I’d have to say that the mid to late 70’s when Conrail was just beginning to take over the eastern railroads. That was a most interesting time. Although the railroads, espceially in the eastern U. S. were in, at best, very poor shape, there was so much character in those times when you would see old weathered locomotives that were well past their times of retirement still soldiering on. It was not unusual also to see locomotive consists of more than one road name. It seemed everything, locomotives, rolling stock, as well as the industries they served, just screamed “model me!”
Well, I think the Argentine Central and Colorado 2 foot gauge in general is pretty underrepresented…[;)]
Really, I guess I’m not sure what the premise of the original post is. Is it a problem if what is modeled doesn’t bear a 1:1 relationship to the railroads that have existed throughout history? Are we supposed to do something to create some sort of “balance” where one doesn’t really exist? Should we refuse to purchase locos and rolling stock decorated for popular lines that are overrepresented? Should someone looking for a prototype to model be forced to choose from a list of under-modeled prototypes?
And then there’s the ultimate go-to stock answer to the original question: “My favorite railroad, the XYZ Railway, has seen only one car released RTR in the last 75 years, so it’s obviously underrepresented.”
Railroads, eras, and regions are like automobiles. Some are Mustangs, Corvettes, and LandCruisers and are wildly popular, if you can afford the freight. Others are a lot like the Edsel. Sure, there’s 3 dozen people with a fan club, but they’re dying at a rate of 6 a year and no one’s joining? What does that mean? People model what they like to model and that’s always changing for a lot of reasons. If it’s really modeling you’re after, then choosing a lesser modeled prototype is exactly what you want. But why expect RTR locos and rolling stock for it then? That’s a bit of a paradox to me.
Lot’s of answers like that already in this thread. Not sure what we’ll learn from this. Maybe I’m too philosophical this morning. Y’all chat and enjoy.[{(-_-)}]
No real premise to my thread…just curiosity. I’ve never seen a model of the Newfoundland Railway, for example, although such might be interesting to model. Also, someone mentioned modelling the Great Western Railway (Ontario) of the 1850s…This was also interesting to me as it was a broad gauge line at the time. There are some narrow gauge modellers (the Rio Grande has been pretty much beat to death)…but i’ve never seen/heard of anyone modelling a broad gauge line.
Someone also mentioned the Quebec North Shore and Labrador…this one might also be fun to model although operations are simple, trains are long and consist prdominantly of ore cars. But the scenery ain’t tundra…it is beautiful up there, and the scenery certainly rivals anything the Rocky Mountains have to offer.
Just idle curiosity on my part…perhpas driven by my eventually wanting to build something that is a bit off the beaten path.
Given that the Newfoundland was 3’6" it would be easy to model in Sn42 using HO track/loco mechanisms/trucks. I guess it was just too remote to the rest of North America to be well known.
Enjoy
Paul
Actually, there are a number of people who model the Newfoundland lines. Not a large number, but if you compare modeling interest vs real life significance, interest in the Newfoundland lines may actually exceed the real-life importance of these lines. In fact, if one were to take the percentage of those modelling narrowgauge of any kind vs the traffic on these lines when they were running, narrowgauge probably has an outsize lead. Attendance at the National Narrow Gauge Convention rivals that of the NMRA convention.
I’d agree that modeling broad gauge is a relatively rare thing.
I wasn’t trying to throw water on this campfire. Rather, I was interested in what meaning we should attach to the differences that exist between what’s of interest to modelers and what’s out there in the real world.
Why they are not modeled is easy on several counts. First is that many people don’t want to spend the time researching an obscure railroad. It is much easier to research something that has tons of information already published on it. Second is that many (most?) people don’t want to spend all their time having to scratch build, kitbash, or “make due” with every piece of equipment they need for the layout. Third as others have already said they might look glamorous up front but the reality of a model might be a bit different. Thinking of the Louisville & Wadley (a Petticoat Junction type railroad), it is great to research and develop prototypical track plans and figure out equipment rosters, but what does one do for operations? Unless one is a lone wolf, they only ran one train each direction each day. The most exciting part of a multi-person operating session would be when the mixed local met the CoG passenger train in Wadley. Yawn.
Why they are under represented by the manufacturers is easy. Why make and market a loco or freight car that only 100 people might be interested in when you could just as easliy invest in a loco or freight car that 10,000 might be interested in.
For years I felt like I was the one of only a hand full modeling the Northern Pacific, the then MR ran a couple articles including the fold out of the NCL. Then it seemed like NP was really popular among modelers for a few years.
I find it interesting that the 1920s aren’t modeled as much, given that US railroads were at their peak, or close to it, then.
probably because many of the major passenger trains and famous locos weren’t around (this is just a guess and I may be wrong) it seems that the Diesel/steam transition era is extremely popular. then again that was the turning point of railroading history. lots of great stuff during those days.
I would love to model the Algoma Eastern which ran from Sudbury to Little Current in the early 20th century. It went through some incredibly beautiful terrain in the La Cloche mountains. It was the sort of railway trackage where the conductor could wave to the engineer as they literally passed in opposite directions around some of the bends. It also included the well known swing bridge at Little Current which is still in operation although the tracks were torn up years ago.
The problem for me is that it wouldn’t provide much variation from an operating perspective. It was a single line with a few mine spurs and it basically went from Sudbury to Little Current and back with very little variation in its schedule. Building the scenery would be a fantastic test of skill as would kitbashing the passenger cars. Building the swing bridge would be quite an accomplishment. But then what? Run the train to Little Current - turn it on the wye - run the train to Sudbury. Swing the bridge occasionally - without a fast clock that would be good for a whole 15 minutes! We might have to pick up a few ore cars on the way past the two mines on the route.
That would get boring really fast. If the Algoma Eastern makes it on to my layout it will be as a cameo appearance - an 0-10- 0 leading a mixed passenger/freight consist with maybe a little switching at the mine and a stop at each of the two passenger stations. Then, back to staging.
What I want to be able to do on my layout is run a variety of scenarios - today its Canadian Pacific passenger trains, tomorrow its some freight switching in the yard. Next time I can focus on the engine service facility or an excursion steamer in the late 50’s.
I think the point I am trying to make is that from my perspective I want to be able to do a whole bunch of different things with my layout. Concentrating on one single theme is not my cup of tea - cudos to those who do it. That means ironically that my favourite railroad (Algoma Eastern)
don’t feel bad critter, my future layout’s(in planning) going to be all over the place literally you’ll have GS-4(s) running next to SD40(s) next to northern(s) next to AC4400cw(s), I’m more of a running for the heck 'o running trains, but I will plan for some operations(maybe). [:D]
Burlington Northern #24
Thanks for the encouragement!
By the way, I never feel bad these days - I just retired from my part time job at the big orange box store which I took after retiring from my real (supposedly) full time career at the store that rhimes with ‘ears’.
I am now totally free and clear of all the bad managers and boring sales meetings.
So, I have no intentions of letting anyone make me feel bad about my layout plans. There is however one exception to that - today I applied for the building permit to construct my layout room as well as a small change room for our new hot tub. I got billed $304.00 for some minor interior partion walls in my garage that will cost me less than that to build! OUCH!
Make no mistake - I am a firm believer in paying proper taxes. If you don’t agree then look at Greece today and ask yourself where we will be in 15 years if we think we can beat the taxman.
Again, thank you for letting me rant! These forums are very theraputic![:(!][(-D][swg]
With regards to all.
Dave
you’re welcome. [:D] got a long ways to go before I retire.
Tourist/excursion railroads are WAY under represented. These railroads don’t have a destination, they ARE the destination. The Strasburg, Conway Scenic, etc. North America is littered with them. Their trains are pulled by everything from Shays to Geeps. Perfect for small layouts, too.
The Civil War era and shortly thereafter. Which was really the beginning of the boom in railroading. There are a few pieces available, but little representation in media and layouts.
Richard
We can probably agree on which themes or eras are well represented. in the hobby… the 1950s, Techachapi Loop etc…but what prototype themes/models/eras are under represented or completely absent (and why)? I will start with commuter operations… I don’t see many modellers who make them central to their layouts… Industrial type switching also seems to be under represented.
The problem with commuter ops is that it takes an awful lot of equipment to do them justice. Modeling SP’s commute operations around San Jose (or San Francisco for that matter) would require an incredible amount of passenger cars and locomotives. In the late steam era, say 1952 or so, you’d need quite a number of Pacifics, Mountains and even the occasional 4-6-0. In addition, you’d need at least one trainset each for the Coast Daylight, the Lark, the Coast Starlight and the Coast Mail (all pulled by 4-8-4’s or possibly a 4-8-2 with the Coast Mail). Without a large layout with a number of stations, the most likely scenario would be a passenger switching layout where trains are made up, broken down or turned. If you do it 5 or so years later, you can eliminate the Starlight (coaches from which were assigned to the Lark). However, you’d still need a large number of GP9’s and Trainmasters and about the same number of passenger cars. You’d also need turning facilities for the locomotives.
Commute operations are also feast/famine operations. Between the hours of 6 to 9 AM you’d have an extemely large number of departures (if doing San Jose in my example) or arrivals in SF. From about 4 PM to 7PM, the situation would be reversed. It’s a lot of activity in a rather short period of time, with peak activity probably coming in the middle of the time window. You’ve also got a lot of activity in a relatively small area which might cause road crews and switcher crews to get in each other’s way. Perhaps a modern commute operation, wit
Here’s some more thoughts…
Eastern Narrow gauge beyond EBT.
Eastern logging.
Eastern short lines that served coal mines .
There are many others to include Maine’s 2 foot railroads.
Add industrial steel mill short lines that also served their own coal mines for coke plants – Example locally was Bethlehem Steel’s “Conemaugh & Black Lick” railroad – It still operates, if you want to call it that, for the limited business provided by Freight Car America, and local mini-mills, defense sub-contractors, etc.
Some underrepresented themes/models/eras:
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Railroad museums. The larger railroad museums (IRM, Steamtown, Strasburg, etc.) have rosters that are more varied than any class 1. IRM has a “NTA” (no two alike) roster.
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Commuter lines. One of the challenges is equipment availability and the need for a large roster. On the other hand, you can model a commuter route without any trains - just build appropriately liveried stations!
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Rapid transit. The challenge is a disconnect between interest and what is available in reasonably priced models. There’s lots of interest in the (modelgenic) Chicago system, but there are more models of New York equipment.
Strongly agree that tourist railroads are under represented, along with (to a lesser extent) commuter transit and rail. In terms of railroads, the Florida East Coast is one you rarely, if ever see modeled in magazines and other media.