GEC's Layout Progress

[Green_Elite_Cab]

I don't check in here real often because I'm not all that interested in passenger operations. That said your layout is progressing very nicely and I really should check in more often!

While I admit that I've probably now become a greater passenger operator than I was before, I do think I should point out that freight is still a big part of my operating plan.

I think the distinction between operations and modelling should be made.

As far as operations are concerned, freight is pretty much always more interesting than passenger operations. After all, whats more exciting than watching a commuter train shuttle back and forth, and making the same stop every minute or two? I can tell you from personal experience operating push-pulls on my club's reading line, that it is MIND NUMBINGLY BORING. In fact, it gives me a major head ache, since I have to stand there and watch it and stop it, and our Reading line is not very long.


Freight operations on the other hand, actually feel like you're doing something. Its like a game. Its definitely more fun.

On the other hand.....

Apart from the locomotives and a few unique cars, freight modeling is rarely super exciting. Even though freight cars are almost all individually unique, that amalgamation is what makes them less exciting subjects. While weathering work can make any car interesting, thats a portion of the hobby I have to get back into.

Passenger modeling is much more fun, since you can usually get all the shots you need, and they're easy to research. They're also much more recognizable than freight. They also set the stage better, since there can be no doubt where a layout is set when an NJT train passes by. Kits are generally available for passenger trains.

Researching individual freight cars is far more difficult by comparison, since people rarely ever seem to photograph individual cars, and they rarely get enough of the car in to recognize the specific details. Once you stop trying to make unique freight cars, it gets boring. You might weather an RTR car, but it doesn't change the fact that the car is mostly a faceless entity that blends in with the rest of the boxcars.

That said.... there are some neat freight projects I'm looking forward to starting

Planned Future Freight Projects

TV-4 East-St. Louis to Meadows-

This is a HOT Trailer-on-Flat-car train that runs express up the NEC. I'm currently trying to identify the major car types in this service, and trying to find the appropriate trailers. This train was one of the few authorized to run faster than 50 MPH on the NEC closer to 60 to 70, and it typically only has a single E44 or GG1 on its head end (and occaisionally diesels). I'm hoping that there are readily available cars that fit the bill, which would make this an easier train to build.

Tropicana Orange Juice Train-

This one will take a lot of work, but it will be worth it. Limited to a length of 65 cars due to restrictions through the Baltimore tunnel, this train usually required three E44s to haul it from the RF&P interchange at Potomac yard to Kearny, New Jersey. Again, this is another express freight, but this time it is one that is well documented. The main challenge here is that there are almost no Tropicana cars that are applicable to my time period. Red Caboose makes cars in the appropriate paint schemes, but the cars themselves are not correct. This means I'll have to kitbash (and likely clone) my own accurate Tropicana cars. I'm also going to need a lot of them.

Even if I don't get a long train length worth of cars, these cars were frequently sent south in blocks of ten empties or so, so I can put them on any "westbound" freight heading down the corridor towards Trenton.