I´m increasing my ambitions a bit. For my next H0 project that will be in modular form I will more closely follow a prototype, maybe not to 100%, but more than just laying out the the tracks. The broad selection was easy Milwaukee Road, the seventies (With some running sessions backdated 10 to 20 years.)
My primary interest is switching freightcars and running locals.For my first modules I´m looking for a prototype trackplan of a small town that would see some switching, a few locals and a variety of locomotive types each day.
An interchange with another fallen flag would be nice.
Or any ideas on good places along the Milwaukee Road that would lend itself to modeling. Preferably with a trackplan and/or pictures.
And yes, The Beer Line in Milwaukee is tempting. I have the MR issues and the Kalmbach book but missed ordering the mrha book before it was sold out.
Not exactly a ‘branch line’, but Red Wing, MN would make several good modules. At one time there was a small yard, freight house rail-to-barge elevator and two mills. A connection the CGW was even there. And the Milwaukee Cannon Falls Patrol used the CGW branch to get to Cannon Falls. A GP9 usually was there as the local ‘switcher’. All of this was still there in the 70’s. And of course, a double track mainline where Hiawatha’s once ran!
I always thought it would be interesting to model Baraboo, WI. You can look at Google Earth to see the trackage around Baraboo. There are a couple industrial sidings and agriculture is big in the area.
Couple interesting points, Baraboo was the winter home of Ringling Bros. Circus. They had quite an installation for their railcars, and storage facilities. Also, Devils lake State Park is on the outskirts of Baraboo and the trackage goes right along the shoreline with dramatic cliffs rising from the lake. The track also goes right through the campground there. Farther down the line is a really interesting bridge that crosses the Wisconsin river. Along side the bridge is a car ferry(free to this day) that shuttles cars back and forth across the river.
I think it was part of the Chicago and Northwestern line. But I would imagine the Milwaukee Road was prevalent in the area also. Only research I’ve done is personal observation.
Well, I got a pretty small layout room (about 200 x 355 centimeters - 6.5 x 11.5 feet), and I wanted H0 scale, so I decided that an urban switching layout gave me the most bang for the bucks.
Wife’s from Minnesota, and we spend a month there every summer - so it was kinda natural to go for the Twin Cities.
This is my track plan:
Layout is still blue foam, though - some recent images:
Short train pulling up the ramp from the river barge terminal:
Coal barge at barge terminal:
Parts of the warehouse district taking shape, team track to the right - mill elevator beyond road overpass:
Tracks by the mill (GN car on elevator track, tank car at a holding track):
Still lots to do. I hope to get the main line around the room powered up this weekend - we’ll see how cold my layout room is in the morning - took a couple of hours today before my heater/fan warmed up the
Got about 30% of that in my train room so I can do some switching. We are forming a new modular group in Sweden. We are following FREMO-US standards. You are not that far from us so you might join in at some time.
I know there has been some discussion about FREMO US vs Free-Mo over here in Norway too, but I am uncertain about the current status.
Btw - have you seen Wolfgang Dudler’s web page ? He is doing a Minnesota based railroad too - the protolanced Westport Terminal, which is located in the imaginary town of Westport, MN.
Looks to me (unless my high school German is failing me totally) like the FREMO US modular standard that Wolfgang describes is single track western US (arid climate) in the 1950s-1970s.
Most of us are in the Stockholm area. Even if I´m living 100km west of Stockholm(Enköping). Most of our group are also members of MMM(Mälarmodulmöte) a modular club with a very open mind, we have modules of Swedish,German and US prototypes all mixed together. Some of us wanted to focus on a more strict US practice and we started a new group following Fremo US standards (With some minor adjustments).
And, Yes FREMO US (and our swedish adaptation) is very much inclined to South western US. I will have “burnt grass” in the ends of my modules. One of the adjustments that we have made in our standards is that we canceled the time specification.
Plymouth WI where the Milwaukee Rd and Chicago & North Western had side by side depots, and their lines crossed protected by an old fashioned smashboard, was written up not long ago in the magazine of the Milwaukee Road Historical Assn. Go back far enough and there was also an electric line next to them as well.
Just about every issue of the MRHA’s magazine would have ideas
This may not be for the modeling preferences in this thread, but I noticed that the big Milwaukee station kit and the extra train shed extension kits are at a significantly reduced price right now, if anyone is interested in them.
