I model CNW but my Interchanges are Marrqutte, Ontonagon & Western and ATSF
I model my own shortline, Archer Grain
I plan on modeling the San Joaquin Valley Railroad, Modesto & Empire Traction, Sierra Railroad, and Tidewater Southern. I may add Stockton, Terminal & Eastern; Amador Central; and Visalia Electric to that list. I also have a Sacramento Northern GP7. TS and SN were bought out before SJVR existed and VE went out of business before SJVR existed, but I will not let that stop me.
Long live Ontario Northland Rail!!!
I think it was last months issue of MRR Craftsman with the Conowingo line on the cover… I was really blown away when I started looking into the Maryland short lines. I want to keep my trains local that way it gives me and my sone a reason to go visit some of the rr that are still in excistance as well as give me that chance to scratch a few for the Canton , Maryland Midland etc… Joseph
my railroad will be loosely based on the Santa Fe , Prescott and Phoenix Railway (which built the line from phoenix to ash fork , and was later absorbed into the ATSF ) and several other arizona lines that are long gone
I’m modelling the 
Reading Lines in mid 1970’s just before Conrail.
I’m modelling the Reading Lines in mid 1970’s just before Conrail.
Ericsp,
I grew up in Modesto. May have some Tidewater Southern on my layout as well…
A TS fan? Outstanding!
I model the Sacramento Northern, m’self–for most of its life it was owned by Western Pacific, but had its own identity until absorbed by Union Pacific in the Eighties.
It was a heck of a diverse route–originally two separate electric interurban/freight lines (the Oakland Antioch & Eastern and the Northern Electric), the SN ran from the hills of Oakland across Suisun Bay (using a car ferry wired for electric overhead, the Ramon,) through the Sacramento River Delta through Sacramento and all the way to Chico. From 1938-1940 they even ran passenger trains directly to San Francisco on the newly completed Bay Bridge, before abandoning passenger service.
Motive power was a bizarre mixture of homebrewed equipment, from a tiny work motor known as “Old Maud” to an 82-ton heavy electric box motor, a bunch of Baldwin-Westinghouse and GE steeplecabs, a dizzying assortment of interurban cars from Niles, Hall-Scott, and other manufacturers, streetcars for local service, and even a couple of antique 4-4-0 steam engines during the line’s construction.
Power collection was varied to the point of ridiculousness–voltage could be 600, 1200 or 1500 volts, power collection by pantograph, trolley pole or third rail, depending on where you were on the line.
The line switched gradually to diesel from the late Forties until the mid-Sixties, operating both the last 5-cent fare trolley and the last electric freight operations in California. The SN’s diesels were as diverse as their electrics–starting with a gaggle of GE 44-tonners, the SN bought (or inherited second-hand from the WP) diesels like the SW1, S1, S2, VO-1000, GP-9, and a set of F3s.
I model the portion sometimes called the “Sacramento Belt Line”, an industrial belt that went around the perimeter of the city of Sacramento’s original boundaries (to avoid sending freight trains through city streets.) Its free-standing location, dense industries, switching-yard rules and
JEFF
II throught a bout re-lettering my S.P. to CORP But CORP is not a small railroad is It?[}:)][:)]
JIM
I have 2 shortlines. The first one is the Eastern Indiana & Ohio(EI&O) paint scheme is PC Green w/ white lettering. Rooster, RS4, GP38 and a Chessie GP38 with a PC Green patch on the side. The EI&O interchanges with the NS at Ft. Wayne IN. The EI&O interchanges in Defiance with the Paulding & Lima Enterprises(P&LE) representing the small manufacturing sector in Paulding County OH south to Lima. The EI&O has a dozen industries and the PL&E has 6, modeled off line, the P&LE is only modeled with a interchange track and a 3 track yard.
CORP is a shortline… an awful long one, but it’s still a shortline.
The main idea behind the post was to draw attention to those railroads we model other than the Big 4 and their Class 1 predecessor roads.
The Narrow Gauge line on the layout will be loosely based on the Mississippi River and Bonne Terre, built by St. Joe Lead to haul ore out of the the Old Lead Belt in Missouri. It ended up serving both general freight and passengers, winning the award for best maintained locomotives under the train shed at St. Louis Union Station many years in a row (beating out such notables as the PRR, the B & O, and the NYC).
I model the Frisco, Katy, MP,UP,SP, SSW,on a Joint Line on the northern part of the Ennis sub in Texas but I model 3 shortlines:
Dallas Garland Northeastern, Texas Northeastern, and the Fort Worth and Western better know as the Trantula.
I model the Washington, Idaho & Montana Ry., a timber/lumber hauler that ran from the eastern border of Washington about 50 miles into North Idaho. It was built by the Potlatch Lumber Co. to serve their mill at Potlatch, ID.
The WI&M ran as an independent railroad until the Milwaukee Road took over its operations in 1962. Actually, the WI&M was owned by the Milwaukee Land Co., so was still technically a separate railroad from MILW, but was operated with MILW equipment from 1964 until 1980. Burlington Northern purchased the line in 1981, then sold to the Palouse River & Coulee City (PCC) in 1996. The PCC, a WATCO-owned shortline, still operates the western 22 miles.
My layout runs from the WI&M’s NP and GN interchanges at Palouse WA, to its headquarters at Potlatch, ID, then a little further into the timber harvesting areas. The best part is that with the various owners and interchange partners, I can operate equipment from two shortlines and a handful of Class 1 railroads all on the same layout just by changing the year for each operating session.
I found a gentleman that had several sets of decals made up for the PCC and was willing to sell me a few. I just finished painting and decalling two Kato GP-35’s to match two of the PCC’s locomotives, and am now shopping for a few modern flatcars to go with them.
Tom
Right now I’m trying to decide on whether to model a turn of the century style layout based on the V & T which I could use my collecting of steamers or modeling the Arizona & California and put my diesels to work. With both ideas their are few choices in motive power. For the ARZC idea I have a set of microscale decals to use , the only problem is that I’m not much of a painter.
You’re thinking of another railroad entirely. Do a search on “Indiana Transportation Museum Noblesville, Indiana” and you’ll see what I’m, talking about. I think the newest thing they’ve got is an SD9. Equipment is painted in whatever livery it last served in for the most part. Check it out. [8D]
I have started work on a CF7 owned by the Florida Central RR one of several shortlines owned by Pinsly Railroad Company It operates between Plymouth, Fl. (north of Orlando) to Ocala and interchanges with the CSX
I model the Montana Western Railway (1948-50), it was a “feeder” line for the GN, out of Conrad, Valier, and Collins, Montana. ( I have three GN lokeys that “run thru” on a regular basis from hidden staging tracks).