The spirited discussion on the hobby during WW II made me think about era specific layouts - namely the 1940’s.
I chose the 1950’s era to model because for me it combines the best of a few worlds - steam engines along with diesels, wooden and steel reefers, meat packing was a big industry as well as dairy transportation by train were still prevalent. Also there are lot of rolling stock and supporting buildings choices to choose from retailers.
Now the 1940’s era is a different animal. Hopefully not talking out of turn here, but it seems to me it could pose potential problems getting era correct material.
So my question is this please: I would be curious to hear from 1940’s era modelers on why they chose that time period to model. Do you have trouble getting era specific engines, rolling stock, structures etc.? Do you ever regret your era decision?
I personally find the 1940’s a very fascinating time in history but I wouldn’t want to model it and lose the chance to use 1950’s era things…
My simple solution to not missing out on an era is to have a dual era layout. I have steam engines and diesels. I have wood box cars and metal. So I can swap out cars and engines and run in the 1930s or the 1960s.
I don’t have modern structures, mostly older looking brick buildings that are appropriate for either era. I have a couple of structures that I can swap out between time frames. I also have two sets of vehicles. Yes, I’m glad I got some Jordan vehicles before they shut down.
I too have a dual era layout. Steam locomotives in 1914/1919. Diesels in 1968/1974.
What I find interesting is the information on factories changing to make items for the war effort in the Great War. The preparations for war as early as 1909. Rolling stock from 1870s etc.
On reading such information, the follow up on preparation for war in 1935/36. Britain was preparing for war to start in 1941.
Having a 1940s layout would (imo) require a search for information in a similar vein. The U.S.A. Government supplying Britain. The build up of arms and materials after Pearl Harbor. Throughout the war. Then the aftermath. The rolling stock the railroads used thruout the 1940s. Fascinating reading.
The 1940’s was the plan for mine. As I was re-entering the hobby after long hiatus, I was basically starting from scratch. Previously I had been modeling the late 70s/early 80s. I’ve had to use a bit of modelers license as 50s era stuff has found its way onto the layout, but I don’t care. It’s fun, looks good enough, and was available. Heck, at one point as a kid I was running SDP40s next to diminutive 0-6-0s. I had fun. That is still my main concern. The casual visitor gets the sense of the 1940s when seeing my layout. Out of era items are either not noticed, or they don’t care and it really doesn’t ruin the effect. Others may feel differently.
I also have a multi-era layout, with a lot of compromises of course. The biggest give-away are the road vehicles… But these can be easily tucked away like the rest of the rolling stock.
Anyway, I can’t imagine someone complaining about the availability of rolling stock or structures for a 40’s layout. There are tons of steam engines on the market, at least in HO. Early diesels as well. There are “war emergency” rolling stock from Tichy that are super nice. Kudos to Bachmann as well for supplying steam of pretty much all eras and gauges… I think there are more 40’s structures available out there than post 90’s structures, but I could be wrong.
Simon
PS: I’m glad to see that at least one good thing came out of the previous thread on wartime modelling!
I chose 1951 to 1956 for the area of my layout for multiple reasons.
That is when I got my first HO locomotive, an MDC 0-6-0 kit.
I entered Junior High in 1952 and walked under the Southern Pacific north bound tracks every morning as the huge AC-9s were headed north out of El Paso Texas.
Best times of my life.
No graffiti, very little crime.
The SP was running both diesels and steam until 1956.
I try to keep my era earlier than 1957, lots of vehicles that fit the 1940s to 1956 era. I have gone to scratch building my structures keep my modeled era.
It seems to me like everything started going down hill after I graduated college in 1960.
I married in the late 50s and we raised 7 children in the good times.
I started my current and last layout in 1989 designed and built around the early to mid 1950s near the mountains of southern New Mexico.
Mel
Modeling the early to mid 1950s SP in HO scale since 1951
My layout is being built to be able to regularly rotate between several periods (see “The Fast Time Calendar”, Feb 1983 RMC).
The big problem area for modelling in the US is the era before WW1. From about 1920 on, there is no shortage of equipment for that era. The 1940s in general would be easy to model; there are freight cars that would be around then - freight cars from the 1910’s-20’s were still around, as long as they didn’t have arch-bar trucks and had steel underframes instead of truss-rods - as are models of all-steel cars built from the 1930’s on.
There are heavyweight passenger cars from the 1920s era, and ‘modern’ 1930s-40s streamlined passenger cars. You can find models of 1st generations diesels, like RS-1s, RS-3s, GP-7s, FT/F2/F3s, E-units, and switchers from Alco, GM, Baldwin, and FM.
Buildings didn’t really change that much over time, that’s not an issue either. Note that many railroads originally serviced their diesels in a traditional steam-era roundhouse, and only later built diesel-specific enginehouses.
The one big problem area can be steam, depending on what railroad you want to model. If you like New York Central, Pennsylvania, Norfolk & Western, Union Pacific, Santa Fe, and maybe Southern Pacific, you probably will find enough accurate ‘ready to run’ steam engines that you can model those railroad accurately. For many other railroads, you’re going to have to buy brass or settle for ‘close enough’ stand-in models.
Multiple era flexibility is easier with a Canadian prototype in Western Canada in part because there’s nothing very old out here and a lot of open countryside with little to no era specific appearances to account for.
The post WWI to mid 1950’s should be easy to model if I have off layout storage for the too early or too late locomotives. Out of date rolling stock was commonly in use for long periods up here. In the mountain divisions I’m modelling diesel was first added to assist steam then it went the other way around for a little while. Steam persisted late up here.
Interestingly, North American steam designs from before WWII were still in use during and after the war to the end if steam. Nothing much new was designed. In contrast, in the UK new designs of steam were built as late as 1957 and ran into the mid 60’s. Cheap coal.
I was originally modelling the '70s and early '80s, but didn’t much care for the more modern stuff that followed those years.
The '60s had their own appeal, but it wasn’t trains, and I wasn’t much impressed with the '50s, or the '40s either, as both were the beginning and the end for steam.
I opted for a late '30s era…it just seemed to be a simpler time, and one of hope for the future (that part got shot down pretty quickly), and there were lots of innovations in steam and lots of new freight cars, too, along with the older stuff.
While I freelance, I do try to keep my versions of the real railroads (rolling stock and locomotives) fairly accurate, although I’m not above including some more modern stuff if it appeals to me.
F’rinstance, my freelanced EG&E built the first covered hoppers in the early '20s, and in the mid-'30s was cranking out ones that looked similar to those that started to appear in the mid-'50s…that’s because they sold the rights to both Pullman-Standard and American Car & Foundry…well that’s my story of how things happened anyways.
For me, the Depression is over, and WWII has yet to start…life on the railroad is good.
Like Mel my favorite era is the early to mid 1950’s, with Espee my favorite railroad as well. The only difference is that I model in N scale. When I got back in the hobby about 15 years ago I was primarily interested in 1960’s-early 1970’s as this was the era of I grew up with while living on the high desert of Southern California (Palmdale-Littlerock).
After a couple years of modeling this era I discovered I preferred the “classic” 1950’s SP trains such as the Coast Daylight, the coast mail trains and SP steam engines such as the Cab Forwards, the GS4 Daylights and 1950’s diesels painted in black widow colors. I also wanted to model the Southern California Fruit industry (I worked at a fruit packing house when I was in high school), and the 40’ Orange PFE reefers and associated packing houses really fit the bill. All of this will be incorporated into the new layout that I’m still planning.
By the way, I still kept the SP 1960s-1970’s scarlet and grey engines (along with the associated freight cars of the era) as it is fun to switch eras now and then.
My date is 1939. Plenty of stuff. Most people don’t relize how many diesels were around then and how variations could have been there. There were boxcabs, VO660 and VO1000, hh660. Also even though the S1 just missed that date officially, they were being road tested long before and an S4 could have been built (exteranly) as the trucks used were available in 1939. Many more were around but in small numbers. Lots of boxcars, Ertl (Gould), Tichy, Intermountain, Red Caboose, MTH, some MDC, Atlas, and just reliesed Rapido and that is not counting Ambroid and many other types of cars, too many to mention.
I started out modeling the early-to-mid 40s on the NYC. Atlas hadn’t released their Alco HH600/660s yet but there were plenty of early diesel switchers from Bowser (both mentioned by rrebell) and the Proto 2000 S1 and Atlas S2. Life-Like also released their Proto 2000 FM H10-44s and Bower had their FT A-Bs. That’s a nice variety with just early diesels.
For NYC steam there was already Hudsons, Niagaras, and Mikes. BLI released their brass-hybrid 4-8-2 Mohawk and Dreyfuss Hudson. Life-Like released their Proto 2000 USRA 0-8-0 switcher. I have since started collecting proto-specific NYC brass steamers (to run) from Alco Models and NJ Custom Brass; all appropriate for a 40s-era layout.
There was a dirth of 30s/40s-era automobiles when I first started out in 2005. Thanks to Sylvan Models and Classic Metal Works, there is now a plethora of cars and trucks to chose from.
I think the challenge for any era-specific layout is how popular or extensive is the availability of your prototype on the market for your chosen scale. While not as popular as PRR or UP, the NYC has a very nice representation of available models in HO. If I were modeling N-scale? I would be hard-pressed to find even 20% of what I presently have in HO.
And why I chose to model the 40s is primarily due to 3 things:
The music of the era (big band)
The marriage of my parents (1942)
The streamlining styles of the locomotives, automobiles, and the architecture.
I find the 40s (and into the 50s) MUCH more interesting than many of the modern era locomotives and rolling stock. So, no - I have no regrets for choosing the 40s as my modeling era.
I will chime in with a +1 for the late 30’s to mid 50’s mainly because I like most things about the era and the decline wasn’t in full swing for the passenger service by the end of that period. Passenger trains of this timeframe are my main interest.
Having said that and counter to what I generally read here I do have a modern era double stack train and if I want to see an SD90 or 2 rumbling around I don’t feel the need to restrict myself the same applies to owning a Powattan Arrow and an SP Daylight. I do admire some of those super detailed and specific era layouts though where absolutly nothing is compromised upon.
Later this year or next year, I’ll like a make a sole 1940s layout. The original concept was after the war 1946-48. A pure steam roster without diesels. I could easily backdate it 1940 or 1942 and move forward.
I’m still missing some railroad equipment, people, buildings and automobiles. I’m using British 1960s (SS Jaguar) as 1930s cars. Since their n scale I doubt nobody will notice.
I’ll probably get decals for the American flag since there all 50 states and need 48. And since woodland scenics will have the army recruitment office inside the record store. That will be dropping on layout as a period piece during WWII.
I believe that George Selios’ Franklin and South Manchester masterpiece is set in 1938 - he does a spectacular job modeling the depression era and does not seem to lack from appropriate structures (though most are FSM kits or scratch), vehicles, details etc. Having decided that a part of the hobby I really love is building those FSM kits, the new layout (PRR circa 1955-56) will need lots of space for all the yet unbuilt yellow boxes in the storage room.
…if you like & believe that everything during the depression was dirty, run-down, and dilapitated. While I think George is a VERY talented modeler, I think his view of that era is through “gray”-colored glasses. Yes, some things were run down and haggard-looking…but folks also did what they could to tidy up their little patch of existence. For me - George’s version of reality is a bit too unkempt to look real.
