How to stick with one era?

[dinwitty]

Let me try to answer the question directly than just "Its YOUR RAILROAD" (I see someone modeling Mars Aliens invading a model railroad destruction scene...yea its "MY RAILROAD".... sticking to a period makes the scene look specific and gets the look for that period, but if you get inspired by differrent eras having a layout thats a little more generic helps, but you realize there are a lot of old towns around still with original old buildings, you would think you were still in the mid fifties or whatever and then here a modern Diesel with doublestacks flies thru town and your in culture shock. Its a matter of self disclipline, understanding your period you want to model, I owned some White Pass and Yukon DL535 narrow gauge diesels brass you know for awhile, then I sold them because they were out of my period...then I realize how rare these critters were..DOH!!! (kick rear) I have a lot of steam and 50's era diesels, but then I own some DD40's and some modern equipment, so maybe just for jollies I'll sneak them on the layout hardee har har....they'll never notice..hee hee hee

 

[wombat457]

Ditto to the above. Just as an example:

Gettysburg Station taken around 1888:

Gettysburg Station today:

Not a lot of difference, station wise, - one or two (almost unnoticeable) changes to the surrounding area other than the occasional freight train that passes

 

[A2TwrOpr]

Dinwitty, those are definitely good points. Right now I've got a Santa Fe Kodachrome gp40x on the layout and 80s rolling stock. It's still believable with the majority of my buildings although my depot is clearly not a Santa Fe style one. It's a nice change of pace though from the Milwaukee road black and orange and 40' foot boxcars.

 

[trailrider]

I model the period when I actually travelled by rail as a kid, the 1940's to about 1960, but mostly prior to 1956, when steam began to disappear. But aside from the rolling stock and motive power, the buildings and scenery can still pretty much be seen today. So, when my 8-year old grandchild and neighbor children, who can't really relate to that era, come over, I will stage modern BNSF equipment (except, with tight radius curves, I limit the motive power to a B-B road switcher, which is adequate to pull six or eight grain hoppers. But for history lessons, I'll run my Burlington Zephyrs and GN Empire Builder, etc., and try to explain how it was riding those classic forms of transportation in the days before jet airliners and the interstate highway system.

 

[wombat457]

trailrider,

That is a great idea ... who would ever have thought of our hobby as a historical teaching tool!

 

[A2TwrOpr]

Trailrider, it's pretty neat that you use your layout to teach kids about history of the railroad.

 

[azdiane]

While my choice for my Northland railroad is usually to set it in the generic "mid fifties." I find that by changing the train itself, and the vehicles in the parking lots and the dress styles of the little people, and maybe a few signs, that I can change the era back and forth from early 20th century right up to today.
Diane

 

[kjchronister]

It's really about backward compatibility. If you have clearly modem buildings, etc then you may feel odd running stream. If you model a very urban area where old buildings and signs dont stay put, same thing. But you can easily have a 1950-looking layout and run modern diesels as many here have said. I had one friend that achieved huge perception shifts just with signs. The buildings all stayed the same, but he swapped out the Western auto sign for a check cashing joint, had a heavily weathered purina sign that replaced the sparkling new one at the feed distributor, etc. In 10 minutes his layout went from 50s to 90s in totally believable way. Iirc he changed around a few vehicles too. But really it was very little change with huge impact.

 

[Iron Horseman]

That is a great idea ... who would ever have thought of our hobby as a historical teaching tool!

I have used my model railroad through out my life as an aid for my school work. When my children were younger I taught many classes at the home school COOP that were model railroad based. Not just history, but English, science, math, and art.

It is amazing how many adults don't know that all this time zone stuff comes from the railroads, and that "Standard Time" was really "Railroad Standard Time" until um 1964?. Also one would have to ask the CB&Q why the Central time zone is called Central.

 

[montanan]

When I was visiting another modeler in the mid west, they were having a 2 day open house at the model railroad club he was a member of. The first day of the open house was set in the present day era, and the second was set in the transition era. For the most part, the change over was fairly easy. Vehicles and signage was changed, and they were right on the ball with some of their industries. They had custom built some industries with the exact same footprint that were interchangable as some were way too modern for the 50's. Some repeat visitors were amazed at the change. That club had their poop in a croup.

 

[Iron Horseman]

When I was visiting another modeler in the mid west, they were having a 2 day open house at the model railroad club he was a member of. The first day of the open house was set in the present day era, and the second was set in the transition era. For the most part, the change over was fairly easy. Vehicles and signage was changed, and they were right on the ball with some of their industries. They had custom built some industries with the exact same footprint that were interchangable as some were way too modern for the 50's.

That sounds like something I would like to see. A person here at the club just did a clinic on how he used rare earth magnets to hold structures in place even on portable modules. He takes his buildings off for a different reason but the concept could be applied for era change.

 

[montanan]

It was amazing at how fast the change was done. They had a written list of what had to be changed and where the building were that had to be changed. With twenty some people, it took less than an hour. The buildings that they changed for the different eras were all scratchbuilt to exactly fit into the space, or in some cases, onto a permanent foundation. I have visited many clubs layouts across the country and this is by far one of the better ones. No politics or power struggles within the club. Just a good bunch of modelers getting the job done.

 

[azdiane]

I love the idea of interchangeable structures held in place with neodymium magnets! Why didn't I think of that?

 

[Charles Smiley]

If you have a "period" railroad such as mine, circa 1956, it helps to have a plaque in the frontal viewing area that says something to inform the viewers.

My front fascia has a black sign with large white letters that says "Southern Pacific 1956". To many casual viewers the locomotives and other items are very unfamiliar - not at all like the stuff they see waiting at RR crossings when driving. The equipment on my layout might seem almost as different to younger folks as it would be looking at European trains. So a sign answers a typically unvoiced question for many visitors.

If you treat your layout as a private museum, and try to make it credible to others, it can only help validate the hobby.

 

[montanan]

Something like this could give someone a hint as to the time period.

 

[kjchronister]

Yep. Cars are usually pretty indicative. One 57 Chevy could be a collector car. A lot full of 50s rides is pretty obvious.

 

[marriedshades]

For a modern railroad just put a cell tower or too and everone will know its from the 1990 to now

 

[Iron Horseman]

Something like this could give someone a hint as to the time period.

That is a 1958 inside the showroom window isn't it? Double headlights instead of the single. And is that a Desoto against the fence (dark green 2 up from the red pickup)?

 

[Iron Horseman]

For a modern railroad just put a cell tower or too and everone will know its from the 1990 to now

Well, I think not. I'm guessing more than 75% of the population can't tell a radio/TV broadcast tower from a, shortwave, from a microwave, from a cell phone, from an LTE, or even wi-fi. They just see a tower and attribute it to a "cell phone" because that is what they think they are talking on. I can't recall seeing a real cell phone tower in years, however out here in nowhere central Kansas there have to be some around.

For what it is worth, cell phone towers started going up big time in 1984, unless you lived in St. Louis where it would have been 1981. I was there working for the phone company when the first trials were done. I was all excited that I would have a phone in my car..... How far we have come.

 

[montanan]

Yes, it is a DeSoto by the fence, a 48 model and it is a '58 Chevy in the show room. They usually brought out the next model year at the end of the summer back in the 50's and it was a real big deal back then as each year the body changed, not like now when everything looks the same. Put it there on purpose. Good eye