The county where I grew up

Bill,

First of all, this question has been raised before on the forum, so a search will be very productive.  But, this is an enjoyable question to ponder, re-ponder, and respond to.  (Kind of a validation of where we're at!), so...

I have always modeled SP in some form or other, because that is what has run through Ventura County, where I live.  In fact, in studying the history of the region, and of California, SP is square in the middle of everything that happened, good and not so good.  When I was little, I remember cab-forwards on the coast line, and daylights, both with Northerns for steam power, and then E's and PA's, with black-widow painted freight diesels.  When SP went to the bloody nose paint job, I was disappointed.  I've never allowed a bloody nose painted unit on any of my layouts.

In the four years that I have been back, actively modeling in HO scale (after a sojourn in N-scale, then 1½" scale live steam), I did an analysis of what I really liked, wanted, and what would fit in my space (a spare bedroom).  I now model a proto-freelanced regional railroad, the Rincon Pacific Railroad, that serves the oil and agriculture industries of Ventura County, in 1960.

This gives me access to what I remember growing up, limits me to 4-axle 30 ft. wheelbase diesels and (mostly) 40 ft. freight cars, because I have a mainline radius of 22-24 inches.  I can still use the old Athearn and Silver Streak cars that I accumulated.  And I can model what piqued my interest in structures.  There are still packing houses around, and I can still find remnants of oil refineries and service businesses throughout the County.  This time around, the research into the industries and the history of the region, to make the proto-freelance decision a viable one, has been a big, and fun, part of the project.

1960 as a time has been an evolving point.  I started with 1958, because that was the last year of SP steam.  But, I love the sound of turbocharged engines, and one of my favorite locos was the GP20, the poineer in turbos.   Then I heard a Tsunami-equipped model of a 567D-turbo.  Oh! My!  I'm hooked on sound.

So, it's my railroad, and my version of reality, so, since SP had to share Ventura County with my railroad, economics caused them to retain steam for two more years.  Therefore, 1960 it is.   And I can run whatever I want, justifiably!!!

Popular topic but fun to revisit from time to time

I model a fictional railroad made from three real railroad locations that have special meanings and memories for me. The LK&O is a fictional, collective name for a railroad made up of pieces from real railroads Akron, Canton and Youngstown (Brittain Yard area), Grand Trunk Western (Saginaw St. crossing area), and Western Maryland (Thomas Sub). Odd combination I know but it works for me.

There is detail about this arrangement on the About tab of the LK&O blog.  http://www.lkorailroad.com/about/

I'm unusual

Almost an outcast.

I do my best to model (real) track.

Credit Valley

I model the Credit Valley Railway. This is an area just north of where I grew up. I hiked the area when a teenager.

I model circa 1900 as I love the pioneer days. Westerns are my favourite read and favourite movie genre.

Being from the north-east, near Toronto, 1900 seemed like a good time, just before automobiles and electricity reached the valley. 

Credit Valley

My post duplicated, not sure why.

Narrow gauge

I'm working on several projects, and haven't settled for certain on my era.  It will either be the 1920's, or much more modern featuring a railroad museum.  As for why:  My first train rides were on the Edaville Railroad, and I fell in love with the tiny trains.  Until I moved, I tried to visit them regularly after they moved back to Maine.  I plan to feature them, at least in part, on my layout as it gets started.

Since I also like the old boxcabs and the logging locos, it all seems to fit nicely.  As I grew up, "Train" meant steam--even though the transition was all over.

Also a Narrow Gauge Guy

When I discovered as a teenager that the real world Sandy River RR (a Maine 2-footer) had a branch to Eustis, Me., I got hooked.  In my 20s and 30s, I took several trips to Carver, Mass with my dad to ride the Edaville RR, which had a bunch of salvaged 2 foot gauge equipment.  That really whetted my appetite.  But due to a lack of available models and equipment until fairly recently,  I modeled the Western Maryland in HO for many years (I used to go skiing in West Virginia, and decided I liked the coal mining theme and the easy access to various prototype sites near Elkin, the western terminus of the WM.)  I finally followed my heart into narrow gauge about 3 years ago.  My Acadian Coast Eastern is a freelanced, mid-1930s Maine-themed On30 layout that fills a 14x12 spare bedroom, and though you can't get a lot of railroad in O scale in a space that small, I'm happier following my chosen theme with this layout than with any of my previous efforts.  You can visit the layout at http://www.sandysacerr.com if you're interested.

Sandy Eustis

I model the East Tennessee &

I model the East Tennessee & Western North Carolina RR, doing a fictional branch line that goes into the valley my parents grew up in, taking place when they'd be about 6-7 years old. Well, at least I will be modeling it once my track plan is finalized and construction starts. I have all my rolling stock complete now.

Why? The short answer is simple; my parents grew up in the area the ET&WNC ran. While neither recall seeing the 3-footer trains running (Mom and Dad were both 14 when that portion of the line folded), they both recall the standard gauge trains running into the 1960s.

Our family often went to Elizabethton, TN. Usually once a year, we'd go up there and every now and then, I might see some remnants of the old railroad. We'd pass the site of the covered deck bridge near Hampton or if we were lucky, we'd go to Tweetsie RR near Boone. In the early 80s, all the men from the family went to see the remnants of the grade through the Doe River Gorge. I don't think any of us at the time realized that they'd only stopped running trains through there a few years before as part of the ill-fated, "Hillbilly World," at Hampton, TN, the billboard for which was visible from the highway for many years. The local library up there had a copy of "Tweetsie Country," which I got as soon as I could afford a copy on my own.

This is me, circa 1982, at the Tweetsie Diner near Newland, NC. This used to be ET&WNC coach # 23. Sadly, it burned down later.

And here I am, 23 years later with ET&WNC # 12, a locomotive I've probably seen about 4-5 times in my life. It's also the only locomotive left from the 3-footer portion of the railroad (though standard gauge engines # 207 and 208 later became Southern RR # 630 and 722 and both still exist today, the first cab ride I ever got was on #630 in 1981).

On my first trip to the restored Doe River gorge trackage near Hampton in 2000, I overlaid this shot of a train coming around the same curve, taken from exactly the same spot (the edge of the hillside is from the original photo, proving I was exactly at the same location for my photo).

Texas & Pacific (T&P) and Missouri, Kansas & Texas (KATY)

I grew up in Fort Worth Texas and so have decided to try and model that area. I'm going for a time frame before my time, only because I like Steam engines. I'm trying to model the T&P west of tower 55 and the KATY north of Tower 55. I'm not sure why I picked these 2 lines. It may have been because of my early layout design had some out lying towns where I have family and these two lines serviced them. But as usual, the plan has changed some but these two lines have remained. So I'm off to building Fort Worth as it was back in the 30's/40's.

Don,

  I too am in Ventura County. Only I'm building in N scale vice HO.

After 28+ years in the steel

After 28+ years in the steel industry that is what I model.I model a free lanced Geneva Steel in the 1970s along with  parts of the Union Pacific and D&RGW that serviced it with a bit of the Utah Railway thrown in for fun.. I am in the process of building the first blast furnace now with a total of 2 planned.I have already built a Pipe Mill from a Pacific Foundry and lettered an Baldwin s12 and a GE 44 ton(Bachman) for the mill.I have also acquired gondolas, flat cars, coil cars, coal cars and ore cars in preparation for the day when I have real estate to lay Track. I got started back in the late 80's when I bought 3 Overland Models brass Treadwell Cinder cars just like the ones I used to fill as a slag side second helper oh so (thankfully) long ago.

Happy TRAils/NSD

Paul

Very common theme in all these posts...

Everyone who has posted here made a decision based on a personal experience - usually from when they were younger.  My choices have also been framed by where I grew up and the roads servicing the places me and my parents visited in the Lehigh Valley.  The descriptions strike me as driven by the emotional sides of our brains, very closely tied and heavily influenced by what we remember.

Cool stuff...

Odd Man Out

I model a freelanced layout of the N&W in West Virginia. I didn't grow up with the N&W. I have only been through the Appalachian mountains once, and currently live in snow covered Minnesota. So why the N&W? I love Appalachian scenery, and for some unknown reason swoon at the sight of a long string of 2 Bay hopper cars winding around the mainline. Given that, the N&W seemed like a logical choice. Engines and cars for that line are also readily available commercially. Guess that makes me the odd man out in the group. But even without any childhood memories to draw from, I'm loving every minute of it! Is this a great hobby we have or what!

Because it's the best... but I am biased!

I am modeling CSX's Shenandoah Sub in the mid 90's.  Choosing this was relatively easy although I never thought about it till a year or so ago.  I grew up dreaming of the empire in the basement (of which there are almost none of in Texas) centered on Chessie trains of the late 70's and early 80's from Point of Rocks to Cumberland.  The realization finally set in when a few years ago that I had to stop dreaming and start being realistic if I wanted to get out of my armchair.  Since I grew up in Northern VA, and worked at KFC in high school in WInchester, VA not to mentioned frequented the John Handly library which was not far from the RR station, and in the mid 90's at that.  Upon looking at my space and the probability of operating sessions, I found it to be realistic and interesting.  Since deciding this, I have meet several people from that area that have helped me get more info to model it realistically and can always stop by when I visit my family that still lives up there.

It is funny you say that,

It is funny you say that, because watching Chessie coal trains when I was a kid was incredibly enjoyable... even though they were visually no where near as interesting as mixed freight, they were to me.

... my 2¢ (= .085¢ after taxes) ...

I enjoy modeling structures in 1/87 solely as a creative outlet, distraction and break from my other life as a research entomologist. I guess I have an affinity for things that need to be seen under a microscope or optivisor. I don't have any model trains, don't want any model trains.

After a long absence from the hobby (I modeled in high school and college), I recently returned about a year or two ago. Anecdotally, during all those years, I would always see unique old structures during my travels throughout the southwest, and would think, ... "That'd make a great scratchbuild."

As always,

Delbert

Why do I model as I do?

Easy: I can point to several 'milestone' moments during my childhood in MI and my late teens/early adulthood, A guided tour of Ford Motor Company's Steel Mill at age 9; seeing processions of blue-and-yellow C&O geeps thundering past Parmenter's Cider Mill in Northville, MI; all the railfanning trips I took on the pre-Chessie B&O cemented my interest in modeling that line.

I attempt to model what I have always known and loved!

This thread has got me thinking...

With all the seventies stuff that I have been working on, I have 2 SD40-2's in Norfolk Southern black that I've painted.  Wick Moorman made a decision that is counter-intuitive, based on the current logic of big corporations.  A lot of railfans have read the story behind the heritage units, so no need for me to retell the story.  I think about all the man-hours spent researching and painting those units.  Most accountants would call it a big waste of corporate resources.  Hats off to Wick, who had the gumption to carry through with the artist's vision of those units.  I'm sure it's paid dividends in employee excitement and loyalty - especially for the folks that had been around during the takeover of some of those fallen flags.  I have a lot of respect for that company.  And I have to admit, every time I ride New Jersey Transit into Manhattan, I look for any NS movements around Secaucus station.  It puts a smile on my face at 7:30 in the morning if I happen to see one.  

I model my childhood

I grew up in southwestern Montana with relatives working on both the Northern Pacific and Milwaukee Road. (family get togethers could get interesting) Starting in the mid 50's, I was able to ride with my relatives in the cabs of both railroads. Loved the Milwaukee electrics. Covered the entire electric division from Harlowtown, MT to Avery, ID. Didn't cover as much on the NP. Laurel, MT to Missoula. MT was about it, but I did get to ride as a passenger on the great streamliners, the Hiawatha and the North Coast Limited. Having fond memories I chose to model 1957. The last days of steam.

The problem I had was not enough room to model even a small subdivision of either railroad, so I ended up freelancing my Logan Valley RR which is a point to point, connecting to the NP at one end and the Milwaukee at the other. This justifies equipment from both roads to show up on my layout. Between the two yards, I tried to tie industries together to generate not only through traffic, but also local traffic. Some towns have cattle loading facilities and there is a meat packing plant to take the cattle in and ship meat out. Grain elevators in towns ship grain to a flour mill. More local traffic; A small logging spur sends logs to a lumber mill, and ships lumber to local industries, as well as to points beyond. A railroad needs a reason to exist.

The Ma&Pa

The Ma&Pa has a set of features that taken together are pretty unique.  It was still running passenger trains in the early 50's that use open platform trussrod cars.  It used small steam 4-4-0, 0-6-0, 2-8-0, 4-6-0 into the 50's as well as 2 gas electrics.  Small diesel switchers, SW1, NW2, and SW9, were acquired in the the late 40's early 50's.  It's home rolling stock was archbar, trussrod, and outlawed in interchange.  It interchanged with the B&O, PRR, and WM.  All of this means I can have cars and locomotives from the early 1900's through the early 50's.  While it didn't have express or through freights, it had scheduled passenger and freight trains into the 50's.  It was also noted for very sharp curves - not quite as sharp as model railroads use, but close.  It was hilly enough to use helpers.  Bridges are pretty much a mixture of everything.

As George Hilton wrote in his book The Ma&Pa "...visitors...might easily have concluded that the whole thing came from the mind of some Velasquez or Rembrandt among model railroaders, who, having exhausted his art in HO and O gauges, came finally to the hills north of Baltimore to create his masterpiece at a scale of 12 inches to the foot."

And very serendipitously there are 3 steam locomotive kits in S scale for the Ma&Pa.  I also managed to acquire painted undecorated diesels SW1, NW2, SW9.

Enjoy

Paul

Germany in the 1970s

I have modeled American roads for years but always kind of knew that in the end I would build a railroad based on my German home country. These days it's so easy to get all the necessary equipment here in the US that there was no longer a reason to push it off so I decided to take down my N scale US based railroad and start on my German layout. This happened in December last year and I'm glad I did it.

I'm modeling the 1970s because that's when I was in my twenties and lived pretty close to a German main line. At that time you could still see some steam as well as new and old diesel and electric locomotives. To me this is the most colorful time in German railroading.