I am wondering what prototypical shortline and or narrow gauge railroad is your favorite and why? I would also like to know if you are modeling your particular favorite and in what gauge you are modeling it. Perhaps you are modeling a purely imagined shortline such as mine, but I work on a standard gauge RR in northern California that has only about 10 miles of track which has influenced my modeling a great deal. Bill "Get Goosed on the Yreka Western"
My favorite all time shortline was the 130 mile route of the Ottawa & New York/New York & Ottawa Railway, a line from Ottawa to Tupper Lake, NY, crossing the St. Lawrence at Cornwall. I had three relatives that worked that line and I grew up beside what was once the Cornwall switchyard. I have just started modeling it in HO scale, but only doing from Cornwall to Ottawa, under the fictional name Capital & Seaway Railway. I have all the designs ready, but am waiting to learn the proper way to repaint engine shells.
I think it's great to use some real-life railroad to model after. Do you have any pics of the paint scheme that you intend to use? And what kind of power units does that line run? Are they still operating? Bill "Get Goosed on the Yreka Western"
Gotta' be the Muscatine North & South Railway. I currently model the Rock Island in N Scale, but would love to recreate the MN&S. It appears to have very few followers and much of the history of this road is liable to be lost. It was fairly short lived.. and ran under several different names. It is a project for the future... and one I think would be best suited for HO which I don't presently have room or capital for Hehehe! ------------------ From... The Rocket Long Live "The Rock" !!!
Favourite 'short line' - United Kingdom ------------------ Alan The perfect combination - BNSF and N Scale! www.ac-models.com http://Andersley.homestead.com http://galleryusarail_tehcaj.homestead.com http://eurogallery.homestead.com
E-8 and Alan: I would be very interested in knowing why you have picked those particular shortlines, (QAP & UK RRs)? Rocket - I'm wondering if it would be worth while for someone with knowledge of the history of the MN&S RR to chronicle it? Put it down on paper complete with maps of where the rails ran, what the freight consists were and what motive power was used a different periods of time? Have any pics? Also, you might consider constructing a diorama of one of the more interesting functions of your favorite shortline ... don't have to have any rolling stock on it, but you'd have it for any future HO gauge you may start in the future. Bill "Get Goosed on the Yreka Western"
I would like to pay tribute to the Columbus and Greenville out of Columbus ,MS. I have a friend who operates on the line and the John Deere green schmeme on the former N&W highhoods looks great. You can find some images at: http://www.geocities.com/Nashville/Rodeo/4694/index.html Just a great little shortline of the south- are there any other shortlines above the Mason Dixon????????? 8~)
Nice page you have there Justin Your little railroad looks about the same as the one that I work on here in California. We haul woodchips, plywood and liquified petroleum. Are you modeling your railroad? Bill "Get Goosed on the Yreka Western"
<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Ironhorseman: E-8 and Alan: I would be very interested in knowing why you have picked those particular shortlines, (QAP & UK RRs)?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Bill; I like the Quanah, Acme & Pacific because the Frisco owned it Charlie ------------------ Ship It On The FRISCO!
Iron; The MN&S information is hosted on my web site at www.rock-island.org/mnands and the book that is available has a bunch of this information already. I know that the two that put this book together have been collecting information and are close to having enough to put together a second edition of the book. I will be working with them to get more information on their web site. You can see a few of the pictures on the site. Thanks!... and the diorama idea is a great one! ------------------ From... The Rocket Long Live "The Rock" !!!
I list my favourite 'short line' as the United Kingdom railways, as they are all around me. The nearest American one is about 3,000 miles ------------------ Alan The perfect combination - BNSF and N Scale! www.ac-models.com http://Andersley.homestead.com http://galleryusarail_tehcaj.homestead.com http://eurogallery.homestead.com
The old O&NYR/NY&ORR merged into the NYC in 1913 as it's Ottawa Division and was abandoned in two parts. Tupper Lake Junction to Helena in 1937 and Ottawa to Rooseveltown in 1957. All that's left is a 4 mile spur operated by CSX now and the small line that was left in Tupper Lake is currently closed until Adirondack Senic Railroad opens it. The original power used on that line was 4-4-0s and 4-6-0s. Once diesel came in, it was ruled by the early Alcoas (I just don't have my files with me right now, due to my book on the line being published). I did design a paint scheme and logo for my Capital & Seaway model, but none are drawn up yet.
Thanks for all that info on your favorite shortline Station Master. I would like to see a pic of your loco(s) with the paint job you described. Isn't it sad that so many colorful shortline railroads ended up with their rails torn up for scrap value, never to be used again. We narrowly escaped that fate for the Yreka Western at the first of this year, but the holdings were sold to the 'Rocky Mountain Mining & Museum' out of Boulder, CO and they are investing a great deal of money and material to bring our historical RR back to what it was back in the 1910's. Thank God for people and organizations like them! Bill "Get Goosed on the Yreka Western"
My favorite is the Red River Valley & Western. A no brainer, I guess, since the headquarters are here in Wahpeton and the tracks run by my place of work. I see them every day whether I want to or not. I am in the process of building an HO layout (Benchwork is done) and will be modeling BNSF through here, with the RRV&W serving local industries, and maybe an interchange between the BNSF and the SOO (there is one about 20 miles from here. [This message has been edited by DakotaFan (edited 14 April 2000).]
DakotaFan - I am learning about so many different small operations in here! I am sooooo glad that the Administration allowed the 'Narrow Gauge & Shortline' topic in Trailboard.com! Do you have any pics of the equipment of the RRV that you can share with us? Also, I'd be interested to know how large the room is that you are building your HO gauge in .. and will it pretty much fill up the room? Bill "Get Goosed on the Yreka Western"
Favorite shortline? Well, having chased down quite a few, I guess it depends on which railroad is in front of my camera at the moment.....(LOL). Seriously, I guess I would have to pick the Kiamichi Railroad in SE Oklahoma. It's a 230-mile line that hauls paper, pulpwood, cement, grain, crushed limestone, tinplate, woodchips, etc. Motive power consists of GP9s, GP10s (from Conrail), GP35s (ex-TO&E), GP35Ms (from MP) and GP38s (from Katy and Chessie). Carloadings average 30-35,000 yearly. The railroad runs daily, with turns to Paris, TX, Ashdown, AR< and Madill, OK, as well as crews based in Ashdown to run to Hope, AR. At least this part of Frisco's Central Division is still alive & kicking. ------------------ Ship IT on the Frisco! Bob T.
IronHorse -- The room is an "L" shape, approximately 215 square feet. I will need to leave a walk way along two walls and have a duck under. I have just about completed a 7 track double ended staging yard and then will construct the layout over that. I have used L-girder construction with homosote over 3/4" plywood. This area has high humidity in summer, and is dry in winter. I hope I don't have any expansion problems. As for photos of RRV&W, I don't know if I have the knowledge or technology to add them here. Most of what I take is color slides. Any suggestions? I can tell you that the TC&W 601 (SD20) has been sitting idle for about a month with the stacks capped. I haven't found out it's status yet. DF
DakotaFan - You can take your slides to your local film processing service and have them make a digital copy on a mini-floppy. You can probably have several on one disc, depending upon the resolution that you specify. I have found that you can normally have them at about 75 dpi and still will look really good. Next question: Do you have a personal webpage? If you do you can enter the address as a part of a message in here for others to access it. If not, e-mail a copy of the pics to the administration and they will install the pics in here for you. If you have any problems or more questions, don't hesitate to ask! Bill "Get Goosed on the Yreka Western"
Friscobob - The Kiamichi sounds like a thriving operation! I'm old enough that I don't really know much about diesel movive power, and I can't help but wonder if the Kiamichi has been around long enough to have had steam ? If so, do you know anything about them? Photos? The 2-8-2 Mikado that I run was manufactured by Baldwin in 1915 for the Caddo & Choctaw (sp?) Lumber company which was located in the west-centeral area of OK. I have been unabel to find any information to date about this now defunct RR. Have you ever heard of it? Bill "Get Goosed on the Yreka Western"
