What Railroad Do You Model.......

Model railroading in all scales and gauges. HO talk welcome :)
User avatar
AARR
Ann Arbor RR Nerd
Posts: 37900
Joined: Wed Dec 22, 2004 7:39 pm
Location: Washington, MI

Re: What Railroad Do You Model.......

Unread post by AARR »

Nice history and story
WPARR_35 wrote:
Wed Aug 24, 2022 10:53 am
I model a proto-freelance fictional shortline called the Laurel Highland Valley Railroad.
PatC created a monster, 'cause nobody wants to see Don Simon no more they want AARR I'm chopped liver, well if you want AARR this is what I'll give ya, bad humor mixed with irrelevant info that'll make you roll your eyes quicker than a ~Z~ banhammer...

fmilhaupt
Railroadfan...fan
Posts: 337
Joined: Wed May 14, 2008 1:23 pm
Location: Ann Arbor, MI
Contact:

Re: What Railroad Do You Model.......

Unread post by fmilhaupt »

I recently took a good look at the space I'll have (the "lifetime layout" goes into our next house, and we already know which house that is), and scaled back my plans.

My original plan was to model the Pere Marquette in HO from Benton Harbor-St. Joe to New Buffalo and maybe on to Michigan City. As I sketched out the track plan, it became apparent that couldn't fit both the track and the crew I'd need to run it. I did a quick ask-around of the guys most likely to be the core operating crew and based on what they said they most enjoy doing (which happens to line up nicely with my interests), my new plan is to just model Benton Harbor and St. Joseph with as little compression as I can. There will be a lot of staging feeding the through and local trains across it. The way I'll need to lay it out in the basement should provide plenty of room for four to six people to operate it without being crowded. I really enjoy group operating sessions.

Modeling this area means that not only am I continuing to acquire cars and locomotives for the PM trains, I'm now working on equipment for the NYC's operations there. I have a model of the class of 0-6-0 they used there and an NYC Consolidation, I just need to track down an Overland H-5T Mikado to finish that part of the fleet for the daily turn from points south. I was able to find a couple of Big Four-style wood cabooses much faster than I'd expected.

On the PM side, I have what I hope will be the right mix of Berkshires, Mikados, Consolidations and 0-8-0s to handle the freight work and more E7s than the PM actually owned. I found that a Westside Models Southern Pacific 4-6-2 imported in the mid-1970s doesn't need much work at all (aside from ash pans and a new tender) to be a very suitable PM Pacific, so I just need to get one more of those.

My original plan was to run this railroad well post-merger with the C&O's GP7s as the shiny new and dominant road power, but one of my friends and future-operating-crew-members pointed out that I already have pretty much all of the motive power I'd need to run all-steam 1941 and nearly-all-steam 1947 operating sessions.

Some of the through trains will set out cars for local switching and for way freights headed either way out of town. I've picked up Walthers swing bridge to rework into something closer to what the PM had there. It'll make a nice choke point (the NYC had trackage rights over the swing bridge to reach St. Joseph by my era) and act as a way of slowing the through trains down. The industry north of the main line as well as that on the stub of the Buchanan branch should provide plenty of switching.
-Fritz Milhaupt

User avatar
MIGN-Bill
Railroadfan...fan
Posts: 54
Joined: Sun Nov 22, 2009 10:12 pm

Re: What Railroad Do You Model.......

Unread post by MIGN-Bill »

I model the MIGN/TSBY from Cadillac north to Mackinaw City/Chief Wawatum. Includes Branch to Traverse City. 👩‍💻

User avatar
AARR
Ann Arbor RR Nerd
Posts: 37900
Joined: Wed Dec 22, 2004 7:39 pm
Location: Washington, MI

Re: What Railroad Do You Model.......

Unread post by AARR »

Do you have pictures?

Do you model a particular year?
MIGN-Bill wrote:
Wed Dec 07, 2022 8:49 pm
I model the MIGN/TSBY from Cadillac north to Mackinaw City/Chief Wawatum. Includes Branch to Traverse City. 👩‍💻
PatC created a monster, 'cause nobody wants to see Don Simon no more they want AARR I'm chopped liver, well if you want AARR this is what I'll give ya, bad humor mixed with irrelevant info that'll make you roll your eyes quicker than a ~Z~ banhammer...

User avatar
KVERBERK
Railroadfan...fan
Posts: 571
Joined: Sat Sep 01, 2007 11:55 am
Location: Da U.P.

Re: What Railroad Do You Model.......

Unread post by KVERBERK »

MIGN-Bill I too would like to see some pictures of your layout and equipment, maybe some details on how you operate.
Up North TSBY/GLC Fan

Post Reply