What lines would be part of the Southern Pacific family?

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
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Besides Southern Pacific, what other lines would make sense to include on a Southern Pacific layout? I know there have been lots of mergers, but I can’t keep them all straight. I plan on modeling modern era, but would be interested to know how far back or forward I could use some of the SPs. And then the merger trains like Santa Fe, Rio Grande, Union Pacific. Can someone tell me how I might merge all these lines and others that you know of onto one layout? Does that make sense?

Thanks

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Pacific

You have lots of choices and locations.

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Thanks for the reply don7. I have read through that already and it does help quite a bit. Because I’m not all that familiar with how train companies run, I guess I’m wondering how my layout would use all of these different lines? If I do build a more modern layout falling under Southern Pacific how would I know which lines you might still find being used near the end of the SP era?

For example, we have Cotton Belt, Rio Grande, Northwestern Pacific, Central Pacific and others. Does that mean that regardless of how old the line is, would they still be using it 50 years later? Not all of these lines are modeled either, so I have to pick from the big names. And then you have the take over by Union Pacific, so hopefully you can see why I’m stuck trying to figure out how to get all these trains to fit in on the same layout.

Also, would I have any crossover companies that might be using the SP track? This might help me expand my look of trains. For example, would you find Santa Fe’s running on the same lines or some other companies?

Thanks

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If you are looking for ‘Classic’ SP - the NWP/SSW/T&NO would be your choice in the late steam though 1970’s diesel era. The failed ATSF merger paint scheme(Kodachromes) and Rio Grande came much later.

Jim

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A key thing is to pick a time frame. If you are modeling the SP and pick anything after WW1 then Central Pacific is pretty much gone. If you pick anything after WW2 then NWP is mostly gone. If you pick anything before the 1980’s then DRGW engines will be rare. If you pick anything before the late 1990’s then UP engines won’t be that common…If you pick a time after 2005 then DRGW, SSW and SP engines will be rarer.

I guess I would have to ask what you mean by “use these lines”. A company like the SP would have cars from virtually every railroad in N America operating on it. It would mostly have engines and cabooses from the SP family, but could have engines from railroads it connects to or interchanges with.

So if you have an SP layout, virtually any car that was in service in the era you are modeling could be used on the layout. Some will be more typical than others.

Cars last about 25-40 years. Back in 1980 I found a company service boxcar sitting behind a depot that was last painted the month I was born, about 25 years prior. So paint schemes may last decades. Merged roads will last 10-20 years. After that they will be fairly rare.

If an section of a railroad runs 10 trains a day, after a merger it will still most likely run 10 trains a day. The engines may gradually change over time and the mix of cars on the trains will probably not be impacted much, except possibly f

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SP had many railroads under its large umbrella. Perhaps most notably was the SSW/ Cotton Belt, which despite being a subsidiary was a separately managed company up until 1993. Southern Pacific was purchased in the 1980’s by the D&RGW, evident in the new “speed lettering” paint scheme. Depending on era and locale, many other railroads could be seen alongside and in SP consists. If you model closer to the present day, most of the Southern Pacific’s locomotives have been repainted into Union Pacific colors, though there are still some older patched units in service.

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Cotton Belt management was taken over by Southern Pacific officers after Harold Mackenzie retired in 1969. After MacKenzie’s retirement the Cotton Belt was more or less operated as just another division of the Southern Pacific. Cotton Belt may have had a seperate company name, but the management was Southern Pacific’s.

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If you want to create the correct look of a Southern Pacific train consist, you need to be era and location conscious.

During the mid-twentieth century in California, my impression was, after studying many photographs, SP trains had a very high proportion of SP cars (not counting privately-owned cars like reefers and tank cars). Of foreign-road cars, a very high proportion were box cars, with the Pennsy and NYC making up many of those. Elsewise it was mostly a tiny smattering of stock cars (UP, ATSF) and mill gondolas. The archetypical SP train (excluding refrigerator-car and sugar-beet trains) consisted of 90% or more box cars.

Mark

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Sorted!

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Hey All,

I’m not sure I want to be that prototypical, but I would like to be close in some areas. As a new train modeler, I’m much more inspired to experiment and see how different things look, but still stick with some of the core SP stuff. For example, if I’m running some more modern trains with a couple of older trains in the Northern parts of California, I should still be able make my layout look someone proto-like correct?

I definitely want to learn about the true SP stuff, but mixing it up so that I have fun with all aspects of modeling. Maybe at some point I would build a layout that is true to form, but for now I just need to get some of my ideas on paper. [:D]

How do you guys mix it up? Or do you all stick to the proto plan?

Thanks

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Me, I created a company called Northern Enterprises (soon tyo be re-named since a real company exists) that is my scape-goat. They specialize in privately-ordered train stuff. Say, Christmas cars for Toys For Tots, or an old Hot Metal bowl car repainted for Slvation Army. They have a facility to re-build Steam Locomotives of all kinds to FRA and STB standards, or they are in my world at least. Other diesels have also been rebuilt for museums, and some of the od Disels have been rebuilt for Class 1s to use as heritage power. Look of an FT, heart of a Dash-9. Purrs like a kitten. A high speed train model of mine was "given a hybrid Turbine/Electric system. In my world, Amtrak was testing High Speed trains to use for service beyond the electric lines fo the NorthEastCorridor. The projct was ultimtely scrapped, and the tain is used in the Midwest for testing Hoigh Speed markets to and around Chicago. Or would, if I had a layout. And of course, passenger cars are fruequently repainted for private owners.

12

Centurion-

I model the SP as well, right before the UP merge. Right now I have only a small test layout to run my trains on, but this month I plan to start building a small layout based on Southern Pacific’s operation between San Jose and San Francisco, CA. Based on what I’ve seen when I was younger I am working on building a plausible roster of SP equipment. I am using mostly B-B units, as thats what the line saw under SP, and still sees today under the UP. These units are still usually in SP or D&RGW paint, even today. The rolling stock is mostly hoppers and some tankers. On my layout, I have fewer hoppers and tankers than is prototypical. On such a small layout I want to avoid complete monotony in my freight cars, so I have added a nice mix of 50’ boxcars, 53’ covered hoppers, and gondolas in various paint schemes. Though my rolling stock isn’t exactly prototypical, I think it makes operating a bit more interesting. For me it is a trade off: prototypical motive power and a semi-prototypical rolling stock roster.

Hope this helps in some way.