What made you choose....

[Green_Elite_Cab]

• 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.

Does anyone? Its definitely not a common thing to model... and I consider it every once in a while. Perhaps its a unique situation to the Northeast, but it might be interesting to model the holidays. Its an excuse to run off schedules with unusual leased passenger equipment. Its not unusual for one to find a set of NJT Arrow IIIs to appear in Washington dc, loaned to Amtrak on thanksgiving, nor would it be weird to see Maryland (MARC) commuter cars heading into New York Penn.

The holidays are definitely an excuse for snow... and imagine the weathering! modeling caked-on snow and ice!

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.

I wouldn't say that. The only reason I am picky about location and era is to prevent myself from going bankrupt. There are so many compelling trains out there!

I can barely stay in New Jersey, especially with my recent SEPTA/Reading Company acquisitions. I've also seriously considered trying to pick up an MILW Bi-Polar or Little Joe, or an NYC P-motor or a New Haven EP5. Its so easy to get "Off track"

[sailormatlac]

Well, just like many of you, I'm a victim of nostalgia. Prisoner of a time I barely remember.

I model Canadien National operation in Quebec City area. I still have fond memories of the mid-80s when there was still a lot of industrial activity in town. I always loved CN trains with their endless string of brown boxcars with wet noodle logos including GT, CV & DW&P. My favourite was GT in blue with The Good Track Road slogan.

I have a lesser interest in CPR because they ditched Quebec City in the mid-70s and thus I never saw them operate in real life there. And honestly, I'm not particularly a fan of they corporate mentality since their inception. For the same reason, you'll never saw me model CN after the privatization in 1995... feels like a fake to me and anyway, the disappearance of large wet noodle logo is particularly a let down in term of visual interest.

The time period is now circa 1975. Going in mid-80s would be nice, however, CN substantially dismantled rail infrastructure in the late 70s when they modified the yard and demolished virtually all tracksides structures. Also, after 1975, most downtown rail-served client closed when the city was hit by the proverbial desindustrialization.

If I had to redo a new layout, I would probably model Murray Subdivision in the mid-80s, as I knew it as a kid. It would include a large cement plant, the iconic Montmorency Falls bridge & Dominion Textile cotton mill, my hometown sawmill and Ste. Anne paper mill. None of these businesses exists (except the small sawmill which isn't rail-served anymore) and all structures were torn down. However, that would require lots of place and it's hard to make it believable..

Here's a picture of a typical freight consist running through my hometown with a M20. It's something I try to capture. I always loved those electric pylons running along the mainline. They alimented the area and also the substation when the railway was an electrified line until 1959. They are slated for demolition this summer... I should take a few measurement for modellign purpose before then.

http://www.railpictures.net/images/d1/5/...570740.jpg

I also prefer older first and second generation diesel locomotives: mainly old GP with rounded cab and Alco/MLW stuff. I recall a geography book when I was in high school. The book was getting old and depicted many trains from the 70s and 80s, including string of C424 in wet noodle and Quebec-Cartier black and orange locomotives. I was always looking at those pictures!

I also model some steam era CN stuff and Quebec Railway Light & Power rolling stock and structures.

Matt

[pgandw]

Areas/prototypes that influenced me:

Moving to my first assignment in Coos Bay, OR (I grew up an East Coast boy), I was struck by the Blue Mountains and then the Picture Gorge area of the John Day River. The backwaters of Coos Bay and the moving of log booms became a daily treat for me. I also admired Tillamook Head, and designed a free-lance line running from Tillamook Head east across Oregon up the John Day River and through the Blue Mountains. This fictional line became my standard gauge Picture Gorge & Western Railway.

Transfers to Juneau and Kodiak, Alaska allowed me to see Dawson City, and most of the WP&Y railway. I got hooked on narrow gauge, with an interest in both Klondike Mining Co and WP&Y.

Moved to San Francisco area, and learned about the NWP, Pacific Coast logging, and dog hole lumber ports and schooners. A book about the Caspar Lumber Co, and thinking about a narrow gauge line based on the famous Gum Stump & Snowshoe track plan led to the fictional 3ft gauge Port Orford & Elk River Railway & Navigation Co.

How to integrate all these ideas into a cohesive, plausible dream? I spent a lot of time looking at the various dog hole ports in both person and on topo maps. I wanted to move it north into southern coastal Oregon, and I did not want to model an aerial high line loading of the schooners. The port would need a "shelf" close to water level to situate a dock and minimal rail facilities, with a cliff or hill to climb to get out of the waterfront. Port Orford met the basic requirements. How to justify lumber schooners coming so far north? Then I remembered Port Orford cedar from my boat building days. Did some research and found out the Port Orford cedar was used for mine shoring and ship building in California - it was considered superior to redwood and commanded a premium price compared to redwood. This justified the extra sailing time for the schooners. Searching the topo maps, I found several abandoned log ponds along the nearby Elk River which indicated there had been sawmills there at one time. Justification for the PO&ER was now complete.

Time frame was established at 1900, about 10-20 years after the operation started. Early 1890s was avoided because of the silver crash and recession of 1893. Earlier than 1890 would eliminate geared locos - and I wanted Shays on my line. Knuckle couplers would be mandated between 1893 and 1903, when conversion would be complete. By 1900, lumber schooners were rapidly being phased out in favor of steam. And in 1903, the SP standard-gauged the NWP. 1900 seemed like a reasonable compormise to get all the features I wanted.

Last issue to resolve was how to bring in a narrow gauge - standard gauge interchange. The standard gauge PG&W, as originally planned, was way too far north to ever meet up with my logging line. Then I read the history of the Oregon Pacific, which was remarkably similar to my contrived history for the PG&W - right down to the poor choice of Pacific harbor. Tillamook Bay was too shallow, and too poor an ocean entrance to ever develop into much. But Coos Bay was different. So I relocated the PG&W south to Coos Bay (Charleston, right at the entrance to Coos Bay). The eastern terminal would be Roseburg, with the railway never reaching its namesake John Day River and Picture Gorge. The route is planned, but financing never came through (just like the Oregon Pacific). At Roseburg, the PG&W ties to the Oregon & California, which was never sold to the SP in my fictional world. A fictional town of Lebanon (from the "cedars of Lebanon") was established where the narrow gauge and standard gauge met in the eastern part of the coastal mountains.

That's my story, and I'm sticking to it....even though I now live in Colorado.

[MountainMan]

That's my story, and I'm sticking to it....even though I now live in Colorado.

Then there is hope for you after all...