What ERA is your favorite to model or collect?

Late 50's to early 60's with gusts up to the present.

Rusty

Erik,

similar to you, my interest is in the years 1950-1956. early generation diesels, a few steam engines and late running electrics.

EMD: E7, F3, GP7. Alco: FA2, RS3, RS11. PRR: E6s, P5, GG1. FM 24-66 trainmaster. Brill 660 gas-electric.

Heavyweight consists, head end, reefers and milk cars are most of my favorite items.

I don't consider myself a collector, other than I purchase or build what suits the era I model.

Erik- grew up with HO trains, but I always loved my Dad's Lionel's. End of steam, early diesel are my favorites too. Post war and early MPC mostly.  I do have newer stuff too. Building my first O gauge layout at 54, enjoying every minute of it. That's what the hobby is all about right?

I love the photos of your layout, very nice work.

I'd have to agree on the transition period.  I simply like the styling of both the diesels and steam of that era.  

1940's up to the late 1950's, I also love big steam.

I model the steam to diesel period. Nothing beyond 1954. I became impressed with steam in 1952. I was 4 and the remaining big steam just impressed me to the core. A few years later we vacationed in Durango when DRGW still ran the narrow gauge and I spent time at  the round house and all around the locomotives. Never got over any of it. So modeling the way things looked and felt in my early childhood brings a constant flow of memories.

Generally, pre-1920 since the CVRR was entirely absorbed by the PRR by that that time; however, the periodic appearance of a CVRR that lived on as a short line makes an appearance.  At the same time. the CG&W traction line also makes a healthy appearance far beyond the passenger carrying street railway that it was in real life....

I may accumulate but I strive to not collect, while also attempting to maintain a zero sum inventory.  Please stop by my table in Chicago and help me with that effort.

Like many of you I also reach for the transition period, preferring the late steam power and some early diesel.  However, like any time of transition it is difficult to get accurate models without modifying them.

1946-1954 and more narrowly I shoot for 1948-1952 (Pretty picky I know) in an effort to model to actual time period photos.

The UP had more than a few changes over this period.  I love the Two-Tone Gray of secondary trains, but trying to find Yellow schemed diesel power and passenger equipment with correct gray trucks is difficult. Everybody seems to like the later silver (1958+).  Flashy for sure, but done to death in my opinion

- Diesel trucks were painted Aluminum/Silver beginning 1954-1955.  (ex// ALCO PA #607 photos 11/54 have gray trucks, 7/55 have silver)

- 3/52 UP announced all Passenger equipment to be painted yellow and gray. Some select older equipment still managed to ride it out to the end in Olive or TTG.

- 6/58 UP issued instructions whenever passenger equipment is serviced trucks were to be painted aluminum/silver. 

- Alco PA Union Pacific winged nose heralds had only "Union Pacific"  (at least through late 1955) the 'Railroad' wasn't added in changes begining in the late 1950s even though other newer diesels models begain having 'Railroad' included as early as 1950. It was removed again in 1969.

Curse you 2-railer guys and your accuracy! I've been infected by your desire to model it right.  Oh, the books, and magazines, online sites, and photo research....on and on......

Now to get an accurate 1952-1954 ALCO PA/PB and Harriman consist  I'm faced with the daunting prospect of spending a lot of money on new models and then immediately repainting certain things, fabricating pilot doors, and possibly replacing decals.  I guess that's the fun of the hobby!

What have I done..........

This is a great question:

In my case, I don’t really model an era, meaning, a specific time/place.

Of interest to me in general, are passenger named trains AND the history associated with them. To be more specific, most interesting to me is Streamline Steam or the first generation art deco period which might include electric, steam and diesel.

Modeling in O forces me to compromise due to availability, but the general intent of a specific train can be reached.

Charlie

This is really wonderful reading about what some of you have remembered fostered your interest in trains. Thank you for sharing!

Erik: Transition Period 

1945 or earlier. My interest in trains drops off after WW2 ended...

WITZ 41 posted:

Like many of you I also reach for the transition period, preferring the late steam power and some early diesel.  However, like any time of transition it is difficult to get accurate models without modifying them.

1946-1954 and more narrowly I shoot for 1948-1952 (Pretty picky I know) in an effort to model to actual time period photos.

<snip>

What have I done..........

Same here. But, PRR, B&O, N&W. Inclusion of 1948 allows me to run the T-1 and  Blue Ribbon trains with both pre-and post-WWII passenger equipment, including heavyweight passenger cars. In 1952 many railroads still tried to maintain deluxe passenger service.
For me, when PRR abandoned DGLE for passenger motive power my interest in post-1952 ended. Saves me a ton of money on motive power, too.

I model part of the transition era late 1940s - 1959 which certainly includes motive power from years prior to this specific time block.  

I like first generation diesels from all real railroad manufactures, 20th century electric locos 1900 - 1955 , and all 20th century steam power.  

Curves on my layout ( 042 ) does not allow me to run scale articulated locomotives.  I do run a MTH Railking N&W Y6b which is my only articulated.  

Everything else I run is in both diesel and steam is scale.  Rolling stock both passenger ( except RDC  and MU cars ) and freight is scale as well.

The Transition Era provides for a wide variety of both motive power and diesel power.  With ALCO, Fairbanks Morse, Baldwin, EMC & EMD, Lima Hamilton, Ingersol Rand, and GE, all coming out with their individual variations of diesel locomotives in many styles ( externally and internally ) as manufactures experimented and explored their way into the diesel market.    IMHO, as a modeler, the Transition era with its variety of rolling stock and loco offerings,  is an exciting time period for me to model. 

I would love to journey back in time  to PRR Horseshoe Curve and watch trains come and go,  never knowing what kind of locomotive would be pulling the next train around the curve.   I can only imagine the thrill! 

All eras of railroading are truly remarkable to me. I think of the steam engines pulling a few passenger coaches,maybe a boxcar or flatcar,which in that era, was remarkable!! Way ahead of those days when there was nothing but horses & wagons. All eras hold their particular interests to me,although I became fascinated with railroads back in the late '60s.

Like most,I started with Lionel trains as a boy,worked up into HO,then spent a few years back in Chessie Era Lionel,then went back to HO&modeled there, until about 4 years back, I started into O Scale. I thought O Scale was Lionel,nothing else,but kept looking at O Trains on Atlas' Website. I still thought O was all 3rail,took me a good year to learn otherwise.

Now I'm many thousands of dollars into 2 rail O Scale & learning how much I don't know.

I model CSX from the late '80s to present day. Depending on one's particular interests,for example types of rolling stock & structures,O Scale can be difficult to model in this time frame,especially if you've never been heavy into scratch building.

Thank you for the photos & your history in Railroading it's very interesting. Fine job of modeling!!

Al Hummel

Classic steam era.  No diseasals on my layout except under special circumstances (like running my first Lionel at Christmas). 

Great post, Erik. You captured how many of us have evolved in this hobby.

I model the UP steam era, 1930-1958.  There's nothing like Model Railroading! 

Okay....I know I'm going to get my as* booed off this forum, but I like modern era modeling.   Even though I model present day NS, the great thing about modern is the fact that I can have foreign power like UP, CP, BNSF, CSX  or whoever, and still stay true to my chosen era!    Pre 1980s, you can't really do that.  Plus, I do like strings of grain hoppers, and big tank cars.....   Now...let the as* tearing begin...LOL!

20th century - no steam.  I kept breaking the valve gear. 

I like to model the trains I actually saw, even actually rode as a boy.

This means mostly CP. Yes, I rode CP commuter trains pulled by steam on a daily basis.

Although not as exciting as the steamers I rode, these were what I spent many hours on in the early sixties, shuttling back and forth to/from school . . .

So, I have a couple.

I moved from Toronto to Montreal in 1954, on the night train. CP3101, I fancy, may well have been on the point of that train as it did regular duty on that particular servce.

I know for a fact I rode behind CP1800!

I am really excited at the prospect of the 3-rd Rail version of CP1800 and her sisters due later this year. Then this Weaver/MTH "Frankenengine" wiil be retired.

What does not interest me at all, are the trains I had in my childhood . . . the poorly detailed, Lionel Lines, post war stuff that were my first ones.

Prewar and postwar up to the mid 1950's.

Have a few mth and williams engines also.

R NELSON,

Well partner,you need company!! I'm modern CSX from mostly '80s-today & also like tankers,lumber & modern grain hoppers, 4750s & 5161s are favorites of mine too. And I like modern E&F shelf couplers.  We're not alone as modern modelers. LOL

To each his own,no offense intended to anyone,as I said earlier,I love the trains from all eras. Modern does seem to be a minority in O Scale. I don't know if it's because  O was the major scale starting in the steam era days or what,but this is the best answer I can come up with. 

Best to all.

Al Hummel

Erik C Lindgren posted:

This is really wonderful reading about what some of you have remembered fostered your interest in trains. Thank you for sharing!

 

 

 

Erik: Transition Period 

Erik- let's take it up a notch.

What are your favorite lines to model in your favorite period.

PRR and ATSF for me. (most of my HO stuff belonged to these two RR's)

Bob

R Nelson posted:

Okay....I know I'm going to get my as* booed off this forum, but I like modern era modeling.   Even though I model present day NS, the great thing about modern is the fact that I can have foreign power like UP, CP, BNSF, CSX  or whoever, and still stay true to my chosen era!    Pre 1980s, you can't really do that.  Plus, I do like strings of grain hoppers, and big tank cars.....   Now...let the as* tearing begin...LOL!

Nothing wrong with modern.

RSJB18 posted:

R Nelson posted:

Okay....I know I'm going to get my as* booed off this forum, but I like modern era modeling.   Even though I model present day NS, the great thing about modern is the fact that I can have foreign power like UP, CP, BNSF, CSX  or whoever, and still stay true to my chosen era!    Pre 1980s, you can't really do that.  Plus, I do like strings of grain hoppers, and big tank cars.....   Now...let the as* tearing begin...LOL!

Nothing wrong with modern.

Nothing at all wrong with modern period.  One of the great thing about this hobby is that we model and run our railroads any way we like.  I say model the modern period to the max!

Eric,

Thanks for sharing how you got started in RR modeling.

Your models and photos are awe inspiring. D&RGW is a favorite RR of mine.

Space constraints have me modeling the transition era as most equipment was 40 ft long

and looks good traversing tight  042 curves. Small steam and early diesels are my favorites.

 I have scale sized equipment and plan to model a small PA town served by a Pennsy branchline.

I also like this era as there are some neat automobiles to display along with the trains .

I model CSX. I include naturally all the great looking cars from all the predecessor lines that now compose CSX. This includes Family Lines System,original SCL,also Chessie System. These Systems had a lot of variety in them from many eras of time. The SCL/yellow 4750 hoppers are scheduled to have been delivered last winter,but as usual are late. Am hoping Atlas will start doing 1980s era Family Lines 4750s as well as Seaboard System & Chessie System on the 4750s. You listening Atlas? Hint hint.

If I had the needed funds,I'd like to model BNSF &NS as BNSF diesels & trains run a lot on CSX and NS interchanges with CSX in my area at Milford,Indiana.

Thanks for taking this post up another interesting notch of enjoyment.

Al Hummel 

Erik,

First off, I love viewing your photos and work as it is truly inspirational.  

I was born in 1961 and lived on the southside of Chicago.  I really cannot say I had any interest in trains when I was young.  My primary memory of the 60's, as it relates to trains, is frequently being stopped in traffic for freight trains.  Although my older brother had a Lionel train set, we used it to run over toy soldiers and crash into Lincoln log structures.    

I believe the seeds of my interest in trains has more to do with modeling in miniature.  When young, I remember being fascinated with the miniature reproductions on the lower level of the Art Institute of Chicago.  It wasn't until I was surfing the web and came across Lionel on the web around 2000 that my interest started to take shape.  I did not even realize Lionel was still around, but read that they had a layout open to the public in Chesterfield, Michigan.  Always open to road trips, I drove their with my ex-wife to see the layout.  Once I saw it, I was hooked.  

Having commuted to Chicago via train, I'd always hear the names of the Rock Island lines, Chicago & Northwestern lines, CB&Q, Illinois Central, etc.  After the birth of my interest in trains, I understood more about the lines with the learnings that go along with this hobby.  What a hobby...modeling, railfanning, reading about history, photographing models and the prototype, and so on and so on.  

I learned that several of my uncles and older cousins worked for various railroads.  My brother actually gave me rags he had from my uncle with the Chicago and Northwestern name/logo on them.  

My dad came to this country in 1950 and he actually lived in the Pullman row houses when first settling in the Chicago area.  He worked at the Sherwin Williams Paint factory and walked to work.  He actually drove a lift truck emptying box cars that were spotted on the sidings there.  As my interest in trains has grown, I have found that trains impacted my life more than I ever realized.  

All of this has just caused my interesting about trains to grow exponentially.  Sorry about the rant, but that gives some background of how I settled on my modeling period and location.  To answer the question, I am modeling 1955-1961 because I regret not paying more attention to what was going on around me when I was a kid.  (I was focused on baseball, hockey, and football back then)  I am trying to model west of Chicago somewhere in Illinois or Southern Wisconsin.  I have Milw Road, CNW, Sante Fe, CB&Q, Rock Island, & Indiana Harbor Belt power on my layout.  I primarily have diesels from that era and focus on those because of the size and cost of steamers.  I only have one steamer and that is a CNW Lionel 4-6-0.

There are so many great modelers on here.  I will never come close to what many of you guys produce (Thank God for the Woodland Scenics built ups), but seeing all the great examples has caused me to evolve and lean toward having a hi-rail type layout.  

Great thread....   

I have collected the Marx including the 3/16 and the deluxe plastic series that all couple with the tilt/fork coupler, as was my first train set. There is not that much of that, and l model 1940 with Lionel-conpatible, because much steam and even a few short-lines powered by it had survived the DEPRESSION. L-C offers a larger choice, still being produced, than Marx, though nowhere near enough variety in short-lines engines and rolling stock.  I bash and scratch build. Steam centers such as Cass, Durango, Chama interest me; contemporary railroads and rolling stock do not.

I mainly model 1945-1965 but lately I have ventured out of that period (in both directions).

I model the Western Maryland so it's the late 40's to the early 60's.  The modern era does nothing for me.

My grandfather was an account for the Rock Island. In 1912 he was in El Reno, OK and traveled throughout that part of the country. I have his pocket notebook from that year, a daily rundown of his days. He got home Christmas eve for dinner and opened some presents. Got up Christmas day' ate dinner and caught the 6 pm for Albuquerque so he could start work the next morning.

I like 1st and 2nd generation diesels and those matching cars etc. I like the Milwaukee, the BN, CB&Q and my own railroad called the Nebraska Dakota and Western RR. 4 axle locos only.

Eric, my favorite 2 locos are the CB&Q O5 4-8-4 (Sunset) and a Weaver Milwaukee 261 4-8-4. 

Dick

Not so much an era, but a date: Nov 16, 1949.   While there are a few exceptions, my layout reflects what one would have seen on the PRR and the northeast on that date.  The exceptions are a PRR HH1 (Y3) which were gone by 1947 but I wanted at least one articulated steamer, an N8 cabin which did not show up on the PRR until Jan 1950, and a PRR Q1 (also gone by 1947) because I just like that engine.  Nobody's perfect

Why that date?  It is my BD.

You young whippersnapper, Ron. 

What a good idea!  It's the first time I've heard of that.  There must be a few challenges.

South Cook County,Calumet Region(Chicago) and Northwest Indiana, early 1950's through early 1960's, steam locomotives and first generation diesels layout basically one half South Cook County & Calumet Region Illinois the outer half Northwest Indiana, large U shaped layout, bottom of U is State Line crossing between Illinois and Indiana. Local, Regional and Eastern Railroad motive power freight cars national railroads and private ownership through interchange. I was a kid in the Calumet Region during this time period, started high school in 1963. Still remember the Desoto's, Packards, Plymouths, Dodges, Ramblers, Fords, Chevys, etc. parked on the residential streets during this time in the 1950's and dodging these cars when playing tag football under the streetlights before the 10:00PM curfew.

Yesterday yesterday, today today and tomorrow tomorrow.  For freight any thing more than a floating 25 years old looses my interest but western streamlined Pullman passenger trains of whatever age interest me.

   I do little "modeling", but I will detail or weather toys, although in a toyish fashion at.that A developed preference for a raw, folkart look in other things I've created, doesn't help my case. And my hands and eye sight aren't able to do what they did in my youth; so its easy to stick to that, to better meet my final expectations too.

   But the older the era, the more accuracy I like. The ornate trains of the 1800s are where I really like the fine details. Especially the truss support and brake mechs. If I would have seen On30 even one year earlier than I had, I might have a different focus today.

 Speaking of bottoms, years of unnoticed speedometer detailing in 1:24 automotive, has devolped an apathy in me towards under frame details and other mostly unseen goodies. I'm only concerned with what I see easily.

  But I do enjoy watching you guys sweat over it. The results are interesting, and knowing what goes into this, I'm often as proud of you, as you are of yourselves. Pointing out all the changes and variations is like visiting the real train forum of days gone by. I learn a lot, and even if "trivially boring" on.occasion, at least something sinks in   and that can lead to at least a mechanical interest once enough of anything if some has soaked in, and bounced around a bit, even if I never model it.

  The rants/stories of the individual hobby evolutions; fascinating, entertaining, appealing, & endearing. For those that want 2rs to "take over"; take note: More inclusive detailing of personal stories like that you might even have the tin folk reading regular and led to the edge of jumping

I was lucky enough to be trackside during the steam/diesel transition in the fifties. My Uncle Bill was working for the Central Vermont Railroad, and made sure his favorite nephew got cab time in 0-8-0 switchers as they banged cars in the CV yard in Willimantic, CT. This early exposure cemented my fondness for the steam to diesel "Transition Era" firmly in place....

Bob

Steam-Diesel transition with an occasional fudge factor if there is something out of era I really like. Not much modern stuff that appeals to me, but there are a few. My opinion, but if you have more than one, you're a collector of sorts!

Simon

My great grandpa worked for Kansas pacific, father worked for the"Q" out of Kansas and I worked as a brakeman for the NP out of Seattle, so I guess it runs in the family . I guess it stopped with me as my three sons have no interest in railroading. My main interest is 1880-1920 era,esp passenger equip, love those wood side cars. I enjoy all passenger equipment as I have the RGZ consist 1973 (have 16 altas car) so I can run the CZ as well. Not much into modern equip as the romance seems to be gone for me.