Hello from England

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D

Donald

New Member
Hi Guys,from a grey and chilly England.
I'm thinking of building a small Inglenook in N gauge.I have a baseboard of
32"x9",obviously a micro.Thing is I know zilch about US railroads.I will be building the trackwork from copper clad and Code 60 rail,no problems there as I have been supplying a couple of shops with Hand built trackwork for over 20 years.I would like to model an urban scene,possibly 1950's.What loco's should I be looking at? Diesel BTW.Best manufacturer? Shortest rolling stock?
Which low relief building kits?Is a mixture of different companies freight stock OK or is it regional? I'd be grateful if anyone could tell me which Railroad Companies cover which areas of America.A big ask I know,but your help is greatly appreciated.
 
Hello from a fellow Brit! :)

I can't answer all your questions, as I'm a relative amateur in the hobby let alone the full ins and outs of the NorthAm scene.

In terms of which companies to model, well if it is the '50's you have quite a choice. Broadly speaking, like our dear old Blighty, the US had quite a number of independents that ran locally (some state to state and beyond) before quite a few of the ended up being assimilated into some of the bigger companies that dominate today's tracks (ie Union Pacific, BNSF or CSX).

So back in the '50's you have dozens and dozens of road names to choose from all depending on the locale you pick. So I'd say one of the first choices you may want to make is where you will set it - if its intended to be a real local (if not, it doesn't matter - you can easily create a backstory to explain the presence of the train on the line).

Once you've got an area chosen, then you can choose from the likes of Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway (AT&SF), Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O), Great Northern Railway (GN), Seaboard Air Line Railroad (SAL) or the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad (CBQ). And that is litrally to name but a few - and I haven't mentioned the big Canadian lines (Canadian Pacific(CP) and Canadian National(CN)). There is a box at the bottom of those wikipedia links that lists the majority of the roadnames - so happy exploring! :D

Of course you could do what I did when I had my very first foray into US modelling - just go with whichever company logo (or livery) you think looks the nicest! :p Not perhaps the most traditional approach, but it worked for me - besides its your layout and you'll have to keep seeing it go by! ;)

Feel free to ask as many questions as you like. They're quite a knowledgeable bunch on here!

Hope that helps you a little!
 
Lehigh Valley

Have a look at the Lehigh Valley railroad. They are a fallen flag that ended in the late 1970s They used many different locomotives from many different manufactures and they had many different paint livery.

Go to http://www.railpictures.net/ select "search by railroad ". Drop down to Lehigh Valley ( I think it's in the lower section ) and have a look at their locomotives. You will have all the info attached. The lehigh valley was an eastern Pennsylvania railroad. Also google the Lehigh Valley for some background. They are a very interesting railroad. As far as buildings and such. I would be happy to help.
 


Thanks for that invaluable info Guys,I'll be busy now for the next few hours trawling through those links!
 
As far as the freight cars are concerned, American railroads have always been willing to send their cars to "foreign roads" when necessary, and there were elaborate tariff arrangements to pay for use of the cars and for delivering them and then sending them home afterward. But if there was regular shipment of a commodity over a particular route, a "car pool" was often set up to even out the supply of cars. It could include cars from railroads at both ends of the run, and sometimes intermediate ones as well.

If you're being careful, you'd use at least some cars from regions of the country that produced or received the cargoes that your railroad deals with.
 
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