Does anyone know a good source for information regarding this era? Realy want to backdate that far (at least 1905 just for fun) going to doa John Allen style line called the Milan,Lewiston and Carthage (or Misery Loves Company [;)]) with a side line being a n2 or n3 line delivering coal from my great grandfathers coal mine intrests. Not sure what scale I want (decison decisons) but I know want this era. My work on a 1912 Heisler has driven me to this (trains drive you nuts?[:0][:p][:D]) Thank you all for the time.
White’s “American Railroad Freight Car”.
The Early Rail Yahoo Group.
Dave H.
Welcome to history!
I am modelling 1905 in HO, freelance branchline in WV coal country or somewhere in the eastern App. Mountains, sort of.
There was an article in MR this year (Jan or Feb) of someone who is modelling this era. There is the STMFC yahoo group, also. Generally, most of the equipment will need to be built, but there are sources for cars. Again, everything depends on your standards. Myself, I am willing to take a “close enough” approach as I will prefer operation to contest quality. That said, here are some manufactures that have equipment I will use: MDC Roundhouse has passenger cars, Tichy, Ye old Huff an Puff and Westerfield has freight, IHC has inexpensive engines. I have found that my biggest obstacle has been my knowledge of what was available and distinguishing the differences on the models.
My paln is to get a base goup of cars then go for accuracy.
You can contact me through my website: http://modelrr.adbyrne.us
Allen
Thanks guys and yes Allen Good enough is Good enough for me. I am finding the narrow gauge large scale stuff to be pretty acurate ( not enough room really but I think I can manage something.) But I agree there isnt much on this topic, I remember a father son team from Iowa that had a layout in MR a lot of times the Puyie andPhyuie (pooie and Phooie is what it looked like sound wise) wonder if MR would do an issue for old time railroads? heck even trains! or Classic trains ! Will check out both groups on yahoo too thanks again
The best general freight car reference anywhere is the NEB&W website:
http://railroads.union.rpi.edu
The freight car section of this gigantic modelling site includes history, photos, diagrams and modelling resources for every freight car type built, and for MANY roads. It covers all eras but concentrates on the 1900-1960 period. While not all-inclusive, it has several thousand PAGES worth of freight car data, including lots of photos and roster information for pre-WWI equipment. It’s definitely worth a look.