For some time I have been planning to build another layout. This time I decided to do a lot of research first. The real eye opener came while watching a show about sea going treasure hunters. The host made the comment that a succesful treasure hunter spends more time in research than he does the actual hunting.
The light went on for me. For instance whether building a free lance or rivet counter layout layout it helps to know such things as what wheel types were used in what era, what vehicles might one see in a time period, changes in civil engineering practices etc… all these and more help develop a plausible layout.
To start the discussion what type of research has helped you improve your layout ? Or what lessons have you learned by research first ?
In the Jurassic Age I used road maps,a phone book(for industry),visited the area I planed to model and not to mention this made a nice family weekend get away-this was after my railroad career ended of course.
Today I research on the Internet and I use Bing and Google maps and I will mention I’ve done more researching in the last 14 years then ever before thanks to the wealth of information I can find with a a few strokes on the keyboard and a simple click.
Why all the research for a simple one horse and usually 1’ x 10’ ISL? I wanted a fully believable switching layout.The other research is for basic knowledge or out of curiosity.
Google or Bing search for the railroad, predecessors, cities and industries, both web and image searches. Regular E-Bay searches for the railroad and cities involved. Purchase of books. The Arcadia Publishing Co. has all sorts of little paper back books on various cities, towns and regions. Great for older pictures and indistry information. Any and all maps. Sanborn maps. Topo maps. Historical societies. Yahoo groups on the era and railroad. Google books.
Google is somewhat helpful but most of my better info and photo’s are in the library of D&RGW books I have collected. There are also some forums and Yahoo Groups email lists with folks who are knowledgable too, although as time goes by they are getting fewer and fewer.
I have been doing basic ‘boots on the ground’ research ever since I could travel on the New York subways by myself. Later I started carrying a camera and notebook.
Reading books about railroads and railroading started at the same time (or earlier, if you count The Little Engine That Could.) A bit later in life I undertook the study of Japanese so I could understand the captions to the pictures in the railfan magazines I was buying.
The boots on the ground exploration finally ended with my final departure from Japan, although I still search out rail and industrial sites near home. Here in Southern Nevada, that’s more in the nature of archeology - empty roadbeds and ghost towns. (I stay out of old mines!) I still have all of my reference books, and consult them frequently.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - to my own field notes and photos)
Bought every book on the SOO I could find which was useful for adding details to diesels. These days better information can be had by Google ing the road number and selecting images…
Being interested in the early Canadian Pacific era I go to the Provincial and City online Archives where there are thousands and thousands of photo’s to view, as well as maps and correspondence of all those involved. All available at the click of the mouse.
Over the years I have received many books on the CPR as gifts. I must say that many of the photo’s in these books have come from the Archives that I visit.
Believe it or not this forum has helped me to save a lot of time with my layout. When you dont belong to a club It is a great place to find out everything you need to know about model railroading.You never stop learning.
For my chosen locale, I acquired large scale blowups of US Government aerial photos of the area. The photos were more recent than my era but still showed many significant items of interest – you could still see the scars from abandoned sidings and right of way. I was lucky enough to discover a website of historic aerial photos that included some 1963 shots, much closer to my era, and it helped fill many of the gaps.
Other types of research were aided by having access to older city directories – the kind that have not only the usual alphabetical listings like a White Pages, but street by street lisings, usually showing railroad crossings. I found most in a large metropolitan library, but I was also able to score a very old one at a rummage sale.
Rummage and estate sales in the area I am modeling have also been the source of good finds. For example I had most of the corporate histories of the Bucyrus Erie company but it was at estate sales that I was able to procure booklets that company published during WWII for the benefit of employees showing the role of B-E in the war effort. Some good interior shots of the factory were in those booklets.
Being a member of my favorite railroad’s Historical Society has also been of considerable benefit, not just the articles published in its magazines. but the many contacts made at conventions and meets. Indeed I would say meeting like-minded railfans or modelers who share my particular interests has been the way I have acquired my most valued finds.
My “research” started when I was four years old or less and became fascinated with trains. Over time, many of my early naive, childish questions were answered through observation, conversations, and by looking at books. That was before computers. I continued to observe, and I expanded my knowledge when I learned to read, found new friends with a railroad interest or railroad experience, was exposed to additional railroads beyond my home town, and rode my first passenger trains. I wrote letters to people like Larry Sagle, who was the Curator of the B&O Museum in the 1950’s. He was extremely gracious, and responded to the questions of a 12-year old with a respectful and informative letter that corrected several misconceptions without making me feel stupid for asking.
My preferences for certain railroads over others, and for certain types of operation, developed gradually. My understanding of railroad operations, history, uses of various types of equipment, suitability of that equipment for certain specific functions, etc. expanded as I continued to observe and collect books, magazines, employee timetables, photos, etc. and as I was exposed to more different railroad operations. Trips to the National archives, local libraries, railroad (and other) museums, etc. helped. Membership in several railroad historical groups was also a big help.
Now, at the age of 69, I am still learning and am having trouble deciding which of my many favorite railroad operations will be the focus of my big retirement project model railroad. It will focus on my home territory of Ohio, and it will be set in the 1949-1953 time period. Lots of other things to be decided upon. A lot of the research is done; much more to be done.
I have no idea whether this is helpful to you. I’ve just described a process that seems to work for me.
I model the Northern Pacific in 1953, at Butte Montana. Although I started with a freelanced layout, a few years after the start in 1988, I found a Northern Pacific Railway Historical Associations magazine “The Mainstreeter”. Since I have lived all my life in close proximity to where the N.P. had operated, I became very interested in modeling the Northern Pacific. I have found being a member of the NPRHA to be the easiest method of doing research on the railroad I model. Photographs, documentation, models and books are all available via the NPRHA.
Although my layout remains totally freelanced and the only similarity between the real Butte Montana and the Butte on my layout is their names. The equipment I operate on my layout is based upon the real equipment the N.P. used. I still like to use my imagination and so have not attempted to become a rivet counting “maniac” for the Northern Pacific as it was in 1953. I only let my interest in the N.P. be a guide I loosely follow.
I model the area in which I grew up in the years that I was old enough to railfan on my own. I still live here, the railroad is still here, more or less. A lot of the emloyees are still alive. I have family that worked for the line that I model. I have access to railroad records, track layouts, and there are several active historical societies that follow central Maine railroads here. I have boxes of books, photos and paperwork on the Bangor & Aroostook.
In the end, when it came down to finally getting to build a big layout, I pretty much just let it all go and did what was fun for me. I asked myself whether a truly accurate re-creation of the BAR in my area would be fun to build and operate and decided it wouldn’t be. I use local industry names and locales, my locos and rolling stock are appropriate for my time frame and area, but everything else is “good enough”. I did a lot of research over the years and I enjoyed doing it. I guess it’s just another part of a hobby that is a lot more broad than most imagine.
Research can also be a bit of a trap. You get over thinking a project, planning it to be perfect, and it never gets done or even started.
[banghead] [banghead] [banghead]
My research Now comes by railroad YouTube videos and pictures. I buy freight cars and locomotives that has it’s picture taken so I know that it belongs there. I also use Google maps to track down industries to get inspiration.
Since I don’t have many books or railroad videos and pictures of my own I look at everyone else’s.
The layout scenery I’m planning is going to be simple. I’m going to model a small downtown with Amtrak station, a reasonable size yard with or not an intermodal yard, 3-4 industries for the local, and the scenery will be a forest or desert. Most of these things will change when building starts. (Unknown date)
I agree…Like everything else we can get caught up in over planing,then plan some more,rethink,replan some more rethinking and replaning and finally we loose track of what we wanted or worst our great master plan fails to work out in our given space.
Research is good but,don’t get caught up in overplaning or over estimating your modeling skills…That can do more damage to your hobby enjoyment then overplaning a layout.
I over planned on my layout. I now feel like a lot of those three years were just wasted as there isn’t a lot, other than some basics that got used after the initial building took place. I only have about 3/8 of it landscaped and as I move along new ideas and improved skills, and new buildings and effects come into play and changes get made. Had I done less planning and just got building I would have been much further ahead and at my age time remaining is also an issue, although I do not dwell on that. I do hope at some point it will come close to being finished maybe not to the highly detailed stage, but you know what I mean.
Now I’m with NP. and Hobbez on this.
My rolling stock and locos are in the right time period. 75% of them are Western Pacific, the main geographical feature of the area is the Honeymoon Tunnels and the lake/wider river in front of it, as there wasn’t sufficent room for properly modelling the Kadee wye. Even then I didn’t like the look of the un-portaled tunnels of the original and I put portals on them. Doesn’t stop my love of the WP. But you will find no rivet counting here.
It is highly doubtful that there will be a Rivet Counter of the WP. that will see my layout and even if that does come to pass, I didn’t build it for him, I built for myself and Grandson and we do have fun in our train room. Thus its name as you know is the “Last Mountain & Eastern RR.” which by the way is the name I have used since I was about 12 years old.
That’s how they know what to look for and where to look.
A model railroad can be like a treasure hunt. Research has always help me change my toy trains into model treasures. I do wish I would have spent MORE on books and less on equipment from the beginning. And that is my answer - books. The hard core kind with hundreds of pages of facts and figures. A picture/video might be worth a thousand words, but one might have to watch thousands of vidoes to derive the information available in one good table.
Magazines are nice but often they lack the depth, the more modern the more true. Newer ones are more like picture books for grader schoolers who can’t read.
I’ve always contended the research for a prototype is easier than that for a freelance. For the prototype the researched item is the end of the heavy thinking, for a freelance it is the beginning.
