How to stick with one era?


A2TwrOpr

A2TwrOpr

Member
This may be a rather silly question, but how does everyone stick to just one era or location? I've been doing some reading on switching and point to pointy layouts and see a lot of them are modern day era. So this got me thinking... I have a bunch of BN and Santa Fe rolling stock at my dads house and am tempted to grab that and possibly run it when the mood strikes. Just as a change of pace here and there. Does anyone else do something similar or do you stick to one thing no matter what?
 
It is your railroad, so do as you wish.
Will the scenery on your layout support the two different eras?

If no, does it matter to you?
With the consolidation of roads over the last 20 years, mixed trains are very common on many railroads!
 
Yep, you run whatever you want to run - it IS your layout. As for your specific question - once my layout is completed the scenery will reflect a non-specific period of time or even country. I'll mainly be running Steam but also have some EMD's that I will also run, when the mood strikes.

The way I look at it is like this, you don't see the real world ripping down 1800's (or older) era buildings just because it now runs SD 60's or 70's and so forth instead of Consolidations or Moguls. By the same token, you don't see the real world refusing to run those modern loco's through or past towns that are a couple of hundred years old. Nor do you see or hear of railroad companies being concerned about consists through 500 year old forests, just because they're 500 years old.

Bottom line, the real world doesn't change it's engines to suit the scenery and the towns don't rip down old buildings to suit modern loco's. If the real world doesn't care about such things, why should we?

Run what you want, when you want and where you want - that's called reality ;)
 
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Not speaking from personal experience, but there are definitely modelers who systematically have run multiple eras, sometimes substituting structures or other details to match the rolling stock era they're running. So it's not just a choice between being faithful to an era or mixing up eras willy-nilly -- although if you want to, it is indeed your railroad. But there is a third way of being faithful to multiple eras. So however you want to do it, go for it!
 
G'day...There was a thread a while back all about rivet counting.. The overwhelming outcome of the responses to that one was much akin to the erstwhile replies you've already recieved. It's yours to do with as you please..I DO....I know much of my stuff isn't prototypical but I don't care...I recall a while back trying to figure out the transition period of BN and ATSF...cos that's what I model mostly but then I thought of some of my older locos and R/S that'd never see the light of day or track power again if that was the case so I plan on having a third main track one day to allow the running of the the "old stuff" from time to time...and leave the double main and the spur tracks for my more prototypical stuff transition and post transition era BNSF stuff.. but then again....the only one that would care would be me...I'd say go with whatever your mood takes you to....Cheers Rod
 
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I stick with one era. I model the area I live in, southwestern Montana in 1957. I grew up in the area with ralatives working for the railroads and have a lot of good memories of that time period. I also love the transition era, with some steam still running and first generation diesels. One of the easiest ways of defining the time period is by the vehicles. I am fortunate that there are many vehicles now available for this time period. When I first started the layout 20 some years ago vehicles for that era were few, but Classic Metal Works has come out with numerous vehicles for this era.

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Another thing I had to pay attention to was the freight cars. Most everything running back then were 40 foot cars, with a few 50 footers coming on the scane. Building are another thing to help define the era. I can't have any modern buildings on the layout, but there are scores of buildings available for this era, which would also look fine in more modern eras.

I manage to travel quite a but and visit other model railroaders across the country. Some don't pay a lot of attention to any particular time period, and then I have seen both club and home layouts that will change some building, vehicles, industries and equipment to try to define a particular time period.

Remember, it's your layout and you can do anything you want with it.
 
A2TwrOpr said:
Does anyone else do something similar or do you stick to one thing no matter what?
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When I actually get around to a real final layout I will stick to its theme as a general practice. All the other equipment I have will be used at other layouts or for planned special events. For example the museum is a 1974 layout, but twice a year we plan for a steam day. The scenery era restriction is thrown out the window and everyone brings their steam locos down and runs them. It is fun for a change and the public loves it. Likewise once a year we have a "Union Pacific" day. It attracts different people to the museum.

The operative word in all this is planned. So I am not in the "no matter what" camp, nor am I in the "when the mood strikes" either.
 
Now if you look a proto typical railroads the buildings and bridges and stuff and the buildings along the rail are in the older parts of town and most railroad won't replace stuff rail and turnout stands till there junk then they will try to squeeze i few more years out of them solike in newton the bnsf still uses it 90 year old turntable and there are 200year old buldings all along the trackes still in use there are newer building and every day i see on the bnsf tracks bn loco santa faequiment and eveny upunion paciic so if you are tring to prototypical and want to put differt years but still stay current to that time with your cars the railroad is a hochpoch of equiment a some times though rare you may see a out of time car or loco on the rail so i doesn't hurt to do that on are layouts. still your layout what you like is always right
 
wright2626 said:
there is still alot of bn and santa fe freight cars rolling around.
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Not just those either. We still see a fair amount of cars still painted Southern and N&W even today. That merger occurred in 1982, IIRC.
So it doesn't matter when a merger or such occurred, there will still be a lot of "originals" running around for years to come. They don't re-paint everything ASAP.
 
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A guy I work with is a model railroaders wet dream. He and his wife have no kids, but they bought a 3 bedroom house; 2 rooms specified JUST for his HO layout !! He is cutting a "tunnel" in one wall so his layout can continue into the other room. When I got back into model trains, I naturally sought his advice. Incredibly, he asks ME for advice about DCC as his is all DC. I started out with N scale as I don't have the luxury of room he has. His layout, while massive, is from the early 70's, his childhood era, everything is period correct. He weathers a brand new locomotive as soon as he run tests it. I dust mine off before putting them away. Every time.

I told him of the trains I am slowly acquiring, two Kato Amtrak GE P42 phase VI with 8 Superliners and 8 Viewliners. My next purchase was a Kato SD-40. All DCC with interior LED lighting. Now I'm looking at a Kato F2A/F2B Atlantic Coast. He looked at me and said, "Oh, so you're gonna be one of them guys that run anything they want ? Total disregard to period ?". Without blushing, I responded, "Yep. If I like the looks of a train, I'll run it. None of this is "real" y'know, it's all about the fun. The model train Gods aren't going to smite me for running a train from the 40's or 50's alongside a train from the present." He laughed and said, "Damn good point."

While I do admire with great awe the efforts and workmanship of those that retain period correctness, it's just not for me. I run what I like. It's all about the fun.
 
Thanks for all the great replies everyone! I suppose the only thing I may have to change on the layout would be the vehicles. Most everything thing else can still be found along railroads today. Here in Illinois there are lots of old buildings that still dot the right of ways so I could keep those in place. I've always had the mentality to pick one era and stick with to it. But the more I see modern stuff on layouts the more I like the idea of bouncing between my late 60s time period and the mid 90s. The mid 90s is nice because I can use my BN and atsf stuff or bnsf.
 
To answer your original question: its hard. You have to be detail oriented, check build dates on your rolling stock, don't buy that particular loco.....

Our layout has progressed from 1953 to early 1960's because my grandson saw an auto or rolling stock he wanted. Since it's he and I, I don't really care.
 
A2TwrOpr said:
Just as a change of pace here and there. Does anyone else do something similar or do you stick to one thing no matter what?
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The generic answer that I've not seen anyone give is - multiple layouts. Back in the early 1980s I had the idea of doing the transition era (Santa Fe, SP) in N-scale; the BN transition era (1968-1971) using NP, GN, CB&Q, BN with HO modular; 1964ish D&RGW C&S, RI, & MP on a fixed HO layout, Vintage steam RGS narrow gauge in G (Fn3 specifically) outside in the yard, and Classic Steam era in O-scale (no specific road name selected).

I razed the N and O scale layouts a while back, 2003, I think.
 
I stick with one era, 1900-1905. Its easy to do. Figure out what belongs in the era and then only buy that stuff. SD70's. Cool. No in my era so I pass. B&O wagontop boxcars. Very cool. Not in my era so I pass.
 
Iron Horseman said:
The generic answer that I've not seen anyone give is - multiple layouts. Back in the early 1980s I had the idea of doing the transition era (Santa Fe, SP) in N-scale; the BN transition era (1968-1971) using NP, GN, CB&Q, BN with HO modular; 1964ish D&RGW C&S, RI, & MP on a fixed HO layout, Vintage steam RGS narrow gauge in G (Fn3 specifically) outside in the yard, and Classic Steam era in O-scale (no specific road name selected).

I razed the N and O scale layouts a while back, 2003, I think.
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That's a rather neat approach. There's no way I could have multiple layouts though. This one is costing me enough and my wife is already against it.
 
A2TwrOpr said:
That's a rather neat approach. There's no way I could have multiple layouts though. This one is costing me enough and my wife is already against it.
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Whoa, you don't have your Chief Engineer on side? I can see some serious "grovelling" happening over the next few months or so. In the event your grovelling, sucking up, crawling, making inane promises etc doesn't work, I know a great Divorce Lawyer who is also a fanatical Model Railroad Fan ;)
 
wombat457 said:
Whoa, you don't have your Chief Engineer on side? I can see some serious "grovelling" happening over the next few months or so. In the event your grovelling, sucking up, crawling, making inane promises etc doesn't work, I know a great Divorce Lawyer who is also a fanatical Model Railroad Fan ;)
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Haha! My wife has the I don't wanna hear about trains mentality. So unless I'm making a big purchase, we don't discuss the layout. So that actually saves me from any of the promise making etc. I've heard some pretty crazy stories though from the local hobby shop owner about what some guys do!
 
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