This ought to get tons of replies! I model BN, as of 1989, in the Funnel area of Northern Idaho, and Eastern Washington state. I model the area in particular between Granite Lake, and Coure D'Alene, ID. Just a few miles, but I don't have a warehouse to put it in! I am a Pacific Northwest railfan, and even though I have never seen Washinton, save from Sea-Tac Intl Airport, I love the scenery, the rich history of the railroads that carved their way through the Cascades, and BN is my favorite railroad. Even today, I still seek out the rare unpatched locos and such when railfanning in my home area of Cheyenne, WY. I chose 1989 as my era purely for variety. 1989 allows me to run Tigerstripes (GP50's and a lone SD40-2, 8002) Whitefaces, Oakwway SD60's, LMX Dash 8-39B's, and of course, my favorite, SD40-2's, by the hundreds. My goal is to own 1% of BN's roster as of 1989. Seems small, but that's 9 SD40-2's, 3 C30-7's..you get the idea... I also have a soft spot for the premerger schemes of the early 70's, and have a second fleet of rolling stock I'm slowly building.
I model the last 20 years of the NP because I like the scenery that the NP traveled, The colors of its passenger trains, and because I don't have to buy every locomotive released to get a decent representation of their motove power. I used to model UP but have not bought a UP painted engine in several years, and plan to convert the ones I have to NP. (1 Mikado, 2 Malleys, and a 1 Challenger) The last 20 years of the NP saw both Steam and Diesel, and the Pacific Northwest scenery is so breathtaking, crying out to be modeled.
When I first started my N scale collection 2 years ago, I set out to model BNSF and its predecessors. In the process I have acquired a substantial number of locomotives under the BNSF "rainbow". Lately I have shifted my focus to ATSF during the last 10 years of its existence ('85-'95), possibly with BN run-throughs. I do enjoy today's railroading, but I do miss seeing Santa Fe and BN as seperate operations. Another of my interests is BN during the early to mid 1970s. Today I picked up a copy of the latest N Scale Railroading featuring operations on the BN Selkirk Division, so now I am tempted to go back even further. I may sleep on it awhile, though.
I modeled the BN until it became BNSF. Totally lost interest in modern railroading. Hit Ebay and sold off all my modern power and started over again. Now I model the BN in the early seventies. Gotta love the colorful lashups possible with all the GN,NP,CB&Q,and SP&S paint jobs of that period! Nothing like an all GP20 lashup wearing both BN & CB&Q paint! I also have a pair of Mopac GP35's running around and have seriously considered adding some Rock Island and Milwaukee Road units. What do I model and why? Hell I don't know!ha ha
Modeling SP on the California coast circa 1980-1985. Much variety of power and paint schemes in this era, cabooses and the SPSF merger has not stripped SP of everything but the railroad. As part of my next layout plans I may update the LA basin area to better represent modern times without UP influence. Trains run to Colton or the harbor without a stop at Taylor Yard. Metrolink and the trench are attractive for modeling and scenic devices disgusing curves and distances between layout places.
I freelance.My N scale Grande Valley is set in the year 2003.I also model CP Rail,CSX and Norfolk Southern. My 0n30 Grande Valley is set anywhere from 1930 til 2003.
I also "freelance" it makes for interesting motive power and rolling stock. Mine is called the Ford City Northern Railway (FCNRWY) modeling Central Wisconsin (lots of farms) and set in the present. The main industries are Paper and Agriculture. Motive power is ALL General Electric Four axle B23-7s and B32-9Ws. Connecting roads are: Wisconsin Central, Wisconsin Southern, Pewaukee and SouthEastern and the MNSE (N-scale club layout, I am a member of). I have never been one to take a liking to modeling a specific prototype. Freelancing, let me take the best from the rest and make my own. Jerry G.
I model Southern California around 1948 to 1952, the era seems to change a little with each new locomotive release but 1952 is the cutoff. ATSF is my main road with a little SP here and their, matter of fact my latest project is building the complete 1950 "Coast Daylight" from brass sides so my new Key GS-4 has something too pull. I'm still gathering information and in about two to three weeks I should start on the first car. I will share photo's as I go along.
I origally just modelled the UP but got a little tired of seeing only yellow and grey running around the layout so I decided to step back a little and model some of the fallen flags. I now have UP, SP, Mopac, Rio Grande on the roster as well as some MRL and BNSF just to add some variation to the layout I dont have any CN&W at this stage as i'm not a real fan of the paint scheme but thats the beauty of modelling you can run whatever you like
My intention is to model chicago area, nothing to prototypical, between 1965 and 1979 Roadnames are almost limitless should be fun However it is a little hard find some things from this period CTG
Hi all: I model the UP. Freelanced for a time period and I mix in some CNW and MP. No SP at this time. Jerry
i dont model anything in particular, i like UP stuff and fallen flags that make up UP etc. i dont model any place in particular, or even any region really, ive never thought about region and just modeled what looks good. i am going to model the mid 80's if i ever decide to try to be more prototypical. if i dont decide on another era before then
I model the Frisco in its last five years or so (1975-1980) before the merger with BN. However, I'm not too strict on this, as I also run diesels that were off the roster before this cutoff (F9Bs, 44-tonners, RS1s, RS2Ms), plus I have one GP7 in a complete black & yellow scheme (full "cat whisker" striping). And for sheer giggles & rins, at least one E8 in passenger colors can be seen from time to time. No Dash-8s, Dash-9s, or anything newer than GP40-2s on this layout. And every train has a caboose, as God intended
BNSF in the summer of 2000 is my choice. Lots of variations of BNSF schemes along with run through power offers plenty of variety. My layout will be set on a fictional section of the BNSF in Kansas. In addition, I am considering adding a freelanced shortline connection. Will probably be the R&MT Railway whenever I get around to that part.
I model the BNSF's ex-Fort Worth & Denver line between Fort Worth and Amarillo, TX. This line is very heavy on coal trains, plus grain and intermodal traffic and of course several general manifest trains per day. Through my research, the actual era has changed ever-so-slightly, (several times!) but now I pretty much have it down: late 1997 +/- 2 Years. I chose 1997 because the BN/ATSF rosters were still largely unchanged at that point, yet the BNSF H-II locomotives were arriving on the scene, and I can still run the B30-7A's. Also, 1997 was the year UP mucked everything up so there was a lot more variety of traffic running as BNSF picked up new customers. In addition to the FW&D line, I plan to include portions of the two ATSF lines on each end of the line...the ATSF Transcon in Amarillo (including the yard and turntable) and the ATSF line north out of Fort Worth. (yard, Triple-Crown facility, and even Amtrak at the far late extreme of my chosen era) These will only be short "vignettes" (that seems to be the model railroading word of the month) of each line but will have active staging on each end to produce trains during operating sessions. The reason I model this line is that I grew up along this railroad and my blood ran "cascade green" from a very early age. I also loved the Santa Fe as well as modern intermodal and coal operations, so BNSF was a natural.
Good topic, Jerry! Welcome to some new members in this topic, thanks for climbing aboard I used to model current BNSF/UP in southern California, but 'current' means keeping up with new releases of locomotives, etc. After a complete rethink of what I really wanted in a model railroad, I decided on a short line/switching type of layout, so all the C44's etc. went, and now I have mainly 4-axle locomotives. My freelance Andersley Western does most of the switching and transfers, with trains arriving off-line from Santa Fe, SP, MRL, or any other road I take a fancy to! Not more than one or two 'foreign' trains will be on the visible part of the layout at a time, so I can effectively change the location of the AWRR to suit All AW locomotives are Alco's and all trains have a caboose
I model a "what if" late 80's to early 90's NYC. My layout is set some where in the North East and I interchange with CSX. A CW40-8 with full lenght Lighting Stripes looks great pulling a string of twin stack cars. Aloha, Da Chief
Though I have no layout, I model the SP heavily. Lately I've got a couple UP, NS and Cal Northern units in the shop. As for era, it doesn't matter. Anything and everything that was or is SP, SSW, DRGW or California shortlines will find its way onto my road eventually. I see my collection as a modern museum so that I can run whatever I want with whatever else I wish. Can come up with some very interesting combos that way.
Well I model a railroad with some REAL character, LOL--Lehigh Valley from 1956-1966 The decision to model the LV was based on my friend's experience with the rr around Allentown and Lehighton where he grew up--his grandfather worked for the LV so we have tons of stuff for a train room. He just brought back the EMC promo poster for the FTs in LV Cornell Red--original frame and all. It was cool at first but after a while I was annoyed that I couldn't run anything that I see on the rails today--I wasn't around when the LV was. So, we made a compromise of sorts, since the NS owns the same LV trackage today that my friend grew up around we simply jump forward in time and I can run all the modern NS and CPR stuff I want which is perfect b/c those are the modern roads that I really like. It's also cool because I can run Conrail units with the black NS patch which makes my friend laugh b/c of the irony of certain mergers. It's really neat to see how things have changed (and stayed the same) after reading all those LV books and then railfanning at locations like Allentown and Bethlehem today.
I model a small railroad in California's San Joaquin Valley that connects to the WP. I love the WP, but there are things that the WP didn't have that I want, like a passenger train behind PA's. My layout is set between 1965 and 1975. I used to live in the San Jose area when I was in my teens and remember watching WP trains work the Ford and GM plants. The first time I saw F units was at the San Jose Flea Market when the WP's "Famous Four" cruised by. I originally modelled the modern Rio Grande, but with my limited space, it's hard to build mountains that give credit to the Rockies. I also grew unhappy with modern railroading in general, so I decided to go back to a more happier time. I thought back to when I was a kid, and decided to build what I have now. John
