I have planned the possibility of enclosing 1 bay of a 2 car garage, and would like any help with choosing an era,railroad, regon, scenery, and anything else I have forgotten. Here’s what I have planned: 1. The layout will be large enough for 2-3 operators (each playing the role of both engineer and brakeman/conductor for their train) 2. I will be using an MRC Pro Didgy Express 2 (I really hope I spelled that right) DCC system 3. I would like to have plenty of switching. Now, for the questions: 1. What railroad (s)? 2. What era(s)? (I’m leaning more toards the modern day, but I think I may fudge a bit to go back to the '90’s to include the Conrail locomotives) 3,What regon? 4. What type of scenery? (mabe a worthless question, it may be decided by the regon) 5.What industries? 6. If there are any other sugestions for anything else, can you let me know? Thanks for the help. I am thinking of some rough designs, and the garage enclosement won’t happen untill this summer, so you have a little bit of time.
I suspect nobody feels they can be of much help because this is a personal decision. All of us have been there.
I am a great believer in modeling something you either know about, or have the means to know about – that applies to prototype road, era, industries that are switched, and scenery. That is why I model my old home town, in the era of my teens. But since memory is not 100% that means I have had do to some research, which I enjoy. Prior to that I modeled the PRR in the late 1940s mostly because there is so much published material that informed me about it.
Unless you have resources I’d go with what you see or can travel easily to see; modern era unless you have books and resources of an earlier era (or already have an investment in equipment). Do you railfan? Model that.
Dave Nelson
I’ll have to agree with Dave–this is an extremely personal matter.
Is there a particular region of the country that attracts you? East Coast, or Midwest or the West? Traffic patterns can be tremendously different according to region. Do you prefer a more heavily populated area with lots of industry, or perhaps a more sparsely populated area with long stretches of track for sheer running?
I’d first do a lot of investigating about various railroads, their actual purpose and what you want from them. Heavy traffic over something like Horseshoe Curve or California’s Cajon Pass, or maybe comparitive lighter traffic through the CSX New River Gorge or even UP’s Donner Pass?
Grab some books on various railroads, see what you think. Study where you want your railroad to go, what you want your railroad to serve, what kind of traffic you want on the railroad and go from there.
Tom [:)]
You have already acknowledged a Conrail affinity.
See all of the railroad names for pre-or-current-or-post Conrail. Also note the variety of road names possible by going forward in time from Penn Central (PRR + NYC) to Conrail (Penn Central + six more) to post-Conrail.
Take a gander at the operations map to determine if any of the locations from St. Louis to Boston to New York to Washington, D.C. have any appeal, and if so, what engines-types appeal to you and match up the year. For example, you could even model Conrail’s Canadian mainline!
It is also interesting to observe what post-Conrail (modern era) railroad ended up with trackage rights:
Norfolk Southern now runs the PRR mainline through Pennsylvania (a 3-track mainline plus the Amtrak Pennsylvanian on the same main); CSX getting a lot of the former New York Central, and; the post-Conrail “X-Factor” with Norfolk Southern going from New York to Chicago while CSX runs Boston to St. Louis.
Print out the article, 3-hole punch, place in a 3-ring binder, and; then read again as you add more articles – something will soon stick out to you and you’ll have an era, geographic location, and road names.
While one stall of a two-car garage might SEEM like a lot of space, it shrivels down to nothing much just as soon as you start trying to bend, fold and staple enough railroad to keep several operators busy. In fact, the whole floor area would just about make a comfortable control pit for several operators if the layout is an 18 to 24-inch shelf around the perimeter.
Your forum handle tells me you’re not thrilled by Conrail in Indiana, but Conrail in Eastern Pennsylvania might work. Unfortunately, the advent of Conrail pretty much corresponded with the demise of anthracite coal and the virtual collapse of heavy industry in that part of the world. On the other hand, the scenery sure is pretty and the railroad infrastructure is impressive.
Note that my suggestions are very general in nature. Ultimately, the only anyone who can decide what you should model, and how, is strolling around in your boots.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - because that’s what I want to model)
You’ll soon figure out which era and RR and so-forth. You don’t want somebody else’s idea. I was also trying to figure out what I wanted on my new layout about 6 months ago.
I decided I wanted to model what I saw. I want to be able to drive around my area and model the trains I can see. I also like comparing the results in real time.
Good luck, have fun.
As stated, most of your questions have a personal preference answer. However, nothing says you have to be prototypical. If you like eastern mountains and BNSF locos, nothing says you can’t do it. You have indicated a preference for more modern, but there is no reason a steam loco can’t chug around pulling an excursion train. For buildings, if you see one you like, build it, use it.
One layout near here is set in the late 30’s early 40’s, (owners preference), but when folks come to operate they are welcome to bring a brand new 3rd generation diesel to pull trains.
The idea is to have fun, do what you like and have fun doing it. Other folks will enjoy working with you as long as you are having fun.
Good luck,
I’ve seen quite a few dandy layouts occupying double-car garages. (This is the norm in virtually-basementless California.) Most were double-decked and capable of keeping 6 or so operators busy if a single operator was assigned to each train, one or two or three yard operators, and a dispatcher.
(Ed Merrin’s Petaluma and Santa Rosa Railroad.)
Mark
I am sorry, but the OP´s questions is like so many we discuss here. " I am into ho trains, now tell me all there is to know and also what I want". Questions like this are beyond answering. OK - end of rant - back to the OP´s question.
Have you thought about the type of operation that you would like to have? Are you more into just letting trains run, or is prototypical operation what your are looking for? If the latter is the case, the space you can dedicate to your layout just begs for modeling a branch line. If your are not into steam, this choice pretty much limits the era you can model, as branch lines rapidly started to disappear in the 1960´s. It also limits your choice of roads.The layout size and shape pretty much also determines the type of scenery you can build. A shelf-type layout may not be well suited for modeling a line in the Rockies, but more in flat or hilly country.
I am not suggesting that you should now model a branch line of the late 1960´s. I just want to show a path forward on thoughts, which you may want to go to find your layout theme.
Close your eyes and dream of your completed layout. Do all the operations in your dream. What do you see? A busy industrial area where a cute switcher is hard working? A two track mainline where long trains coming into sight from both sides? Do you see clean and modern diesel or do you see hard working steam? Keep on dreaming and tell us what you dream about most.That phase of dreaming should last at least a week. After that phase you will be eager to do it!
We might be helpful to implement your dream.
First, a question about your “operating ground rules.” Will the other half of the garage be available as open space during your operating sessions? That might change the way you design the layout. If, on the other hand, it will be filled with a car, bikes, ladders and lawn equipment, then you might want to plan the layout differently.
One difference between eras is the size of the trains, and the track requirements that come from that. Early 1900s trains were short, and the cars were small. The pre-WW2 era of “big steam” featured very large engines, but still relatively short freight cars. Passenger equipment was quite long in this time frame, too. When we get to the Transition Era after WW2, the large steamers were replaced with shorter diesels, and as we move to the modern era the engines and freight cars have gotten a lot longer.
For your layout, the size of engines and rolling stock affects the minimum radius curves that you can have. I am a Transition Era modeler, mostly, and my relatively small home layout uses 18-inch radius curves. I couldn’t get away with that if I modeled either modern or big steam.
While some look at location and say it dictates your industries, I think you’d be better off deciding on your industries and allowing that to decide your location. For example, if you like coal (and who doesn’t?) then the Southeast is not appropriate for you. Grain belongs in the northern Midwest. The steel industry fits best in the Midwest and Northeast, while logging probably puts you on the West Coast or in the Rockies somewhere.
Two Car Garage Layout
When I built my two-car garage layout I got some good information from the War Dept. (my wife). She said, “Because I would be doing a lot of sawing and creating huge amounts of dust I should isolate my workshop which was in the garage from the layout”.
I built two walls with a door on each in the front corner of the garage by the garage door. The garage door windows provided a lot of light to the shop. The doors on either wall allow me to saw long pieces of lumber on my table saw. For longer pieces I open the garage door.
I finished the shop walls with windows and moldings
I have to second (and third, and fourth [:)] ) the opinion that no one can tell you what you want to model and how to operate your layout. Only you can decide that, and it may well involve starting something and getting it running, then tearing it down and re-doing part or all of your layout once your tastes and preferences are better defined.
However, don’t feel constrained to model a specific era or prototype exactly. The New Haven had completely dieselized by 1954, yet my 1956 layout has steam locos… because I want to operate them. My layout; my rules. Good luck.
Chuck, you left out “mutilate” [}:)]
On further thinking, perhaps we can offer a bit of practical advice – not so much to direct what our friend should actually do with his trains but rather suggest a line of thinking that goes from what you have + what you want + what you like to what makes sense and what you’ll likely enjoy.
The guy has space, but somewhat limited space. If we’re talking N scale no problem - anything goes and we’re back to square one. If we are talking HO, and sticking with Conrail and the Conrail era, this suggests four axle power rather than massive six axle mainline power, and the very longest cars of our era - intermodal flats, auto racks, 86’ auto parts cars, are off limits, but cars up to 60 ft should be OK. No unit trains of reefers or coal. It might also suggest a part of Conrail with no Amtrak service unless early Amtrak heritage cars in shorty versions (e.g. Athearn) are OK. That in turn suggests early Conrail.
What this means is that we are now talking about curves less than 30" radius; we might be able to use #4 turnouts to save space. Single track main rather than the double track Conrail mainline, so we are making more use of our space for sidings and scenery. So this narrows things down a bit. Unless you really ant that Amtrak service, seems like we are talking a Conrail branch served by local switching, or an urban or suburban industrial district. The branch offers the possibility of some dramatic scenery with hills or mountains and trees and water. The urban industrial district offers “urban canyons.” The suburban indistrial district suggests lots of Pikestuff modern warehouses.
This ma
Conrail locomotives in Conrail paint can still be seen today, at least here in the Great Lakes area. I see them most often on CSX rails - not an everyday thing, but often enough that I wouldn’t consider it a rare occurance.
One little bit of Conrail still in existence is the shared assets area here in SE Michigan. The northern end that runs south from Utica through Sterling Heights and Warren, down to North Yard in Detroit would be an interesting subject for an industrial switching layout. The tracks run n/s between M-53 and Mound Rd. Auto plants, a stamping plant, other auto related industries, General Dynamics & the Detroit Arsenal will ship & receive the occasional load of military vehicles including M1 Abrams Tanks, the Detroit Free Press newspaper printing plant, and many other industries. Mostly NS painted power these days, but just a couple of years ago CR painted locos were regulars. IIRC Dana Kawala did a track plan based in this area that appeared in a booklet a couple of years ago.
Edit: Here’s a good website covering this area (the Sterling Secondary). Train info is a bit out of date, but it would be something to start with.
As others have said, this is a very
I will not tell you how, why or what to model. Only you can make that decision, and if you make the wrong one, you will do what most of the rest of us have done, tear it out and start over.
I “had” model trains from my first Christmas, my dad was a Santa Fe engineer, and we lived in Oklahoma, where I stayed until after I graduated from seminary. So my modeling has to a large degree been shaped by those two things. My current layout is a three deck model of the Santa Fe in Oklahoma modeling the grain harvest rush, which I experienced as an older teen first hand working for the Santa Fe as an extra clerk during summers. Lived in Kansas after graduation and ended up working for Santa Fe in the HQ at Topeka learning the newly started data processing craze fueled by IBM, while serving as pastor of small churches. So being around the Santa Fe HQ, shops, etc. was a factor. I then changed jobs, going to a programming/system design position with the Federal Reserve Bank in Kansas City, still pastoring small churches and stayed with that until I retired in 1966 at age 60. Seeing the Kansas City rail scene from 1970 through today influenced my choice.
Then there has been all the years with the local model rail scene, joining the NMRA, earning my MMR, which covered a period of time when I built a large freelance railroad in my basement in Topeka and Kansas City, but in 1983, I gave up freelance and began modeling the Santa Fe in Oklahoma, which has led to a three deck layout in my basement which is mostly Santa Fe, but with some BN and CRIP mixed in, as I model of all places, my home town of Enid Ok, all the big grain elevators, the Santa Fe and in an era of 1989 because I did a lot of railfanning back home in the 1980’s and I had settled on unit grain trains, elevators, etc. as my theme and Santa Fe as my railroad. Today, at age 74 I have that same layout, though updated technically and with a few changes here
The other posters have given lost of good advice. Let me suggest another option - stay generic until you have a better understanding of what you want from the hobby. Most of us start off this way - the tradional 4x8 Plywood Pacific is exhibit A for the Generic RR.
Unfortunately, the 4x8 is no longer a suitable starting point if HO scale post-transition era equipment is one of the future possibilities. The 4x8 heyday was in the '50s and '60s, when models of transition era equipment was what was manufactured. The 4x8 allowed one to inexpensively (in terms of time and money) get started in the hobby. After gaining the requisite experience and vision, one moved on to bigger and better. (A few of us stayed with the 4x8 format.)
Nowadays, a better starting point for the Generic RR might be the Heart of Georgia layout design by Scott Perry. It gives you larger minimum radius and longer train lengths at the expense of slightly more complex benchwork construction and a duckunder. If you build it, you will know in a few months whether you can tolerate duckunders in return for improved layout possibilities (some can, some can’t).
One of the downsides of the Generic RR (or beginner’s layout) is that once you understand what you want, the Generic RR layout is too limiting and becomes a throw away. But the chances of getting the right layout the 1st time around, no matter how strong your vision and layout plan are, are pretty small. Almost all of us go through more than 1 layout as we grow in the hobby.
Another downside is that some will not consider you to be a “real model railroader” until you have passed this beginner (generic) layout stage. Without specific modeling goals and a layout to match, these folks consider you to be a dabbler. Some of us are “dabblers” for most of our lives.
Hi!
As someone wrote, yours is a “personal decision”. Perhaps I can help, however…
Surely a prototype RR got you interested in trains in the first place. And that first spark happened during a particular time period. I suggest that RR/time would be the first place I would look to make a choice.
And then there is a general interest in types & eras of RRs. Maybe you enjoy narrow gauge, big time rrs, short lines, or the glory days of steam (20s/30s), or the postwar (II) transition time, or the '70s or modern day railroading. Hey, maybe you have an interest in Civil war & late 1800s Railroading!
For me, while I grew up next to the C&NW in Chicago during the '40s/'50s, I quickly gravitated towards the Santa Fe - probably because of those Lionel red/silver warbonnet diesels. And then, I spent a lot of summers next to the Illinois Central racetrack in Anna (Illinois) at my Grandmom’s.
Soooo, all of my layouts have been basically ATSF in the transition era (late '40s thru 1959), and today I’ve added an interchange with the IC - so I can run those chocolate/orange streamliners.
What it comes down to is that you need to go with your heart on this decision, especially if you are going to invest heavily in locos. I’m sure you will make the right one!
Mobilman44
That’s right. And when you track down who’s got your boots, you’ll be good-to-go… !!! [:P]
Yes, that’s how I got my start. I live outside of Jacksonville,FL and CSX is the main (correction, only) railroad that runs in the area. One of my earliest childhood memories was of when I was really young (I guess about 5 years old) and my family went to Fernandina Beach for the day. On our way back to the car, the crossing gates went down, and a CSX local was switching one of the local industrial areas. I remember that distinctly, as there was a 4-axle diesel (GP38 or simaler?) locomotive, running long hood foward, with a brakeman holding on to the ladder of the last car on the 4-car string. I wasn’t interested in trains back then,but I whish I had the chance to relive that memory. As for my forum handle, I hate to tell you guys, it’s incorrect. It’s suppose to be “North East Fla. Rail modeler” but my computer malfunctioned somehow, and didn’t register “Fla” as part of what I typed. I accually don’t know a lot about North Eastern railroading. (other than NJ Transit and Amtrak’s NorthEast Coridor) Yes, I do like Conrail. But that’s where another problem lays, I like every railroad for what ever reason. If I stare at the paint scheme, then it will appeal to me and I will like what road name is painted on it. So, I’m still at a loss for roadname, but I do know I would like to model the modern-day. However, I may also do what I have seen before, and run locomotives I like just because I can. I’ll t