Since bulding and tearing down an experimental layout, I’m now ready to get back into things and design a serious layout. I find myself having trouble researching though… I’ll be modeling modern NS. The layout will consist of mostly intermodal, autoracks and mixed freight with some coal. I also love the hilly, mountainous scenery of western NC to Chattanooga as well as the nostalgic areas around Pittsburgh/ western PA, but that’s all I know right now. I don’t know how to find signature scenes that might help in my decision, nor what traffic or industries can be found along the way. I have a few books and I’ve browsed some website but simply put… I don’t know how to begin to research. Any suggestions are much appreciated!
Start with maps. microsoft.terraserver has USGS topo maps. Google and Mapquest (among others) have satelite photos. Trace the routes you are interest in. Look for yards, junctions, industries.
Get a timetable for your region as close to the timeframe you are interested in (E-Bay).
Go to the NS website and look for any information, maps, diagrams, etc.
Narrow your focus. I don’t know how big your space is but N Carolina to Pittsburgh is hundreds of miles. The more territory you try to squeeze into a layout, the less specific, the more generic and the more compromises you have to make.
I think there are 3 types of signature scenes.
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Placement scenes : generic scenes that evoke the feeling that you are located in the area you are modeling. They are non-specific scenes that are typical of the area and create the feeling that you are in the area. For example I visitied Doug Taylor’s PRR layout. I walked down the stairs into the basement and when I looked up, in front of me was a large, tree covered mountain side going up almost to the ceiling with a multi track main line running at the base of it. It wasn’t a specific scene but i immediately felt like I was in Pennsylvania along the Pennsy.
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Well known scenes: If every single book and every single railfan site on the NS has a picture taken by somebody standing at the main crossing in Mayberry looking south with a train coming around past the general store, then if you recreate that scene, anybody familiar with the NS will instantly recognize that scene and will place the layout as the NS in Mayberry. Is it an importnat spot fot the operation? Probably not. But its is important as a signature location.
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Critical operating locations: These are the toughest to find an model because they require some knowledge of the train movements. That would be having yards, junctins, crossovers, facilities in the r
A lot depends on the specific era, but there was Saluda grade for one with it’s interesting traffic. In the early 80s (84 I think) MR had an article about the Murphy branch. Even if you don’t model it, there’s a lot of information there. You’ve mentioned some traffic, but there is also a lot of pulpwood, paper, and chemicals in that part of NC. Big paper & chemical plants around Ashville.
I have been researching two railroads in my area for some time now, the NKP & PRR. I have found the most information in related historical societies and the local library. It has been like a detective job as I have found related websites when looking at others. For example, when researching the PRR in Ohio, I happened across a historical society in a town that had a bunch of PRR information that the PRR historical society did not have. Of course, sometimes the sources that you think are logical don’t yield anything, but other stuff does. For my NKP research, I found tons of information in the local county library’s archives. It wasn’t under the NKP keywords, but rather under local nomenclature that was geographically related to the NKP and its predicessors. One thing leads you to another. I started both searches with maps from online sources such as Google and MS and worked my way down from there. For what it is worth, I have been on these two projects for a little over three years. I spend maybe an hour a day on the computer, but I do my best work in the porcelain library!
Once you get the names of the lcoations from an employee timetable, combine them with a search under Nofolk Southern or even the predecessor railroad. You should find more specific photos.
As Dave says, you,ll have to narrow it down. His tips on signature locale, scenes and operation are very, very good.
After you’ve narrowed things down, a road trip could be fun. Take plenty of pictures and bring your radio. Trainorders.com is a good site to ask questions about operations. (You have to be member to post or search but the membership fee is reasonable.) Also, someone out there has a website that lists all the NS train symbols.
There is a guy out there that sells NS track diagrams that include whole divisions. Sorry I don’t know his addy but he is on the internet. He is phasing out his inventory from what I understand so you better not wait too long.
I recommend getting atlases for your regions from here.
http://www.spv.co.uk/railroading.shtml
I have the Northeast atlas and it is great.
sfb