Hi everyone any ideas where I can get some photos or info or even items that go around the track side on railroads in USA. The reason I am asking this is, in the UK we have all sorts of electrical and mechanical equipment and it would be helpful to know, so I can make the track side look more realistic when I get to do scenery. Colin
A good reference would be the book Trackwork and Lineside Details for Your Model Railroad, published by Kalmbach. Available all over the place, on line and in stores (well, maybe not so much in store in England, but...) For example, for sale here.
Hi Colin I think you will find a good selection of American prototype trackside equipment from relay cabinets, vintage grade crossing signals and whole lot more in the following two links. http://www.showcaseminiatures.net/century-foundry-accessories.html http://www.showcaseminiatures.net/century-foundry-signals.html
Google something like "railroad signal box" and turn on images. If you say "railway" instead of "railroad" you will get mostly British hits.
Your chosen modeling era will have some effect upon these items. They have changed a lot over the years.
Like BoxcabE50 said, era has quite an effect on your results. What prototype, era and region do you plan to model? We can give general ideas of what it out there, share photos and such, but having a narrowed-down idea of what you're after can help us help you.
In answer to era, I have only diesel/electric engines and only four at the moment so that would put me in the modern era i would think, i don't intend having steam as I have enough trouble fixing my friends and struggle with getting the rods running gear right at times, so if I do have a steam engine it would just be on a preserved line or something. Being I am still learning about this hobby I hope I answered your question OK. Colin
I see the Santa Fe herald so I'll take a guess in that direction. You may want to find books from the "Santa Fe Facilities in Color" books by Lloyd Stagner - they show up on Amazon, Ebay and McMillan Publishing online stores. Full color shots of everything 'but' the trains along the stations, yards, interlockings, etc. There are several books broken up into main lines, branches, etc. They cover from the late steam era up to BNSF. Those will help you find specific locations by name, and often once you know what you're looking for, you can go on internet photo websites like railpictures.net or similar and find different views by a town location. Santa Fe fans are also blessed that you'll find the "Santa Fe System Standards" series from Kachina Press, three volumes, and that has scale drawings of everything from the standard railroad spike up to and including roundhouses. One thing you should be aware of in the US is that each railroad had signature items such as hardware, paint color, ballast color, signal placement, etc. that gave it its own flavor. After a while you can identify a railroad given those clues, as they are that distinctive. US practice is becoming more homogenized over time, but the traces still remain. Santa Fe in particular is a railroad that is rather recognizable due to those issues, I can usually spot a Santa Fe shot with no trains anywhere - narrow tie spacing, ballast color, signals, paint color, pole line placement - all give the individual railroads the 'look'.
Good points, Randgust. Chicago & Northwestern was famous for "Pink Lady" ballast, Denver & Salt Lake (predecessor to Denver & Rio Grande Western) had hexagonal phone shacks and large searchlight-style signals. Milwaukee Road was famous for electrification and all the physical plant that came along with it (distinctive power substations, trolley (catenary), and a forest of poles to support it all). Diesel era is pretty wide-ranging as well. Most railroads were dieselizing in the early 1940s, so diesel era can cover from then to the present. There's many generations of diesels, from the "covered wagons" (EMD E and F-units), and other first-gen units such as EMD GP-7s, Alco RS-1s, and many kinds of Baldwin, Fairbanks-Morse, and other diesel manufacturers. First-gen locos would be roughly 1939-1960. The second gen units can include GP30s, SD40s, Alco Century series, General Electric Universal series (called U-boats). Second-gen locos would range from 1960-1980. More modern units include SD60s, GE C40-8, C44-9W, and SD70MACs. This era is roughly 1980-2000. Current motive power includes SD70ACe, GE Evolution series, and many kinds of generator-set (genset) locomotives. Anytime from about 2000 to current is appropriate for modern power. Many rebuild second-gen units still operate on class 1 (large railroads like UP, BNSF, NS, etc) all the way to shortlines and regionals. Having a specific timeframe in mind helps narrow down a modeling focus. Having a specific prototype also helps narrow down the search for rolling stock and structures. Having a specific focus also helps curb spending on materials and rolling stock outside the scope of the modeling focus. For example, my modeling focus is D&RGW, 1950 (passenger trains only) and 1987; Moffat Route. Anything that didn't run on the Moffat during those time periods I can pass on. Specific trainsets can be built based on proto photos (books help here, too). Your focus desn't have to be that specific, or it can be even tighter. For those with small budgets, this helps a lot! The above timeframes are mere rough estimates. For discussion purposes only, they help break up the large timeframe that is the diesel era.
Not really. If defining "modern era" as all diesel versus some or all steam, no. "Modern era" is a very broad paint brush stroke. Facilities and equpment from the steam era extended well into the so-called "second generation" times of diesel use. Perhaps you are spekaing of what is currently in use?
Often when I look at railroad photos I pay special attention to what is in the background rather than just a loco or car. Often a wealth of details are revealed from ballast color to structures and other equipment. So often what has been intended as a photo of a loco or a train will yield a wealth of information that is often overlooked by the modeler because his or her attention is drawn to the subject rather than to the background. So photos of your chosen road power and equipment can reveal things like small structure colors and designs, and types of signals and electrical equipment. It becomes a plus when the photo also has a date in the accompanying description although I have also learned not to entirely trust stated dates and locations that once and awhile I have found to be wrong. Also I have found that older steam era stuff still continues to soldier on. An example for me was an old steam era two story brick control tower. Steam was long gone by the 1990s, but the structure still there, now housing the electronics for the beginning of a yard approach and the switching mechanisms for some cross overs on the dual main and signal controls. It also was housing the electronics for a car detection and hotbox detection systems that had been installed recently, plus a propane tank and the controls for a series of switch heaters to keep them ice free in winter. The building had been there at least 90 plus years until finally a derailment knocked it off it's foundation and it was replaced by a bunch of the typical silver boxes.
If modern is today, look for manufacturers' websites. railroadsignalintl.com - You can derive dimensions from pics like this: Also Mettler Toledo scales: http://us.mt.com/dam/mt_ext_files/E...0001008409651eb4001cafe_files/railmate_en.pdf And then there are railfan pages: http://www.baylug.org/zonker/railfan/detectors.html
