If you consider a lot of retirees are model railroaders, the 1950’s lines up with their childhood and their nostalgic memories of that era. So its a draw to recapture the magic of that time.
Older model railroaders who were adults in the 50’s (who are likely now gone from us) might have chosen that as their era to model because it was their last era to model steam engines as they remembered. Many railfans and model railroaders swore off the hobby following diesels, so its likely they were happy to focus on the waning days of steam as “the good old days.”
For younger model railroaders who were not alive in the 1950’s, it has an aesthetic appeal as I alluded to with using the meme above. F-Units, late era steam engines, streamliners, classic cars, carhop diners, rockabilly, drive in theaters, etc. Obviously there are certain turnoffs to modeling the era for those of us who didn’t live it (the Jim Crowe south in particular is coming up in debates as to “what level of prototypicality is acceptable” lately), but for the most part the nostalgic appeal of the era still exists in our pop culture zeitgeist even for the under-50 crowd who didn’t live in it
Steam and diesels, that is a strong appeal for building a roster regardless of age, and that era was the last era (in the US at least) where both engine types ran alongside each other in noticable numbers. CTC signals and radio comunications give it an air of modernity that helps it from feeling as long ago.
Of course I personally would like to someday model the 50’s (my “dream layout” in my head would be a late 50’s or maybe even early 60’s setting based on how my hometown and the surrounding region looked many years before I was born. But I do think modelers should giv
Well, and the reason manufacturers make so many items for the post-war transition era is because so many people buy them!
When I started in the hobby in 1971, many model railroaders were only interested in steam engines and tended to model the 1940’s or earlier. Twenty years later, the steam-diesel transition era had become very popular, largely because that generation of modellers remembered that era and loved both types of engines.
Although I believe the number of transition era modellers have fallen, with more people modelling “today” (or at least the recent past) than ever before, the transition era has been surprisingly resilient and holds on to a pretty strong following.
p.s. My perception is that in the last 20 years or so the 1960’s, the last years before Amtrak and the major mergers (BN, Penn Central, etc.) seems to be rising in popularity. It allows modellers to model the “old” railroads like say New York Central, but still run just diesels. Diesel engine models seem to be more reliable and less prone to problems than steam models - especially in smaller scales.
For me, IMO, there is no other era of railroading more fascinating, more visceral, more urgent, than this time.
The world is at war. Millions are dying. The call was made and the railroads stepped up to the plate and drove it out of the park and beyond the parking lot! The railroads didnt just build this country, they made it great. They made it a winner.
Our first industry, to which no other would exist without it. I can think of no other time in railroading history that stands out as much, or as proudly. Without railroads, this country, or any other… is nothing.
It is also a time of “changing the gaurd”. By that i mean the dawn of diesel electrics, and the demise of steam. A very pivotal time in railroading. A time which one can see the handing off of the baton to the next generation. The only time when one can see the best of steam, and the unknown future of railroading to come, under the flag of diesel power, at the same time.
I cant find another time that captures and cultivates my model railroading endeavors than this era. “The golden age of railroads” - fitting and appropo. In this time do we see the true spirit of railroading, the true power of it.
There was nothing like it up to the 1940’s, and nothing since either. The only thing I can think of that might rival the railroads was NASA’s quest for the moon. At no other time has man stood so tall, or proud. It was the railroads who put him there.
I for one have no interest in portraying much of anything negative no matter what era I model. Maybe that is why I have no interest in the rusty, bankrupt, era of my youth, the late 60’s and 70’s
I don’t model crime - if I did it would be the dead bank robber laying in the street after the police showed up.
I don’t model extreme poverty.
There is no house on fire on my layout.
I don’t model racism - there are no little signs on my model restaurants that say “whites only”.
How exactly does one model “Jim Crow” in 1/87th scale? And who is discussing this nonsense? Nobody I know in this hobby is talking about this, and I know people of all flavors in this hobby.
This is why I have never cared for the modeling of George Sellios - the depression was not as “depressing” as he modeled it, and even if it was why would you want to?
The haters just like to look for problems that are not there in the things other people do.
If you are a prototype modeler, and you model certain railroads and locations in a certain era and area, and you tried to accurately model buildings and equipment, it might be subtly implied by separate waiting rooms, divided coaches (this can be noticed on certain coach equipment ordered by certain RRs that had entrance vestibules at both ends when it was normal to have vestibules at one end on other contemporary cars) etc.
It’s not a conscious choice to “model” it or not exactly, but if you went for a period-accurate model of the rolling stock and/or stations, the answer to “why two waiting rooms” is uncomfortable if your really think about it, even if you didn’t realize it.
You’re just modeling the real-world equipment as it existed, but the reason it was that way in the real world still existed.
My model railroad is an escape. I model August 3rd, 1954, but not the real one.
There is no ugliness in my alternative 1954. It is just a perfect day with glorious human harmony.
I am also a wargamer, and my beliefs carry into that hobby too. I don’t model corpses or casualties, my German WW2 army does not display correct iconography, my confederate army flies blue flags with white stripes (similar to a Greek flag), and there are no blood stains on weapons or uniforms on my Napoleanics.
My 1/48 scale historical military modeling is all scenes of soldiers at rest.
Why would anybody bring strife to your modelled scenes?
I think I saw an article about modeling a segregated waiting room, but other than that, how, other than having a Black porter in your Pullman car would you do that?
Put Sim Web, Casey Jones Afro brakeman in your engine and throw in a few statues of Confederate generals? I hope the hobby doesn’t get Woke.
Like Sheldon I don’t model unpleasant things, including the banned term graffitti, graveyards, accidents, crime or even traffic tickets.
Born in '51, I think, but am not certain, I saw a doubleheaded PRR steam freight. Only one, until I went to Strasburg in the 70’s. But my 50’s American Flyer was steam. All the model railroads I saw (not that many as a kid) at least had steam.
Buildings looked like buildings, not Pikestuff sheet metal and Taco Bells. I never ate at a Taco Bell. Modern buildings don’t have painted signs on brick walls, unless it’s a painted, politically correct mural. They don’t have water towers with aged wood.
I watched the Youtube webcams, thinking I should know the difference between an SD##AC and a SD##DC. I even kept a log on an excel spreadsheet. I found most of the locos stayed on the same webcam but no good, they all look the same to me.
I’m not that OCD to scratch build that station that had two waiting rooms. Nor am I putting any interiors in passenger cars that would replicate those conditions. Maybe off this forum I can tell you my interesting 1963 personal experience with some counties in Maryland still segregated and some not. It was a story my mixed race grandchildren found interesting.
So maybe I fail the “serious prototype modeler” test despite my attention to detail for my region and era.
I model a mid-century modern street in the US northeast, circa 1957, with a train running behind it. I run F units and a steam shifter with a sloped tender. It is winter.
I don’t weather my cars. I want them looking like they would have looked the day they were painted.
The residents on my street mix high-end cocktails, and they listen to jazz and space-age bachelor pad music on their hi-fis. They read The New Yorker and Playboy. In a few years, they will watch Peter Gunn and The Twilight Zone. They voted for Adlai Stevenson in the most recent election, and they will vote for Kennedy in the next.
Yes this was exactly what I was getting at. As the push for more prototypical realism goes, we eventually have to face this issue. Jim Crow is the most obvious example, but I have found plenty of other instances of the ugly moments of the past that were very visible along the railroading history scene (labor rights issues, the near extinction of the Buffalo, war, etc). Ultimately I think there are only two appropriate mindsets to approach it, either we model to utmost prototypical authenticity with the goal to show the ugly side as it was because its honest to our work (while also treading the fine line to not glamorize the ugly parts), or to embrace the world of no societal ills and vi
Well, I go out of my way to find mid-century moderne structures, so I have to create fantasies about the 1/87 scale people who would have the good taste to live in those houses! [Y]
How exactly does one model “Jim Crow” in 1/87th scale? And who is discussing this nonsense?
If you are a prototype modeler, and you model certain railroads and locations in a certain era and area, and you tried to accurately model buildings and equipment, it might be subtly implied by separate waiting rooms, divided coaches (this can be noticed on certain coach equipment ordered by certain RRs that had entrance vestibules at both ends when it was normal to have vestibules at one end on other contemporary cars) etc.
It’s not a conscious choice to “model” it or not exactly, but if you went for a period-accurate model of the rolling stock and/or stations, the answer to “why two waiting rooms” is uncomfortable if your really think about it, even if you didn’t realize it.
You’re just modeling the real-world equipment as it existed, but the reason it was that way in the real world still existed.
Yes this was exactly what I was getting at. As the push for more prototypical realism goes, we eventually have to face this issue. Jim Crow is the most obvious example, but I have found plenty of other instances of the ugly moments of the past that were very visible along the railroading history scene (labor rights issues, the near extinction of the Buffalo, war, etc). Ultimately I think there are only two appropriate mindsets to approach it, eithe
I don’t think the practical aspect of modeling this era has been mentioned at least for freight modeling - smaller engines, smaller cars equals a chance of a better looking layout. Two bay hoppers, 8,000 gallon tanks, 40 and 50 foot boxcars allows one to have a nice looking train on a 6 x 10 layout or even a 4 x 8. Four axelswitchers ad geeps can look prety good on a 24" radius, big SDs and GEVOs not so much.