While visiting a local HO club today a bizzare subject came up and I wonder what your thoughts would be.
Is it possible to build a 1960 era layout in 2018 using Atlas brass or nickel silver track and a MRC 501 Throttle Pack? Guide lines and scenery techniques for layouts of that era would need to be followed.
I believe it can be done since a lot of 50/60 era cars and locomotives can be found on e-Bay and at train shows.
Three of the 20 something members thought it would be a cool idea for a hobby heritage display layout.
Before the “why” part was discussed it was time to start operation.
incidentally, this is exactly what I am doing right now! Over the past half year, I have been buying all the track and accessories from the 1950s and 1960s for my Marklin HO scale 3 rail AC tinplate layout. Living in the motherland of Marklin, there is no shortage of that stuff and, with a little patience, you´ll be able to find real bargains.
Last Friday, I built the “table” for my “train set” and since Saturday, the trains are rolling on the temporarily laid track.
I can assure you that this is just pure fun!
A few pictures:
I am really enjoying this more than I care to admit, although the project was born out of necessity, as my dexterity has gone south due to reasons of bad health. It´s the only way for me to stay in the hobby.
I buy all my locomotives and rolling stocks 50s 60s era on eBay and train shows. I guess you could almost say I’m kind of an eBay train show freak. I get a little carried away.
A lot of the old buildings are still made today. A lot of the old rolling stock from Athearn, MDC, etc was made for many years afterwards. So you can very easily capture a 1960’s layout.
I would have any old power packs checked out before I used them.
I don’t go back to 1960, but I have all my HO stuff from the early 1970’s except for the brass fiber tie flex track. I have thought about doing a 1970’s retro layout with what I have. I think it would be a fun project.
My layout is early to mid 50s. Like Track Fiddler I buy most of my rolling stock and locomotives off eBay. Out of my 70 or so locomotives only a half dozen were bought new. My thing is restoring older locomotives.
I agree that the 50s and 60s are doable. I prefer the transition area, it’s not hard to find anything that your club would need with a little window shopping on the Internet and eBay, HO Seek is another good source.
I’m currently putting together a Southern Pacific Heavy Weight Lark Passenger train. I bought s five cars at our local Train Show in March and another five off eBay, all used and in very good condition.
Absolutely you could build a layout using only materials that were manufactured in the 1960s. It sounds like a fun project.
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I was at a train show in Brooksville, Florida on Saturday, and one dealer had all the scenic material you could need. Life-Like trees and turf, molded foam tunnels, etc.
I’ve seen people on facebook model train groups building entire postwar lionel layouts with only postwar equipment, buildings, props,etc. So it is entirely possible, and a very interesting idea.
I had a bunch of it from my 50s/60s layout, but I couldn’t throw it away. I took it to a train show and gave it to a vendor who was selling the stuff. Everyone went home happy.
I have lots of pre 1960 rolling stock on my layout, Varney and Athearn metal kits, early Athearn plastic kits (the boxes were yellow that far back), etc.
I think you could do a layout built with 1960 era materials. Seems to me at the RR flea markets I go to, there are tons of very old stuff being sold very cheaply. There’s a magazine now on HO train collectibles, so there is an interest in such things. BTW IIRC in the TM video/DVD for Lionel’s 100th anniversary they showed someone’s then current (c.2000) layout built with only 1950’s Lionel HO materials.
You’d have to decide if you wanted only items actually made before 1960, or just accept the modern versions of them. Like, a 1960 Athearn reefer with fairly poor lettering and horn-hook couplers, or it’s recent MDC incarnation - same body, but with excellent graphics, better wheels/trucks, etc. Course you could paint and decal the cars…except the two big decal makers of the time, Walthers and Champ, don’t make decals anymore.
After reading another thread in here, I suggest you start saving saw dust [swg]. You’ll need it for ground cover.
The only train I had in the 60’s was a Penn Line FA unit and a few freight cars. It never really got past the plywood stage, although I did start some paper mache hills.
That all got trashed when I moved out, and didn’t get back into trains until the early 80’s, when we started having kids.
I love the transition era- it affords flexibility in structures and engines/rolling stock that is somewhat lacking in 80s- modern era themes. The shorter box car lengths allow for that extra car or two on a siding or a short freight train. More modern architecture can mix with older style structures under the guise of “progress”, etc.
It would seem that “HO Railroad that Grows” by Linn Wescott would serve as a touchstone here as it was written and designed in the late 50s.
On the brass track issue- I have not seen as much as I used to at flea markets/swap meets so I would stick with modern nickel silver and modern plastic tie flex track. The DC power packs might be okay if they were checked and rebuilt a bit for electrical safety. Otherwise, a great idea!
BTW I’m reading this to mean building a layout using 1960 technology - rubber band drive engines, craftsmans kits for freight cars and buildings etc…NOT necessarily building a layout set in the year 1960.
When I started model railroading in the early 1970’s, most modellers only wanted to model steam. Diesels were considered ‘the enemy’, so many (most?) layouts were set in the pre-transition steam era. John Allen allowed diesels on his layout for photos for ads and once in a while when brought by a friend, but he never owned any himself. Remember, someone in their 40’s in 1960 would have been born in the 1910’s, so grew up with steam in the 1920’s and '30’s. That was often what they wanted to reproduce on their layouts.
I assume it was even more the case in 1960. I know MR in reviewing their history has cited a 1963 ('64?) article called “Diesels - I Like Them!” as being a breakthrough article, as it was the first article where someone admitted to liking the diesels more than steam.
Can I safely assume that none of those cement brands smelled like lemons? (I recall as a kid in the '70s tube cement smelled like lemons or some kind of fruit, apparently due to safety concerns (“glue-huffing” maybe?).
And hey, thanks to a recent MR article at least the OP knows how to assemble an Ambroid HO wood “helium car” kit…
Yes,building a layout using 1960 era technology including Athearn engines with “all new 8 wheel gear drive” locomotives.
Diesel heads vs. steam heads at the Columbus HO club in the 60s was mostly one sided seeing the few junior and 20 somethings members was the diesel heads.
Just for fun.IIRC the ratio was around 10 steam engines for each diesel on the layout.Any road diesel made one trip across the layout and was promptly placed in the roundhouse never to be ran again that night. After who would want to model a diesel truck on rails?
