Why most layouts I come across are situated in the 1940's / 1950's?

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
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First off, love model railroads. I have my grandfather’s 1952 O gauge Lionel on display at my home and my great grandfather’s less than official Hamilton railroad pocket watch (guess it did not meet the jewel requirements in the 1920s).

I love seeing all of the 1940’s / 1950s railroad displays wherever I go. Would love to have one myself, and I feel I would try to depict the 1940s as well. This seems to be the standard, and I was curious why others feel this is so. Why choose the 1940s over say the 1990s or the 1880s? Sorry if this has been asked before. I tried to search for an answer before posting. I bet there are news articles written on this if I knew where to look for them. Thanks!

2

Hello Jim, and welcome to the forums. I model the 1950s, even though I wasn’t even born until 20 years later. The reason this is a popular time to model is because it is known as the Transistion Era, where many railroads moved from steam to diesel locomotives. This gives even the prototype modeler the excuse to run diesels next to steam and it is still plausible.

Scott

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Because EMD E & F units are beautiful, and they reflect the optimism of mid-century modernism.

4

Welcome to the Forums, Jim.

Your first posts are moderated, so they may not appear immediately. That will clear up quickly.

Let us know if you decide to build a layout!

5

[#welcome] to the Model Railroader discussion forums. Please stay around and join the conversations.

This, and since I model 1954, I also get steam locomotives, beautiful automobiles, and no graffiti.

I previously modeled 1968, and there is some equipment from that year that I also love, but compromises must be made.

-Kevin

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Railroads were more visible, and had a more visible role, in developing and in sustaining the country and its economy 70-130 years ago. Today, they run between buildings and are only visible, and most annoying, at crossings where commuters wait impatiently.

Secondly, back in those times, the outer mechanical workings of locomotives was more visible and it was mystifying. Those of us who attempt to learn about valve gear soon figure it out, but otherwise it’s just a maze of levers and rods that pivot on pins. It’s all fascinating.

Of course, it helps that locomotives back then were large, black, hissed, roared, and shook the ground. Today they don’t shake the ground quite as much due to their mechanical nature (reciprocating engine providing electrical power to traction motors). They make noise, and they’re large and fast, but they don’t have visible moving parts, unless you count the axles ends turning.

Transition offers the best of both worlds. Even diesels were getting second generation models coming on line by then, and traction motors like the GG1 were well-established. So really, you could have three types of locomotives to play with, plus the odd turbine.

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In addition to what others have said, it was generally a optimistic and prosperious time. Railroads had lots of new equipment, etc.

It was a positive time for the railroad industry and a positive time in general, that’s more fun then a depression or a time of neglect.

Sheldon

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[#welcome]

I grew up in my teens during the 50s and that is still the best years of my life, life has been going down hill ever since the 50s.

I’ll second Kevin on the NO Graffiti! I model the early to mid 50s for the same reasons mentioned in the above posts. I love steam locomotives and the early diesels.

As a 14th birthday present our next door neighbor (El Paso TX Southern Pacific Yard Super) arranged for me to ride in the cab of a pair of Southern Pacific Articulateds from El Paso to Alamogordo NM and back in 1951. Still is the biggest thrill of my life, I can still taste the desert flies from the windows open and 40 MPH air conditioning of the 50s.

Stick around and when you get started in model railroading post pictures of your venture.

Mel

My Model Railroad
http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/

Bakersfield, California

I’m beginning to realize that aging is not for wimps.

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I also suspect that it was the first golden age for HO scale model railroads and that gave the era strong roots. There’s a feedback mechanism. The era is popular because it was a strong period for the real railroads, which lead to availabilty of models, but the availability of models feeds on being a popular era to model because…there’s a lot of available models.

10

Since I model more recent times, late 80’s, 90’s, early 2000’s, I’ll get a big bag of popcorn, and sit and watch and listen.

I was born in 49, but while in the car with my dad, I never saw a steam loco at a crossing, or working in a yard.

I’ll say one thing, you guys that model the 40’s sure have a plethora of things to choose from.

Mike.

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Steam engines in motion are pretty look at. Many model railroaders are… hum hum… retired and remember these days vividly.

But I would argue that most pikes today feature diesel engines. Books and media are not necessarily representative of what people model at home.

Simon

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All those colorful boxcars!

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Often, people are interested in modeling what they saw as a youth, and although the numbers are dwindling, most model railroaders are in their 70s and remember the trains of the '50s, and if you were interested in trains then, there was a big crowd who lamented the change from steam to diesel and shunned anything powered by internal combustion.

Another draw is passenger trains. The 1950s was the heyday of the passenger train. Railroads were optimistic they’d be inundated with passengers in the post-war years as people who were forced to stay home and conserve resources during WWII were suddenly free to go out and explore. Of course, they did so in their cars, and by the 1960s, passenger trains were in severe decline.

The mid-'40s through mid-'50s has a lot to offer as a setting, and as stated already, there’s lots of equipment to choose from, although if you become enamored with steam, you may find your favorite railroad isn’t as well represented as you’d like it to be as steam could be very railroad-specific.

I started with Tyco F7s in Santa Fe Warbonnet paint, but the trains I saw around me at the time were Penn Central GG1s and Amtrak Metroliners. As I’ve gotten to that point where there’s time, space, and money for a layout, I want to re-create what I saw trackside during after-dinner walks at my grandparents’, so I’m planning a mid-70s layout.

Anything you choose, you’ll have fun. Be sure to enjoy the journey!

Eric

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I basically model the 1980-2007.

Although I’m fascinated with steam locomotives like the Hudson, Big Boy, Northern, Consolidation and others. I really wanted to do a 1938 New York based on the Century. I couldn’t do it because I really love Amtrak and it didn’t exist.

Mid last year I collected a few freight cars. (Years in the making.) I need like 7 more cars not counting coaches, another steam engine for them and replacement tenders to finish a 1940s branch line.

The idea was to use New York Central but the problem is the locomotives didn’t look like their prototype and made it unrealistic for me. Using fictional railroad made more sense than jamming in other railroad Southern Pacific.

It was going to based after World War 2 in 1946-49. With nothing else but pure steam, no diesels of any kind. I could go back to 1940 or during the war, if I felt like it. This way there’s no main line focus on long diesel passenger and freight trains, war covered flatcars, boxcars, or troop trains. Since I have problems picking and choosing freight cars with pictures. Plus Pullman green was still the international color for most railroads until 1952.

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It’s the only era where steam and diesel really overlaps, not counting preserved steamers in tourist/excursion service.

16

Great summary Eric!

I was born in the late 1960s, and the only steam locomotive I have ever seen on the mainline was the 4-8-4 pulling the Freedom Train.

This makes me think the era of 1940-1959 has real staying power. It fascinates me even though I model a year over a decade before I was born.

I am 100% sure this is true for most people that model this era, but not for me. I just cannot get excited about passenger trains.

Yes it does! No national restaurant chains, but lots of small local businesses. Communities that were much more self contained. You can model anything from modest farm communities before they were run-down, to magnificent big cities.

Almost nothing waa cookie-cutter construction in 1954.

Me too!

-Kevin

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Our hobby itself roughly came into being around 1900 when Lionel started. Previously, model railroading was either crude, inexpensive wooden trains (mostly home made) or exquisite metal ones made by craftsmen that only the wealthy would own. As time marched on, more and more people became middle class and could afford a hobby like model railroading. However, then the Great Depression happened in 1929 followed by WWII in 1941-45 and for roughly 16 years people had to restrict their hobby to minimal investment.

After the war, there was an explosion of interest in model railroading. You had a growing middle class that were moving into single family homes and started having kids (the boomers). Suddenly, many people had hobby money to spend (something they hadn’t been able to do for a decade and a half), kids to share it with or spend it on, and a basement, attic or garage to set up trains. Lionel, American Flyer, and the relatively new HO were spreading across the nation spawning train shows, model railroad clubs, magazines, and even kid’s TV programs. It was a high point of the hobby.

As the '50s rolled on, steam was disappearing replaced by “diseasels” (as some old steamheads called 'em). Many old hobbyists refused to acknowledge diesels and wouldn’t railfan or take pictures of them. They stopped progressing in time and froze their interests in steam. Then the '60s came and passenger trains started disappearing. The era of 1968 to 1976 were so transformative to the railroad business with mega-mergers, Amtrak, Conrail, etc. that many hobbyists refused to move on, sticking with the old Class I railroads.

Add the crushing bankruptcies of the 1960s and 1970s, and it wasn’t “fun” to model those days compared to the bright and shiny post-war era. Nostalgia is a powerful force in our hobby, and folks who lived through both eras mostly preferred the past over contempora

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Great summary. I think one thing that may help the transition era to last a while longer is the sheer amount vintage HO stuff that’s still out there. When I used to go to train shows before the pandemic - remember train shows? - I would still see tons of PRR, B&O, etc., along with the ubiquitous ATSF warbonnet F units. People may remain drawn to this era out of availability, if nothing else.

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As one who models 1900 (suitable locomotives and cars are a lot scarcer), I can understand the attraction of late '40s/early '50s. It’s a much, much quicker process to get a layout up and running, and rolling stock is considerably smaller than it is in later years so smaller radius curves can be used. You can start out with completely ready to run equipment, and then change as your model building desires change. There’s a lot more documentation of prototype practices, and color photos of equipment in real life.

I chose 1900 because both narrow and standard gauge were still in use, sailing ships still carried lumber from Northern California and Southern Oregon, and knuckle couplers were becoming widely used. Rolling stock was about 3/4 the size of 1940s equivalents. But there are precious few of us that choose to model that era so a lot of model building is required.

Fred W

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Well, I’m 63, born in 1957, my teens were the late 60’s and early 70’s. I have no interest in the trains of that era.

I never saw a steam locomotive in regular service - except, I have been watching #90 at Strasburg almost since the day she arrived in 1967…

And I know lots of guys my age who model present day OR time periods even earlier than my 1954 era.

So much for the idea that "most " people model the trains of their youth. 10 years behind the counter of a train store, and 50 years in this hobby has not backed up that theory one bit.

Looking at all age groups, my guess is one third of modelers choose the era of their youth.

The boomers, of which I am the tail end, represent a big group of modelers for a lot of the reasons Paul3 mentioned. So even a 1/3 of the older half of us is a lot of 1950’s or very early 60’s modelers.

No doubt that interest will shift.

But I will point out for the 100th time. When I started modeling in 1968, the 70’s, 80’s, 90’s, 00’s, 10’s and now, did not exist to choose from.

Some people change eras, some people don’t…

I think the era that was once popular that has lost a large precentage of modelers is the 1900 to 1920 period wihch was a popular choice among more serious modelers when I was a teen.

Same is true of the 1940’s.

The depths of the depression may have never been a popular era, but back then it seemed that the eras either side of the depression were.

I think Paul3 made some excellent points about why the 50’s has been so popular, but I’m not sure the 60’s or 70’s will be the era that replaces it.

I think there will be more growth in modeling present day, or the “recent” past as the boomers disappear from the scene.

Sheldon