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My favorite layout themes are those that replicate logging, and coal mines.  I love the look and feel of these layouts.  From the timbers, cinder ballast, trees, tree stumps, trestle bridges and weathered buildings etc..it really puts me in that time period.  I notice a lot of On30 layouts are like this and I absolutely love it.  This is what makes the hobby so fun for me.  Anyone can put some track down and push a button to make the train go around, but building the scenery to the point where you can actually see yourself in this time period just puts it all together.  If you have a layout like this, share some pics!

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My plan is to loosely represent the Southern Pacific,Santa Fe and the MP/DRGW/UP/WP Transcon routes through the southwest and Rockies.Lots of desert,mountains and even Route 66.I plan to loosely model the ATSF San Bernardino station and engine shops on one end and perhaps Kansas City Union Station on the other end.

So, my favorite is the Lionel dealer displays of the 1950s, and, if I had a huge space, I would also consider recreating one of the showroom layouts (probably the one built in the late 1940s). For me, the model trains are an extension of the culture Americans had during the period that I appreciate as a student of history.

 

Looking at other peoples' layouts, I like the more realistic cityscapes set in the 1950s, particularly if there's a griminess to part of it- reminds me of a film noire or something, and can provide a more realistic look at life during the period if done well.

When I eventually get my home lay-out going (maybe this summer!) I will more than likely do a rocky and canyon sort of landscape with some high trestles. So far my only lay-out is in the store window which is in constant flux but I enjoy most making fantasy stuff for when that is the theme. It is just more fun to build. A water tank and coal bunker for the steamer tender wagon as an example:

 

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Mike

 

I like to many themes . I can't make up my mind.

 

Mountains, lots of tunnels and trees. Got to have multiple bridges and lakes or small pond or two.

 

LIGHTS, lots of them.

 

Coal, passenger station and a decent work yard.

 

OK, and a small city and a few residential houses with people and cars as well.

 

A neat airport with runway.

 

I gave up a turntable and round house for that last I want.

(SPACE always puts limits on us)

 

Incidentally this is exactly what I have tried to do on my re built lay out the last two plus.

 

 

Larry.   Have fun

If I ever build a layout, it would set in the coal fields of southern West Virginia in the mid Chessie era, probably 1977/1978. If I couldn't do that, my second choice would be industrial railroad that serves at least 2 steel mills in an urban area, similar to the Union Railroad in my area in mid 1990s.

Originally Posted by Mark Boyce:

Late. Steam era, eastern mountains, rural and small town, watch trains run and a little switching.  Nothing too complicated, but realistic scenery.  Now let's see if I can get it built!  I had it in HO and N scales.

I agree mark. My layout is late steam, eastern coal country and very simple. Good luck and enjoy building it!

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WWll to 1952, when the railroads were working above capacity and when they first got a chance to buy some new equipment. Lots of steam, but the earliest diesels are appearing.

 

As to location, I haven't imagined that yet.

 

Probably a combination of Minneapolis and Chicago. Lots of trains that I like came to/from Chicago. So maybe I would model Minneapolis but transplant the traffic/roads that frequented Chicago. Milwaukee Road is my most favorite, but the roster has lots of Santa Fe, Southern Pacific, Western Pacific, New York Central, and Pennsy! There are a bunch of streamlined steam from other roads in the "atticcombs" and they will need to stretch their legs, too.

 

Lots of long, smoothly running trains. Long passenger consists and  long, slow freight drags. Gotta give that reefer madness some vent.

 

As to season? Definitely Summer. I grew up in Minneapolis and had enough of snow in any form or place.

Last edited by RoyBoy

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