Running locomotives from different railroads


trailrider

Well-Known Member
I can't find where this topic came up before, but here is some food for thought for the modern era: It will be sort of prototypical to run KSC and CP rail power together once the Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern merger is finalized! Seems like KSC agreed to the merger with CP, even though Canadian National's per-share bid was higher due to concerns about regulatory problems.

Since it is perpetually pre-1960 on my layout, I can run C.B.&Q., GN and NP, mixed occasionally, and even have a Santa Fe switcher and D&RGW in my Denver yard. Be another 10 years before the ICC will let the first three keep one set of books (and let management come up with that green-and-black with white lettering paint job, which I can't stand!). If I were ever to go "modern", at least I'd have the BNSF paint schemes. But that's not going to happen. Sixty-five years worth of motive power and rolling stock! I can still remember riding on a "shovel-nose" Zephyr as a kid. :)
 
On CP & KCS,

In the modern age everything is "Run-thru" compatible. Two KCS units showed up here in Minnesota on CP one week last year, and ended up leaving on a BNSF train. Local foamers wouldn't leave them alone all week. This kind of thing is common. That said, the UP trains I usually see heading west have sometimes had a CSX loco with them, but are usually solid UP locos only.

Going back in time, I hear you on your Hill Lines mashup, but even as a dedicated Milwaukee Road guy I get some prototype allowances for mixed colors. MILW leased some GP35's from B&O and a couple ALCo's from Penn Central for a time in the early to mid 1970's, MILW leased some CN SD40-2's for a while, also, as well as ex-Southern SD24's via Precision Rail and even some Duluth & Missabe SD9's for a short time.
 
I have seen Soo Corp rolling stock out here in British Columbia in a CP consist, and I have seen UP locomotives also in line with CP locomotives. I seem to think I even saw an IC gondola a couple of years back.
 
I can't find where this topic came up before, but here is some food for thought for the modern era: It will be sort of prototypical to run KSC and CP rail power together once the Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern merger is finalized! Seems like KSC agreed to the merger with CP, even though Canadian National's per-share bid was higher due to concerns about regulatory problems.
It's already prototypical for KCS engines to show up on both CP and CN on occasion due to all the run-through and horsepower-hour repayment type situations that happen out there.

But once the merger is complete, it will definitely be a lot *more* common to see KCS widespread on CP and CP widespread on KCS once the railways begin to integrate operations.
 
I think I started the Thread that Trailrider is referring to about running different roads on a person's layout. My Chicago, Milwaukee & Northern Railroad is or was loosely based on the Milwaukee Road and a short line that purchased and leased some trackage from the Milwaukee to form the CM&N Railroad. My goal was to limit the motive power to only the roads that ran in the northern Chicago area to the northern part of Wisconsin.

I'm starting to move away from my original plan as I obtained a Southern Pacific locomotive patched for the Union Pacific, a locomotive from the Northern Pacific a road that just touched Northern Wisconsin, now I have a Southern Pacific B36-7 locomotive that's on loan to the CM&N on a trial basis, the MN&S and a BNSF that I purchased as one of my first DCC equipped locomotives (older but a great runner) and the presence of DM&IR locomotives, just to name a few.

The real concentration of fallen flag roads on the CM&N include the Milwaukee, the SOO, C&NW with various locomotive models represented.

Now, I'm limiting my purchase of locomotive to the better quality manufactures like Scale Trains and Rapido and plan to cull many of my earlier locomotives when I can as the opportunity arises. With over 100 locomotives is almost as bad as having 300+ ore cars on a railroad with the modest size of the CM&N Railroad. Also, if a locomotive appeals to me due to its color scheme or type, I'll purchase the locomotive it since I can run whatever I want on my railroad. I'm no purist, in fact hidden in storage are two complete trains made up of Kadee friegth cars, with roof walks.

So my point is even in my era of roughly 1970 to the late 1980's, more model diesels will be running along with older locos that should of been retired. I am just having fun and I looked at a bargain Erie Mining locomotive at Walthers that didn't run very smoothly and was listed for $100. I bet it only needed some wheel cleaning and the gear trains cleaned and re-lubed to get it running smooth. On my fourth visit to Walthers the locomotive was sold. Why did I like a Erie Mining locomotive? The color scheme is why.
Going back in time, I hear you on your Hill Lines mashup, but even as a dedicated Milwaukee Road guy I get some prototype allowances for mixed colors. MILW leased some GP35's from B&O and a couple ALCo's from Penn Central for a time in the early to mid 1970's, MILW leased some CN SD40-2's for a while, also, as well as ex-Southern SD24's via Precision Rail and even some Duluth & Missabe SD9's for a short time.

Now after reading DakotaLove's Thread about the MILW, I can go and purchase some additional locomotives.

Just hope Cathy doesn't read this Thread or see the charge cards!

"I just love the smell of diesel fumes in the morning!"

Greg

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MN&S Weathered.jpg
A lightly weathered MN&S lomotive that was a short line purchased by the SOO Line.-Greg
 

the Continental / Trans-Continental Connector, Layout Theme​


I just like Model Trains,...of all sorts....the scale miniaturization.
I'm particularly fond of steam engines, and particularly the large ones. I'm a fan of C&O, B&O, NW, etc, etc.
And as a kid of course I had the ubiquitous Santa Fe diesel engine,...those famous worldwide recognizable colors.

I had recently returned from Asia and was living in the Wash-Balt area when a company in Balt called Life Like made the bold move to really upgrade plastic trains to nice scale models. They introduced their Proto 2000 line. They introduced a whole line of detailed diesel locos, then they introduced that superb 2-8-8-2 steam engine.....WOW. They set a standard in plastic scale model trains that the others quickly followed. Bachmann, Athearn, etc all jumped on the band wagon to introduce their premium lines as well. Plastic detailing became an art that eventually was a rival to brass locos.

I was collecting a little of everything. I would buy some stuff that eventually got superseded by even better stuff, so I would attend the Great Scale Train Show in Balt and sell off older stuff and try to upgrade to the better stuff coming out. I would visit John Glabb's Peach Creek brass shop in Laural, Md, and droll over the brass locos which I considered beyond my reach, but then look what was coming out in plastic a few months later.

By this time I had collected quite a few steam engines of various lines, and principle a number of diesels from Santa Fe.
So when it came to planning my new layout, how could I choose just one time frame, or location, .....if I wanted to collect and run all of those type trains? I wanted to run steam and diesel, and I wanted to run east coast and west coast lines.....on one layout??

I've decided my trains are going to run from the east coast to the west coast,...Balt to Calif. I'll call it the Continental Connector. Balt will be on the lower deck and Calif will be on the upper deck.

Since I am not a stickler on time frames I'll be able to run both modern and older style freight and passenger cars on my layout, and of course steam and diesels. I'm going to have lots of staging that will present any number of variations,...including a few European trains I've collected. Yes it won't be prototypical, but it will be fun. And I hope to get a considerable amount of industry in this space as well.
 



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