how did you pick a rail line


I'm a Freelance HO scaler & I wanted a name that covered all of the coasts of the US, so, I named my railroad the GAP(Gulf-Atlantic-Pacific) Coast to Coast to Coast. I have my own decals for 7 of my diesels & a special decal for all of the rolling stock. I also run all kinds of diff. railroads. CN, BN, CSX, Amtrak, BNSF & many others. I do Modern from the 1960's to now.
 
My First train set (At age 6 in the seventies) was a modern CN and my intrest in CN grew from there but I've since backdated to 1959. Oh and I run a little CP as well.
But I think alot of what we choose is often geographically swayed by where we live. As a canadian it seemed I had the two choices, CN or CP. But If I lived in the US I'd probably be looking at either Great Northern of Santa Fe on my layout right now.
 
My layout, the In-ko-pah Railroad, is a freelanced narrow gauge line in a fictionalized version of the desert in eastern San Diego county. I chose this because I love that area of the desert, which is very rocky and has an eclectic mix of interesting plants and wildlife. I was inspired by the famous Carrizo Gorge of the San Diego & Arizona RR.

I also wanted to model a lot of mines and old mining towns, like the ones I've seen on my many trips to Nevada and other western states. There's nothing like that in our desert and the SD&A just passes through. So I "imagineered" an alternate reality in which that part of the desert is much more richly endowed with minerals.

I also like narrow gauge, so that's what my railroad is.
 
I chose the BNSF, in Cajon Pass.

Why? I like modern mountain railroading, and grew to love the BNSF since I was a youngon' because I liked the Santa Fe, but I like modern stuff even more, and it was as close as I could get. I love mountain railroading because the grades challenge the trains...
 
Hmmm lets see...

I grew up in southeast Michigan in close proximity to the C&O (former Pere Marquette), and also saw a lot of steel mills and auto assembly plants. I caught a few glimpses of some NYC locos as well, but I didn't find them as pretty as the dark blue+yellow geeps that I saw on a regular basis.

So for my first HO train set at age 13, I got some Tyco C&O F7s and a dozen freight cars. During that same year my family moved to Maryland, where the B&O was King. (Pennsy had just been swallowed into Penn Central so I had no interest in those black engines with the mating worms logo.) B&O locos by this time were also blue and yellow, same as my beloved C&O.

I wound up choosing B&O as my prototype to follow, but I was also hooked on that heavy industry I'd seen as a young'un in Michigan. The problem was that none of my childhood areas were served by the B&O, so I chose the Cleveland/Lorain area of Ohio which had both the steel industry and the B&O.

As I got close to finishing my most recent layout, I switched to CSX grey-blue-yellow in hopes of getting my kids interested. That plan didn't work out, but I found that I liked much of the motive power that was running on what once was the B&O - so I've stayed with CSX of the early 1990's. I like modeling railroads that I can see in real life. However, I don't plan on ever buying any models of their solid blue locos in the 'Dark Future' scheme.
 
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It was easy. My Dad, his Dad, and most of the males in the family all worked for the SRR.

While I also freelance model an old Alabama shortline that did interchange with the SRR, its used mainly for loco's the SRR never had, but that I personally like.
 
I started off modeling BN pre merger. I am not sure why but I think it was because a BN GP38-2 #2264 was the first Athearn HO scale unit I bought, and it grew from there. I used to LOVE the BN. Simply because of the above reason and Green is my favorite color. I was in Lincoln NE one year and saw there yard it my interest grew somemore. Then the merger happened. I don't know why but I fellout of love with BN or accuratly BNSF. SOO...... (no pun inteneded), I model the Providence And Worcester railroad in its modern day. Ok, right now I just collect the engines as I have not had time do do a layout yet. I live in a town that has a small yard and engine house and I believe they paint the engines there to so it was an easy choice. It was also nice to see that Athearn, Atlas and some others started to produce these which made it even easier.
 
i picked conrail just because i love the black paint jobs
and the horse head logos
flight2000NSsd40-2.png
 
Kevin, LOL, Conrail just wishes that the NS...or Warren Buffet...would buy them out.

I grew up in Cleveland and lived anout 100 yards from the NKP tracks so that's still my favorite railroad. They were still running steam when I was a kid so I got see a nice mixture of steam and diesel. My grandmother worked for the Pennsy and my uncle for the N&W, so they were on my list also. I lived in California for 35 years and grew to love the UP and, to a lesser extent, the SP. Alas, they are all gone now, except for the UP, and the UP is but a shadow of its former self in the pre-merger days.
 
I enjoy the interaction of the landscape with the railroad and as a kid loved the pictures of trains in the Sierras, the Cajon Pass, the Clinchfield in the Appalachins. As a result, I built a layout with a mountain/valley scene, some areas for water features, and some mainline running. I put a modern vs retro fleet to it( I guess late 90s) with some BN, NS, CSX, and merger BNSF.
 
It’s amazing how many guys have influence here from a family member or friend that worked for or was involved with a railroad. I have to admit I am no different. My grandfather worked for the Government of Canada in what is the equivalent of the NTSB in the States. He was one of the founders working with CN, CP and the Canadian Government on Operation Life Saver and was in charge of investigating level crossing accidents. I can remember when I was nine years old he was visiting in London from BC where he lived. He knew I liked trains so he took me down to the CP yard on Elias St and walked up to an SW1500 doing some switching while I waited in the car. After a short conversation with the engineer, the next thing I knew I was driving a yard engine. Well let’s just say that was it for me, I have been hooked ever since.

As for the Norfolk and Western, there is just something I liked about the high hooded GP7's and 9's here in Canada in the day and let’s face it nobody ran more high hoods than the Norfolk and Western.
 
I chose the Rock Island because that was the railroad that went through my hometown of Rockdale, IL. while I was growing up. As to why I've added the EJ&E/Iowa interstate/CSX New Rock Subdivision is this, when the Rock Island shutdown on March 31st, 1980, the EJ&E took over operations from Joliet to Bureau & then south to Henry, IL. until May 30th, 1980, then the B&OCT leased the line and today it is run by CSX with the Iowa Interstate having trackage rights from Utica, IL to Joliet to be able to get into Blue Island, IL. So, in a sense, I can model the Rock Island in 3 different era's on 1 layout. But lately here, this live steam 1.5" scale has really gotten a grip on me.

Regards,
 
I grew up in NE Ohio, so I saw Penn Central and N&W. The bright blue Conrail locos were quite the sight compared to the basic black of PC and N&W. So that's why I model Conrail. But I like Norfolk Southern's high hood units, so I have quite a few of them. I have an interchange with CSX so I can have a few of them as well.

I also have a fondness for EMD F units. This is because the Lionel set that I played with as a very young child had a New York Central F3.

If you have no background to go from, then I'd say pick a part of the country you want to model, then find a railroad that runs (or ran) through it.

Kerry
 
I've always had UP since the early 70's as a kid up to now. Probably because of all the trips from Detroit out to Wyoming and watching the long trains running next to I-80 between Laramie and Rock Springs Wyoming.
But now I don't have a layout and I'm going to make a change this next go around. Should be easier to do now, my son fried my last diesel loco when he was a young'n and the rest have disappeared throughout the years. I'm down to rolling stock, some passenger equipment, a PB-1 unit and the 2-8-8-2 that will be converted over and re badged. I think I'm going with an Ore line around the Great Lakes area, maybe The DM&IR, and maybe toss a few other Lake region/Michigan lines into the mix. No particular time frame, I prefer Steam but would have nothing against running a tunnel motor with a string of cars behind them.
I leaning towards the Missabe because they were all large locomotives for the most part and I'm going with N Scale because of space and cost, I really like the idea of not having any little 0-6-0's getting stuck on switches or bounced off the rails by a piece of ant poop or a dog hair. :)
Of course the draw back is that I either need to come up with my own decals or start buying up ever Atlas Ore Car in the Missabe paint scheme that i see on ebay. :eek:
 
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My first issue of Model Railroader had an article on Santa Fe CF7's. Needless to say I fell in love with the "ugly duckling" loco and just had to model the Santa Fe. A year later I came across an article by David Barrow's about the Santa Fe in Lubock, TX and that re-inforced my choice even further.
 
Grandfather was in charge of the yards at 30th Street Station, Philly. Dad was the one that started in the hobby along with an Uncle, both Pennsy heavy. I inherited my Dad' stuff so that pins me to the PRR. Although I wouldn't mind a RF-16 NYC Lighning Stripe running my rails...
 
My great grandfather worked for the NO&NE (New Orleans and Northeastern, which was a Southern subsidiary), and other family members worked for a railroad too (not sure which one yet--choices are GM&N/M&O, IC, M&BRR). Southern ran through my hometown, and my dad had a store on Front Street opposite the passenger station, so high-nosed, tuxedo painted locomotives were always within sight. GM&O used to own the tracks on the other side, which ICG had while I was young. I always thought the orange boxcars with big I's on the side were cool. I liked both the orange and white as well as orange and grey locomotives, even though I occasionally saw them.
 
I'm undertaking a detail project for my CSX GP40-2, as I intend to model a joint with CSX and FEC, simply because they're my local roads and they both run interesting trains through Florida.
 
I picked the lines because I grew up with them and remembered them as a kid. BN and CNW. But I picked ATSF because the colors of thier equipment, the architecture of thier depots and company buildings and the scenery landscapes they run though that I see on TV and in books and magazines.

My original layout was going to be BN and ATSF based with CNW doing trackage right operations. But that all changed in as we all know 1995 when BNSF became a reality. I was actually more exited with that because now I get to add CNW a bit more heavy into the operations I have planned. Even though UP took CNW away from me that same year. I plan to become very good at custom painted CNW equipment so I can keep them alive during the present day. I dont think ill ever forgive UP for that.
 
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