Back when N scale selection was limited, I would buy anything Kato made for BN, one of it's predecessors and, later on, BNSF. As selection grew I became much more focused on era (1950's - 1960's) and road (CB&Q w/only an occasional GN or NP release). In the process, I sold a lot of "surplus" on ebay and elsewhere. I'm happier to have some reasonable bounds on era so as to avoid the "buy one of everything" temptation that seems to afflict most of us in this hobby from time to time.
Pete, I'd say one of the biggest changes was the two Dorchester gas tanks. First they were changed to very modern one with "artistic" color on it. Dorchester LN Gas Tanks There used to be a "Steam Town" in VT. it moved to Philly.
I try to keep it to two eras for BN and Soo (plus predecessors and mergers) - 1975-85 and 1985-95. It allows a fair bit of cross use between eras but also I can have some of the rebuilds BN had (GP39E/M/V etc) in the latter and Soo's F units in the former, so all I need to do is remove some of the older equipment and substitute with newer to change the era. Also the latter era allows my dabbling in the Twin Cities and Western. Now, this hasn't stopped me having a few items from earlier eras...
I had never seen an american train until my first visit to ohio last year so my n scale layout is modern NS / CSX / CONRAIL. However i also own a 'heritage' fleet (a bit like ohio central?) and have B&O, ERIE LACKAWANA, NICKEL PLATE and CHESSIE diesels. I find that altho not strictly accurate, after running intermodals or twin stacks a bit of license every now and then keeps the fun in the hobby for me personally and if i want to run my PA1 then so be it! Whoppit CSX - Chessie Still Xists!
I'm working on building a home layout that depending on cars, etc. could hit a rural area anywhere from late 70s to late 90s. I'm only going to be running renumbered bluebonnets and a couple ofother units in my fictional line, all 4 axle b/c of tight curves needed to fit my layout. For running with the NTrak club I belong to, I have a few modern locos and cars, not all of them are spectacularly detailed (older bachmann 3 and 4 bay covered hoppers picked up cheap), but dirtied up some to look pretty good. It has taken me a couple of years and at least a couple hundred or more, but I can run nice long trains . To sum it up, I tried and make stuff with flexibility in mind for my home layout that is under construction, but I have other toys to run w/ the big boys. My 2ยข for what its worth
Over the years I've tried to follow various eras from modern to post war to tranisition. In the end I just can't settle. I like them all too much! That's ok though, it's my railroad and I run it the way I like. Currently my layout is set in the late 40's/early 50's as I like the smaller industries, car sizes, vehicles, etc, but the draw to the modern diesels is almost too much to bear. Won't be long before a big modern brawler is cruising my 11" curves! That should be interesting Seriously though, I leave my job at my job, my layout is an escape, no hard and fast rules there!
