If you were switching roads


F

fiend540

Member
Hey guys, I'm just wondering if you were going to start over again would you still model your current road or would you choose someone else?:p I'm a big Conrail fan, but If I was switching roads I would have a hard time choosing between the Soo Line in the late 80's, or the modern day Western New York & Pennsylvania.

I really like the red and white of the Soo Line and with all the ex Milwaukee Road locomotives in black and orange it's a very colorful railroad! With the WNYP you get the beautiful scenery of NY and PA, with a roster made up entirely of old Alco's and MLWs.

So if you were to do it again would you change roads or era? Make up your own short line or follow a prototype?
 
Well, I model CN in 1980, with a spattering of CR, DT&I and CP. My dad bought me the book "Trackside in Buffalo NY" a couple years ago for xmas, and ever since I've been toying with selling all my stuff and changing my era to 1967 NYC, PRR, LV, EL, Wabash and NKP....very tempting
 
I am big into CR but if I HAD to switch roads it would be BN before BNSF. Just something about all the Black and Green SD40-2's and C30-7's.
 
fiend540 said:
Hey guys, I'm just wondering if you were going to start over again would you still model your current road or would you choose someone else?
So if you were to do it again would you change roads or era? Make up your own short line or follow a prototype?
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yes. no. no. no. yes.
 
Definately a made up shortline, maybe.

Oh yeah, a group of farmers just might be starting up a shortline near here and they want me to get involved so it might just happen! :D :D :D
 
I don't think that I would necessarily switch roads but, I would like to add my own leasing company or something along those lines. I think that it would be kind of cool to have "my own rail company I guess and it would be a lot cheaper to do it in HO scale instead the real deal. :D
 
I change constintly. I can go from steam in DL&W/Erie, thru the EL,,CNJ,LV,Reading, etc., Right iinto today's NJT, NS, CSX, & all the western run thru's, including the heriterge units & BNSF.Yes, its wonderful being nuts!:p
 
iomalley said:
Well, I model CN in 1980, with a spattering of CR, DT&I and CP. My dad bought me the book "Trackside in Buffalo NY" a couple years ago for xmas, and ever since I've been toying with selling all my stuff and changing my era to 1967 NYC, PRR, LV, EL, Wabash and NKP....very tempting
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I model NYC, C&O, PRR, NKP, Wabash, and Monon 1940-62 Why change?

Bob
 
Well, I have already switched once. I used to Model BN pre-merger. However I lost interest in them once the merged. Not quite sure why. I think it was when I started to see all the patch work and relettering. It was just not the same for me.

I now model Providence And Worcester, I like modeling something that I can see often. Makes it feel real. I like suprduc's idea of a railroad all my own. I started to play with paint schemes and names for my own leasing co. A work in progress.

So back on topic, if I had to change again I would go with something all my own, aside from the leasing co. I would keep it less then 8 engines. I would name all my engines istead of numbers. The ambulance service I dispatch for and does this with Ambulances. Makes it very unique.
 
The UP has always been my first love, followed closely by the NKP. Now that I live in Alabama, the Southern, GM&O, CSX, and the NS have gotten my attention. I also have my own fictional shortline. I guess it would be pretty hard for me to change roads since I run about half of them anyway...and in no particular order. :)
 
I have always been a hardened Santa Fe fan but I have always had a soft spot for appalachian coal haulers but I doubt Id go that route if I started over, its been done too many times. I do like the DRGW and have started collecting some narrow guage stock for one day when I can devote an entire room to a layout, then I'll do a narrow guage road.

The Santa Fe works great for small industrial switching layouts and larger layouts that can accomodate 20+ car trains. For mid size layouts, I think narrow guage is great way to go.
 
I have way to much invested in my own road to switch, but have it set up so I can switch eras. From the 80s to the 95-00 time frame
 
I'm a Sante Fe fan, no BNSF, because when the SF was around I used to go to Winslow, AZ where there is a big yard, and they fuel the trains right on the mainline. They let me move around and take photos, so I love the SF, and were I to start over, I'd just try to do a better job on scenery and modeling in general. Changing would require selling off my stuff and losing money, then starting over would be more expensive. I love what I have anyway, so that's what I'd do.
 
Funny you should ask - that's exactly what I'm doing. Back in December 2004I thought I'd give 'modern' railroading a try, so I started acquiring CSX locos and rolling stock. They are the ones that I've installed decoders in, but I have a small fleet of B&O locos that until recently were stored in my mother-in-law's crawl space. Now as soon as I get my layout rebuilt, I'll be putting decoders in these B&O's and most likely be selling off my CSX engines (gotta generate the necessary cash from somewhere LOL!). I've come to realize that I like the late 1960's period for several reasons, including: (1) there were more small-sized trackside industries back then, (2) cabooses were still being used, and (3) NO ditch lights!:p
 
fiend540 said:
if you were going to start over again would you still model your current road or would you choose someone else?
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What? We are supposed to be modeling a road? Like one specific road? Hmmm I knew I was doing something wrong.

but If I was switching roads I would have a hard time choosing
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I have not been able to choose. I started down one path and ended up on three different ones.

So if you were to do it again would you change roads or era? Make up your own short line or follow a prototype?
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Yes, I mean no. Yes, I mean no. Why isn't making your own class 1 listed an option? Actually as far as making a good freelance I used up all my good ideas on the club's railroad. Don't have many left for me.

Recent knowledge has really made me a fan of the N&W. That is one road that I only have 1 piece of equipment for (an old Proto 2-8-8-2) that I was going to convert to D&RGW. So if any switching of roads/eras was in the works then the 1950s and the N&W would be a serious consideration.

I might also decide to go exclusively with the D&RGW from the late 1940s and early 1950s. When the CZ, Royal Gorge, and Yampa Valley Flyer still roamed the rails.

Of course my big push recently has been conspiring with a couple of other modelers to create a freelance that all of us would do. Something along the line of a Pueblo & Arkansas Valley Railroad brought forward into the 1950s. For those that do not know the Pueblo & Arkansas has a history of mergers and aquisitions that took it from a paper railroad into being a Santa Fe subsidiary that built in Colorado. It was the railroad that "aquired" the Canon City and San Juan RR and actually built the hanging bridge over the Arkansas River. In real life the D&RGW ended up with the bridge, in this alternate reality they only got trackage rights over it. I want to strive for a believability such as the V&O achieved.

Hmmmm maybe I should model the V&O?!??...
 
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I don't know what i would go to.....mostlikely more modern, although the world of GE widecabs is very boring. I currently model Conrail, 1998-1999. I do have cars and leaser loco's that don't fit that time frame, but that's ok, cause in HO for me, Conrail is still alive, just no new power since 1998.
 
ST214 said:
I don't know what i would go to.....mostlikely more modern, although the world of GE widecabs is very boring. I currently model Conrail, 1998-1999. I do have cars and leaser loco's that don't fit that time frame, but that's ok, cause in HO for me, Conrail is still alive, just no new power since 1998.
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Heh I feel you, I originally decided I was going to model a Modern non merger Conrail but have decided to backdate into the mid 90's because other than rebuilds and gensets new motive power is pretty bland.
 
I originally was a BN, ATSF and a CNW guy. When the BN and SF merged in 95, that kind of helped me actually. Now I fan give more attention to CNW on my layout instead of trying to figure out how I was going to incorperate 2 giants and fit in CNW somehow with that layout plan. Now BNSF and CNW can fit into my plan much easier as I will be doing CNW as if UP never got ahold of them and took them away from me.
 
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