Okay, the Class 1s get all the publicity, but there are a heck of a lot of shortline and regional railroads out there that, as Rodney Dangerfield so famously put it, “Don’t get no respect.”
So, if you model something other than: UP, SP, CSX (C&O, B&O, SBD), NS (Southern & NW), ATSF, BN, BNSF, Milwaukee Road, CN, CP or Conrail… speak up!
(I’m including KCS and MRL in this because I’m interested in knowing if anyone is modeling them, and SOO out of pure sympathy for it’s long being ignored)
I personally model the Willamette & Pacific, a Genesee & Wyoming family railroad in the Willamette Valley of Oregon. It ran on a bunch of SP branchlines until they started acquiring BN branches as well - and the name got changed to Portland & Western. But not on my layout…
I suppose I am a protolancer. I have a fictional Maine-based regional, Maritime, that interchanges with St Lawrence and Atlantic (GWI), Guilford, and Montreal, Maine and Atlantic. I try to keep my roster contained to somewhat realistic types and levels (although I have a couple of F units and U30s still soldiering on) to support that story.
I don’t know if this counts but my railroad is based strongly on the Belfast and Moosehead Lake Railroad. I changed the name and some of the town names but the track arrangement and the types of equipment used are very similar.
I was researching New York Central yesterday and it led me to Tennessee Central Railway, (yea surprised the **** out of me to). Anyway I think I’m to do the TCR because I used to live in Knoxville(they had a line that ran there) and they have a whole museum named after it, I’m not sure how accurate I can get with this tho as all information comes from the same place( the museum named after it) and most of the pics I’ve found have been of their Locos after they ve been repainted. For now I’ll do the NYC and then get working on the TCR after I get my airbrush, and visit the museum when I visit my folks for Xmas. if anyone has any ideas of any other lines that run thru TN during the 50s/60s throw me an email at jadormdrache@yahoo.com or post it here. thanx)
I’m not there yet, but I am working on Housatonic and/or Danbury/Norwalk which were independents, then merged, then were absorbed by the New Haven. The Housatonic lives again as a shortline independent, and the DN is still part of the New Haven or Metro North or whatever, but together I can span steam to diesel. J.R.
I think I have a solution for you! Running right thru my back yard are the rails for the Indiana Tranportation Museum. It’s home base is Forest Park, Noblesville, IN. and they run excursion trains north and south from there. I’m not sure where they go up north but I live a few miles south of there and I know that they run to Indianapolis and even out to French Lick on occasion. They run older used equipment ( an F3 for example) from various roads, mostly NKP, and even have an old Mikado (No. 587) that they run sometimes. They have a short trolly line that runs from an overhead wire that is dated somewhere around the turn of the century (early 1900’s) that runs throughout the park and they run a mix of heavyweight and corrigated passenger cars. They also own their own MOW equipment and use it regularly (I saw it out day before yesterday).
I think they are on the web but if I remember right the web site does not do the operation justice.
This might be just the ticket for someone who doesn’t want to do a lot of painting but wants a real eclectic mix of equipment. [8D]
Ficticious Willoughby line is based on the Yosemite Valley, Sierra and Hetch Hetchy Railroads. All ran in the California mountains. I will model scenes from the Sierra and the Hetch Hetchy (will use modelers liciense, I have it here somewhere). I will use equipment from all three. There are some good books out there on all three RRs.
I believe the majority of their business is hauling coal to Indianapolis Power and Light. I am originally from southern Indiana and for the most part all I saw there was CSX, Indiana Southern is another that runs in that part of the state. The main reason I like the Indiana Rail Road is their newer paint jobs in hoosier red.
I’ve a keen interest in coal trains, NZ models are S scale and expensive, so I bought a couple dozen N&W hoppers and a my loco’s are all N&W.
When I pluck up the courage I want to change the names on em to North Western. A big coal mine on the other side of the South Island is north west from here.
