I am new to model railroading. I am a Civil War enthusiast and thought for my first model railroad I would put together a diorama of Harper’s Ferry. I have downloaded several cardstock buildings to represent the 19th century look of Harper’s Ferry. However, I cannot seem to find one that represents the Firehouse or John Brown’s fort. Does anyone know where I might download or purchase a model of the Firehouse? You can email me at zuppa@att.net. Thanks.
Have you looked at Fiddlersgreen paper models ??
jbull - First off ----> [#welcome].
Modelling Harper’s Ferry during the Civil War would be fascinating. Been there many times. Will you be incorporating the covered bridges of the day, or the temporary spindley ones? How about the C&O canal?
I model in O in the 1970’s, but I have a collection of Britains ACW calvary that I bring out for “reenactments” from time to time.
Here is a link to a Yahoo Civil War trains group that is active. I use to belong to it. There is a lot of information in the Group’s Files and Photos sections.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Civil_War_RRs/?v=1&t=search&ch=web&pub=groups&sec=group&slk=1
Rich
Wasn’t John Brown’s last stand IN the firehouse? I thought one of his sons was shot and killed in there, then John Brown surrendered after the Marines busted through. He was then put on trail and executed…
But then again, my memory may be faulty. Either way, I’m certain to have some photos.
-D
BTW: John Armstrong (The “dean” of Model Railroading") designed a very nice trackplan for Harpers Ferry. It’s available from Kalmbach publishing under something like “The Classic Designs Of John Armstrong” It’s grades are a bit steep, but chances are you’ll be running short B&O trains any way.
Jbull - You must appreciate that Civil War model railroading has an extremely limited following and, as such, very little in the way of RR equipment, or structures, has ever been offered commercially. Like other niche subgroups in our hobby the majority of the participants become kitbashers and more often scratchbuilders out of necessity.
As I recall the building John Brown made his last stand in, the so-called “fort”, was in fact the Harpers Ferry’s armory fire station. This was a brick, three-bay (currently) structure that still stands today. No HO kit to my knowledge bears much of a close resemblance to this structure but there have been various locomotive enginehouses manufactured over the years that included elements/wall sections that could be adapted. One that comes immediately to mind is the old Revell two-stall enginhouse, or maybe the Superior Bakery, which I would recommend as a good starting point for modeling the fire station.
CNJ831
jbull - Just curious, what scale are you endeavoring in? Not sure how many Civil War era figures are available in HO or N, but O has a ton of stuff in both plastic and metal, in the 54mm range.
About the only suitable loco in HO is the Mantua General you can still find on ebay. I have one i ground off the General name board for a generic Civil War loco. You can remove the drive shaft for display. My General runs quite well with a new can motor I bought from Mantua some years ago. I put a DCC decoder in the tender.
Here are some links for period rolling stock and figures.
http://www.btsrr.com/btscar01.htm
http://www.geocities.com/bkempins/ASMMain/Main.html
http://www.musketminiatures.com/
I still recommend the Yahoo Civil War Train Group for a lot of information.
There is a site selling O gauge Winans Camels and Iron Pot coal cars as used by the B&O during the Civil War. Search using Google for O gauge Winans Camel. They are pricey.
Someone on ebay occasionally sells HO scale rolling stock he makes up. Colors may be debatable but if you are just capturing the flavor of the era, they may be suitable. I mentioned the ebay stuff once here and some geezer went ballistic about the ebay stuff.
If Trains.com deletes this post because of the advertising, I can email it to you.
Good luck.
Rich
Thank you for responding to my question on Harper’s Ferry. All your replies have resulted in finding information and websites I can use in making my diorama. As I mentioned I am a Civil War buff. I have been reading a few books on Civil War railroading and articles on the internet about Harper’s Ferry. My wife and I are planning a trip there next year. Some of you have mentioned visiting there. Perhaps you could give me some insights and recommendations on, places to stay, eat, tours etc.
I will be using HO gauge in building my model railroad. There are several ways I could go (1) An 1859 diorama of the event, (2) A diorama showing the buildings and railroad for the period 1859 to 1865, or (3) A mixture of the Historical buildings with modern one’s as it appears today. I’m leaning towards (2).
Space is my biggest problem. A small portion of my garage will be used to place a 4x4 train board. This will limit the number of historical buildings, terrain (mountains) and tracks I can display. Also, since th
Being a Civil War buff myself I had to check out this thread…Harpers Ferry area I always thought would be a great place to model no matter what era. Since you’ll be visiting there; not too far away is Manasses Battlefield. (or as we yankees call it: Bull Run…) If you like railroad architecture the station there is a beaut! It still runs local trains into Washington DC I do believe.
Matt
Bravo for your interest in the Civil War RRs!
Most locos of that time were the wood-burning American Standard type. Watch Swap mets, etc for the Riverosi 4-4-0s, they are good quality. Bachman has a pair that can be worked on and improved to make good runners. Watch the Mantua Line - they keep promising to bring back out the General. Mantua & Bachman put out Civil War cars, and they can always be improved. Check the Magazine Index on this website for articles by Don Ball. He has written several articles on this vintage of equipment & RR stuff. Back in the late 60’s there was a set of plans on cars published in MR. Check the Magazine Index. Check the University of Illinois Publishing House (I Think it is Ill.) for the book by George B. Abdill - “Civil War Railroads” He wrote several other books on that vintage too.
I look forward to hearing & seeing more!
Regretably 4x4 isn’t going to offer you much in HO other than a static diorama. Even John Armstrongs layout is 6x10 in HO. N scale might be a better choice.
By chance, what do you have lining the walls of your garage? What size is the garage? Do you have a clear linear space about 4’ up around the outside walls to do a linear shelf layout? This might be a better idea.
-D