Modeling a real railroad in a specific era
The budget and space certainly does not allow an entire class
I railroad, or even an entire short line to be modeled (It would
take at least 6,069 feet of track in HO scale to model a 100-mile
short line, without sidings – well over the $500 budget).
Focusing on an era helps eliminate distractions when visiting
the hobby shop. So now, no matter how great that 40’ boxcar
looks, if it isn’t in service on the railroad during the era that has
been chosen, it won’t be purchased.
I won’t mention the specific railroad I chose to model, because
I may change my mind. I will say I chose a modern-era North
American short line with 100 miles of track and a good variety
of industries to model. It interchanges with two class I railroads
and terminates in a small city.
Research
The decision to focus on the modern era and an operating rail-
road greatly reduces the amount of research time. Using the
Internet and tools such as Google Maps or the Maps app on an
iPad to gather railroad specific information can greatly help in
researching the railroad.
My research focused the following questions:
What route does the railroad follow?
Does the geography change along the route?
What is the track arrangement in general over the route?
Location of passing tracks, interchanges?
What towns does the track pass through?
What industries are being served in what towns, based on
satellite images?
$500 layout 1st place - 2
What are the track arrangements for those industries (if sat-
ellite resolution permits)?
What motive power is being used?
What equipment is being used?
After spending a couple of evenings “flying” over the short line
using Google Maps and the iPad Maps app, I found the satel-
lite images from Google Maps lagged the iPad Maps satellite
images. A wood pellet manufacturer had added a siding along-
side an existing siding, and an animal feed industry was built
with a runaround track for that industry. The Google Street
View image was newer, and confirmed the additional siding
2. The feed industry with covered hopper (left) sitting
on a recently built runaround track. Selecting to model
between the building and the track, with the implied
building in the aisle, will reduce cost.
2
MRH-Jun 2014
