I did not say those things did not exist, but the majority of the population did not live in cities, and the majority of railroads were not “Class 1”.
Even in large cities, there were downtown stables full of horses that pulled delivery wagons, there were outhouses in the backyards of the many houses, and the telephone was a (growing to be sure but still) new technology. People still lit their homes with gas or liquid fuel lamps. In some cities, municipally provided water and sewage were established.
Urban facilities that belonged to Class 1 roads would almost certainly have had the latest technology - especially in the “Roaring 20s” before the stock market crash.
The best way for Nevin to backdate his layout beyond all of our generalities is to look for photos and other accounts of the time specific to his prototype and/or protoype inspiration. Urban and rural were indeed very different worlds - more so than today.
The authoritative source of information on the railroad’s physical plant would be the ICC valuation report. Congress allowed the railroads to return only a fixed percentage of their total value to stockholders as profit, and it authorized the ICC to conduct a top-to-bottom valuation of every railroad in the country. I can’t remember the specifics, but the valuations were done in the late teens and periodically updated after that. You may be able to get them from the National Archives, the B&O Railroad Museum in Baltimore, or a local historical society.
Thanks for everyones responses to my questions. This sounds very doable. fortunately I have a good library of B&O and WM books and should be about to correctly back-date the railroad equipment. I found out last night that Bowser is making a Western Maryland hopper with the correct earlier paint scheme before the bulleye. Anyone know when the Fireball was added to the engines? I should know but I can’t remember. I love Westerfield kits. It looks like Model T’s are available according the Walthers. Living in West Virginia, I’ve seen Matewan about 8 times. When I go to Timonium on the 4th I am going to explore this issue further. This could be really fun. - Nevin
Sorry but you did say these things did not exist. Quoting from your post, you wrote:
Little or no evidence of electricity…No utility poles connected to the houses.
no phones (well, maybe one of those new-fangled inventions at the station).
no clamshell to fill your steam servicing sand house - just a guy with a shovel…! Certainly no backhoes, front end loaders or forklifts.
And the majority of railroads were Class Ones, according to the ICC’s definition. There were 113 Class 1s in 1925, comprising 96% of the total US railroad mileage. That’s a majority. The B&O was unarguably a Class One at the time in question.
Not just urban facilities. Many division points in rural areas were modernised during or just after WW1. There is ample photographic and documentary evidence of this.
Absolutely. Or even join the Beano historical society…
Another great place to look is the US Library of Congress website… Particularly, The Detroit Publishing collection where you’ll find many photos of buildings, trains, the life as it was, and it looks like they are even adding original plans when available…
Thanks for the clarification on the Class 1 trackage. There were dozens of little railways all over Canada at that time, which were either in decline or on the verge of bankruptcy. Seems that WW1 was not as much of a boom for railways here as in the US. This situation lead to the creation of Canadian Government Railways, which became Canadian National in the early 1920s (in order to avoid the monopoly of Candian Pacific).
I stand by my assertion that the majority of the population did not have phones or electricity, those in cities not withstanding (what is appropriate will depend on the specifics of his layout). And my comments about the “guy with the shovel” was intended to illustrate the point that much more labour was done by hand than most people today would believe. Much of what was “hard labour” seems to be accomplished these days by one guy in a machine of some sort, and 6 other guys leaning on the shovels… [;)]
Good point about the historical society. We are definitely in agreement there… [:)]