Your particular road?
Your particular location?
Your particular era?

I find the answers to these endlessly fascinating.

I guess for me my layout is a time machine. I am trying to recapture what I would have seen had I know what I was looking at.
I spent hours watching trains while growing up but there were only 3 different types of locomotives that I saw. Steam, streamliners, and Fairbanks Morse. (anything diesel with outside walkway was an FM). As far as location and era, that too is part of my childhood. We always watched the trains and counted the number of locomotives. I remember seeing one with 12 covered wagons on the head end, but I could not tell you what kind they were.

Good topic.
Charlie

I will start...
My particular road is based on a nostalgia for an era/fallen flag that I never knew. Years ago, I worked for CSX. Pere Marquette is a predecessor. I banked at the Pere Marquette credit union.

My particular location is an area that I am infinitely familiar, and fond of (despite the reputation of the area and the hardships brought on in recent decades). Flint, MI is where I grew up (read: survived). I worked on the Saginaw Sub, which Flint is a large portion of.

My particular era (WWII)... It was interesting time period based on world events, and the impact on local industries. It was also an interesting time for the road itself. During that time period the Pere Marquette was owned by C&O. That allows for a large amount of equipment cross overs. During the same time period the area saw alot of other roads working the same line to support the war effort. Which allows for an even larger amount of equipment to cross over. There was a HUGE military presence as GM, AC and GM Truck and Bus were all in the same general area. They all retooled and opened their engineering/design departments to military brass. The location, era and road all lend themselves to a "Big City", Heavy Industry and farm land feel.

Growing up in the Hudson Valley I often saw NYC and Penn Central freights on the West Shore Line or River Line. The image of those black locomotives and jade green boxcars stayed with me all these years.

I live in the area I model and I chose the 60's because the RR was still a $$$ maker and it has since abandoned the trackage.

I think I've got a "thing" for the southwestern desert in the US. Several (actually a lot...) years ago I drove through there and went by the towns of Las Cruces and Portales - and thought they would be great names for a layout...And so the LC&P was born...

You're right - this is interesting

Your particular road?
The JGBSMF&W RR - It's the first initial of everyone who helped build the layouts over the years, since 1982
Janine (Steve's wife) - George - Bart - Steve - Mike (me) - Fred - Wayne - Rhonda (my wife) and Ralph
The reporting marks are MFW RR the "Charter Members: Mike Fred & Wayne"
The diesels and electrics I have are all PRR

Your particular location?
Woods!!! Supposedly in Northwest PA, in the mountains. It's a logging railroad thanks to my acquisition of the Climax logging locomotive (1:20.3 Bachmann Spectrum). I decided to scratch build everything I could out of wood following the lead somewhat of Shamus, a past Admin here. (and what else would a logging railroad use?)
His UK layout: <!-- l --><a class="postlink-local" href="http://bigbluetrains.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=69">viewforum.php?f=69</a><!-- l -->

Your particular era?
Well, since I have 4 levels and each is kind of a separate display in itself. I made the Climax level "Steam" and the other 3 are diesel and electric trains. So I guess it's in the 1950's to 1960's transition era.

The Adobe Flats Municipal Railway is set in a generic southwestern theme in the 60s.

Southwest because on my first visit as an adult to New Mexico in 1997 I fell in love with the scenery.

60s because I remember as a kid sitting at a rail crossing as a train went by reading the boxcars and thinking of all the places they represent.

The town of Adobe Flats is so named because it was mentioned in the movie "Bad Day at Black Rock" and I just liked the sound of it. The other town on my layout is Mountain Gap. My Fair Lady inadvertently named it while we were traveling in Colorado and she said something about "that mountain gap over there." I looked at her and said "You just named the other town on my layout."

The outdoor layout is the Backyard and Southern, so named because it's in the back yard and is on the South side of the house.

Tom

iis612 Wrote:Your particular road?
Your particular location?
Your particular era?

I find the answers to these endlessly fascinating.

My future modules/current plans are based on Andy Sperandeo's excellent definition of nostalgia: "the fond memory of something never experienced"

My road is Canadian National, despite having grown up in a Canadian Pacific town. The reason? Not quite sure, but the evolution of CNR is more interesting to me than CPR.

The location is fictionalized locales from around southern and eastern Ontario, which is where I grew up and where I currently live, respectively.

My era is "between the wars" - i.e. 1918-1939, which an emphasis on the late 1920s and early 30s. Despite the Depression, it's the dawning of the Golden Age of rail, before air travel was commonplace, and before the national emphasis switched to road building instead of rail. Abandonments were only just beginning, and CNR and CPR still had a strong presence across the entire country. Lastly, steam fascinates me as the last of the truly mechanical machines.


Andrew

Because it's awesome.

My location is the southwest US and Northern Mexico, because I live here, and find the scenery fascinating and unique.

My choice of road just came upon me. When I first went to college, I bought a MDC HOn3 locomotive kit, and was planning to make a small layout. I wanted something smaller than standard gauge HO, but had little interest in N scale. I built the small layout, and because it was narrow gauge, immediately made it a Colorado-themed layout. But at the university library, I discovered a book about railroads in Arizona, and learned there were 3' gauge lines here, too, and some pretty fascinating ones with awesome scenery. That stuck in my mind for a long time, and eventually I built an Arizona themed layout.

My era is roughly 1915-1920, all of the narrow gauge lines in Arizona were mostly gone by 1930.

railohio Wrote:Because it's awesome.

iis612 Wrote:Your particular road?, Your particular location? Your particular era?
I find the answers to these endlessly fascinating.

Particular roads:
Sag Harbor Shipbuilding and Drydock Company( SHS&D ): The 3' gauge industrial rail line of the "Shipyard".
Sagaponack Montauk and Cindys Harbor RR ( SM&CH ): Started out as the Sagaponack Montauk RR ( SM ). Cindys Harbor was added after I married. This line is the wholly owned subsidiary of the Shipyard ( SHS&D )
Shinnecock Hills Lumber Company ( SHLC ): a standard gauge lumber line ( yeah I know!, there is no lumber in Shinnecock Hills , an area just East of the Shinnecock Canal on the South Fork of Eastern Long Island )
Wiscasset Bucksport & Schoodic Point ( WB&SP ) a 30' gauge in O scale ( I was tempted to go 2 foot gauge, but chose On30 instead )

Particular Location:
Northeast U.S. Coast; Eastern Long Island, and New England "with a Maine coast accent".

Particular Era :
Contemporary, using mostly Steam powered locomotives, all maintained by the Shipyard, some built by the Shipyard.
The Shipyard's owner and CEO, happens to like Steam Locomotives, and the yard itself has all the needed facilities for building and maintaining them. ( there are still a lot of ships that are steam powered.)

All the above because I spent the better part of my youth in that area, and have always been close to the Sea, and still like Steam Locomotives. I figure if you are going to have a "loco motive", why not "let off some Steam while you're doing it!

Back To The Future Part III plus a desire to be able to experiment in any direction I choose.

Your particular road?

• Nothing popular or in particular. I started the Canyon State RR back about ten years ago, but it has very little rolling stock right now.

Your particular location?

• Again, nowhere in particular. It depends on where you look on my layout, where you might think you are. Anywhere, USA might be a good choice. The time of the year has to be summer though since I've never had the desire to model snow.
  

Your particular era?

• Today...,that's the easiest, I can put a modern building next to a structure that's fifty or even 100 years old and it's OK. I can mix the old with the new and if anyone has an issue, I can always say that the older building is on the National Registry of Historical Places and is protected from being torn down.

If I were a better modeler, I might be a bit more inclined to pick a location and era and stay with it, but I'm happy with what I do and that's what counts.