I like modern steam, so on my layout that means from the time the K4s’ were introduced on the Pennsy until the last fires were dropped…1960. I have several roads worth of equipment to use that way, and my terrain is all fantasyland stuff. It’s all a hodgepodge, and I don’t care…I enjoy it. I even run a couple of SD-75 in warbonnet livery when the mood strikes.
I’m modelling the late '30s, a time when railroads were recovering from the Depression, as was industry. Labour was still fairly cheap, so not everything was in a run-down state, and new locomotives and rolling stock was being built, too, running next to the older stuff.
Since I’m freelancing, I do play a little loose with a few things: I have quite a few covered hoppers on my layout, a car type which I especially like, but one that wasn’t all that common in the '30s. Mine are mostly like those which appeared in the late '40s or early '50s, and I’m not at all concerned by the discrepancy.
I do try to be fairly accurate with most of my rolling stock, though, especially concerning BLT. and re-weigh dates, and if I’m modelling a particular prototype, prefer to work from photos of them.
I also have a few vehicles, mostly the trucks from Mini Metals, which represent the GM trucks produced in 1941-'46, but I’m not overly bothered by them, either, as there were somewhat similar-looking vehicles built in the late '30s…to me they’re simply part of the background scenery.
Most of my locomotives are steam, with the homeroads represented by plausible free-lanced designs, while those representing real railroads are modified and detailed to match those in photos of their particular prototype, usually, but not always, as they would have looked in my chosen era.
Esthetics can be as important as realism on a model railroad, I think.
Wayne
Completely agreed, overall appearance and effect means more than every automobile or box car being perfect to the prototype and the era.
Sheldon
I claim I’m modeling the late 70’s and early 80’s, but it’s really more like late 60’s to early 90’s. I can’t be bothered getting all era-specific stuff (not to mention costing more.).
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I could, but I choose not to. I do not want anything that looks unusual even if it could be defended.
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I have spent a lot of time making sure my ratio of all-steel cars, outside braced, and double sheathed cars are acceptable. I only have one 36 foot car in a fleet of 150 freight cars.
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I took liberties in two areas: I have way too many PS-1 boxcars because of Kadee’s wonderful model, and I have too many TOFC cars just because I like them.
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Oh, do I know that. This is internal turmoil for me in the tenth degree. You see, nothing else on the layout moves. The train leaves Centerville for the local run at 2:00. It returns at 2:00 as well. I know that because Mrs. Smith is still walking out of the same grocery store with her purchas
Oh yeah, that’s the other reason for my 1956 cutoff - I can still run my steam locos. They were already retired, but a power shortage forced them out of storage for service as helpers. Proportionally sizing things, 2 steam locos and the rest all first generation diesels is a good balance. And there was one other steam loco in operation, up until 1963, as a switcher in the shops. I have that one too, but it needs some detailing to make it closer to the prototype.
–Randy
I like steam, I also like diesels, so the 1950’s is the only era where both ran side by side. On the B&M they bragged about being all dieselized by 1957. So make that the early 1950’s for me. I like to have my RR look realistic but I don’t get too rigid about it. For instance I run steamers that the B&M never owned in real life, like Mikados. On the real life B&M they went from Consolidations (2-8-0) to Berkshires (2-8-4) 'cause they needed more power than a Mikado had to make it thru the Berkshire mountains.
In actual fact, you can do well with just a cutoff date. Most rail equipment is financed and built for a 40 year service life. Even motor vehicles can last for 10 or more years, and structures can last 100 years, or forever if they are lucky and get to be “historic”. So if I pick 1957 as my cutoff date I can plausibly run older rolling stock going back as far as 1917. And motor vehicles going back to 1947.
I model my personal recollections of the Chicago & North Western “old” main line through South Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Nothing newer than 1970 because that is when I left for college. I am somewhat flexible as to an earlier cut off date, but usually put it at 1966 or '67. The motive power stayed pretty much the same; ditto the rolling stock although wood ice bunker reefers became rare. The CNW was changing its passenger schedule quite a bit during that time period however. All cabooses were red - the yellow cabooses came after 1970. Plenty of freight cars still had running boards on the roof and full height ladders, and ACI labels were not yet on every car.
A friend of mine and I took some photos in 1968 that I am using quite a bit in my modeling. If forced to go Kevin’s strict route I’d say summer 1968 but that would mean not using some nice 1969-70 vehicles I have.
The key phrase in my initial sentence is “I model my personal recollections.” If I remember seeing RPOs come through town, but an authoritative source tells me they were gone before 1966-67, well, then I will run RPOs. If I remember the old barn-like structure near the depot that made wooden broom handles and other wood turnings or items being there in the late 1960s (I know it was there earlier), then I will try to have that building. If I recollect tank cars at the Standard Oil facility, I will model the tanks cars even if I learn it was all trucks by 1966-67.
Memory in other words will always trump the facts.
Unfortunately even my flexible time frame means no E6 diesels even though I have an early childhood recollection of them. It also means the Twin Cities 400 was no more. And while I have early memories of an active operator at the depot who hoo
I model years from the (I can say this at the end of the month) last decade- 2011-2019, since 2011 is the year I first became aware of the Wheeling and Lake Erie existence, and seeing one of their trains for the first time crossing a local bridge (I saw the same locomotive, about 6 years later, it was a nice moment-finally photographing the first unit of theirs I saw).
I model July-September, 1930-1945, with a few anacronistic elements thrown in, like the mobile home my mother lived in after retirement until she died.
Why such a broad timeline? Because I’m trying to capture a certain flavor, not hard specifics that almost no one will recognize anyway. It’s good enough for me.
Both my SCR and SSRy is set in 94/95… I chose this time frame since I have several CR,CSX and NS engines that fits 94/95 time frame.
80’s and 90’s. Occasionally I’m sure I’ll run something significantly older or newer, but 80’s and 90’s is the goal.
I’m building this for my son and I to enjoy and I’ve got exactly zero interest in convincing anyone else.
By way of context, even the grimeyest, most prototypical, operable, and realistic layouts I’ve seen rarely capture things as-they-were. Layouts are personal creations -usually of one individual- and are generally so…
-Clouded by nostalgia and personal experience
and/or
-Reflective of an idealistic, whitewashed view that neglects the reality of the past
and/or
- a highly selective/limited slice of history
…that they’re really fantasy anyway. Note that I don’t degrade others’ layouts for this. I love seeing other model railroaders’ craftsmanship, artistry, interest in accurate railroad equipment, and the fruits of their imagination.
I just acknowledge up front, the fantasy and mythology that is at play and don’t get too fussed about whether -or accept the notion that- they are usually living up to some truely accurate precision of era/location/history etc.
First, I do not weather rolling stock or locomotives. I have in the past, and it generally ruins them, certainly ruins the value, unless it is professionally done by someone who is very good at it. I have one Overland brass M-636 that the pro painter just very minimally weathered. He insists on minimally weathering everything, and is so subtle with it that I’m totally fine with that. (He’s about to do another engine for me).
That means that all my engines and rolling stock tend to look pretty “new”.
I was never able to stick to just one narrow time period or “era”. In most cases, for most railroads I’ve been interested in, it is far too difficult to assemble a representative rolling stock roster from a particular year, let alone decade–and then they should be appropriately weathered to account for which cars were new and which were not. Even for the big railroads that have relatively speaking, a lot of models available, imo there still are not enough for me to focus on one year or era. For instance, Santa Fe homebuilt most of their boxcars and reefers, perhaps starting witth builders’ kits in many cases, but modifying them to suit their own purposes. That means that actually very few of the available HO models at all are “correct” or “accurate” for Santa Fe during the diesel era.
Roads like Nickel Plate, or Canadian roads, get much more difficult. Mexican freight cars are almost the holy grail…
Recently Tangent, Exactrail, Moloco and others have filled some of the gaps, but there are still huge gaps in rolling stock for several roads. Need a green and yellow reading freight car? There have been only a few good ones correctly painted and available rtr.
So it’s my railroad, and I run what I want that generally fits the era of the big Alco Centuries. So if the item of rolling stock was built 1966 to say 1982, that is about good enough fo
I like everything. I model modern era Colorado D&RGW, UP, BNSF 1990s to current. I really like ES44s and SD70Aces.
But… I also like 1950s steam locomotives, and passenger trains. Steam excursions. This new layout I will swap out my equipment from time to time. So I will have duel era for this layout.
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That sounds like an excellent approach to me. Recreating a memory instead of an actual place and time.
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It sure sounds like a great way to enjoy a layout.
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Absolutely! I am trying to model a point in time, but not accurately. I have done a lot of reasearch into 1954, and it was an ugly time. Of course, I do not remember it. My father was only 13 in 1954.
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[quote user=“SeeYou190”]
dknelson
I model my personal recollections of the Chicago & North Western “old” main line through South Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Nothing newer than 1970 because that is when I left for college. I am somewhat flexible as to an earlier cut off date, but usually put it at 1966 or '67.
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That sounds like an excellent approach to me. Recreating a memory instead of an actual place and time.
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It sure sounds like a great way to enjoy a layout.
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Eilif
Reflecting some some idealistic, whitewashed view that neglects the reality of the past
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Absolutely! I am trying to model a point in time, but not accurately. I have done a lot of reasearch into 1954, and it was an ugly time. Of course, I do not remember it. My father was only 13 in 1954.
I have more of a collection then a railroad at this point. I had to start from scratch about 4 years ago after what I had was stolen.
Initially I started getting what quality I could afford on eBay. The start was a Mehano/IHC 2-6-0 and some Roundhouse short passenger cars. I then found a gorgeous model of a water tower. Now the collection is kind of all over the place. Bachmann K-4, Kato F-3, U-28B, 2 Bachmann Doodlebugs.
I’ve been trying to go for 1910-1920 era, as the equipment is smaller. But as I’m still planning a layout it’s been bounce back and forward. I’m not going to go anywhere near contemporary as I don’t think I’ll have the space and want something I can run.
Choose the better:
I had friends (now dead and gone) who despised Penn Central.
It has taken me a lifetime to be able to have Penn Central equipment on the layout, but I better understand the time, and that the PC equipment severely outnumbered other equipment on Conrail (140,000 freight cars to like 20,000 for the next closest road, EL)…so now I have some and no longer hate on the PC green.
John
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1910 has had an appeal for me also. It is one of those things I have kept in mind if I ever decide to scrap everything and start over again.
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Small trains and small equipment and very few automobiles sure has charm.
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-Kevin
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Summer of 1956 is as specific as I get for my protolanced layout. I cheat a little and have a few autos and rolling stock that are a few years beyond that date but for the most part, I try not to put anything on the layout beyond that date.
The 1950s allows me to run both steam and diesel and also plenty of passenger trains. Not sure when airlines overtook railroads for intercity travel, but I don’t think it was before 1956. I sprinkle a few I Like Ike posters throughout the layout which helps to set the date.
PS. The summer of 1956 was also my last summer before I started school, so it was the last time I enjoyed complete freedom until the day I retired. Maybe that was a subliminal reason for choosing that date.