New to the forum as well as anything close to prototyping. I'm looking for suggestions for a railway to prototype, based on the following criteria: N-Scale 1930's-1940-ish Era (keeping Steam and Diesel options open) Some mountain scenery Some military based industry (WWII) Layout at around 2'X4' to 3'x5' for now (trying to keep the wife happy) Expandable (once I'm sure the wife will be happy) I have been looking at Norfolk Southern a little, haven't found anything military related as of yet (just started investigating, to be honest). I'll continue doing my analysis and update if/when I find something intriguing. Thanks in advance and have a great day!
Did Norfolk Southern exist as such in 1930-1940 period? Wasn't that created by merger of Norfolk & Western, with Southern in 1970s or even later? Are you hoping for a self-contained layout with continuous running in that size... or a switching layout or Layout Design Element? I have built a 2x3 foot Naval Air Station layout with a continuous loop, but the loop is a circulation loop for on-base switching rather than a "main line" going anywhere. An interchange connection runs off the edge of the layout, supposedly to a Santa Fe trunkline. Here is a blimp's eye view: The layout is "based" on prototype elements, and prototype switching functions except for the loop itself) but not prototype track arrangement.
SD&AE! Don't mean to toot my own horn, but if there's a possibility that you like the Southern Pacific railroad, then you'll LOVE the San Diego & Arizona Eastern. It had military ops. at Camp Lockett in Campo, CA, went through CARRSIO GORGE, with 17 tunnels in 11 miles of sheer 900-foot cliffs, and--oh yeah--I modeled part of the SD&AE in Jacumba in only 2x4 feet! Here's the layout in its entirety: Here, SD&AE #104 rounds the bend, entering Jacumba, CA. And here is Jacumba itself. Below is an attatchment that shows Carriso Gorge, the ultimate in mountain scenery.
Kenneth, you are correct. I was thinking Norfolk & Western, just didn't type it. As for whether it's continuous loop or switching, not sure. I have mostly done the 'oval' stuff in the past so the idea of having some switching is a big plus. Tom, I saw your layout prior to joining and I think it looks great! I will add SE&AE to my research list. Your layout has just about everything I'm looking for, though it would probably take me a while to get to your level of expertise with scenery, etc. Thank you both! I have given myself about a month to make my decision. During that time I'll be putting together a small 'Christmas' layout since I haven't done anything with trains about 10 years. Think that will be a good starter layout and nicely dovetail into something that will take a bit more time, planning and effort. Have a great day!
There are a lot of options depending on what kind of military-based industry you are looking to do. All manner of on-ground vehicles (tanks, trucks, jeeps, etc.) were transported by rail from the factories to the ports. Steel and coal were also huge wartime commodities - factories and shipbuilding yards used thousands of carloads. Munitions would be shipped in boxcars, men in passenger equipment, gasoline in tank cars. All kinds of options for a war-related industry without going full-out military installation (which you certainly can do if you want).
Welcome to Trainboard! I have one that will fit most of your requirements: D&RGW, over Tennessee Pass. Before you call me crazy and have me sent to the looney bin, here's the scoop. Yes, I am a Rio Grande nut.... Near Pando, CO was a site called Camp Hale. It was a US Army training camp to train 10th Mtn Div soldiers in high altitude cold weather operations. It was overlooked by the Tennessee Pass mainline, at Deen Tunnel on the 3% grade. Huge steam locos, like the D&RGW 3600-class engines, were assigned as midtrain and tail end pushers out of Minturn, CO. You could expand to build more sections of Tennessee Pass, and include diesel era. Huge midtrain helper lashups of up to 9 units were common in the 70's and 80's. I'm not sure what kind of rail service Camp Hale received. Just another option for you.
That is a great layout! You had the strength to refrain from overloading the little available space and did successful model the wide open space.:thumbs_up:
Nope, there was a Norfolk Southern Railway - or as fans put it THE ORIGINAL NORFOLK SOUTHERN, existing from 1906 to 1974. Its' basic mainline ran from Norfolk VA to Charlotte NC with branches basically covering eastern North Carolina. Don't think it ran directly onto any military bases but came real close at Fayetteville NC (Ft. Bragg), a marine base near New Bern, NC, and Radio Island, Beaufort, NC. If you like tank cars, you'll love that last. Radio Island at one time had tremendous oil storage facilities. Mountains, not so much although once you left the coastal plain they did have some nice cuts through the piedmont area. Another point, until the acquisition of 6(?) very small 2-8-4's in he early 40's, N-S never owned a steamer with trailing trucks. Their early diesel roster was also interesting consisting solely of Baldwins except for 3 GE 44-tonners which were used on a very light railed branch line. A real N-S fan could give you much more info than the above, but nope - once upon a time there was an original Norfolk Southern.
1930's-1940's the only diesels will be a few E units and switch engines. You won't really get diesel freight units until the late 1940's 1950's. The NS in the 1930's was a different railroad, it was southern shortline. Completely different railroad from the NS today. If you are doing the 1930's-91940's N&W you pretty much exclude diesels, since they were one of the last railroads to dieselize. they didn't even own any F units until they bought the Wabash in the 1960's.
Thanks for the addition details on N&W Dave1905, I was not aware that they were a late adopter of diesels. The era has some flexibility, but I don't know that I want to go into the 60's necessarily. Dave J, I will look into Norfolk Southern Railway and see if anything piques my interest. Thanks for the suggestion. Hemi, your suggestion to take a look at D&RGW has really got me interested. I did a little ready and found that it was instrumental in getting Camp Hale built for 10th Mountain Div. I also found that it ran narrow gauge, which is a plus (I didn't mention that either). This railroad is now sitting at the top of my quickly growing list to research, thanks for pointing me in another direction, wouldn't have found it on my own but it does really fit the criteria nicely. If you have any links to reference/prototyping information, I would be very interested. Thanks everyone! Have a great weekend (Trainfest this weekend in Milwaukee, WI!)
