For a while now i’ve been wondering what it be like to model the famous old railroads of yesteryear…in modern times, using modern rolling stock and locomotives. I allways thought it’d be interesting (or funny) to see a SD-70 painted up in tuscan red, or a New York Central p-42 pulling a string of double decker bombidier cars, Or a lashup of New Haven dash-8s moving a double stack…
If anyone ever did this it would be the ultimate display of model railroadings flexibilty to do things your way.
I do believe there are some who have attempted to model a fallen flag as though it never fell, if that’s what you mean. One of the most interesting I recall was a Penn Valley or somesuch name, which modeled a proposed railroad which was never built through central southern Pennsylvania; its graded lines became the modern Pennsylvania Turnpike. This was featured in MR a long time ago, sorry I can’t recall more specifics. But the layout builder represented a line which never was as though it had actually been built in the thirties as planned, but then modeled it as a modern-day railroad.
Another would be the New York Ontario and Western.
A number of years ago Walthers caught a lot of complaints for making Penn Central steam locomotive decals.
Another interesting idea that offends the purists is to apply an earlier paint scheme such as the Santa Fe warbonnet from the F7 to modern diesels.
Personally I think the Pennsy Tuscan red or Brunswick green with five gold stripes and the keystone herald were two of the best looking diesel paint schemes ever done.
Enjoy
Paul
Why not!!
I’ve seen photos in MRR that has modern cab units in Reading livery!
It’s your railroad, why not!
Gordob
There have been a few on this Forum who have done this. One in particular has SD70’s painted in the Rock livery. Very nice!
A Rio Grande SD90 Mmmmmmm… How Sweet!
I model a short line that in real life was abandonded in 1940. I model it in present day as if it never fell. I had originally thought of doing a modern day Pennsy, but decided on my short line instead.
I knew a person that modeled the Erie Lackawana as if it never fell for a while in N-Scale. Those modern locos looked sharp in EL paint.
I found a drawing I think you’d like:
I remember in MR a few years ago they had a trackside photo of a line that was based upon what would have happened if Conrail had never happened. There was a Reading Dash-8 in the Bee-Line paint loading an intermodal train.
I kind of do the reverse on my line:
I try to imagine what would happen if more railroads had a sense of history like say the Union Pacific does. I say that my fictional commuter line has a restoration shop and it gives me license to run PA-1s beside P-42s. My current painting job is to put a GG1 into the Acela Regional paint.
Take Care
~METRO
I think it’s a great idea, and I admire the folks who do it and pull it off well. Some folks would object to it, but it’s not their railroad. If I weren’t hooked on the steam to diesel transistion and decided to model more recent times there would definitely be modern diesels in Southern green on my layout.
Have Fun,
Tom Watkins
I really think that doing a modern day pennsy would be a great idea for my new N-scale layout. Does anyone have any links to paint scheme guides for pennsy diesels? I figure the classic tuscan red/brunswick for the p-42’s and the scheme they used on the gp-9s for the big frieght engines.
This should be fun.
I think Amtrak should repaint some of their trains back into the original lines colors, like Metro North did with their FL-9s. How do you think an Acela in NYC colors would look? Or maybe they could paint some P-42s in the SF Warbonnet. Anyone agree?
~METRo
Actually, that’s what I’ve been thinking of doing for a while!! A modern CB&Q in HO scale is what I’ve been thinking of modeling for some time. I have one of those Railfan.net Paintshop drwaings of an SD70MAC in the CB&Q’s Blackbird scheme, sometime I’ll have to put it on the web so I can show you guys what it looks like.
I agree with the general tenor of this thread. Model railroading is about dreaming, planning, and building ™, so why not dream what might have been for the PC, PRR, NYC, et al. Isn’t this about having fun, after all?
Heres my rendition of the Boston & Maine’s SD90 MACs and SD40 snoot noses and an SD26. have fun lookin’.
http://home.swbell.net/alykka/public_html/B&MAlternateFuture.html
After all, Santa Fe did it in full size real life with their warbonnets, ca. late 1980s I believe, long after us purist model railroaders made fun of model train mass-producers who painted modern diesels in warbonnet.
Holy cow!
Is’nt that what having a freelanced layout is all about? Not following a particular scheme or using a little license to do it your way?
I plan on having some Conrail ES44AC’s and SD70ACe’s on my layout.
If I don’t do a modern CB&Q I might do a layout based on the concept that the BN and Santa Fe never merged; of course since thye’ve both only been fallen flags for less than 9 years it wouldn’t be much different, but in 10-15 years from now it would be.
Although Southern Pacific did exist when the 8-40Cs and SD60s were built, they did not buy any. I am thinking about modeling a couple of these painted for Southern Pacific.