How did you choose 'your railroad'?

[shortliner]

Well, that exact same photo inspired me and three friends to build a G scale exhibition layout, with a floating car float (real water) and quayside - 'Los Karr Quays'.  We won two gongs at halifax show a few years ago.  Happy days, Prof!

 

I had the pleasure of seeing Los Karr Quays ( and meeting Mike Scott ) at Glasgow when it visited - great layout!

[New Haven Neil]

To flesh out my earlier comments, I also was seduced by the running qualities of US stock.  As a young teen in the 70's I visited the home layout of a club member, Jack Southern (not hard to work out what he models....) which planted seeds that flowered a few years later.  I became a crew member later on operating nights at Jack's on his new multi level (Now NS, he keeps up to date) layout - that was it, I was hooked.

 

Although the New Haven is my main interest, the lack of NH models in the late 80's meant I also incorporated the NYC, picking a location name where the roads crossed to place my model, although it is a totally imaginary track plan and in appearance.

 

The layout has been fairly dormant for a couple of years as I had some rather gruesome surgery and subsequent recovery, and it's in the garage - often cold and the layout is high - so not too comfortable for me, but now things are improving I hope to make some good progress this year.  Retirement in June will help of course!

 

The odd kettle chuffs around too, warping my McGinnis era timescale a little!

 

 

 

I had the pleasure of seeing Los Karr Quays ( and meeting Mike Scott ) at Glasgow when it visited - great layout!

 

 

I was there too!  Mike is a great miss, he was such a character.

[The Bigbee Line]

alas, no more Victors, and no more Motor Books... two stops I used to make on every trip to London.

Both of these shops were an experience. Motor Books was just round the corner from Hamblings. Feeling old now

[shortliner]

The RAF sent me to Cyprus - my mate around the corner, found a shop in Nicosia that sold Eggerbahn sets at very silly prices ( the equivalent of about £4.00 for a loco.oval of track, 4 wagons and a controller!) - so I started in that . Arnold wasn't too expensive either, so I built a couple of the PECO white metal kits and also some Minitrains - came back to UK and the price of OO9 was SILLY expensive! - sold it and bought an SP N gauge loco and stock - lost interest and went into painting Wargaming figures as a hobby and for fun & profit. The lure of US railroading proved too much ( although I'm still interested in Fantasy figure painting) and came back into US HO - Got involved with track planning and MTI and it all went on from there - main interest now is small-space US short-line layouts, and not particularly drawn to any particular road - though I seem to have a lot of SF locos. I've visited the US twice and spent two 90 minute stopovers in JFK routing to/from Belize - my sole connection though I never escaped from the airport!

[shortliner]

In the 80s I picked up an old athearn F7 AB in Santa Fe war bonnet. Even with the open frame motor and brass wheels it was an excellent runner. That was me started on the slippery slope.

A trip to Victors for a (then new out) Bachmann 44 tonner in Southern black and silver, then round to Motor Books for a copy of the Southern Railway Handbook clinched the deal.

Now trying to home in on a Georgia short line, the Georgia Northern, ultimately gobbled up by the Southern. At the same time finishing off many unfinished projects. Got the Sprog working and started fitting decoders. Just need to find the magnifying light to assemble a load of Sergent couplers.

 

Ernie - You need to join Train Orders.com and do a search in the modelling section, for posts by Georgia Road. An example is here 

 http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?3,3339662,3341708#msg-3341708  

He has some great freelanced modelling schemes and an excellent backstory, with Stephens Railcar car/loco rebuilders, road/rail freight services, etc to justify his freelance modelling

[CVSNE]

A cab ride in a trio of Central Vermont GP9s (one black, two blue) along the Thames River (that's pronounced "THames" - not "Tems", btw!) between State Pier in East New London and the Coast Guard Academy cemented my interest in modeling the CV.

Years later when I was stationed in Newport, RI. I stumbled across Ed Beaudette's book on the steam era CV, filled with Phil Hasting's photography. I changed eras back to the 1950s at that point.

Been there ever since.

[Dr Gerbil-Fritters]

I knew they had relocated by a passageway or two, and that the new store is frankly disappointing, but have they closed in the past few months?

,

Yes all gone now.  There was a thread on it in Smaller Suppliers.

[Barry Ten]

An article on Model Railroader on a Southern layout was what did it for me - I liked the colour schemes, the green/white on the passenger diesels, black/white on freight units. Plus, I didn't want to model one of the "big" railroads like UP or Pennsylvania (although I would happily do so now, with the benefit of experience). The thing that swung it was that when I visited my local hobby shop, which had some American stuff, they had a Southern SD7 unit at a bargain price, so that was that.

 

As to why I was attracted to American stuff in the first place, when I lived in Holland I couldn't get hold of British magazines all that easily whereas my local newsagent did carry Model Railroader, so I started reading it. I found it confusing at first - what's a "team track", what's a "pilot", etc, but after a while the pieces sort of click and it starts to make sense.

[New Haven Neil]

Ah, CVSNE's post jogged a memory - when I was a young merchant navy officer we were in port in Canada (Squamish), and there was a yard right next to the quayside - British Colombia RR I presume, looking back - a cab ride for an hour drilling the yard was a great incentive!  I showed the Engineer our ship's engineroom in return, as he was somewhat in disbelief of how large slow speed  (120 rpm) diesel engines are.     It wasn't a big one by our standards but when he realised 760 mm diameter pistons are several tons each he was captivated - the fact it was an opposed piston engine blew him away.  (Googling 'Doxford J Type' should get you somewhere near).

 

I don't recall what the units (3 - for the switcher!) were unfortunately, but somehow Alco sticks in the mind.  RS's ?  The Royal Hudson was a daily visitor too, but I couldn't blag a ride on that!

[Adrian Wintle]

An article on Model Railroader on a Southern layout was what did it for me - I liked the colour schemes, the green/white on the passenger diesels, black/white on freight units. Plus, I didn't want to model one of the "big" railroads like UP or Pennsylvania (although I would happily do so now, with the benefit of experience).

 

Of course, modelling the PRR in N is just about as frustrating as modelling the SR - while there are lots of PRR locos and cars available, very few of them are actually 'right'. One of these days I will get around to adding Trainphone antennas to all the locos that need them.

 

Adrian

[Jon Gwinnett]

I've said it before, but Tony Koester's Coal Branch series of articles was one of my original reasons for getting into US railroading. Starting in July 98, they showed me a whole new world. A first visit to the US followed the next year, with the acquisition of a loco and stock in a wee shop in Manhattan. I've modelled US stuff on and off ever since, but have jumped around in location.

[Supaned]

Whilst I don't have a railroad as such. My interest started following a trip to the US , and initially I was taken with Amtrak and passenger operations (and still am) - nowadays there are a lot of small commuter operations all over the place , some are easier to model than others , but they do offer relatively short trains in a modern setting.

 

Then as I looked further into it , helped by the likes of Trains and Model Railroader , I found the Regional and shortline roads a lot more interesting than the big class 1s , mainly because of the complete mix of motive power and paint schemes - I particularly like that they often use a lot of older motive power.

[Guest Belgian]

A cab ride in the UP Challenger through the Humbolt and Palisades canyons was the highlight of my railway life - i just have to reproduce it somehow. I now have a beautiful N gauge Challenger.

 

JE

[garethashenden]

It's interesting to see all the people here with an interst in Guilford. I was brought up to dislike Guilford Fail System for it's treatment of the Boston & Maine.

 

My own modelling tastes were influenced by the B&M being local, my grandfather's memories of it and his extensive collection of railroad books. So Boston & Maine c. 1950 in N scale it is.

I'm in the UK currently at university and quite active at the local club which puts me in a similar position as OP when it comes to choosing a railway to take an interest in.

[jamie92208]

As a youngster I read ' A work of Ginats' by Grisford about the building of the CP/UP.  That sparked an interest in the UP.  I wrote to UP#s publicity department for info for a school project .  they sent a great pack of material back and I've been hooked on the UP ever since though with interest in N American railroads in general as well.   A cab ride over Sherman in 1978 confirmed the interest which is still there.  i bought an Athern GP 38 in Spokane on honeymoon and many years later a 844 and 9000 in O scale brass.  I'll never have enough space to do Green River or Hermosa in O but can still dream.  I've been back to Wyoming several times since and even cycled over Sherman so i can only say that I'm hooked.

 

Jamie

[New Haven Neil]

I was given this brass Alco C636 as a thank you for helping a widow dispose of a huge collection - the late husband had three of these and she thought I would like one!  It's wrong side of the country, but how could I say no.

 

[298]

I was given this brass Alco C636 as a thank you for helping a widow dispose of a huge collection - the late husband had three of these and she thought I would like one!  It's wrong side of the country, but how could I say no.

 

 

Who said Washington State is on the wrong side of the country....?

[highpeak]

It's interesting to see all the people here with an interst in Guilford. I was brought up to dislike Guilford Fail System for it's treatment of the Boston & Maine.

 

My own modelling tastes were influenced by the B&M being local, my grandfather's memories of it and his extensive collection of railroad books. So Boston & Maine c. 1950 in N scale it is.

I'm in the UK currently at university and quite active at the local club which puts me in a similar position as OP when it comes to choosing a railway to take an interest in.

I believe your attitude to Guilford/Pan Am is going to depend to some degree on whether or not you had an interest in or exposure to the predecessor railroads. I think it's fair to say those who do are less likely to be interested in the Mellon era than those who don't.

Removing the rose-tinted glasses, the economic decline that affected large parts of the B&M/MEC operating area would have resulted in changes anyway. MEC was abandoning branch lines before Timothy Mellon showed up, the B&M was getting out of its passenger business and dropping all manner of economically doubtful lines. You can speculate all you like, but the roads would have changed and probably not in ways that many railfans would have liked. The decline might not have been as drastic as it ended up being, because under Fink Sr. Guilford made some decisions that I think they have come to regret, at any rate, Fink Jr is trying to be much more open to the kind of business they previously didn't really seem to want.

Today's Pan Am does do some interesting things what with the Pan Am Southern venture with NS, the run-through oil trains, repainting a couple of old GP9s, buying the F units from Conway Scenic and so on, and you've also now got the return of some passenger operation with the Downeaster to Brunswick. It's perhaps not everybody's cup of tea, but it's got things going for it if you like the contemporary scene.

[F-UnitMad]

It is interesting how interest in a particular Railroad can affect you... the Soo Line didn't really get on with GE locos and had few Alcos, & eventually became an all-EMD fleet. I've found I had a similar lack of enthusiasm for those makes, & it's taken those wonderful Batten Kill Railroad videos on YouTube, linked to a thread here, to persuade me an Atlas RS3 would be a Good Idea for my freelance Short Line. The price of the model helped as well, of course

 

Oh and I've never been to the USA....

[roundhouse]

Who said Washington State is on the wrong side of the country....?

Definitely the right side for me aswell these days!!

[New Haven Neil]

Who said Washington State is on the wrong side of the country....?

 

 

My pal in Oregon wouldn't be impressed, for sure.  His dad was a GN Engineer.....

[Supaned]

Who said Washington State is on the wrong side of the country....?

There's no wrong side of the country , just wrong side of the Atlantic as far as I'm concerned....

[Allegheny1600]

To flesh out my earlier comments, I also was seduced by the running qualities of US stock. 

ABSOLUTELY!!! For years before I got into US outline, I still couldn't bear to run RTR UK outline - I was into Austrian outline H0 with Roco et al and most everything ran pretty well. To find US outline ran equally well for about a quarter the price was a complete revelation!

 

The odd kettle chuffs around too, warping my McGinnis era timescale a little!

When I got 'into' the New Haven, I initially went for McGinnis but found the earlier liveries and stock even more interesting, then Broadway did the I5 and I so wanted to go steam but it was still out of my league sadly. The electrics were also highly tempting too!

I still keep a couple of NH locos for memories sake as I had a lot of fun learning about it.

Cheers,

John E.

[Ozexpatriate]

So my question really is... How did you go about chosing the railroad(s) and locations you currently model?

Since I live in the US, my interests in modelling US railroads were inspired in some measure by what was around me.

 

In the pre-internet world I had a hiatus from model railways for over a decade when I moved to the US. Eventually, living close to the C&NW mainline west out of Chicago brought me back around the time of the UP merger. I accumulated a small amount of C&NW stock, but it was the big articulated steam locomotives that really captured my interest in US stock and I collected a modest display case of big steam locomotives.

 

That and moving to the "left coast" led me to the Southern Pacific where big articulated steam locomotives are satisfied by the cab-forwards and the Daylight schemes satisfy my interest in passenger stock.

 

The bigger question for me is what led me to choose the GWR as my primary interest which I solely attribute to the two things:

1. the ubiquity of the GWR in British outline modelling in the late 1970s and early 1980s and

2. the strength of the Hornby brand in Australia in the same period.

 

It certainly wasn't in any way driven by locality, familiarity with the subject or family history.

[south_tyne]

Again thanks to everyone who has contributed so far, it is very interesting. I suppose what grabs me is the images of diesel switchers, in rural yard, shuffling boxcars, something I would like to capture when a layout does one day materialise.

 

I think I need to do further research on this aspect in order to nail down what/where/when I want to model. Hopefully this isn't too simplistic a question but... can anyone recommend a good book(s) to learn more about the railways of New England - photo albums and more in depth history equally - which would be readily available over here in the UK? A focus on the Boston and Maine would be good as, I must admit, this seems to stand out as a favourite road at the moment.

 

Thanks,

David