Hello fellow model railroading fans. Just wondering if any of you ever change your trains, automobiles and other items out to represent other time periods ?. I personally can go from the 1930s to the 1950s to the 1970s to modern day in about twenty minutes by changing things around a bit. It’s just another way I keep myself from getting bored with the same old layout…
Tracklayer
I normally don’t do that. But I can set my layout in any time period 1987-1998 by just changing the Locomotives and rolling stock. I stop at 1998 because thats when most of the WC locomotives where painted.
I have different time periods because I’ve collected trains for 30 years and it just turned out that way. I have a lot of stuff that was starting to dissappear from the rails in the 60’s and also have modern equipment.
What I do is run trains that are from a specific time period like running an SD-9 with 40’ boxcars, reefers, and cattle cars with roof walkways and then in turn i’ll only run modern trains with modern equipment.
My oldest time period is an SP Sunset passenger train pulled by Alco PA-1 A & B units and my most modern is the EMD and GE locomotives of present day…If a rivet counter comes over, all I have to say is it’s freelanced and if he continues…show him the door…It’s my railroad and i’ll run it the way i see fit…chuck
Tracklayer,
My goal is to model multiple eras going as far back as I can, but forward only until 1968 as I model the NH and very little else. So I collect all the NH-era equipment I can, and someday I will have enough to change eras when needed. But at the moment I have all kinds of anachronims on my layout: truss rod boxcars next to an 85’ TOFC, etc. [:)] But they are all New Haven…
Paul A. Cutler III
Weather Or No Go New Haven
I am stuck at the year 1969 on the Milwaukee road. It fits perfectly with the models I have. I have many of the U-boats that the Milwaukee road had and a couple of the Milwaukee electrics that run into the mountains. Unfortunately I don’t have the space to build the layout I want. So right now I have a smaller layout which works just fine for what I need. But when I get the space, I will build the Milwaukees rocky mountian division. I plan on having a few little joes and box cabs on the layout running around with there trains. It will be cool.
James
I’m loosely shooting for the late 70’s to the early 90’s. But I will be running steam tourist passenger trains too. My worlds not too prototypical.
Heck, I heard they’re still using steam to haul local freight in Eastern Ohio. Some tourist trains pulling double duty during the week.[tup]
For personal reasons, my modeling is concentrated on a single month - September, 1964. My timetable is the prototype’s (so, effectively, set in stone,) the rolling stock has numbers (and weights) which I saw in service at that time, and I have multiple albums of my own photos (and shelves of books) covering everything scenic from signals and right-of-way detail to rustic footbridges and clothes hung out to dry on bamboo poles.
In order to change eras at the same spot I would have to extend or remove catenary, change almost all the signage and drastically modify the roads and structures (both type and location.) Also, I would be moving from the familiar to the virtually unknown. Thanks - but no thanks.
Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
I do. I maintain rosters for both the mid-1970s and mid-1990s.
My 1970s Penn Lake is a shortline jointly owned by the D&H and Reading, and operated using equipment from the parent roads. It also features an interchange with the PRR/PC.
The 1990s Penn Lake System is a super regional in the process of being taken over by Canadian Pacific, and interchanges with Conrail.
Nick
I don’t. I model the New York Central in the early 40’s so I’m content with steam (0-8-0s and 2-8-2s) and early diesel (S1s, VO-660s, and FTs). That adds plenty of variety to my layout for me.
I also have a few Erie locomotives (0-8-0, FT, and S1s) and would like to possibly incorporate them into my next layout, if possible. I just started doing research on that yesterday.
With that said, I do have a Norfolk Southern GP38-2 (1977) that I just recently purchased. My plans are to run that exclusively on the club layout when we decide we want to run more modern locomotives. I’m not so much into modern diesels, but I do like the scheme of the NS.
Tom
Every time I tried that I ended up getting rid of the stuff from the different era. So for HO scale I’ve stuck to the mid-1970s era. In N scale I ‘model’ the mid-1950s. Two different eras, two different scales.
Yes, I run turn-of-the-century in large scale, and 1957 in HO scale. I also have newer Southern Railway and NS trains, so I could model modern era, or just around the time of the merger (in 1982), when locomotives were still in Southern paint. I missed out on the GP30 High-Hoods, but if I get a hold of some, I’ll be able to model 3 eras in HO scale. But, I’m “officially” setting the layout in 1957.
Brad
I grew up in Bergen County, northern NJ. We had the NYC (west shore line)on the west side of town and the “Dreary Erie” on the east side! Never looked at the track plans, but I’m sure they crossed or at least came close together at some point! In the mid '50’s, the Erie was using camelbacks & Stillman coaches in commuter service to NY City, and the NYC was running those neat lightning stripe E or F units![8D]
I would say my modeling era is mostly between the mid 30s until the mid 60s… nothing specialized to one single Railroad but currently I have most engines from the UP followed by the Rock Island.
I do have a few Tower 55 GEVOs which don’t fit in but that doesn’t bother me at all and actually have bought some freight cars to go along with them.
I will continue buying what I like even if it doesn’t fit with my other models. I like to run the models but don’t need 100% perfect accuracy.
I model the whole decade of the 1990s. If a vehicle, freight car, loco, or building is too modern for the year I’m operating at the moment I merely swap it with another. It’s basically a way to expand my modelling possibilities and to keep from being bored to death by running the exact same thing all the time.
Well, that’s the plan. The layout is mid-60’s right now, but I’m slowly acquiring stuff for the mid-30’s. Eventually, I’ll pull off all the autos that are currently on there, and replace them with the Jordans which are still unbuilt in little boxes. I’ve got a block of more modern shops that I’ll probably finish up on a swappable base so I can build a second, earlier street. I’m thinking of putting a street-level trolley line on the “old” street, and have it abandoned and mostly paved over on the “new” street.
My garden railroad is no specific era, I have steam and diesel but never mix the two. I run what moves me at the moment. My HO layout is current to NS standards, what the prototype has I have, when they scrap something I scrap something. This is easy to do because my HO layout is very small, I couldn’t imagine doing something like this on a huge pike.
I’ve been toying with the idea of building the Eastern Shore RR in O scale, set about 1975. You could very nearly model the entire line (one line, no branches, 7 industries, 4 locos and one maintenance/office shop terminating at a water terminal on one end and an interchange on the other). Being the Eastern Shore of VA, you only need to get equipment and vehicles from 1975 and claim to model and date after that up to modern era- nothing ever changes!
My main focus is modeling central Illinois in 1949, but I do find myself drawn to earlier (1880-1918) equipment. Recently, I;ve been cranking out scratchbuilt ToC freight cars, and have the new Bachmann 4-4-0 and 4-6-0 on my wish list. I’ll eventually assemble a small fleet of engines and cars for the 1900-1916 period and run occasional op sessions.
If I want to, I can affect a time change with just a simple change of vehicles, locos and in some cases, a few structures. Most of the time I leave everything as is and run what I want anytime I want.
I’m stuck in modern era mostly. Locos are those that were seen in the 80s & 90s but that’s mostly because the 4 axle fit on the layout best. Can fit a few of the smaller 6 axle’s but I’ll stick with the GPs and stay “modern”. Basically I’m sticking to what I grew up around or remember seeing earliest.
I used to plan on continuous modernization starting from a point 100 years prior, and advancing one year each year. Similar to what the Utah Belt does, but starting at a different point. Quickly ran out of time, money, and space, especially as I learned more about history and just how much change takes place in the real world of railroading.
Now I use a focus on one specific era as a filter to help keep my spending in line with my available hobby time and space.
my 2 cents
Fred W