When I decided to get out of narrow gauge, I looked around for a "local" railroad to model. I wanted a yard at each end, some small yard in the middle, and decent amount of switching in between. I had done a bunch of train chasing of the KCS, so it was my first option. The KCS was too much mainline, point A to B and not much going on between the ends. Next up was MoPac. Loved the color scheme. but it fell through quickly. Then came the Frisco. KC to Springfield with a yard halfway there, decent amount of switching in between and the B&Y paint scheme as appealing. Throw in small passenger service using GP 9's and "winner/winner chicken dinner" I'm in.
For me, it always came down to the Frisco being the railroad I grew up with, albeit in the last 8 years of its independence. Granted, I grew up with orange and white diesels but it piqued my curiosity and natural affinity for history, which led to an obsession with learning all I could about 1940s Frisco and how to best model it. I’ve always felt that there are so many modelgennic locales on the Frisco that could be stand-alone layouts: Springfield Mill Street depot for those focused on passenger trains, Clinton Mo for smaller yards, Southeastern Jct. if you want to watch lots of mainline trains roll through an interlocking, and so on and so forth.
