This is my first railroad and I’m modeling (attempting anyway) the Old West. Anyone else into this ? Marty
Yup, although not old old - 1913, which means I’m working on acquiring as much old stuff as possible. I think Spacemouse models the 1880s and 90s.
Yep, doing 1885 right now. The choices for DCC locos are slim right now. 2-6-0 and 2-8-0 MDC RTR are around, but out or production. Then there are the IHC 4-4-0’s which can be converrted using an N-scale decoder and a little work on the tender pick-ups.
i’m kind of modeling 1905 in arizona . i say kind of because i’m not staying completely prototypical in my choice of engines and rolling stock . the bachmann spectrum 4-6-0 is reasonably close to my time period , but i think the spectrum 2-8-0 is from a later date . i think both bachmann and athearn are coming out with 4-4-0s later this year , but again they may be of later build date than 1905
i just had a look on ebay … i wonder why those MDC rtrs are so hard to find ? . bachmanns and IHCs by the bushel (although the IHCs aren’t DCC ready)
The MDC’s are much higher quality and out of production. They retailed for around $149. The Bachman’s and IHC’s are everywhere and still in production.
Very cool Space Mouse. Marty[:)]
could be . could also be that the MDC RTR’s were never produced in the quantity that the bachmanns and IHCs were . makes me wonder if horizon will run them again sometime
I definately have had my hopes in that direction. The ones I have are nice.
I’m doing southwest Colorado in the 1890’s. We’re using DC and while the period locomotives and rolling stock are not everywhere, a little searching allowed us to build a decent fleet since October of last year.
One you narrow things down to a more exact where and when, then you can find out the specific equipment you need and start tracking it down.
I’m doing free-lance HO shortline/HOn3 set in Oregon in 1900. Date was picked as compromise between realistic dates for logging operations, Janney couplers, and air brakes, recovery from 1890s depression, use of sail for delivery of lumber, logs, and merchandise to California, logical date before a profitable narrow gauge would have been converted to standard gauge, and a desire to use 1880s locos and rolling stock. Having this specific era and region certainly helps keep my spending on locos and cars in check 
.
Unfortunately, most locomotives in HO, even if based on a pre-1900 prototype, are detailed to reflect how they would have/did appear in the 1920s. The Spectrum 4-6-0 is a prime example, as are most of the MDC Old Timer locos. The Tyco 1890s locos generally have over-size cabs (and perhaps boilers too - I haven’t measured). The IHC/Rivarossi 4-4-0s are over-size too.
Non-brass geared locos are all models of large and/or post-1900 with the exception of the Keystone Shay. The Roundhouse Shay can be backdated to pre-1910 with the Ontrak boiler and details. The Rivarossi Heisler and Bachmann Shay are models of very large prototypes that are more approprate to the 1930s. I need to research the Bachmann Climax to see if it could be made to fit in.
yours in dating
Fred W
Hi Marty
I’m building a HOn30 narrow gage Micro Layout (2’X2’) to fit in a corner of a regular layout. It’s a logging museum theme park representing the 1888, something like the Cass Scenic Railroad.
The locomotive is a Class A vertical boiler, two truck Climax. The couplers are link and pin.
I’m hand laying rail with stub turnouts. I just found an article on how to make authentic hand hewn ties, so I’m going to try it out.
My Micro Layout is based on the eastern US, but here’s a few things I learned about railroads in general that apply to the old west in the 1880’s:
Railroad ties in the 1880’s were spaced further apart compared to modern ties. And some ties for rails were rather crude, especially logging railroads. Not much more than a large hand hewn log.
The rail was very light too, as light as 35lbs per yard and most likely made of iron instead of steel. To give you an idea how small the rail was, in HO scale code 55 equals 75lb on the prototype (many HO locomotives have deep flanges that won’t run on code 55 without hitting spikes).
Thirty six inch narrow gage railroads where more common then, especially out west.
Some Stub turnouts still existed.
The Harp switch stands could still be found.
If you’re modeling the old west, you might be interested in [url="http://www.westernscalemodels.