I have been a ghost reader of these and the Trains forums and love the great info and derive many hours of enjoyment of the banter betwixt y’all.
My question is this: I’m planning a layout and want to make it like the sp and sf merged, and then bought the roads UP did, with the setting being modern dayish. I like the SP and SF routes and color schemes. Am I being greedy and/or biting off more than I can chew. Be advised I am moving from the plywood on carpet set.
Any ideas, info or perhaps slaps to reality will be appreciated.
The original common track was from Mojave - Bakersfield, CA. and parallel trackage San Bernadino - Summit, CA.
My guess is engines were swapped and integrated on many routes, but primarily between LA - Oakland - Bloody noses and war bonnets and Kodachromes all mixed.
Tougher to find are engines in Kodachrome paint today. Grab them. (Custom paint jobs are $150).
Which roads that UP bought … MKT & CNW? The WP & MP mergers were already accomplished. The D&RGW bought the SP not the other way around. Even without these other roads you would have a lot to work with.
That is a lot of route to like. Anything in particular? Not to mention that a bunch of it would have been abandon or sold, after the merger.
No, one can model any prototype if they choose a small enough segment of it.
I’ve always been partial to the Raton Pass. Trinidad Colorado would provide connections to the Colorado & Wyoming and BN. You could pretend that the mine didn’t close keeping the C&W in service.
Even harder is finding locomotives painted with the full SPSF rather than just the _ _ SF or SP _ _ .
Since this marriage almost took place, it seems perfectly plausible to me. They actually had painted a few locos in a new color scheme for the merged lines. I didn’t follow this story that closely but I googled it and the ICC killed the merger back in 1987. The holding company which owned both railroads was ordered to sell the SP which it did to the Rio Grande on 10/13/88. Time sure flies when you get older because it didn’t seem like it was that long ago.
thinking through how design issues like liveries might have developed over the 20 years.
getting locos and cars in either the original kodachrome livery or your developed schemes… the latter will certainly need you to paint your own or get custom paintwork…
I am modeling the line from Alpine, TX to Presidio, TX that the Santa Fe operated (late 50’s). It was/is joint trackage from Alpine, and then the Santa Fe split off at Paisano Pass heading south to Presidio. I was looking for an acceptable scenario to operate both Santa Fe and Southern Pacific equipment together on a smaller layout, and this was a perfect fit. I suppose for those not familiar with that portion of the Santa Fe, when I said “fact” above, it is only a fact on my layout. Unfortunately it never took off in the “real world”. The Santa Fe tried to make it work, but there was just not enough interest. Here is a great site in regards to that line that will definately answer your above question…
Just think of the great variety of color schemes you will have at your SP/SF disposal.
The SP/SF merger is shades of the Northeast in 1968, when the Pennsylvania & New York Central merged for the Penn Central with three color schemes. It was followed in 1976 by the Conrail merger Penn Central, Ann Arbor, Erie Lackawanna, Lehigh & Hudson, Reading, Lehigh Valley, Central New Jersey, and New Haven with a ten color schemes smorgasboard.
Count up the potential of engine types let alone color schemes you can model. You are not talking boring to look at here!
I’m fuzzy here. Do you mean the “Houston East and West Texas Railway” that he purchased, or something else? I thought his main line went through western Louisiana.
I didn’t say it was fuzzy, I said I was fuzzy. Texas railroad laws were strange, and there were so many railroad A started railroad B, sold out to railroad C, but operated by railroad D stuff I get them mixed up. At first I was thinking perhaps this was the one the Santa Fe purchased in order to get to the “port” in Guaymas. But I didn’t remember Stilwell having anything to do with it, but was just thinking of the wrong railroad.