My primary era is MEC/B&M set during 1950-53 (key transistion years), however, I simply couldn’t resist those harvest gold diesels of the mid 1970s era MEC. I think this is only possible because I have a relatively small layout (14’x8’), so swapping out all the rolling stock, autos and trucks and several key structures isn’t a scary thought.
I have already started planning how some industries will change or be completely replaced for the later time period -the dairy, for example, will have to disappear completely - its likely replacement will be a rail served lumber merchant with “modern” buildings. The structures I’ve built to date aren’t fixed down enabling swift replacement.
The main thing which I won’t be able to change is the vegetation. As someone else said look at 1950s and 1970s photos and you will note a marked change in just how much tree and scrub cover there is with time and less maintenance.
One other thing I’ve noticed is that switching a small layout designed with transistion era 40ft cars in mind, to 1970s era with 50ft and 60ft cars creates a few operational challenges!
It’s talked about a lot, rarely done, except as others have said, as an excuse for a yard sale of unrelated equipment. Railmodel Journal had a few articles on using removable building so that you could change the livery stable to the gas station to the fast-food joint, for example.
“Another Era” recreating two scenes in one space Railmodel Journal, April 1990 page 42 Chicago, the Fifties ( CITY, ERA, SCENE, ![
A Change Of Scene: Modeling History’s Mileposts Railmodel Journal, January 1997 page 47 Building a diorama that can be changed to model different eras ( DESIGN, ERA, LAYOUT, MULTIPLE,
Love that quote about “it’s never to late to have a happy childhood”
My latest layout is “sorta 1954”, but since I model the Pacific NW and the Great Northern Electrics,AND like narrow gauge, AND like the GN 1960’s “circus cars” and “Big Sky Blue” liverage, I flex it a bit. I’m even planning a CP passenger consist with the Royal Hudson.
Since none of these things have existed in “normal reality” in the past thirty years, most people see what they remember and disregard the rest. It’s a blend of fact and “could have been.”
So “mainline excursion specials”, a mix of logging and tourism (and gauges), as well as operating sessions allows for a lot of fun.
I like constructing things, so I have modules within modules, allowing swap-outs of structures and therefore rearranging traffic.
Hint: 1/4" plexiglass makes great bases for structures.
I model not only multiple eras but different nationalities as well! My favorite eras are 1950’s to late 1980’s and I model them using British, American and Norwegian stock. The structures are iterchangeable but the bridges and signals are not.
As I build my model railroad for my own personal enjoyment, I really couldn’t care less if it doesn’t suit others!
I model 1909 to 1911 SP because some of the rolling stock I have ended and new rolling stock that I like was introduced during that period. For longer periods, weathering of rolling stock and stuctures becomes an issue.
[soapbox] I just finished reading some of the replies and refer to my note published last year in Model Railroader “model railroading is supposed to be fun”. I model an era somewhere between steams downfall and today. I don’t change businesses or buildings as Orsonroy suggests, nor do I worry about keeping cars up to date as others suggest, be it RR cars or autos. I guess I’m just a maverick in this business, I don’t do rivet counting, nor DCC. Most of my layout, including inclines, was built through trial and error and two yardsticks nailed together (to check the incline angle). I paint my streets and sidewalks with craft paint rather than use pre-made stuff, and although my railroad will probably never make the pages of MR, to me it’s just as good as Howard Zane’s, although to say I wouldn’t like mine to be like his would be an outright lie. So yes, I model multi-era layout. I have old fashioned gas stations a few blocks away from a newer brick firehouse staffed with just about modern equipment and firemen in the latest gear. I have power from 2-6-2 Praries running alongside of a Dash 9 and modern Amtrak Superliner consist, which sort of resembles a tourist railroad running next to a modern passenger train. Seems I’ve heard of that somewhere. And remember, that yes, as much as things do change over the years, in some spots they do not change much at all. If you’re modeling chicago, you’d better keep up, but if you’re modeling a town called Fairview in one of the plains states, it probably hasn’t changed much in the last 50-75 years. Use YOUR imagination and build YOUR layout the way YOU want it to look and the heck with what other people think. If YOU like it, so be it, it’s good.
Due to location constraints, I am forced to model using a fold-down layout (approximately 30" x 8’) in our garage. This means acceptance of two facts: 1) when I want to work on/run trains the truck has to stay out, and 2) the layout has to have a switching theme. Some years ago, I had a much larger layout centered in the end of the 19th and early 20th century. Upon dismanteling, I just couldn’t part with all those 36’ box cars and 4-4-0 engines. The decision was made to pack all that rolling stock and save it for the future.
The current Sweethaven Harbor Division of the Central New England features an Atlas MP15DC as its sole motive power and some truly challenging switching problems that keep this old runner busy for hours at a time. But what about those two large boxes of turn-of-the-century stuff? The light lit…why not change the time frame of my layout occasionally? Given the nature of my setup, I exchange the more “modern” structures for those of the earlier period, shelve the 40’ box cars, covered hoppers, etc and rail the older stuff. Two layouts…two different eras and two ways to operate. It works for me!
I am planning on modeling part of the Feather River Canyon between Keddie and Intake, California. The canyon has changed since 1949 when the first California Zephyr went through, but we would hardly be able to pinpoint those changes except for side to side photos showing grown up vegetation or more canyon rock in the Feather.
I am planing on modeling early F & GP diesels, CZ and freight with 40’ box cars; about 1980 with a UP Centennial and SD40-2s; and the present day with UP Dash 9s in intermodal service and BNSF from the highline with modern long cars, auto, centerbeams, and 30K gal tank cars, for example.
It is true, though, that even this minimalist area (no buildings, no roads to speak of) has man-made changes to consider. The old WP used wood ties (no ballast on the ties) and UP now uses concrete ties (ballast over the center portion of the ties). Also, most telltales are now gone because men are no longer allowed on the car roofs. I’m sure I can think of more.
My big plan is to ignore or rationalize these away. I’m not planning on using model concrete tie track but I might paint Atas flex wood tie track ties a lighter color. My main goal is esthetic, photographing scenes of trains in the Canyon.
The only room I have now will support a short diarama until such a day as to enjoy a nice separate building of sufficient size for office, shop, and model.
Hi Duncan in Maxville - home of Eastern Ontario’s fabulous Highland Games. I used to live in east end Ottawa, until I moved to Vancouver Island 5 years ago and brought my layout with me.
I call my model railroad “Maine Central’s WEST END” because I model the Maine Central Railroad’s Mountain Division between Whitefield, New Hampshire and St. Johnsbury, Vermont (truly Maine Central’s farthest point west). By choosing to model the mid 1970s, CP Rail still had mainline trains travelling north/south through St. Johnsbury, the St. Johnsbury & Lamoille County Railroad arrived in St. J with traffic from northern Vermont, and Maine Central’s “Mountain Job”, from Rigby Yard in Portland, Maine, terminated there. And by including Whitefield, New Hampshire in my plan, I could also model the Boston & Maine Railroad, which interchanged in Whitefield with the Maine Central. My friends know I like a lot of variety, and this part of MEC’s Mountain Division in the mid 70s certainly gave me that.
Looking for still more variety, I noticed that in the early 80s the Maine Central had purchased several U25Bs from the bankrupt Rock Island Railroad. They arrived on the Maine Central in several different paint schemes, two of which I particularly liked. What to do! I was [supposed to be] modelling the mid 1970s. The difference was only 6 years, and as others on this thread have already pointed out, the structures would be the same, as would the rolling stock. So, by replacing the Boston & Maine F7A/B set, and not running the St. Johnsbury & Lamoille County train during an operating session, the layout’s time period becomes 1981 - and Stewart had just come out with a really nice model of a U25B. Now, in 1981, three U25Bs painted in three different liveries (one Maine Central and two different Rock Island schemes) haul the “Mountain Job” up through C
One of the advantages of modeling lines through western mountains is that basically where the railroad runs away from civilisation, there HAVEN’T been a lot of really drastic changes. The mountains themselves are a pretty unchanging backdrop, allowing for quite a bit of variations in the time frame you choose to model. You’re right–except for certain minor details, the Feather River canyon could be the setting for almost any era.
Like you, I’m modeling the Sierra Nevada–a fictional “Pacific Extension” of t
My RR is the AT & P (Any Time and Place Rail Road)I started several yrs ago in Austin TX and work with David Barrow and friends & learned the “domino theory”. Had many operating sessions and many folks to work with and learn from - then I moved to Alpine Tx. - Guess what my layout is probably the largest between El Paso and Austin, but no one here (probably with in 200 miles) does MRR. My space is 900 sq ft with the layout around the room and a large mushroom projecting into the middle. On the 2nd fl over the shop/garage so had the stairs built to come up in the middle of the RR. Design “phyolosify”: I wanted to be able to have operating session if folks drop in yet a main line for just running trains for the uninformed. I use easy DCC. My trains are from early steam and diesel thru current euqipment & some of each w/sound. My thought process was to be able to let folks see what used to be both in passenger and freight as well as current equipment. I have some classic Pax - Super Chief - SP Daylight - Southern Cresent - Amtrak - Great Northern - AT&SF and UP articulated steams freight - current UP with containers. As part of family is from Canada I do have some canadian equipment paz & freight. Also have a large Pax terminal( pax trains arrive under the station and 120 ft round house/turntable. The layout has two continious main lines that can be used for “running” or work with several areas, towns, etc and do operating sessions. One main can be used just for running and the other combines to allow an ops session. The whole layout can be utilized in an ops session. You can go all steam or diesel or mix and match. Just for kicks I put in a small double oval under the mushroom that is “block control” that I let the little kids and uninformed adults play on. It is straight DC block control - two sidings and two loops. Also a very graphic show n tell between DCC and block control. I kinda hit the high lites - and I am sure the p
Having read your question, the numerous replies and pondering this my self I think that multiple era’s would be fairly difficult. Kinda like how the spouse changes everything at the changing of the seasons and holidays.
My brighter idea would be to not model multiple era’s but maybe a late 1980’s-90’s era shortline railroad that has a passion for preserving history while trying to make a buck at it also. Locally there is the Reading and Northern which was known in the time frame I mentioned as the Blue Mountain and Reading. At the Valley Forge NMRA convention in 1992 (I may be off a year there) there was an excursion to Port Clinton where they took us for a trip to Temple behind their 425 Pacific steam loco. The New Hope and Ivyland, Ohio Central and the Strasburg (which oddly I don’t think I’ve ever seen modeled) and even the EBT(it is non profit) could be other examples. Of course looking at these one could easily freelance their own fictional shortline that allows them to both run more modern trains and equipment as well as allowing them to break out the steam trains and older deisels and rolling stock on special occasions.
Another thought for a multi era layout if you have the room or the inclination and if you want to count rivets is to build a layout for each era you wish to model. This can be acheived in 3 ways. !. build a layout for each era as 2 separate items. 2 Build a double deck layout top deck modern ere and lower deck old time era. 3 build both sides of layout as differing eras and have hidden running behind opposing sides to enable running without actually running new trains through old scenery or if you allow the old trains (historic runs) through the modern era it gives more operational possibilities. The only thing that can restrict the possibilities is your thoughts. Well maybe the cost or space available but whos counting. I have a 2 ft shelf layout 16x16feet around the walls and I run different eras all the time.
We did multiple eras on my friend’s layout even to the point of changing some of the buildings for the proper time (wood stations were painted differently in the eras modeled). I decided not to follow this concept on my own layout as the larger cars of the modern era take up too much space on my smaller layout and amassing rolling stock and motive power for both is a little much for me.
My layout is relatively small, only a 5x12 foot rectangular island. Although “completion” is still at least a year away, I’ve been giving a lot of thought to replaceable structures, and even an entire replaceable block of stores. This will give me the opportunity to continue structure modelling and scenery building even when there’s no space left on my layout.
So far, I’ve identified one movie theater that’s too modern for the 1930’s, and I’ve got a coal-and-oil distributer that will need to be back-dated to just coal. I’m thinking of replacing the tank farm with a small skating rink. Of course, that gets me into the “dual-season” quandry, because the young ladies on the other side of town are walking around in short skirts.
