sugar Plant. Further investigation through Google and Historic Aerials gave me some history of the area which peaked my interest.

 

Sheboygan Falls, Wisconsin (CNW) came up in a search for something else and showed street running (another thing I'm fascinated with). I had sketched up a layout of an SP-served street run in Anahiem (two packing houses, a lumber yard and other businesses) along Santa Ana Street so this was a natural (also would give me a place for a CNW depot kit I got hold of.)

 

The Redlands Loop (ATSF) came out my historical curiosity about San Bernardino. When I moved there I spotted several abandoned rights of way and a freeway overpass labeled "Redlands Loop Overhead" (a reference when a freeway in California crosses above a rail line; an "UP" is where a railroad bridge crosses over the freeway). Upon investigation, I learned that part of the "Loop" ran about about a mile west of my house and I had been driving past (or on) parts of it. So I started visiting parts of the loop and investigating with Google and Historic Aerials. When I built a micro for the OGR Forum Micro Layout Contest I chose a small part of the Redlands Loop (even using dirt from the actual right-of-way) as an inspiration.

 

 

Another one I stumbled across is the Yakima Valley Traction Company. I'm not really into traction operations, but I passed the info and locations off to Jack "The Apprentice" Kemph who loves trolleys and traction equipment. I'm figuring he'll build it (he's also a fan of street-running and switching layouts so this one would be the daily double).

 

Bottom line is I'm a big fan of railroad operations linked to unusual historical architecture and street running and I follow where it leads. The research and transcribing the areas into layouts or modules is a mental and creative challenge and is a lot of fun for me.

 

I am attempting to model a 5 mile switching branch of the Santa Fe in 1963 in Oklahoma City...VERY loosely...

 

Why 1963?  Last year for zebra striped geeps and SWs.

 

Why OKC?  Oklahoma City National Stockyards.  Still moving lots of cattle and reefers in the early 60s.  Several other industries on that line in the early 60s.

 

Why a switching layout?  Only need one track for staging.  I don't have to worry about distance between towns...as a friend used to say, when the locomotive is in one town and the caboose is in another...and they are supposed to be 20 miles apart...something is wrong.

 

I did include a continuous loop option for when I have visitors or I want to just run loops while working on a project.  BUT, in my mind, when "operating", that continuous run connection does not exist.

I would like to model Coaling operations on CSX's branch lines out of Peach Creek yard in Logan West Virginia in the late 80's early 90's era. CSX still had an occasional Chessie, Family Lines, and Seaboard in their original paint schemes still running the branch lines. Switching operations can be done in the industries located in the town of Logan, while I'll try to model a minimum of 3 Coal loading facilities that are far up in the hollers.

Logging, stone, steel will round out the major industries.

I model the Southern Pacific, California only, circa 1950.  A branch line called the Brisbane & Bushong runs into the main line.  Specifically the SP main line between San Francisco and Los Angeles.  Matt

Summer of 1940, Chama to Antonito on the DRGW narrow gauge.  Using ON30 equipment on a 20x40 triple deck layout.  I have actual train data from the time period that we are using to help make up trains and design some features.  We are taking a great deal of artisitic license and very loosely making the layout.  Features that we hope to include are Chama, Sublette, Lobato and the Lobato trestle, Cresco, Cumbres, Windy Point, Osier, Lava Tank, and Antonito.

 

In the time period modeled the line was a small portion of the 800 mile loop of narrow gauge.  Today it is the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad.  Freight was mostly cattle / sheep, coal, some timber, seasonal fruit, and regular commercial goods.

 

We are NOT scratch builders and we are to old to do super scale models, just having a ball building the railroad and LEARNING about DCC! (yeah I know we've heard it before dcc IS EASY!)  Russ

Nope... No can do. Once I jumped to O gauge and experienced all the new unique sound systems in different road names that killed the notion of modeling a specific railroad.

In HO I modeled the Northern Pacific over Bozeman pass in Montana... my favorite place to visit in the summer.

Southern Ry --try to model some of the local industry and commerce in a very small attic area.

I can't say I model per se, but my interests lie in the Jersey Central.  I try to create a representation of that RR.  If I had unlimited space and budget I would include the Newark Bay draw bridge and the E Port station but that just a dream.  As a kid I remember watching all of the traffic through Bayonne until the Aldene plan took away the trains.  That action included CNJ, Reading, some B & O traffic.  Lots of passenger traffic with long coal freights inter mixed.  That's for me.

Hey Tony  I like the idea of a switching layout wih the continuios loop when ya wanna let the train go a little. Mabey ill look into that kind of layout. I just took mesurements and I have a 18 x 8 area kinda tight width wise for a turntable setup but I also will be making a first attempt at L- girder benchwork. This could get interesting. Lost my RR Track software disc but think i still have the program on an older computer I didnt throw out going to have to get it out and start on a plan. lottsa info guys thanks.

I'm doing a fantasy extension of a D&RGW branch line into my home town area.

Mates up with UP at the Ogden Utah yards for transfers.

This lets me run my Big Boy and Model my home town and the Rio Grande RR.

Several Businesses of Family and friends of Family are represented on the layout.

I model a fictional branch like of the ET&WNC, a 3-footer stradling the TN/NC borders. My parents grew up where it ran, but not along the tracks. This is in On30 and I have almost all my rolling stock done. I imagined a fictional branch up the valley they grew up in (which was served by a logging RR in the early 1900s but abandoned long before they were born). The layout will take place in 1943. I'm in the process of designing track plans at this time and just finished the room prep.

The RR will run right through the area my parents grew up in, they each were 6 years old at that time.

I'm modeling ONLY equipment that existed, or at least representations of the rolling stock the ET&WNC had in WW2. The only exceptions are one coach and one gon, lettered for the fictional RR that was bought out by the ET&WNC.

More info on my link, below.

NYCRR and I model areas as well Schenectady, NY and Wildwood, NJ ( our vacation home)

I'm modeling the Cascade Mountain Range and the high desert area of the Pacific North West. All Milwaukee Road of course. Don

We lived a few blocks from a BNSF 2 track main in Kansas for over 35 years so that's what I am trying to duplicate. It will be all BNSF, but mostly a fictional area.

Hi  E-Unit-79,  I've read your question several times and I think you're asking - does anyone model a layout without pre-planning it 100% first.

 

Your "the sawmill fits here" and "the coal loader fits here" comments tells me you just enjoy not pre-organizing everything, but just having fun fitting in stuff as you go.

 

Well, in fear of bringing down the rath of the software fellows (no disrespect intended), I for one, don't preplan the entire layout.  I do have definite ideas as to groupings, but no layout on paper or the computer.

 

My one thing that will be very prototypical is I am setting aside 200 square feet to a 40's hump freight yard.  And so far, I haven't put that on paper, but I know what has to go into making it prototypical.

 

Other than that,  all else will be done by "fitting in items".

 

Corvettte (Paul)

Corvettte, what I meant was yes planed, but a prototypical one in as such it loosely resembles a RR route from a certain time frame. And yes I have always built them in a haphazard way so to speak but my next one Iam thinking along more of a planned layout. want to try L-girder bench work and a more real scene so to speak. Will still throw in a gate man maybe for visitors to enjoy but I want to get away from my usual toy like layout this time I think. Still like them but just want to try something new and with the help of all the good people  on this forum I have no worries. And Iam sure I to will be fitting in some items to..

I am modeling a short trolley line known as the Corry & Columbus Street Railway, which had a brief existence but big dreams (1906-23). I am playing a bit loose and fast with it, though, extending the length of its life(a PCC car may appear) as well as carrying through one of its plans to connect to a larger city in the region, Erie Pa, allowing for a wider range of cars arriving in front of the Traction Building on North Center Street in Corry....

p51:  Interested in your modeling the Tweetsie, which is what they also call that

tourist road north of Hickory (Blowing Rock, N.C.) that I rode a couple of years ago.

I tried to explore some of the real railroad's area, but understood much of the valley it ran in is private property, and locals I approached were not helpful.  I probably did

not find the right people, but wonder if you have explored that area, researching your

effort?  And wonder how much of it can be explored?  I was in Hickory for the

Narrow Gauge Convention that year which you may have attended.....

I'm planning a portion of my scene to reflect Brooklyn around 1940, with an elevated

0-31 dogbone over a cobblestone street scene, with whole buildings and background

flats behind that.  My MTH LO-V set will be right at home there.  The remainder of the

layout at main level will be semi-industrial New Jersey ala CNJ, PRR.  Those lines will

pass under the "granite butte" city portion via tunnels.  One scenery challenge will be

to get the look of a well-used rail yard with the oil-contaminated environment you see

in these places.  I definitely don't want it to look brand-new and just-built.

 

     Hoppy

Modeling 1950s railroads as well as modern 2000s railroads.

 

1950s:  New York Central, Pennsylvania and B&O: Steam and diesel, freight and passenger

 

2000s:  CSX and Union Pacific: Intermodal

I model the area based upon and around Glacier National Park--one of my favorite places to visit.

E-Unit=79:  Don't apologize for "Womack".  Crazy Bob Womack, a Civil War draft

dodger from my home town, just happened to be the fellow who discovered the

Cripple Creek, Colorado mother lode on his hardscrabble ranch,  to sell it all for a pittance and die a drunk.

They are still mining gold there with monster trucks you have to dodge as you

explore the old mines, so he left a long legacy.  Lot of RR history there:  the

Florence and Cripple Creek, the Colorado Springs and Cripple Creek Short Line,

the Colorado Midland....electric lines...etc.

Thanks Colorado. See I learn so much on these boards I even get a history lesson..........To bad you don't have pics of the mining ops there it could make for an interesting layout..