RSeiler

Over the last two years, my own modeling activity has consisted primarily of research. One of the most rewarding parts of that research has been meeting and speaking with people that actually worked on my lines during my era.  This is where it helps to model the 1970s, as those guys are still around! This weekend I met a guy that used to work for one of the railroads that I am modeling, in the area I am modeling and during the era that I am modeling!  He has given me so much information, even an actual switch list from one of the major industries I plan to model.  It has just been a blast hearing stories about working the industries, and seeing the sketches he made up of the track work to help him with switching.  Finding out what cars went to which track, and why. I guess you have to be a proto-ops-geek to really understand, but I'm so excited I just had to share. It takes a completely ridiculous amount of time, and you have to work your way through lots of dead ends, but when you finally get to a source like this, well, it all seems worth it. The research and meeting people that were there has really been my hobby the last two years, and I'm having a blast. I have an appointment with a research librarian next week near one of my major industries who claims to have a file cabinet filled with information on it, and I can't wait. 

Randy

Randy

Cincinnati West -  B&O/PC  Summer 1975

http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/node/17997

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Virginian and Lake Erie

I hope you share that info

I have been freelancing a location up the river from you so I would love to hear about your research. Even when freelancing one can still research the prototypes in the area and the industries in the area.

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Joe Atkinson IAISfan

Congrats

Congratulations Randy.  I know that excitement and the cloud you're now riding.  Very happy for you.

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RSeiler

Thanks

Thanks, Joe, it is fun.  Sure, Rob, I'm happy to share whatever you'd be interested in. 

One of the coolest things to me is the switchlist. I can't post it right now because it came embedded in an email, I'll have to get it into a .jpg by itself, scan it or something. As an ops guy, seeing an actual switch list that was used to work one of my industries is kind of the Holy Grail. It really tells you EXACTLY what the railroad was doing at that industry.  Very cool. If you can find switch lists for your railroad, I highly recommend it. 

In this particular case, the switch list is for a large ABS plastic manufacturing plant. The first thing listed is to spot all the inbound empties at the Wash Rack. I had deduced from aerial photos that there was a spot where cars were cleaned.  I was calling it the clean-out track. Actually seeing that spot called the Wash Rack, and having a switch list that calls for cars to be spotted there is a whole lot better than guessing. Knowing that when I give an operator a switch list that looks just like this original, and that the prototype would have been given a very similar list by the industry personnel, and that the work on that switch list will be very similar, moving cars on a very similar track arrangement, well, that's what it is all about for me. It is just really cool, it makes everything authentic, and just feels so much better to me.  I don't know, like I said, I'm an ops geek I guess. 

Randy

Randy

Cincinnati West -  B&O/PC  Summer 1975

http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/node/17997

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Dave O

Quote:

I guess you have to be a proto-ops-geek to really understand

Not really.  I would not consider myself a "proto-ops-geek" at all; yet the "engineer" in me drives me to better understand the how's and the why's of things.  I understand your enthusiasm completely; and should you care to share your findings here on the forums, I'd be more than happy to learn from you.  Cheers, and congratulations.  

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musgrovejb

That's Great

I don't think you could ask for better research sources than guys who actually worked on the line you are modeling.  

"Makes the layout really come to life"!

Modeling Missouri Pacific Railroad's Central Division, Fort Smith, Arkansas

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLENIMVXBDQCrKbhMvsed6kBC8p40GwtxQ

 

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Joe Atkinson IAISfan

Separated at birth?

Quote:

Knowing that when I give an operator a switch list that looks just like this original, and that the prototype would have been given a very similar list by the industry personnel, and that the work on that switch list will be very similar, moving cars on a very similar track arrangement, well, that's what it is all about for me. It is just really cool, it makes everything authentic, and just feels so much better to me.

Randy, I'm thinking that you and I may have been twins separated at birth. What you've described is one of my favorite parts of the hobby.  However, in my case, I took the easy way out and modeled a friendly local railroad, and an era that was the present day when I got started, so information like you describe practically fell in my lap.

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RSeiler

Separated at birth? Maybe...

Could be, are you also a strikingly handsome fellow?    

Randy

Randy

Cincinnati West -  B&O/PC  Summer 1975

http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/node/17997

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Bruce.Rogers

BN Freight on my HO scale Rocky Mountain Division

 

 

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Joe Atkinson IAISfan

Picture day

Quote:

Could be, are you also a strikingly handsome fellow?    

Mom did the best she could given what she had to work with on picture day. Scan2.jpg 

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alcoted

Research: daunting and rewarding

That feeling you get when doing prototype research; when you've struck a gold mine of information that answers many outstanding questions, is one of the biggest thrills and most satisfying parts of our hobby.

It has been posted more than once in some of the past prototype modelling vs. freelancing crapfest threads here about how prototype modellers have it easy because all the information is all there for us, and we just have to copy it. Totally missing is how most of the information we need is NOT on the internet, and is often very difficult to find. Especially so if modelling a distant era where most (or all) of the former railroad employees from those times have long since passed away.

Research is hard ...full stop! Regardless of your modelling efforts.

Back when our gang started out to model CP Rail's Sudbury Division, there was no internet and no books or magazine articles on the subject. Heck, there was little being published in the hobby press about Canadian subjects in general. Finding out all the information we required was a daunting task to say the least. Our only solution was to go up there and research.

Starting in 1990 we began organizing semi-annual trips, usually over long-weekends in the summer. Between photographing right-of-ways, doing architectural archeology and watching how the real thing operated, we began to know some of the locals and eventually bumped into the right people.

I can't describe the feeling you get, when you find the motherload of information that solves so many years worth of mysteries. All I can say is I know exactly how you feel Randy, and I'm very happy you've experienced it too.

 

 

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Michael Tondee

Not to start an argument....

but I sometimes think I end up doing more "research" as a freelancer than some prototype modelers do.  Even though I can pretty much do as I please I still like for my stuff to have a certain amount of plausibility.  In order to do this I have to research stuff and I don't  have any one example I'm trying to emulate.  Everybody has their own idea of fun but I got to say that based on my experiences, I would not want to put myself through what some of you proto guys go through to find obscure information. It's funny though seeing this thread because I swear a week or two ago I was contemplating a "Why I love to freelance thread"

Michael

Michael, A.R.S. W4HIJ

Model Rail, electronics experimenter and "mad scientist" for over 50 years.

Member of "The Amigos" and staunch disciple of the "Wizard of Monterey"

I call what I do "An artistic impression of reality" and you can see my layout journal here...

The Blackwater Island Logging&Mining Co.

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Tore Hjellset

Wow!

That's really something! I would love to get my hands on a real switch list for my Grimstad Line layout, but I think I have to keep dreaming

- Tore Hjellset, Norway -

Red Mountain Ry. (Facebook)

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Jurgen Kleylein

Research is what makes a prototype layout come together

We have been building the Sudbury Division for over 15 years now, and our picture of how the prototype worked changed remarkably over that time. I remember when we started designing the layout I was under the impression that the Little Current sub had little going on in our time, but after a couple trips up north we found there were two daily trains on the line and some really interesting and active industries up there. We had to redesign the whole branch to be able to replicate all its operations. The cherry on top will be the 600 foot long lake freighter which we will modeled at the Turner dock, since that port was very much still alive in the 70s, as we quickly discovered. Likewise, we set out to reproduce Sudbury yard as close to prototype as possible, and that meant doing some revisions along the way. Some local railfans we knew who had been up to Sudbury in the 70s took some excellent photos of the area around the station and units which were assigned there and passing through, which were worth their weight in gold to us, and they happily supplied prints to help us along. That resulted in adding two more crossovers and reworking the station tracks. We are now about to introduce the Canadian to our operations and all those crossovers and revisions are making perfect sense in light of the maneuvers the switchers and road units need to do to split and join the Toronto and Montreal sections. It's a satisfaction like no other when it all comes together. Research is never a burden when it pays off like that.

Jurgen

HO Deutsche Bundesbahn circa 1970

Visit the HO Sudbury Division at http://sudburydivision.ca/

The preceding message may not conform to NMRA recommended practices.

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santa fe 1958

Switch List

Tore, I use a copy of a real switch list;-

DCSL.jpg 

I agree, it does make operating feel more authentic!

Whilst I am building a proto-freelance layout, I still research to ensure it has the right feel to it, such that structures are correct for the era / area / company etc, and train formations reflect where possible what would have operated on a branch line. And I find research enjoyable even if it can be frustrating at times.

I just need more accurate waybills.......

Brian

Brian

Deadwood City Railroad, modeling a Santa Fe branch line in the 1960's!

http://deadwoodcityrailroad.blogspot.co

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Ray Dunakin

Very cool! Although I've

Very cool! Although I've never gotten into operations, I can see how coming across a source of information like that would be exciting and add to the realism. 

I'm heavily into scratch-building, and whether it's from a prototype or freelanced, I always do a lot of research to get it right. That's part of the fun.

 

Visit http://www.raydunakin.com to see pics of the rugged and rocky In-ko-pah Railroad!

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