I am also changing era's. Anyone interested in 40 foot quality boxcars like Intermountain and Kadee send me a post and I will contact you to make a really good deal. I also have several Intermountain Armour reefers and Rapido Garx 37 foot meat reefers. John
Not sure right now. We are moving and have to deal with a smaller space. One thing I've learned is I don't need that much. Rather build a smaller railroad and tear it out in a couple of years and do something else. Leaning towards Alco powered shortline. Or if the stock market keeps this up maybe depression era with a hobo junction. You can check out my current (non-Frisco) railroad on MRH posts under "Diary of a Mediocre Modeler". Mindlheim influenced FEC. John
John I’d be interested in seeing a list if you have one. Although, I have to say. I have a layout that can only handle about 25 cars at once. And at this point I know I’ll never have a larger layout. I lost count but I probably have 600 cars and 70 locomotives in storage. Some may never see the light again but I’m reluctant to give anything up. I spent a very long time building a 1940s layout roster, like you, and most of that stuff will never come around again as younger people look for more modern stuff. Plus you’ll never get any return on anything you sell. I’d think real long and hard about it.
I read the whole blog. I’m curious as to why a professional layout designer wouldn’t include a (what I consider essential) runaround track in a layout plan. Having one, along with some trailing facing setouts, would add 200% operating interest in my thinking. Although back home long, long years ago the MP had a no-runaround-track 1.5 spur called the “Bayou Spur” that left the “main” (if you could call 65 lb rail on deteriorating ties such a thing) from the engine house, ran down an old residential street for a mile to the freight house, then another 3/4 mile along the banks of a bayou, behind our main street, to serve 3 old wooden warehouses. There were 3 facing switches and 5 trailing ones on the Spur, not a whole lot different concept-wise from the FEC layout in the blog. It was always switched at night so as a kid I never saw anything move on it but I now know that the ten wheelers, and later GP7’s, went down that line pushing and pulling a couple of cars to switch the various . The runaround track in this case was in the 4 track yard, “off campus” from the Bayou Spur if you will, the yard being the “staging.” I did, at age 5 or so, see what had to have been one of the Mop’s tiny ten wheelers on the Spur one morning, its valve gear making me think of my mother’s mix-master. One note.... on one 90F August morning I saw the door open to one of those wooden warehouses. It was piled high to the ceiling with muskrat pelts. OH OH MAN. Today you’d call hazmat in, there was no oxygen left in the air for a couple of hundred feet around . A Route of the Eagles boxcar was spotted there the next day, surely dedicated to “hide” service. I’m also fascinated by modelers who do successive series of layouts having widely different themes and eras. For almost 60 years now, over two layouts, several false starts, and long modeling hibernations, it’s always been that now long-gone Mop Branch back home. Never have ever considered anything else. It has a hold on me. As a kid I knew where almost every rotten tie and loose fishplate was. I could never do anything else, although my space limits dead accuracy in so many ways. Pat Flory
Interesting statement, that. As a lad in Kansas City during the mid-60s, I modeled, guess what, a couple of KC area lines, present time. First was the Santa Fe (liked what I saw over in the Argentine Yard/Facility area) and pre-painted engines and rolling stock models were commonly available, regardless whether the ATSF had such! THEN... on a fateful Saturday morning/afternoon, a visit to Mop's sprawling (Neff?) yard over in North KC (courtesy of a family friend that worked there) had me climbing up on, and in, all sorts of Mop engines in their big shops, as well as riding one of the yard jobs, etc. (For quite some time, I might add. It was great experience to this young man!) Epiphany. Off to Spotlight Model RR on Troost Ave to start the switch to Mop... only to learn that no Mop engines were available pre-painted. However, the helpful guys at Spotlight gave me a quick "at the counter" verbal clinic on how to paint and decal, and armed with bottles of Floquil products, and batches of Champ decals... at the tender age of 14 I became a "serious" modeler. (Started painting/decaling my own equipment.) That was status quo until until a few years into our move to Arkansas (Jan 1969) during "The Trip" in November of '74. "The Trip" was my very first road run, courtesy of some Frisco friends. I was on the "Winslow Turn" that was on the call board at the time. The Trip was life (modeling life) altering. I've been hooked (line and sinker) on mountain railroading, with a distinct Frisco "Boston Mountain Grade" influence, ever since. I modeled the Frisco's Fort Smith Sub, including "The Mountain", on two different layouts, and two freelanced Ozark theme layouts. Then the move, dismantling my layout at the time, and into a new home. Then came my "experimentation" years (that turned into almost two decades!) of trying to mesh model railroading into a much reduced available space. Along the way I experimented with different scales, different themes (even some Colorado experimentation!), different eras (like link n' pin!) and such as that. The Ozarks (or Colorado) in HO scale within a 12' 6" x 9'6" room would be ludicrous at best, so for several years I intended to go with an urban/industrial KC theme, first in 3-rail, the scale S, and finally HO scale. It is worth noting that NONE of the KC layouts were ever truly "operational". Then a few years ago the out building came onto the radar, and after it was ready for a layout, there was some deliberating about "To TOC19 Colorado or not to TOC19 Colorado". However, my roots won out, and I returned to the Ozarks with my KC&G theme. SO, I guess I was one of those that did the "successive series of layouts having widely different themes and eras"... but in the end, I have returned to the longest term love of my life: The Ozarks. I must say that when I fire up a KC&G GP7 and go to switching up the local (or such)... given the visuals of the KC&G GP7, and those wonderful sounds, I'm very replete with my decision to return to the Ozarks ala' the KC&G. Life is good. Andre
Oh, yes, sorry. The Kansas City & Gulf (very perceptive of you to hit the nail on the head, Patrick!). The KC&G is my proto/freelance theme. Here's a link to my build thread for the layout. I don't update my thread very often, but that doesn't mean I'm not making progress within my hobby! http://www.frisco.org/shipit/index.php?threads/building-layouts-the-thrill-and-the-agony.12464/ Andre
