With the 150 yr civil war coming soon does anyone have any suggestions for modeling, have a Bachman loco and some Mantua rolling stock. Any suggestions for better running loco and equipment and additional prototype info. Do have copy of Alexander book.
Thanks
Actually, all of the available 4-4-0s represent post-Civil War prototypes or later. The Mantua/Tyco General is after the rebuild post-Civil War; before the rebuild the General had an outside frame. The Bachmann 4-4-0s supposedly represent the Jupiter used for the Golden Spike in 1869. The AHM/IHC/Rivarossi/Pocher 4-4-0s are somewhat oversize, and again are more typical of 1870s than Civil War era. There have been brass versions of Jupiter which are much better running and more detailed than the plastic versions.
Early 4-4-0 HO models typically have tender drive because of the small size of the engine. And with the limited number of wheels and light weight, enhancing the electrical pickup to all tender wheels and all drivers is critical. Adding any weight possible to the engine also improves performance.
Alkem and BTS make accurate resin and/or wood kits for Civil War era cars.
Couplers are something you have to decide. Link and pin couplers were standard during the Civil War; knuckle couplers had not been invented. Working scale link and pin couplers in HO are almost an oxymoron.
A great resource is the Yahoo Civil War Group.
hope this helps
Fred W
For the best (in my opinion) Civil war RR modeling; see what Bernard Kempinski makes:
His layout is AWESOME!
If you go the link & Pin route, the easiest thing I’ve seen to do is to take a wedge shaped piece of styrene, drill a tiny whoe thorough it, mount to end of car, and lingk cars with staples puth through the wholes.
Bonus: Their magnetic, and a mgnetic wand like Rapido or Sergent Sells will make removal a bit easier.
Here is some additional information for you to look at
http://thomaslegioncherokee.tripod.com/americancivilwarrailroads.html
I suspect the various 4-4-0s that have been brought out over the years while best suited to post 1870 railroading would provide a close enough appearance for an engine that was fairly new during the Civil War, or could be backdated a little. AHM had some old time cars that you sometimes see at swap meets that provide a nice variety to the Mantua cars.
They would not necessarily be good running or looking engines but 40+ years ago a line of die cast steam engines from AristoCraft (not I think the same outfit with that name that sells trains today) had a few civil war era engines. Unfortunately at swap meets they are either in bad shape or draw prices all out of line with their essential quality. Maybe all you’d really want is the boiler/cab and tender anyway.
You mention having the Alexander book but another one I strongly recommend – it is starting to get rare now so unless you get lucky you might have to pay a premium price – is George B Abdill’s Civil War Railroads. Evidently it has been reissued with a new cover since I got my copy decades ago.
http://www.amazon.com/Civil-War-Railroads-Pictorial-1861-1865/dp/0253335361
Don’t forget that not every piece of equipment used in the years 1860 to 1865 was new at the time (indeed even the General was a few years old by the time of the chase). In other words don’t overlook some modification potential to the really old fashioned engines that Bachmann has brought out over the years, such as the John Bull and DeWitt Clinton sets. They are improbable perhaps right out of the box but if you get the Abdill book you will see some incredible stuff that was run during the War.
Imagine the
Scouts - I would say that the wisest position would be to just hang on to your ideas of modeling aspects of the civil war era for another year, or two. Judging by what I saw manufacturers come out with for the 100th anniversary back in 1962-65, I expect that we are once again likely to see a number of new and up-to-modern-standards models offered that will look and operate far better than anything you can find currently available, even after any modifications, re-gearing and re-motoring you might do.
CNJ831
But if you don’t mind emitting a lot of “bad” words, you can use Alexander link-and-pins (Walthers pn. 120-6002). I still recall a totally dedicated narrow-gager dropping the pins on his–such dediction–such words! I wonder if they’re to scale (the couplers, not the words).
Ed
Because of the small equipment, modelling that time might be easier in a larger scale, like S or O I would think?? Of course, how much is available would be an issue.
Stix,
You are exactly right. Although most ACW railroads are standard gauge, because the equipment is small, you can probably design an O Scale ACW layout in the same space as you would in HO scale. I have a minimum radius of 28 inches on my O Scale layout, though I recommend keeping the radius above 30 inches if possible.
While the equipment is smaller, many of the structures and ships are still large. I found this out when I tried to model a wharf area with realistically sized ships. I ended up expanding the harbor area of my layout to accommodate the larger ships.
I am thoroughly enjoying my foray into O scale. Prior to the ACW project I was primarily an N Scale modeler. It’s a different mind set, but it is still model railroading.
For more information I included a chapter on Civil War railroads in my book, “Mid-Sized Track Plans for Realistic Layouts.” Or you can check my blog which has more detail about my layout. The link is usmrr.blogspot.com
I have been modeling the pre-Civil War period for several years and this is the advice I give everyone who is interested in the era. In no particular order…
The Bachmann trains handcar and trolley car mechanisms are excellent power sources for small locomotives. However know that the trolley car gears begin to slip and slide along their shafts after a while so those mechanisms have a limited working life. If you use the handcar, be sure to buy the one with the little tool boxes cast on the frames. That small extra bit of weight makes all the difference in the performance. If you can afford Bowser mechanisms then go with those.
The Bachmann DeWitt Clinton frame and drivers makes an excellent starting point for period locomotive kitbashes.
Don’t forget heating and plumbing when building houses and other structures. Every building will need outhouses and wood piles. All residential structures (and hotels) will need various outbuildings such as spring houses, ice houses, laundry houses, etc etc., Backyard animals, chickens, a pig, some sheep, were also far more common than today. Fences were also much more common. (see number 4)
Get some books about the Hudson River School Artists and American genre painters especially Caleb Bingham, for guidance on painting civilian figures. Also, wearing hats was much more common than today.
There are never enough women figurines in period dresses. You can convert a modern figurine to an earlier period by building up a dress from epoxy and / or wrapping the legs with thin paper. Dresses made of putty seems to crack.
You will find that this is a challenging and fascinating modeling period. Good Luck!
Kevin Olsen
The B&O Railroad Station Museum at Ellicott City, MD has a large working Civil War Era layout in a separate building that is maintained and operated by a local model railroad club. If you’re close enough it might be worth a visit. Otherwise try searching for a website. These folks just might have some useful suggestions since when I was there the equipment seemed to perform well indicating that this group may have solved some of the problems related to Civil War modeling.
Civil War Railroading? I think that would be very tough given that both armies tried to stop each other from fighting by DESTROYING tracks.
While it is true that military operations frequently resulted in destruction of the railroads, the Union and lesser extent the Confederacy became remarkably adept at rebuilding them.
Many river bridges burned by the Confederates in their retreat would be back in service
within " twenty-four to forty-right hours. A story goes that a Confederate
soldier witnessing these repairs remarked that since the Yanks repaired
bridges about as fast as the Rebs could destroy them, perhaps they should
have blown up the railroad tunnel at Tunnel Hill. According to local
legend, his dejected companion responded that such a tactic would probably
not have worked since Sherman “likely carried a spare tunnel with
him.”