Building Roster for Your RR

What does your roster look like? How do you decide what locomotives to add to your roster?

If you freelance, do you try to follow prototypes, or do you just buy whatever you like that fits your era?

Currently, for my era I have an GP38-2, GP40-2,SD40-2, SD45, SW1500. I have been considering adding some locomotives that have wide safety cabs to add variety.

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RoosterSF1.jpg

Sorry Kyle, I just couldn’t resist.[}:)]
Actually a roster question is not amiss. I know I have to rationalise my locomotive roster, like a lot of modellers I have too many! Though I just can’t resist RS -1s and -3s.
For my mid 50s freelanced road whose main revenue is from coal and cement, so therefore more hoppers, open and covered, is the operative word, and can you ever have enough boxcars?
Cheers, the Bear.[:)]

Modeling a fallen flag operating in the late 1940’s adding to my rooster/roster is limited to

what equipment the road operated in that era & locale.

I’m fine with that actually because of the constraints this imposes on my spending.

What I can’t buy, why then I kitbash or adapt existing models to represent say, locomotives operated by the prototype. No model exists of a Baldwin F7 0-6-0. I needed one or two so using historic photographs in several books I have I tore down the ubiquitous Bachman & Rivarossi 0-6-0’s filling, fileing, shaping & adding brass detail parts to produce correct looking locomotives & tenders. I applied the same or similar treatment to build up a small roster/rooster of, Russian Decapods, a locomotive the prototype enjoyed much sucess with.

While

OK Kyle, you are in for a bit of ribbing on this. Roosters crow at dawn, rosters have lists of rolling stock.

I am modelling Canadian Pacific in the very late 50s. So far I have 5 switchers for the yard, and an FM 16-44, a GP7 and three RS-2/3s for mainline freight and coal duty. There are also 5 FP7s (2 'A’s and 3 'B’s) for passenger duty. All are powered with sound.

I also have several steam engines in various states of assembly, some of which will be viable (barely) for the late 1950s and others which will be used for excursions.

Then there are my critters! I have two scratch built HOn30 switchers (one is shown in my avatar), and a few other HO powered items like a utility truck (scratch built), a 15 ton Mack switcher, a galloping goose style freight engine (also scratch built), a Grandt Line 25 ton switcher and a Grandt Line 15 ton box cab.

There will be more ‘critters’ as time goes on. I have managed to acquire several Tenshodo and NWSL Stanton drives which are ripe for scratch building.

There you have it! I watch eBay regularly for more CP stuff but I will only buy bargain priced items. Those are pretty rare but it does happen.

Dave

I model present day Deutsche Bahn in N scale, which leaves me with an enormous choice of motive power. Anything electric fits the bill, from late 1950´s electric locos to the latest TRAXX design, EMU´s, ICE train, former Deutsche Reichsbahn locos, and even a selection of steamers for a railfan special.

Hard to make up my mind, I could easily spend a fortune and a half just on locos.

Instead of a rooster, I use a henway.

Rich

Gotta do my part…

“WHAT’S A HENWAY???”

Although my Layout is pretty much freelanced, my roster is the locos used by the Northern Pacific in 1953, excepting the curves on my layout are too sharp for mallets; or, articulateds.

Somewhere between 2 and 4 pounds. [(-D][(-D][(-D]

No, Rich, it´s 4 to 6 pound - and that´s including the feathers [(-D]

OP, please forgive me for this digression…

A few years ago we were in Fredericksburg (Tx) and walked by a picket fenced yard with a few chickens inside. All of a sudden a rooster let out a crow (spell?). Man, I was shocked at how loud he was. It was ear splitting for sure!!!

Ulrich, I was thinking sans feathers. [8D]

Rich

OP - OK Kyle, I’ve had my fun, so I need to answer your post…

I model the 1950s, with the ATSF is the main road, but the IC does run its streamliners on the same trackage. No locos or rolling stock have build dates past 1959. There are a handful of steamers, but mostly diesels - F units, E units, RSDs, GPs, and various switchers that were around for all or part of the '50s.

Rolling stock is mostly from the ATSF, and other midwest/west roads that regularly found themselves on ATSF trackage. While I’m not a rivet counter, I am a stickler for the build dates and the plausable explanation for the cars being on ATSF trackage…

OK, I will be serious too.

When I started out nearly 11 years ago, I bought every steamer from every road name simply if it looked cool. For diesels, I loaded up on a single road name (C&NW), collecting every type of diesel without regard to era.

But, as I progressed in the hobby, I began to focus more on prototype and era. So, I started selling off locos in an attempt to just match the desired prototype and era.

I still have a way to go, but I have managed to limit my roster to prototype (Dearborn Station) and era (mid-50s).

Rich

I choose the locomotives that fits my switching needs like GP7/9,SW1500s,GP38/38-2,GP40/40-2 SW1200,GP35 and Alco S4.

Two examples would be Summerset Ry owns a SW1500 and leases a GATX GP38-2 on as needed bases while Slate Creek Rail own a SW1200.

I mostly model the Milwaukee, although not in any particular prototypical place. I’ve got a lot of Milwaukee engines, and I’m very slowly re-badging those that are not to make them “right.” Fortunately, there are a lot of Milwaukee diesels on the market.

I started with the Milwaukee when I was a young teen. A couple of those engines are running as dummies now.

AW! Heck. I thought this was going to be a ‘‘foghorn leghorn’’ thread.

I likes, a lot of RS’s, GP7/9’s,SW’s and DS-4-4-1000’s, a few 2-8-0"s, couple 0-6-0’s, lots of 2-8-2’s, all in Zebra stripe’s of course. Not to mention, all the SD40-2’S. F3 Freight,RSD 15’s. Wow talk about a hoarder. Spread out over 64yrs. though.

Take Care! [:D]

Frank

My Nscale Maclau River is largely inspired by the N&W, in the steam age.

Steam Mallets were the king on this system, like the Maclau River.

In the beginning, all the steam rooster was nearly only Rivarossi/Atlas steam and a very few brass imports.

This roster has dissappear now; by 2003-2005 the new generation of steam models come on the market, better runner, excellent details and DCC ready for the most.

I have replaced all the Ri./Atlas steam by the new generation of N scale steam, made by Kato, Bachmann, Model power and Life Like.

Some of these company offer mallet in their catalog which can fit a place on my roster.

Only the few brass remains from the old roster, all of them (4) are Key imports second hand and only the 4-6-6-2 model run quiet well looking at the new plastic steam generation.

The car rooster is mostly 55 tons hopper and boxcar from the 30’s/40’s including flat, tankcar and all the car which were running at this time, most are MTL whith Atlas and Intermountain and a few Fox valleys models, my car rooster is nearly 500 cars and it’s a all time growing rooster,whith two or three car each week.

Only MTL couplers are used on the system.

And I must agree I can’t resist when I see a model which can be used on my layout.

And don’t use staging on your layout, because…you need much more car and locomotives (lol)

My roster has 2 parts.

1st part is anything the Ma&Pa ran in the 50’s - that’s 4 diesels and 8 steam locomotives plus 2 gas electrics. So far I have the 4 diesels and 3 steam locomotives in S scale.

2nd part is anything I like.

Remember. this is a hobby so have fun - whatever that is for you.

Paul