How is it that I somehow managed to pick such a large r.r., but find so little on it?
If you model, want to model, or have info on the A.C.L., please contact me here.
(I plan on modeling sometime in the 50’s, I’ll narrow my timeframe and locale with further info.)
Hi RailBaron,
I model ACL’s descendent, the SCL…
Are you primarily interested in a particular aspect of the ACL? (industrial customers with a lot of switching, long distance freights with 4 or 5 unit lashups, locomotive/car service facility, local/long distance passenger service, branchline operations?).
I’m a passenger train fan and, imho, a “must have” book for ACL and SAL passenger modelers is the book “By Streamliner New York to Florida”. Was a birthday present from a good friend. Excellent details on history, type of equipment, etc. Many excellent b&w photos and a few great color shots as well.
The southeast just doesn’t seem to be popular. I just took the Palmetto down to Charleston and somewhere near Rocky Mount, my girlfriend asked me why there were no southern layouts in my magazine. I don’t remember exactly what I told her, but I sure can’t find any Seaboard System or Family Lines covered hoppers on the internet to buy.
Agree with Paul. The society will have more info than you can imagine, and their quarterly publication is first rate, well worth the price of joining.
Not just the ACL, most railroads have historical and technical societies and everyone would do themselves a favor to check them out.
As a kid we will go throught Florence SC to get to Myrtle Beach and we had to stop at the yards where i could see the ACL locos and sometimes in Myrtle Beach the bridge will be down ,so nice to see one cross it.
I am also modelling the ACL in th 50s and if your’e looking for prototype locations to model, I would highley suggest Wilmington, NC. This was the railroad’s headquarters until the mid 1950s and would be an excellent location to model as tracks led out of the city in 3 seperate directions, making for a lot of train traffic. I am including Wilmington on my layout and am modelling the line north to New Bern, NC. If you are interested in any more info on this part of the system I would be glad to provide it.
I’ve seen a nice number of south and southeastern themed model railroad layouts and subjects show up in MRR and RMC issues over the past 2 decades.
Bowser has a decent selection of freight cars. Click on each link. When you get to each site, scroll down as on a couple of them there is more than one ACL paint/letter scheme version. It appears that the 1950s era is nicely accommodated. There are also Seaboard Air Line and L&N schemes that would complement your fleet as well. Hope this helps.
http://bowser-trains.com/hocars/Stew_offset/Stew_offset_hopper.htm
http://bowser-trains.com/hocars/stew_55_ton_hopper/55%20ton%20Hoppers.htm
http://bowser-trains.com/hocars/2baychop/2baychop.htm
http://bowser-trains.com/hoemrrs/cars/40boxsd/40boxsd.htm
http://bowser-trains.com/hoemrrs/cars/40boxdd/40boxdd.htm
http://bowser-trains.com/hoemrrs/cars/50boxsd/50boxsd.htm
HIgh Greens [:D]