I am a member of the Yahoo groups Civil War Railroads and found out about this site from a member. I began bulding the W&A north branch (LeBron Mathews models the W&A in Columbus GA, hence he is the south branch) in 2003. In order to expedite my layout I contracted Raildreams, a builder in Michigan who built the tables, laid the track and wired it for DCC. The period is late summer 1863. The mainline is about 130’, around the wall with a 30’ penninsula. Over the years I have been honored with the assistance of some of the finest modelers in the east, LeBron being one. Locos are Mantua converted to DCC using Digitrax N scale decoders. I recently purchased a LOK Sound decoder to upgrade the fun. There will be an article about this addition in the future. Meantime I just want to give you an idea on what we’ve been doing since this is such a rare and unusual era to model. All but one structure, so far, are scratch built, using photos of the period. The rolling stock includes Mantua, IHC, BTSa and IHM. Many Manua are altered and converted for variety which may not be known by most modelers. The one draw back to this era is the lack of authentic and dependable locos and rolling stock. There will be articles on these converstions as well assuming interest. Hopefully I will learn how to post some photos next time. I look forward to hearing any interest. All the best. Thom
RE: photos… please go to the yahhogroups civil war railroads site (free), not civil war railroads pics, if you’d like to some of the most recent pics from June 1 meet.
Thom
You might try the Libray of Congress, if you haven’t already. They have a great selection of Civil War era photos at: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/cwarquery.html
[#welcome] Sounds interesting!! Why not post a pic or two here to tease us into looking at the other site!! Welcome again![8D]
Once owned a book called, “Mr. Lincoln’s Railroads” chock full of pictures from the era. As I have no interest after looking through it a couple of times I sold it. Mention this because it is a good source of info if you can find one.
Thanks Lou. But how do I go about posting?
Thom
Hi Gary,
The LOC has been a key resource. We were fortunate enough to have a member of our group employeed by them. Chris managed to send many views of many different images of Atlanta enlarged for unbelieveable details. greatlocochase@aim.com is a site that has converted many pics and images into illustrations as they buld a Great Loco Chase computer simulation. Soon as I figure out how to past pics I’ll set a few up.
Thom
If the Old Dog remembers correctly, MR did a great article on this topic a number of years ago. It even included some plans of cars of the period. The box car with an iron body was realy nice.
Have fun
Hi Thom, welcome to the forum. I’d be interested in knowing more about how you convert the Mantua locos to DCC. There’ve been folks here who say its difficult. I don’t see installing decoders as difficult any more,I’ve had my troubles learning. Where I’m having problems is adequate electrical pickup. There’s a lot of trouble getting through turnouts etc. I imagine handbuilding turnouts with live frogs will cure some of that.
The links below have helped me with 4-4-0 tender drive locos.
http://www.pacificcoastairlinerr.com/1879/locomotives/wipers/
http://www.pacificcoastairlinerr.com/1879/locomotives/big_wheels/
http://www.pacificcoastairlinerr.com/bachmann_4-4-0/wipers/
http://www.pacificcoastairlinerr.com/ho_1879/
I have Lenz decoders in the tenders for my tender drive locos.
Rich
Sounds pretty cool. Along with trains, I love Civil War History, and have often thought about modeling a Southern railroad during the war (Yep, I’m a Rebel [:D]). That will probably be a long way down the road, since I don’t have space for a layout at the time. I hope you can get some pics posted!
It is too difficult to post photos in these froums but if you join two Yahoo Civil War groups, you can see a lot of photos in the Files and Photos sections of these groups. It is free and Yahoo does not bother you. I have belonged to Yahoo mail and groups since 1998.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Civil_War_Railroads_Pix/ Lots of info but very little posting. Mainly to show photos.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Civil_War_RRs/ Not too active but someone is always around. There are photos and info concerning southern railroads.
Search the messages in both groups and you will find lots of info. Some the fellows are serious Civil War (read your version of this war) Modelers.
You will have plenty to read without even posting a message. Though it is nice to introduce yourself and mention what you like but do not have a layout yet.
Go to amazon.com and search Books for Civil War Railroads. You will see books that are available. I have some of them but I model 1895.
Rich
Hi Thom [#welcome]
Modelling C19th railroads is now less common (on both sides of the Atlantic), but its a fascinating era. I’d love to see photos of your layout …
Try this thread for posting photos - they have to already be on a website somewhere else - this site doesn’t host photos: