Hello I am lost on this. I am trying to find a power house for my round house and wanted to stay in the steam ear. But not sure of the time fram. I found some buildings I like but they say modern . How modern can you go and still be in the steam ear. Thanks Frank
0-6-0 this is a relative question depending on region. I would say generally that steam was reeling by 1950 as more and more diesels were being delivered. Using Greg McDonnell’s figures from his article, “Timeline to Victory” in the Classic Trains Diesel Victory issue you can see the trend on Class 1 railroads. In 1945 there were 3,816 diesels and 38,853 steam locomotives on Class 1 railroads. The numbers for 1950 are 14,047 diesels and 25,640 steam. In 1955 the counts were 24,786 diesel and 5,982 steam. Finally in 1960 on Class 1 railroads there are 28,278 diesels and 261 steam locomotives. In summary the transition from steam to diesel did not happen all at once, but over time and by region on individual railroads. If you are modeling a certain railroad, then you would have a definite time. If you are freelancing refer to the above dates and make up your own.
Ed
You’re probably referring to the Walthers “modern” roundhouse and powerhouse. This represents a roundhouse built to handle the large steam engines developed in the 1920’s-30’s, like huge articulated engines. The roundhouse has longer stalls than the previous Walthers roundhouse, and is meant to go with their larger turntable. The powerhouse should fit into most any era that would include a roundhouse.
There may be some exceptions somewhere, but roundhouses were built for steam engines. Engines were put into the roundhouse stalls nose-first, which left a lot of room around the cylinders and such for workers to work on them (since in a roundhouse each stall is shaped like a piece of pie).
“Squarehouses” for diesels didn’t start to be built generally until after WW2. According to a recent RMC article, GM’s first recommended diesel shop designs first came out in 1946 for example.
Of course many railroads used roundhouses to house diesels (and a few still do) but I’m not aware of any roundhouses that were built specifically for diesels. Generally these were old steam era roundhouses converted to handle diesel engines.
I always thought the modern time started right now.
There was similar thread recently.
There was no firm definition of modern in model railroad land but it certainly doesn’t mean contemporary or today.
The best explanation for the use of the word seems to mean “most recent version.” So in the case of Walthers’ Modern Roundhouse for instance, it might date back to the steam era but modern means its design is typical of the last of the roundhouses.
Depends on your age - if you’re 16, anything before 2000 is old!! If you’re 80, anything past 1950 is new!![;)]
“Modern” or “modernized” are words contrasting things/events/processes/etc. at different dates, not a set point of time. For instance, a 1911-built box car may have been modernized in 1932 to incorporate new safety devices or a stronger car end or a better roof, but this modernized car may have been scrapped by 1945. As stated earlier by others, modern does not necessarily mean contemporary or when diesel locomotives became widespread, and a 60-year-old’s concept of modern is likely different than a 16-year-old’s.
Mark
I was going to say with the invention of fire and the Clovis point.
Hello OK that’s see if I got this. My round house has a wood front and a roll roof and brick sides with sand stone framing around the windows. So the power house or other buildings should match ? The time frame that one model’s in is how long 2,5,10, year span ? And everything should fit in there some where right? I am trying to stay around the late 30’s-40’s. So am I in the middle of modern and old ? Thanks Frank
p.s. I am 37 so I am old to the 16 year olds and new to the old timers also[:D].
I am 61 years old. I grew up in upstate New York, and from my front porch and yard could see the mainlines of both the Lackawanna, and the Delaware and Hudson railroads.
I have only one memory of ever seeing a steam engine in actual service. I was very young.
Every other “working” steam engine I have seen has been a tourist train, a museum piece, or was on a public relations tour of some kind.
Therefore, if realism is your goal and you want to have both steam and diesel, I would say your time frame should be somewhere around 1945 to 1955.
I am less fussy about realism. I have steam, R-17 Redbird subway cars, and Amtrak on the same layout. I even have Hogwarts Express and Thomas the Tank Engine parked in a hidden staging yard for when the grandchildren want to “run trains”. All are DCC.
0-6-0 I think you are getting it. The theory of model railroad relativity can be as vast or as narrow minded as you want it to be. Time travel through the device of the layout can be accomplished by making it as real as you want. Making all your buildings conform to a certain era will certainly work in this form for teleportation. See Wikipedia on this at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teleportation and I do wish you success in building this time machine you are working on.
I’d give you a firm “maybe” on that one… [swg]
It wouldn’t be uncommon for a railroad to build a roundhouse in 1895, expand it with a new longer turntable and an additional roundhouse section incorporating longer stalls in 1922, build a new powerhouse for it in 1938, and then add a new diesel house next to the roundhouse in 1950…perhaps with the 1895 part of the roundhouse being demolished to make room for it.
Meanwhile on the service tracks between the turntable and the yard, the railroad might tear down it’s 19th century wood coaling tower in 1927 and replace it with a concrete one, and replace it’s wood water tank with a steel one in 1939. Plus of course sand and fueling facilities for diesels would be added sometime in the forties or fifties.
So, a mix of eras would be common, just like in a city today you might have a new building being put up next to a 100 year old landmark. Of course, that being said, Minnesota Commercial RR diesels use the same roundhouse and turntable in St.Paul MN that their 0-6-0 anscestors did 75 years ago!!
I guess the span of the time frame you model is up to you. In the old days guys used to use a “cut-off date”, like in your case they might say “my cut-off date is 1945, so anything before that is OK, but nothing after that”. Others guys model a broad period like “The Fifties”, “The Old West” or “The Transition Era” etc. Lately the trend has been to be more specific, to the point of some very good modellers modelling a specific month and year.
FWIW in my case m
I’m 49. So, you’re still a young punk to me, Frank. [:D]
Anyhow, if you are operating late 30s/40’s then you are in the steam/early diesel transition period. Modern diesel, for me at least, would be 80s - present.
Tom
Hello Thanks guys this helps give me direction in my search for buildings and some other equipment that might be there. Thanks for the help Frank
Tom didn’t you mean ‘‘whippersnapper’’
Punk…whippersnapper…kid; they all affectionately refer to someone younger than me. [:)]
Frank, I hope I didn’t somehow imply anything negative to you by using the term “punk”. If so, it was not my intention.
Tom
Hello no Tom we are good just a little fun among friends [:D]
I came up in the late 70’s, so to me, “Punk” is something of a compliment!
Lee
Absolutely! [^]