07-16-2010, 11:15 AM
RobL Wrote:Russ: Interesting question! I have decided that eras and prototypes are, in this train room, up for complete interpretation. I have noticed in my past visits to Vermont that most of that state seems to be "stuck in time"... lots of old general stores, small craftsman "industries", undersized roadways, etc. You also see a Green Mountain GP-38 pass by once in awhile! So, my interpretation involves a little bit of the old, some of the new, and a railroad where Conrail and the Green Mountain RR work together. Basically, a fictitious world based loosely on the real world, set somewhere in the 90's. There will be some this is what is was, this is what it is, and this is what I thought it should have been. I know some modelers would probably cringe at that thought, but I am afraid based on the way I like to research things if I tried to make it "too real" I would never build and merely read and probably get caught in an endless loop of "how do I implement this". Truthfully my New England, specifically Vermont, inspiration is based on fall foliage rather than period specific details.
OK... time to don the crummy clothes and get back down to the basement!
Thanks for following along and thanks for the comments!
--Rob.
Rob, it sounds good! One of the options of model railroading is that we can model "what should have been" instead of what happened. If we like modern equipment, but don't like that all but the largest shippers are using trucks instead of trains, in our world, the freight can still move by train! You mentioned the GP-38. If you are modeling a modern branch rather than the mainline class one, you can get more in by using a smaller minimum radius if you are careful about what modern cars you run, and stick to 4 axle power. The part of the railroad dedicated to the class one mainline can be of a larger minimum radius to allow for modern super power locomotives, but the branch can be restricted to shorter locomotives and rolling stock. If the radius is too short for 89 foot boxcars, run modern 50 foot high cubes. You can probably get a nice selection of fairly modern cars that are under 65 feet in length.
If you haven't heard about the emag published free by Joe Fugate called Model Railroad Hobbyist, look it up. Issue #1 had an interesting article with photos showing how curve radius effects operation of various lengths of rolling stock.