10-20-2025, 06:27 PM
More than one way to skin a cat, Matt - and in our hobby, there's no right or wrong. Plenty of branch lines got there starts because of the desire for Conrail to shrink the vast trackage they inherited on Day 1 - I think you've got a good "train" of thought. I really like Bruce's pictures of the Winchester and Western and Southern RR of NJ shortlines and their tie to NS/CSX over former CR trackage with former logos and paint schemes of fallen flags - that's a concept that would be really fun to model. With my modeling, it was the space available that dictated what I could envision, and once I had a rough track plan, I had to find something (timeframe, locale, railroad) that fit. Just so happened that I found the perfect confluence of stuff that interested me (Conrail's rainbow years and hard turning mountain railroading). I've found that the more I dig into the history, the more fascinating stuff I learn.
Check out my "Rainbows in the Gorge" website: http://morristhemoosetm.wixsite.com/rainbows