Freelancing.....

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Milwaukee Road 113

Milwaukee Road 113

Milwaukee Road addict...
As you all know, even though a Milwaukee Road obsessed fella, I'm working on a freelance system, the same as one of my best friends back in the old country....think that I've got the colours down, only the name that's missing....

I have made a list of ideas so far;

Pacific & North Western
Midwestern Family Lines
Pacific & Great Western
Pacific Coast Line
Milwaukee Midland System/Railroad/Railway (I just had to have a Milwaukee in there!)

Things will be added as I exercise them there gray cells....
 
Because of your Milwaukee fetish, it had better be a subsidiary or leased trackage (e.g. MRL from BNSF) regional or branchline, so you can run your favourite colors over it.
 
Some would say, like you just did young man, that I've got a Milwaukee Road fetish and quite frankly, I've got to agree! lol
Don't you worry, my company will have some close 'dealings' with aforementioned superb railroad! ;)
 


I once developed a concept for 'The Rock Island Road,' or the Chicago, Rock Island, St. Paul & Pacific. It was based on a merged Rock Island and Milwaukee Road.
 
My Northland railroad is pure fiction, as freelance as it gets.

I posted a "history" of this fictional railroad that you can read here: Scroll to post #1. http://www.modelrailroadforums.com/...tory-of-our-railroads/page2&highlight=azdiane

Clearly each of us will have our own preferences in regard to how prototypical or how fictionalized our operations are. Many model railroaders enjoy trying to replicate actual events on an actual railroad, present or past. My own preference is to lean the other way, and not constrain my train fun to replicating specific reality but rather to develop a generic little world in which trains are a central part of the imagined time and place. When we were kids we called it "make believe." I do my best to make it LOOK realistic, but I don't endeavor to necessarily operate realistically. To each of us our own, there are many different RIGHT ways to enjoy model railroading.

Hugs,
Diane
 
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True indeed!
Will be as freelance as possible, maybe borrow a wee bit here and there... ;)
Half the fun is figuring out the engine roster, paint scheme, name and numbers....plus when and where.....oh and the size as well!
One thing that I do know, is that my company will have a lot of cooperation with Milwaukee Road!
Borrow some ideas from them, like the word 'patrol', that they use for some of their trains...and maybe something from my other favourite railroads...
 
Alan is freelancing his own Montana Central (not after the actual one that does now exist) which is set in the Milwaukee's northern line in Montana.
 
A bit of situation here, don't know if I should add some H24-66's to the roster, for the ore traffic, coal as well maybe....

What were they like to operate and maintain?
 


The full scale MILW did not have any H24-66s; they had H16-66s, so 800 less horsepower and about four feet shorter. However, since you are freelancing, there is no reason not to have them if you want them! The MILW also had about 30 of the H16-44s.

If you're going to be modeling coal and ore, and you want the big FMs, go for it! Perhaps you can even say your freelanced road bought them from the Pennsylvania, who had 10 of them, or got them from the N&W, whose Train Masters came from the Virginian and Wabash via mergers.
 
May I introduce....

Milwaukee & Western, it has a few subsidiaries;

Michigan Interstate (Iron ore railroad)
North Shore & Hudson River
Pittsburgh, Cleveland & West Virginia
Minneapolis & North Western
Montana & Wyoming
 
Milwaukee Road 113 said:
May I introduce....

Milwaukee & Western, it has a few subsidiaries;

Michigan Interstate (Iron ore railroad)
North Shore & Hudson River
Pittsburgh, Cleveland & West Virginia
Minneapolis & North Western
Montana & Wyoming
Click to expand...
Really? It is hard enough to give 1 freelance the research time, thought, creative effort, and attention needed to pull it off well, let alone 6.
 
True, the Milwaukee & Western and Michigan Interstate are those that I'll concentrate on, the others, they'll more or less be reporting marks below the numbers on the cabs...
Still though, it'll be a fun challenge....
 
There's no reason for this railroad not to be Proto-lanced, where prototype engines appear on the trackage of the freelanced Milwaukee & Western. Which would be similar to my railroad's set-up. The main road, ie the main prototype, runs on the freelanced portion of the subsidiary. There would be of course restrictions on where the prototype does run, so the subsidiary takes care of that so both roads could be on the rails and running at the same time. Like none of my SRR heavy engines can run past the coal mine on the branch, but the smaller engines 2-8-0's 4-6-0's etc, can and do with the Alabama Central's smaller engines.
 
Heavily influenced by Milwaukee Road, there's no way that I can deny that, Michigan Interstate....there I look at DM&IRR and other ore operations, this is a railroad created by company that found iron ore in Michigan in 1876....got their diesel roster somewhat worked out...

North Shore & Hudson River, here I have in mind, a high-speed...whatyacallit...think Nickel Plate Road...
Pittsburgh, Cleveland & West Virginia, this is simply to get to the coal mines in West Virginia...
Minneapolis & North Western, a system largely in Minnesota and the Dakotas...
Montana & Wyoming, working on this one, maybe a lot of logging etc., etc.,

Should work back in time, the biggest steamers will the USRA 2-8-8-2's....
 
MilwaukeeRoad113:

I live in southeastern Wisconsin and knew the Milwaukee Road very well. My railroad is called the Milwaukee Northern set in Wisconsin. While heavy on the Milwaukee Road, you may see C&NW, SOO, Wisconsin Central.

The Milwaukee Northern only has some trackage rights and owns two patched, well used locos, a Rock Island and a SOO. You may also see some patched freight cars on the locals.

I didn't want to model a specific prototype so here comes the Milwaukee Northern.

Thanks.

Greg

SOO and cows.jpg
 
Any name will do. All you have to do is make it a division of the Milwaukee Road. It can be a small road that was absorbed by the Milwaukee. As such, I can still have its own name on rolling stock and motive power, with perhaps a few MW logos applied, there being not enough time or money to completely paint them over. (In point of fact, I still see a green, black and white BN engine consisted with BNSF diesels in the Denver yards every once in awhile.) Indeed, my 1950's era Grashhook, Galesburg & Western division of the Burlington Route, recently acquired an odd-ball 2-10-2 (a kitbashed Mantua Decapod) that has been leased to the F.W. & D, also a subsidiary of the "Q". The locomotive has a Roundhouse oil tender which still bears large, though somewhat damaged lettering for the G.G.& W., but with a Burlington Route logo. The engine is numbered for a ficticious range, so as not to conflict with a real "Q" or FW&D or even C&S series. Thus, I can freelance to my heart's content, as much or as little as I like. (I also have Great Northern and Northern Pacific passenger trains that occasionally run. That's okay as both railroads jointly owned the "Q" prior to the "mergers".)
 


My Southern Wisconsin, Rockford and Chicago is set in the late 70's-early 80's. They run a a fictional line that runs from Prarie Du Chien to Monroe via Lancaster and Darlington. Due to Milwaukee Road's financial issues, they were able to lease the trackage from Janesville to Plateville from them. The Milwaukee line was in much better shape than the old SW,R&C line.. so the road now runs on that line from Platteville. The SW,R&C line and the Milwaukee section to Mineral Point are mothballed. The line to Shullsbury is being removed as it was abandoned to the state. Reaching the interchange at Janesville for the GM plant was a critical goal for the road. The road never physically reached Rockford or Chicago, ending at Janesville. But the Road does have trackage rights over the Milwaukee to Rockford. Much of the roads income is derived from contract switching for the Milwaukee in Rockford and the BN at Prarie du Chien. Interchange traffic from the IC at Monroe, the BN at Prarie du Chien and Milwaukee at Janesville provide most of the road's traffic The road generates only a few hundred carloads of traffic a year, mostly agricultural products.
 
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