Who Cares Anyway....!
- Thread starter Greg@mnrr
- Start date
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It's frequent practice to have a diesel behind a steam engine in a heritage/excursion consist, ostensibly to provide braking effort and maybe electrical power to the coaches, but as a precaution as well. These 4 (yes 4) diesels behind UP's #844 over Donner Pass in 2012, I think might have been doing more than that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2c9P_vAezs
I counted three. Probably enough power to deal with the train and a dead steam locomotive if it became necessary. No northern will get that many cars up that mountain alone so I'm sure they were doing more than providing coach power.
I went era-less for many years. Now I am trying to keep it in the 20s and 30s. For a change. Except - I have some 44 tonners to haul old passenger cars as a modern day tourist line.
And that sig irritates me.
So do I. For what I do. For what others do? Not so much! Once at a club operating session a member put out a double stack train. Way out of era. I drew it. I pulled it with steam just to push the point. Haven't seen out of era trains since.
I use the autos to date when a movie on TV was made, or what time period it is set in, by checking the latest model seen.
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It's frequent practice to have a diesel behind a steam engine in a heritage/excursion consist, ostensibly to provide braking effort and maybe electrical power to the coaches, but as a precaution as well. These 4 (yes 4) diesels behind UP's #844 over Donner Pass in 2012, I think might have been doing more than that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2c9P_vAezs
flyboy2610
Loveably weird
Isn't that cute? The 844 had to pull those diesels over Donner Pass! 
I counted three. Probably enough power to deal with the train and a dead steam locomotive if it became necessary. No northern will get that many cars up that mountain alone so I'm sure they were doing more than providing coach power.
Yes, you're right Alan, 3 it is, the overhead view at Emigrant Gap reveals that. There is at least 1 power car, perhaps 2, plus the tool car that always accompanies a steam engine, so unlikely the diesels are fulfilling that role. The train is certainly moving a lot faster up that first grade in particular, no matter what spin flyboy would like to put on it 
.
.Epimetheus
Member
I went era-less for many years. Now I am trying to keep it in the 20s and 30s. For a change. Except - I have some 44 tonners to haul old passenger cars as a modern day tourist line.
And that sig irritates me.
Warning, do not touch Beady's signature, may contain substances known to the State of California to cause itching and possible rashes of the skin. Do not let it come into contact with open wounds as it may actually get under your skin.
Additional warning, only view through dark safety glasses (Welding grade is advised) to prevent blindness, although that may be also attributed to unrelated activities.
N
NP2626
Guest
The reality is: I do care! Not enough to present a reason to explain to all of you, why I care, other than to say I think we all should care! If I were to explain why I care, I am sure this would cause ill will and consternation amongst those of you who don't care! What a world we live in, when someone who cares can cause a world war, because they care!
Beady
Well-Known Member
Last edited by a moderator:
So do I. For what I do. For what others do? Not so much! Once at a club operating session a member put out a double stack train. Way out of era. I drew it. I pulled it with steam just to push the point. Haven't seen out of era trains since.
I am modeling the 50's era and my scenes will be for that era, but I have a few modern stuff, I won't be afraid to run it every so often but off they go. If you have seen Tony Koester's NKP layout he has it down to the Nth degree, it works. I said it before many towns look very much the same as they did in the 40's-50s, running modern thru them doesn't throw the picture out, but maybe the autos get changed..
I use the autos to date when a movie on TV was made, or what time period it is set in, by checking the latest model seen.
Gary B
The Fox Valley Railroad
Actually, I have a lot of respect for those of you who can keep their modeling in one era. I have considered doing so myself. I just decided it wasn't for me. I have thought, if I had the space, to have different scenes modeled in different times. Then my trains can travel through both space and time.
N
NP2626
Guest
Actually, when the current era has no appeal to you, settling on a specific era is pretty simple, in my opinion. For most of us, I would think a period of time during our own life times, would be the attracting feature. It's the steadfastness to a specific date that adds the difficulty. In the April 2017 issue of Model Railroader, Tony Koester discusses this very topic in reference to the two layouts he has built. He says that Allen McClelland's Virginian & Ohio railroad influenced him, greatly. He liked how Allen attempted to emulate a real coal hauling railroad. The two became good friends and interchanged cars, to add to the realism of both of there model railroads. Although, sometimes it appears to me that Mr. Koester is so involved in thinking about his way of model railroading that he lacks the ability to see that others are not quite so strident and like a little more fantasy than he does. I still enjoy what he has to say!
What we need to be sure of is that we don't become so myopic as to loose track of the fact that this hobby means many different things to many different people!
What we need to be sure of is that we don't become so myopic as to loose track of the fact that this hobby means many different things to many different people!
Iron Horseman
Well-Known Member
Yes, He is modeling a railroad. Technically a model is a representation of something. I've always contended that it is harder to model freelance than it is to model a prototype. With a prototype there is real data to extract information for the model from. With freelance it is too easy to skip or ignore certain details because there is not a definitive reference only generalities. I did learn a lot and have a lot of fun researching believable things for freelance. Unfortunately I used up most of my really good and thought out ideas for the club's road rather than my own.
Or even "means" nothing at all to some, just something they do.
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