hello from newbie to the forum

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hoboblues75

hoboblues75

Model Rail Rider
Hello all..

I am from Lowell, MA. Going to start a small, beginner, N scale project in my basement. I hope to do something with a New England theme...

although the locomotive I have is an older diesel from the Southern railroad.

My question is what determines what box cars go with what locomotives. I can't figure this out on the net. For instance, can a Santa Fe box car go with a Union Pacific locomotive... etc?

Thanks,

Andy
 
Absolutely! Down here in west-central Louisiana I see freight cars from all over North America and even some from south of the border.
 


Hello, Andy, and welcome aboard. As Jeffrey said, almost any road's frieght cars can show up on any other road, since they are freely interchanged. The more important question, from a modeling accuracy viewpoint, is what types of cars are right for the era you want to operate in. For example, an F-unit pulling a trainload of double stack cars wouldn't be prototypical, since freight F-units were long gone before double stack well cars. Likewise, a GE Dash 9-44CW pulling a string of 40 foot box cars with roofwalks and 40 foot ice reefers would look just as od, since both of those types of freight cars were gone before the introduction of the Dash 9 engines. It's your railroad, so you can run things any way you want. I can, and often do, run trains where not everything is prototypical. It is a good idea to at least have a general idea of what types of engines were common with what types of freight cars though, since you will probably try to get closer to prototype operations as you get more experience in the hobby.
 
Hi Andy,

Welcome to the forum! :)

If I don't know what goes with what... I just remove the road markings with brake fluid. ;)

Take Care,

Greg
 
I want to thank everyone for the warm welcomes!

Some very interesting tips in there. I had been thinking about what cars were appropriate for what engines. I think my grand vision is the 1970's freelance lightly based on the Boston & Maine. I also hope to one day re-paint and decal freight, etc. so that break fluid tip is a good one.

The B&M would allow me to incorporate my 3 favorite states. Massachusetts (I live in Lowell), Portland, ME and NH. I hope to take a door and split it with a scenery piece. The back side would be a small size Portland esq. location. The front would be a Lowell type place with room for freight. In the middle to the scenery split would be a small town (ala Conway NH) and some mountains. I would like the train to be able to go behind to Portland, up the mountain over some sort of trestle bridge (in the front) to be in NH (I am thinking two trains, one being the Scenic RR at Conway as opposed to a passenger) and the front being for freight and the B&M freight train.

That is the big plan anyways. We will see. At that point I would collect New England based freight to put on the train.

First I have to get the basement cleaned out or my wife will kabosh the whole thing anyways.

Thanks again for all the warm welcomes.
 
hoboblues75 said:
Hello all..

I am from Lowell, MA. Going to start a small, beginner, N scale project in my basement. I hope to do something with a New England theme...

although the locomotive I have is an older diesel from the Southern railroad.

My question is what determines what box cars go with what locomotives. I can't figure this out on the net. For instance, can a Santa Fe box car go with a Union Pacific locomotive... etc?

Thanks,

Andy
Click to expand...

A good rule I've always heard about determining how many of what roadnames to get is the rule of thirds. Like for example since you're running Boston & Maine in the 70s obviously at least a third of your fleet should be B&M equipment. Then you should have other railroads that operated in the area since your road would interchange with them most. This would be roads like Maine Central, Penn Cental(Conrail if you're operating after 1976), Delaware & Hudson, Bangor & Aroostock, Central Vermont and probably some local shortlines as well as Canadian equipment. Then the rest should be for other roads should be for railroads outside the region.
 
That post was perfect. I just printed it out. That is exactly some of the info I was looking for!

Although, I may skip realism and just use the Canadian and New Enlgand equipment for sentimentality reasons! Well maybe some from my southern railroad equip. that I already have. Why not?

Oh... and you answered another one of my questions. What year.... based on your response I will go with 1975! I was born that year and that way I can have some of the fallen flags. A little history. Nice.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
hoboblues75 said:
... etc. so that break fluid tip is a good one.

Thanks again for all the warm welcomes.
Click to expand...

Welcome Andy and now for your first controversy! Tooter said to use brake fluid to strip your models with.

As a custom painter for 30 yrs, my recommendation is the last thing you want to use is brake fluid. Plastic formulas change, as does the brake fluid formulas, and both have changed in 30 yrs. Brake fluid has developed a nasty habit of making plastic brittle and start cracking. I've had to replace bodies that it has done this to. Some of these were Kato bodies at that. Very hard to replace.

It is always to be best to use a plastic safe commercial stripper like Scalecoat Washaway, (inexpensive at @$10.00 a pint) or Chameleon paint stripper, (expensive, I've seen prices from $30 to $50 for it) or Testor's ELO Easy Lift Off. Some guys swear by 91% Isopropol (Rubbing Alcohol), but I've not had much success with it. I have had more success with denatured alcohol, but even that doesn't work as well as it used to.

There will be advice from others about what they use to strip with, but the safest is to use what's recommended by paint manufacturers themselves.
 
Hi Carey,

Thanks for the added information. I will take your words under consideration. That scalecoat washaway is certainly affordable.
 


Glad I could help. I'm not the guy who invented that "rule of thirds" It was something I read on another message board that stuck with me.
 
If your modelin '75, stay away from Conrail ('76), Guildford ('78), Pan Am (new name of guilford, obtained '06), as these were all formed later. Amtrak was just formed so you could run an Amtrak passenger train. Canadian Pacific, Canadian National, can also be interchanged.

Have you considered New England Central? Its a line that was built incorporated in '95 and runs through VT and MA.
 
Littlefoot, I think you read my mind. I actually am considering an Amtrak Passenger train. Part of the appeal is that I have actually been on one of those and take the Downeaster up to Maine at least once a year. I also like the idea of having a depot for my passengers to get on.

W/ the Amtrak train I wouldn't feel so obligated to be in the 70's and I could eventually still weave a freight train in their too if I wanted. I am leaning in that direction right now. If I use the second half of my display on the "other side" of the scenery board I could even set another small thin oval, etc... where I could run whatever freight train as the illusion would be the Amtrak Train has gone to another part of the country. This is taking shape!
 
When it comes right down to it, if you like it, run it! It's your own little world to rule as you will.
There were no Toys-R-Us boxcars on the UP Nebraska line in the mid 50's, either. But my son likes it and wants it there, so there it will be!;)
 
Your son runs a hard bargain... I am sure that UP is happy that he doesn't force a Toys R' US boxcar on the prototype.

I am pretty sure after looking around that I will be going with the Amtrak. Kinda excited about it actually.
 
Hello

Welcome to the forum.

Some day I would like to model 1974, which is a year I remember fondly, but I have been modelling 1956 for the past twenty years because back then there was hardly anything prototypical for CN.
I model the Canadian Maritimes, which is somewhat similar to New England in regards to the look of buildings and geography. Some modellers who model New England have inspired me over the years.
I think you will find that doing research is a real fun part of the hobby especially nowadays with all the images and info available on the net.
Here are two shots of a Canadian train on my layout with two American box cars.

Cheers.
 


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