Poll: Favorite Time Era for Modelling

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What time era is your Favorite for Modelling?

  • Total voters
    44
  • Poll closed .
Mid 50's ish era, tho I own some modern equipment just for jollies they wont get permanent home on the layout, I used to own 2 Precision Scale HOn3 White Pass and Yukon DL535 diesels, and I sold them because they were out of my time era, then I realize how RARE these beasts are, I am still shooting myself in the foot for selling them.
 


By Iron Horseman;

What pre-merger units were there? I know about the August 1968 GP40. I also know there was one of the GN great domes painted in the wide hockey stick scheme, but I don't know when that was. I also thought that there were some C&S SD45s that were delivered in Chinese red but were stenciled BN under the road number instead of C&S.
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The Q tried Cascade Green on several motors (locomotives to the Q) and boxcars a couple of years before the 1970 Burlington Northern merger. I'm not an expert on the details but I know that the presence of green foretold the end of Chinese Red and the remaining "blackbirds". A sad time indeed!

http://www.burlingtonroute.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=12&pid=119#top_display_media

http://www.burlingtonroute.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=1&pid=178#top_display_media

http://www.burlingtonroute.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=1&pid=179#top_display_media

http://www.burlingtonroute.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=1&pid=180#top_display_media
 
I generally am modelling from the just-post-WWII to 1956, but and absolute cutoff of 1960. The one exception is that I have a short modern era BNSF 6-car covered hopper local pulled by a B38-5 (and I have a photo in a book that shows the same type loco in BNSF livery!). I pull this out when I have kids (and younger adults) who just can't relate to "my" era, and see nothing locally but 105 car BNSF coal trains running down Santa Fe Drive in Littleton, CO. With my tight curves (20" max.) I can't run the huge modern units, but without spending a lot of money on the modern stuff, I can relate the rolling stock to today's prototypes. For the most part, however, I'm "in" the era when, as a kid, I rode the Pioneer Zephyr, and the "Q", NP and GN named passenger trains were the ultimate in rail passenger service. Also in the 1956-60 period, I rode the C&NW 400 and the Hiawatha.
 
I picked 50's but my preference would be the 70's. I can get away with much more un prototypical stuff in that time frame.
Cheers
Willis
 
I love the late 60 to early 70s. There was a lot of variety in the railroad industry and mergers going on so it's a fun time to model. Although I'm also a fan of railroading in the 90s. I was a kid during that time and grew up with the EJ&E going behind my house. You could still Santa Fe and BN or rio grande/sp or UP trains before the mergers. And there was still a good variety of motive power and rolling stock.
If I had the space, and money, I'd have a large layout and switch between running Milwaukee road trains in the 60s and the J in the 90s. That be ideal since one era I missed but enjoy and the other I was around for and remember those days fondly.
 
Around 1978 - a time of a great mix of railroads - some dying and some being merged and recreated (new names).

DougC
 
In the evening and on weekends...... oh, sorry misunderstood the question:D. I model the second half of the twentieth century, give or take twenty years.
 


Iron Horseman said:
Not so far fetched as that. I know of one fellow who models an exact 24 hour period of time on a specific day. I don't remember what year, month, let alone the day. But there are such people out there.
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I've got a friend who's kind of like that too actually. He built this huge layout in his basement and scratch his buildings and everything for a very specific time. That's way too involved for me, to pick a time frame that's so narrow.
 
Iron Horseman said:
Not so far fetched as that. I know of one fellow who models an exact 24 hour period of time on a specific day. I don't remember what year, month, let alone the day. But there are such people out there.
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You might be thinking of the late John Pryke of Massachusetts, who modeled the New Haven as it was on September 3, 1953 [not 100% sure about the year]. At least that is what I read in Sam Posey's book Playing With Trains - A Passion Beyond Scale.
 
CSX_road_slug said:
You might be thinking of the late John Pryke of Massachusetts, who modeled the New Haven as it was on September 3, 1953 [not 100% sure about the year]. At least that is what I read in Sam Posey's book Playing With Trains - A Passion Beyond Scale.
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I was thinking of someone here in the Denver area, we were chatting down in the basement of Union Station when he came to see the club layout. Well, I say that, nothing says he couldn't have been from Massachusetts. We used to get lots of people from out of state coming down to see the trains.
 


I don't plan on modeling a specific era, as I like everything from Cover wagons to modern SD-70Macs. With some steam thrown in for good measure. LOL.

Tim
 
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