What I Model & Why, How About You?

[arealgijoe]

Many of us still remember our first train. 3 rail O gage tinplate steamer here. I got into HO in my teens. One day I was in Woolworth and they had this beautiful Athern B&O F unit for $5, (remember rubber band drive?) One day I came across a Mantua red & gray Burlington GP20(?) I just HAD to have it and worked to save up and buy it.

Today I am still partial to the B&O & Burlington in the same paint schemes & have them in N scale now. I liked their paint schemes then, and still do. I find myself drawn to a road often by its colorful & attractive pain job.

History; My uncle worked in the steam loco shops of Chattanooga, my grandmother worked for the L&N. I worked for a short time on the NYC as a switchman. That said I have to have steam and locos in the NYC and L&N livery.

What do I model? What ever catches my eye or fancy.
Whatever pleases the 3 most import personas, ME, MYSELF & I. I Have models from the 1800s to current times.

What do YOU model & WHY?

JD

 

[NScaler]

I haven't restarted the modeling process yet. But back in the day (20 years ago), if I saw something I wanted to build I built it. I scratch built a trestle bridge in N scale. I researched at the local library because 20 years ago the internet wasn't what it is today. I found out the sizes of lumber used to build these old bridges and I cut my own lumber from a 1x6 piece of basswood I found in the scrap pile at the wood factory where I worked. It took me a couple weeks just to cut all the lumber and get the pieces cut to size.

I built dioramas to set my trains on display. And I modeled trees using the twisted wire method. I put little N scale scratch built tree houses and tire swings in them. I also learned to hand spike my own track and never used anything but that method. But I never built a layout. Just dioramas. I was more into the realism of the scene than I was anything else. If there was something you could see that made the piece look like a model I tried to fix it.

I hope I can still do the things I did back in the day. I have to buy some more tools yet to get the job done, but I am slowly rebuilding my modeling tool collection. I have my ME track gage, NMRA track gage, some parallel gauges, etc. So pretty soon I plan to order some rail and get back into the dioramas and hand laying track. Only this time the dioramas may end up on my layout.

 

[A2TwrOpr]

I model the Milwaukee road in the late 60s, early 70s. It's a company that was all over Illinois and I am familiar with. The Milwaukee's maroon, orange and black was really neat and even the simplified schemes that followed. The 70s were an interesting time for plenty of railroads with mergers and buy outs and lots of roads still had tons of track, albeit rather crappy in some places. Modeling the Milwaukee during that time gives me a lot of options as far as track conditions go, as well as a variety of rolling stock. Another big part of the process that I enjoy is finding pictures and reading history since I wasn't even born until after the Milwaukee road was bought by Soo line. To me, railroads back then had more character and variety than current ones do. Although there is some pretty nice present day stuff too.

 

[DairyStateDad]

My layout under construction is freelanced, but it's set in Northern Wisconsin, because I wanted to feature logging and mining, which both fit the region.

I didn't grow up in Wisconsin, but I have lived around here all my adult life except for 4 years, another reason for the choice of setting.

It's set in the 1930s, and I expect to have a lot of C&NW as well as Milwaukee Road influence, because those RRs had a major presence in the region and because I like their looks; 1930s because I like steam.

And shortline because I have limited space, but also like smaller equipment.

Update/addition:

Didn't say earlier, but I model HO because that's what I've always modeled. I've toyed with switching to N because I could do "more" in less space, but I just don't like how small they are, even though a friend of mine does amazing work in N scale.

Also, in discussing my reasons for modeling Wisconsin, I didn't really convey the fact that, while I didn't grow up here, I love this state. I truly do consider myself a DairyStateDad...



From the DairyStatePhone

 

[Bruette]

Holy mackerel Andy! That is a great question, but would require a very long answer for me! I'll try and sum it up.

I model Christmas trains because trains and Christmas are forever linked to me since my Mom gave me a TYCO Spirit of 76 set for Christmas in 1974. My daughter gave me a Lionel Polar Express set that began my Lionel obsession. Now I have 5 Christmas train sets and 2 trains of Lionel Christmas cars including a K-Line Looney Tunes Christmas car.

I model the PRR because my grandfather worked for them.

I model the NYC because my Nanny came to Baltimore from White Plains NY. My Nanny was a Mother/Grandmother to me, her and her husband Jack were a gift from God to me. That's a long story in itself, but to keep it short I'll leave it at that.

I model the B&O, Western Maryland, Chessie, & Conrail because I was a coal sampler at the Baltimore coal piers.

I model CSX because I see those trains so much in Baltimore where I live and I want to get some Norfolk Southern for the same reason. I like all of the fallen flags that make up CSX and NS especially Penn Central.

My trains story is a bit backwards from yours. I started with HO, but moved on to Lionel O when I entered the hobby full time. Now I am dabbling into HO as well, but Lionel O gauge is my passion. I even have 1 N scale Christmas train.

My layouts are a work in progress. I have a permanent 6.5'X12.5' O gauge layout that is still in its infancy because I can't make up my mind what I want to do. I have a HO test track on my O gauge layout and I have plans to build a permanent 4'X8' HO layout.

Like yourself I don't set limits on my trains because of era or in my case any kind of realism, I just enjoy my trains.

I was in a dark place suffering from depression when something led me to trains. Best way I can describe it is God works in mysterious ways. However you describe it trains have been my salvation and a great source of enjoyment for me and I thank God for my trains.

Thank you for sharing some of your train story and for the opportunity to share some of mine. I hope this thread gets many replies because everyone has a story and I am interested to read them.

My name is Louis and I am a train Junkie.

 

[catt]

I model a modern day free lanced shortline railroad based in Grand Rapids,MI.My Grande Valley Railway has been in existanced since 1979 (real time) I also model CN,CP,CSX and NS as they are interchange partners.I also co-own a modern day narrowgauge railroad based in southeast Michigan that is totally freelanced.

I am also a multi-gauger ,I model in Z,N,HO,& On30.

 

[D&J RailRoad]

I have had in interest in trains since before my first Lionel set in 1956. I have gravitated to the south western railroads because the landscape enables the foamer to see the trains from much further away. Railroads in the east are shrouded by the foliage.
I like to model the running of long trains with sweeping curves and double track mainlines which provide for more action.
This video is of the D&J Railroad in my basement. I started building this in January 2012. The benchwork is still open as I'm still installing the signal system.

[video=youtube;fJAlwRW9sc4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJAlwRW9sc4[/video]

 

[Gary B]

I think I model the memorable. Being more a scenery guy than a railroader, I make pictures in 3D with trains running through them. I say my location is Wisconsin, but that's only because Illinois is so boringly flat. I love city scenes but I'm not modeling my hometown. Way too big to even get more than a flavor. I find things I've seen traveling creeping into my layout and that's OK by me. I model the second half of the 20th century, give or take a decade or two. No scrict discpline to era, geograhy or prototye. Operations sound like work. I do and I re-do. Never complete and often upgrade. Seldom actually run a train but spend hours building the layout. Why? It's the time I enjoy most. The funny thing is I thing it's actually become a fairly descent layout in spite of myself.

 

[brooksie]

Trains were a big part of my growing up. They were everywhere. I lived in the South Chicago/NW Indiana area (still do) and vacationed in Western Pennsylvania, where my folks settled first. Pennsylvania Railroad brought them all to Chicago area when they came here to work, so I do transition era stuff. I love making the old N scale steam engines run, and love the Spectrum and Kato stuff in steam. There should be much more of it available than there is. I love the mechanical aspect of the hobby and the dream like quality of a well done railroad. I have to really focus once I get the plan made, track laid and run trains. I tend to get stalled once the trains run and only finished two of the 5 layouts I have made.
PS: D&J, your video is inspiration! Thanks!!!

 

[logandsawman]

I am in HO scale because that is what I had as a child. I see the railroad as a pass time that takes concentration and creativity. There were always tracks near everywhere I lived, that became the common thread in my life. No matter where I moved to, there was always a railroad nearby.

Now I cannot do all the outdoor things I used too, but enjoy tinkering with the railroad. This 25 second video will take you on a mini tour of the railroad in our living room:

[video=youtube_share;aAR-qFHURr8]http://youtu.be/aAR-qFHURr8[/video]


and remember, Have Fun !!!!!! lasm

 

[Iron Horseman]

What do YOU model & WHY?

I really wish I could answer that question. I can't even answer the "what" part. The "why" might be easier.
1. My first loco (the one that was my very own and not a hand me down) was an AHM 4-4-0 Reno for Virginia & Truckee. So of course I "modeled" that.
2. In 1969 I got an N-scale set with a Santa Fe E8 loco. My uncle and grandparents both had farms directly on the AT&SF main line in eastern Colorado. So of course I modeled that.
3. I was still interested in steam so going back in time to the earliest diesels I discovered the CB&Q, so I added that to my list of modeling. Where do AT&SF & CB&Q meet....
4. Enter the "fan trip on the V&O" magazine article in 1970 in Model Railroad Craftsman. The freelance Pine Ridge railroad was born where the D&RGW meets the AT&SF & CB&Q.
4. In 1975 I discovered that some railroads had passenger trains that were NOT silver. Fell in love with the GN Big Sky Blue paint scheme, so decided to model that In HO.
5. In 1983 I realized that the GN had really unique Steam locomotives, had NO Alco PAs, and only 2 Challenger Class locos....so I abandon them to move down to the NP.
6. Stayed with the NP in HO, but back in N-scale decided I wanted to do the Teapachi loop, so I added SP to the AT&SF list.
7. 1985 joined a club with a freelance RR so I added that to my list.
8. In the 1990s I discovered short lines. Added the Belfast and Moosehead Lake to my list.
9. Was helping another person design their railroad and discovered the Petticoat Junction type railroad Louisville & Wadley. I have collected all the SE roads rolling stock to do that just need that 4-6-0 to do that with. But it meets the Central of Georgia so add that.
10. Diagram of a yard (I think in the Armstrong Track Planning book) for the M&STL looked so interesting then I also discovered M&STLs many diesel paint schemes (thanks to Atlas RS1s) so I added that.

Other influences - went to school on the Rock Island main in their waning days. Also my first inherited loco was a Rock Island winged streamliner F3.
Missouri Pacific and Frisco also had a presence in Wichita where I mostly grew up.

I also model - Passenger Trains, fantasy reefers, sets of prototype locos e.g. all Alco PAs, caboose,....

So now I say I am modeling the Pueblo & Arkansas River Valley. A real prototype, lanced up into the 1950s. It will cover D&RGW, Santa Fe, C&S (CB&Q), MP, RI, and the Colorado & Wyoming (Steel Mill railroad). I can model the Royal Gorge, sugar beats, steel, grain, in the mountains, plains, rivers.... And I know this is the N-scale thread but the N-scale has fallen through the cracks and HO taken over. I razed my O-scale and N-scale layouts in 2003? I think.

 

[NScaler]

If you model the Royal Gorge, that is going to be one tall layout. I remember looking down off the suspension bridge at the little tiny train track running down through the gorge. I thought to myself that a guy could jump off and just about read a short story before he hit the bottom. That state has to be one of the most beautiful place on the planet. I couldn't think of a better area to model. I am planning my next vacation there, and I plan to go see the Colorado Model Railroad Museum while we are in Denver.

I have been buying up as many Gloor Craft kits as I can. I have found my passion for them again. They are amazing kits, and I love building them. What I don't use on my layout will become dioramas. I think I have a dozen or so different kits now. It is amazing after 20+ years of them going out of business I am still able to find their kits.

 

[Iron Horseman]

If you model the Royal Gorge, that is going to be one tall layout.

Yes, and it will be the tallest scale plaster "mountain" in the world. The one in the Greeley Freight Station Museum is only like 925 scale feet tall. That is why I originally purchased this for my "train room" -->

Unfortunately we have fallen in love with the beautiful wooden floors in the gym, and it is just cool to own a gym. So I'm now planning on building a separate building just to the west (right side of picture) of this for the trains.

 

[Gary B]

Wow! That would be some train room. I used to sit in church and visiualize that space for my layout. (Me bad) It was half-again as tall as you gym.

 

[IronBeltKen]

What do YOU model & WHY?

What: My HO scale layout is based very loosely on the B&O [now CSX] Cleveland, Lorain & Wheeling subdivision on the outskirts of Cleveland, OH, as it would have appeared during 1970-72. It is 'E' shaped, around-the-walls with a selectively-compressed steel mill occupying the center peninsula, a yard and loco terminal on the north [top] peninsula, and a single-track main line with passing sidings and several smaller lineside industry spurs, and staging tracks running along the back wall [invisible from a trackside-level view].

Why:
First of all, as a pyromaniac, I love the iron & steel refining process with all its fiery hot metal scenes and intriguing architecture. And steel mills have a huge amount of on-site rail activity, with their own "captive service" hot metal cars and slag pots, plus traffic for a broad range of freight car types: Boxcars, tank cars, cushioned coil flatcars, covered hoppers, coal hoppers, and of course gondolas - lots of gondolas! I got my first exposure to steelmaking at age 9 during a school field trip to Ford's River Rouge complex in Dearborn, MI, and from then on I was hooked.

I model the B&O because it was the first railroad where I was able to chase trains [once I was old enough to drive], plus I've always loved the Enchantment blue + yellow paint scheme of their locos. And they had a large number of F units and 1st-generation Geeps, my all-time favorite loco types. That's why I also wanted an engine terminal, to remind me of when I used to hang out at B&O's Riverside Shops in Baltimore.

With my main yard, I can have operating sessions that direct incoming trains to the steel mill and the lineside industries, and outgoing traffic to staging. There are enough different types of operating scenarioes so that I can keep 4-8 guest operators occupied for a two-hour period, with no two op sessions ever being the same.

IH Man, if I had a building like yours, I wouldn't have to compress my steel mill at all - I could model it at exact 1:87 scale! Then again, I probably wouldn't have the money to pay for all the trackwork and large structures, or the time to build them. So I'd just have a series of small town scenes interconnected by loooong main lines...

 

[shorttimer]

The new what: Actually I haven't even started it yet, but very soon. I have been collecting n scale for 40+ years and have only layed it out a few times, over the years, on a table or piece of plywood. When I first began collecting I wasn't too careful about what I got, so I ended up with a plethora of roads for engines, and the quality was not so good. Things are MUCH better now and it looks like great modeling times are ahead.

Why: Now I am a lot more specific & am sticking with Southern Pacific & UP. For a brief time in 65-66 I was a switchman for SP before being drafted & that still holds a special place in my memories. I also remember the latter part of the switch from steam to diesel. I plan to finally start a layout, but do not plan a specific place. I live near the ocean, but for a RR I like mountains, trestles, tunnels, with maybe a water feature, with a keen eye on weathering & making things as realistic as my talents will allow. I recently befriended a well published & well known local N scaler to get me on the right track to get things moving along quickly. I don't plan on any specific time period. I hope I don't get too carried away so I can manage & properly take care of, as in keeping clean & tidy, a workable, trouble free and good running layout. I hope to be started on something before the months end. Glad I found this site. There's a wealth if info here.

 

[wombat457]

My layouts are totally fictitious, so I don't model any particular period or railway. t really depends on the room I have to work with.

Why do I model? In short I love the creative side of modelling, mainly the scenery.

 

[Bruette]

Hey Shorttimer,

Welcome to the forum, glad to have you onboard!

 

[shorttimer]

@ wombat:
I'm on your side of the fence about the creative side of modeling. I think, to the average person, they would be much more impressed with how well a scene is made to look (realism) instead of if the time period is a little off.

As a side note, the track I have chosen is Peco code 55 with electrofrog switches. I did a lot of reading & spent a LOT of time trying to come to that decision. My local train shop does not carry all the different brands so I could not actually hold them in my hand. I wanted to go with something that would be a good compromise between realistic, reliability, availability and cost. I found there are lots of peeps that really like the Peco track with electrofrog switches & I can get it delivered to my door for a pretty good deal, I guess, considering inflation. A little trick I learned, on my own, is to contact evilbay sellers which boast good prices, and do an off evilbay purchase. Some are willing because they know they have to give up almost 20%. I've seen a 10+% savings. They're basically splitting the difference. The only thing the turnouts need right out of the box, is a tiny amount of filing just back from the point. Right where it looks like the track was machined to flex for the points. I hope that explained it well without adding a picture. Just a little rough edge that takes only a few strokes.

Tomorrow I'll be going to see a local home layout to see trains being running on DCC for the first time. Actually it will be the first time ever to see a home layout in person! I'm sure I'll be like a kid in a candy store. I've spent 10s of hours doing research on the best system. 100s of hours looking at youtube & forums for info about modeling trains. So many different opinions out there. I might just go regular DC until one clearly outdoes the other. I'm not going to say money is no object, however, if one is clearly better, I won't mind if it is more costly.