It`s been awhile since my last post… I have settled on some areas/ideas concerning my layout.
Locomotives- Atlac with DCC and sound
Digitrax for control
Athearn, Walthers, Accurail freight cars for the most part
Kadee couplers
CMW and other vehicles
Woodland Scenics figures and scenery
Atlas nickel silver track with flex track where necessary and Shinohara turnouts and special pieces
Misc mfg buildings for the most part
Layout will be on pink foam track on cork dont know about much else I am still having very little luck with figuring out what cars/locos will fit the era I want to model I would like to model the 1965 to 1975 era in eastern ohio/western pennsylvania (Allegheny and Western is a name Ive been thinking about in a light gray/ medium blue color scheme. The layout will be in a dedicated basement room that is finished it is 8 feet wide by 14 feet long no windows with a 7 foot high ceiling. I`d like to build a around the walls layout. If anyone can help with freight car eras please let me know cash is tight right now and wife went into hospital l;ast night because of a heart attack.
Thank you for your time and I do apologize for the small text.
Ed
P.S. I dont know presently what industries Id like to model but thinking steel, maybe coal and misc freight?
Now that we have these tid bits about your forthcoming layout, just what exactly are we supposed to DO with all that info?
Are you just sharing, or are you looking for ideas, or what?
What, exactly, are you looking for us to share about “freight car eras”? TIght money or otherwise?
My sympathies to you and your wife who was hospitalized with a heart attack. An extra prayer has been said while the prayer candle is lit for the evening.
I`m sorry The post concerned selections for my layout and I was just looking for ideas as to if they were good or bad. What do others use or otherwise on their layout. This is all new to me and just would like to do it right the first time.
Sorry to hear about your wife. She will be your first concern for awhile, but hopefully the rr will give you a little time to relax a bit and release some of the tension in your life.
As for doing it right the first time, many folks have gone back and redone scenes and even whole layouts as knowledge and skills progress. That’s one reason few folks ever call their layouts completely finished. Don’t worry about perfection, look to constantly improving your skills.
You have your locale and era. If you are thinking that this is a small branch line rr, they could have aquired used first and second generation diesels. You can either repaint the unit or patch in your logo until the time comes when the rr is finincially able to afford a full repaint.
As for cars, most will come from other roads. Historical societies should have listings of what rolling stock they had at the time. You can also get an idea of what locos were in use from them too. Look at build dates on the models you are looking to buy. I’d say in most cases anything from the 40’s through your cutoff date '75 on should be feasable.
Have you looked at the book on shelf layouts? If not I would say it is a good place to start. There are also some in the layout database with these forums that can be adapted to shelves.
In terms of the specific product lines that you are considering using, they are all fine. You might consider adding Intermountain metal wheels to your list. Intermountain metal wheels and Kadee couplers are what I use on all of my rolling stock.
Atlas diesels equipped with DCC and sound are an excellent choice. Walthers Proto line of sound equipped diesels are another good choice. BLI makes some very nice diesels as well.
Digitrax DCC is a good choice as is NCE which is my preferred DCC provider.
Athearn, Walthers, Accurail freight cars are all good, so is Kadee and Kato.
CMW is among the best for metal vehicles.
Woodland Scenics figures and scenery are good choices. Don’t forget about Preiser for a large variety of figures.
Atlas flex track is my personal choice. I also use Atlas Custom Line turnouts and Walthers Shinohara turnouts for such items as curved turnouts, double slips and double crossovers. Other possibilities include Peco and ME.
A wide variety of structures are available from Walthers, including their Cornerstone series. Other plastic structures are available from Woodland Scenics including the DPM line which is now owned by WS.
Hope this helps and hope your wife quickly recovers and gets back home.
For Loco’s Atlas is excellent but not the only good game in town. Your final choice will probably be based on what is available at the time. Higher end manufacturers tend to do limited releases of a loco every couple of months to years.
There are plenty of quality rolling stock manufacturers. Athearn is good but so is the Bachmann silver series, Atlas, Intermountain, Exactrail and several more.
For Scenery Woodland Scenics is a safe choice but probably the best source at the moment is Scenic Express. They have a candy store for modelers.
Looks like track is covered. Turnouts are similar in that there are a few good lines. The Atlas ones are reliable and decent. Shinohara, PECO, and a couple of others are good. Some will chime in suggesting hand laid.
In the mean time I’d just suggest giving the wife the time while she heals. It’ll make it easier to talk her into the money for trains later. [:-^]
While searching the web last night I came upon a site called carload express. and I would like to loosely base my layout on their current Southwest Pennsylvania Railroad route. It interchanges with Norfolk Southern, W&LE, and CSXT. I know its a current railroad but I would like to backdate it to the era I am working on Make any sense? Since it is an interchange railroad I`d like to model a diesel maintenance facility to some degree with a decent sized yard. Thats about it for now I have to go see my wife. She is getting better but not out of the woods yet. Thanks for all of the help, ideas, and prayers.
Ed – here’s wishing your wife a speedy and complete recovery.
In the mean time, I think you’re on the right track (slight pun, there). Do a lot of reading and research and nail down exactly what you want to do with the layout, then start making acquisitions. You will be best served by having at least a semi-firm layout design before you start buying materials. In the meantime, start putting a little money aside for your layout fund.
All the materials and suppliers you listed are good ones, but as others have suggested, they’re not the only good sources.
Some other suggestions: Walthers 1K / 2K for locos. Scenic Express for landscaping materials, Preiser for figures (a lot of the WS figures are too “cute” for my taste). You should be OK with any of the major brands of track – shop around and see what you can get the best deal on. The same goes for structures and freight cars.