Sorry, but I have another question.
I’m going to do my layout in a 1950’s theme, but I’m having trouble trying to find information about that era, particurally the Northeast area. Does anyone have any books or web sites that could help me research that era? Or does anyone have a layout with that era?
Thanks for the replys.
This is actually the most popular era for model railroads. If you look at Model Railroader magazine or their Great Model Railroads specials, you’ll see that a lot of the layouts are set in this time period.
As for specific reference books, it depends on what you are looking for. If you are researching equipment, try morningsunbooks.com. They publish a lot of books on particular roadnames for particular time periods. These books tend to be photo-intensive and expensive and have lots of detail on locomotives and rolling stock. Unfortunately, they often do not have a lot of information about what the roadname did in a particular era (you probably won’t find detailed track plans or descriptions of industries served by the railroad). This information can be difficult to find. Mbi.com has some good reference books about particular roadnames that can be more helpful if you want a history of a railroad and an overview of its operations.
Hello “JZ,” “Model Railroader” published a special issue, “Modeling Railroads of the 1950s,” last year. You can still get a copy through the “Shop” section of this Web site (look in the top menu bar), or by e-mail to customerservice@kalmbach.com. The lead article, by Tony Koester, is called “You have to know where to look,” and is about researching the 1950s. Good luck, Andy
JZ, Andy hit the nail right on the head…as it should be!
The issue he mentions is a great starting (or even a finishing) point depending just how much a person wants to dig. There is a lot of info out there, most of it just for looking, but some may cost a bit too!
Good luck!
Any particular railroad? ANd any particular location? Most all fo the major Northeast railroads have one or many books devoted to them, many of the late steam/early diesel picture books are FULL of 50’s era photographs. And a lot of towns have a book on them covering the 50’s. The railroads themselves produced a lot of publicity literature in that era, and much is easy to find, they made so much that even though we’re talking paper material that is 50+ years old, there’s still plenty of it around, so it’s not rare or expensive.
Good example of the Easter PA/Western NJ area is the book put out by the Easton Express newspaper after the flood from Hurricane Diane in 1955. Obviously most of the pictures are of destroyed things, but all around the primary subject are examples of the way roads, cars, and buildings looked in 1955.
–Randy
This site will tell you what diesels were around then.
For a nice easy research tool use films of the era or just before… Humphrey Bogart and stuff like that. I’ve found that when i can’t recall when a film was made (99% of the time) I just put the title into a search and when it pops up in a couple of hundred places i can check the date, actors plot & more. If I want I can go on via actors or director to other films of the same era. It’s great for all sorts of background and "atmosphere detail.
Hope this helps.
These four links will get you 15,000 - 20,000 prototype photos with apx. 2/3 of them focused on Northeastern United States railroads, traction, and trolley sources. The traction and trolley pictures in particular are centered around 1940 - 1960 when you look at the surrounding scenery.
Yes!
This is great. I don’t know how you guys found so much stuff. Thanks for all the responses. I bet all these refrences will help a lot.
Thanks everyone
Northeast say B&M, MEC, NH, PRR, Reading and the other anthracite roads.
All of these have Historical and Technical societies with an absolute wealth of history.
I belong to the NHRHTA http://www.nhrhta.org/. and the PRR sites.
I have been prototype model railroading for over 60 years, and I can tell you that the research is the hard part. But it is also the most rewarding. I am currently building a module of the New Haven’s Old Saybrook, CT station area circa 1936-1956 and I have spent over a year doing the research.
Is it worth it. You bet it is!
JZ,
If you’re going to model the 50s, you owe it to yourself to examine this site…
http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/cushman/browse/index.jsp
It may give you a new insight as to life during that time period. You can search by year, topic, location and so on. Take a look around. You’ll find a lot of useful information here.
62stratfan