North American railroad noobie! Norfolk and western layout.

[40 058]

Evening all.

 

I’m brand new to North American railroading so basically I’m looking for advice, ideas and inspiration for a new project, aswell as a bit of info regarding prototype US operation. 
Ive been into trains forever, but always stuck religiously to U.K. stuff, so I know that pretty well… but North American ‘ways’ seem to be quite different to what goes on here.

 

I recently got myself a lovely Triang OO Alco road switcher, mainly because when I was younger a mate had one that actually originally belonged to his dad. I always remember it because it was such a great looking locomotive with its lights! Anyway, I bought one myself and that made me think about trying out my first US outline layout! 

Ive probably already gone about things the wrong way to be honest, but having had a read of a few things I decided to buy myself something to start with, then build up from that. So I decided scale-wise it’s going to be HO. And my first US locomotive to use as a starting point? Well, I decided to stick to the good old Alco, so an RS2 in Santa Fe blue & yellow has become my first HO loco. Then I got carried away and decided to get myself a GP7 in the original black and silver ATSF colours. As you do!

 

So, that is my starting point. Santa Fe in HO. But I don’t really know what to do from here! 
Ive identified a roughly 14’ x 2’ ‘shelf’ in my model shed at home which I can clear off and use as a baseboard. This is actually below one half of my U.K. outline layout. There’s plenty of space, access and light to it though. Obviously that size makes it an end to end type layout and that must include a hidden storage area. 
My thoughts so far are, because of the size, freight only line with some sort or sorts of rail served industrial site(s). Also because of the size I think shorter trains are the best way to go here. So no long multi locomotive trains! Possibly best sticking to smaller locomotives like the Alco, GP7/9 and switchers? 
Because of the locomotives I’ve just bought I think I’d be right in saying time period of early to mid 60’s?

Rough location, I want to say possibly the Chicago area? Again though, I’m not 100% positive! Where did the two locomotives and Santa Fe operate at this time period. 
Can I run locomotives from any other companies along side these?

What wagons would be suitable? Of course this will depend on specifics about the layout itself!

 

I know there’s potentially an awful lot to go through here! But I’m just after prototype info, general operating info, rolling stock info & suggestions, and some ideas and inspiration for the layout itself. 
Like I said in the thread title, I’ve got very little knowledge of US railroads so this will be like learning from scratch here!

 

Thanks in advance!

Edited September 2, 2021 by 40 058

[PaulRhB]

You can use the search boxes on here to specify company, loco and then use the keyword box to try locations too. 
I’d also choose the photo only drop down and select 60 to a page. 
Enjoy

https://www.railpictures.net

 

[mdvle]

1 hour ago, 40 058 said:

 Well, I decided to stick to the good old Alco, so an RS2 in Santa Fe blue & yellow has become my first HO loco. Then I got carried away and decided to get myself a GP7 in the original black and silver ATSF colours. As you do!

 

We all start somewhere, and in a way your minimal purchases may actually have helped you in that they have both shown what you like (from an era / paint scheme point of view) and helped to guide how you progress from here.

 

1 hour ago, 40 058 said:

Ive identified a roughly 14’ x 2’ ‘shelf’ in my model shed at home which I can clear off and use as a baseboard.

 

Lots of opportunity in that, and your choices will help you make the most of that (more later).  Is that the total space, or is there room for staging - either permanent or temporary - or even just a section of track during operating so the loco can temporarily leave the scene?

 

1 hour ago, 40 058 said:

My thoughts so far are, because of the size, freight only line with some sort or sorts of rail served industrial site(s).

 

Most US layouts are freight only - few people model passenger stuff.

 

1 hour ago, 40 058 said:

Also because of the size I think shorter trains are the best way to go here. So no long multi locomotive trains! Possibly best sticking to smaller locomotives like the Alco, GP7/9 and switchers? 
Because of the locomotives I’ve just bought I think I’d be right in saying time period of early to mid 60’s?

 

US railroads (well, most of them) switched to diesels much early than the UK.  For example, your GP7 was introduced in 1949 and the S2 in 1946

 

So you could even go into the 1950s, but even the 60s would be okay.

 

In a way it's an ideal era for those with small layouts - the locos are shorter, but so are the passengers cars - the most typical boxcar (and there was lots of boxcars) would have been 40' with some older 36' ones possibly still around (unlike the modern era where boxcars and other stuff are typically 60' or longer).

 

1 hour ago, 40 058 said:

Rough location, I want to say possibly the Chicago area? Again though, I’m not 100% positive! Where did the two locomotives and Santa Fe operate at this time period.

 

You really would need to find ATSF experts if you want to try and get that accurate - the ATSF was a big system (see map here - http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=43970

 

Or potentially start looking into books, but most US railroad books are on the expensive side.

 

1 hour ago, 40 058 said:

Can I run locomotives from any other companies along side these?

 

A number of options for this (speaking generally and not necessarily about the ATSF).

 

First, you could model an interchange track.

 

Or model a line which while owned by the ATSF had another railroad have running rights over it.

 

Or, the ATSF leased due to a power shortage locos from another railroad (I don't know if the ATSF did this, but I know for example the CPR and CNR did this in that time period (and later).

 

Finally, other than your budget there is nothing to say your layout has to be only a ATSF layout - if you make it a big generic you could always swap out the ATSF locos/caboose and run a different railroad of that era (or pushing things even into the 70s) loco and caboose.

 

1 hour ago, 40 058 said:

What wagons would be suitable? Of course this will depend on specifics about the layout itself!

 

First things first - you need to decide on the industries that will be on your layout for you to switch as that will decide what type of freight cars you will need.  The only safe thing to say is that there will be a dominance of boxcars as the specialized hoppers and other cars hadn't really appeared yet.

 

You will also likely need a caboose (or a couple) in that era - the caboose didn't get eliminated until 1990 approximately.

 

The good news though is that your freight car fleet, while it will have a lot of ATSF cars, will also have a lot of cars from the numerous other railroads in the US and Canada.

 

The key point going forward is to decide on your era, and then use that to guide any further purchases - not just that the equipment is suitable for that era, but the paint scheme (all assuming of course that you want to generally be accurate).

 

An easy first start to help you become familiar with US railroads and there terms would be Model Railroad Hobbyist, which is a free PDF magazine put out each month - and with an account you can get at their back issues for free was welll (they started out as an entirely free e-magazine but several years ago also added a paid second part to the free version).

 

https://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/

 

 

Edited August 20, 2021 by mdvle

[mdvle]

You can also spend/waste some time looking at this site that hosts a lot of layouts designed by one person for ideas, or to even get an idea on how US track layouts differ from UK ones

 

http://www.jomrd.com/

[BR60103]

As a common rule, any freight car could show up anywhere, with exceptions for really specialized stuff. Locos and cabooses would be home road unless there were running rights (or leases).

Santa Fe ran from Chicago to Los Angeles. That's 3 time zones. There were lots of branch lines.  The rules probably match with those for British branches, but with less passenger traffic.  You might pick an industry for your line. A common situation would be a small prairie town with grain elevators and goods deliveries. (Prairies would let you build it all flat.)

Only problem is your TriAng diesel which is incompatible with anything else, including most recent track.

 

[Keith Addenbrooke]

Hi there 40 058, a great choice of theme and some really helpful advice from the contributions above.  
 

One entirely free source of advice on getting into the ATSF - though perhaps a little later and more rural than your preferences indicate- is all the help I received here on RMweb at the end of last year / start of this year.  My own project paused (due to space reasons at home) so the thread has slipped down the Forum, but if you follow the link in my signature to “Modelling the ATSF in 1970 in HO” you’ll find loads of great information that was shared with me (just skip past my own musings).

 

If I might pass on two pieces of advice I’ve found particularly helpful, one would be to explore aspects of US modelling other than just the trains - the style and size of buildings is quite different, and I’ve really enjoyed putting together a couple of Walthers building kits for example.  The second is that I needed to learn a different way of sourcing items to the one I was used to with buying for OO layouts: hunting down things I really want is now part of the game.  
 

Have fun, be good to see how you get on, Keith.

[40 058]

Thanks for everything so far guys! Some great advice and links for some bedtime reading!

 

Just a few things in regards to the above:

 

The total size available is 14’ so the hidden storage area must be incorporated into that. I’m thinking of having a hidden storage area in the rear section of the baseboard, with a scenic feature/freight yard or whatever in front of it to hide it. Perhaps some tall trees/rocky area/big buildings etc used to hide the access road into/out of the storage area.

 

I do like the idea of making the layout a bit generic. From what I gather so far most companies had their own track and routes so different companies using the same track seems less plausible on a small space branch line?? (I might be well off with this of course!). 
At least going for a more generic look would allow, eventually, a few different companies stock to be used depending on what I fancy running.

 

The Triang diesel… I’m not actually going to use that on this project. Being OO scale it’s not going to look right with HO, plus the couplings are not compatible and I’m not altering the Triang Alco! It’s in lovely condition and still boxed so that more for my collection than to be used. 
When I said Alco, I’ve actually bought a second one! This is HO Walthers Proto 1000. The GP7 is Proto 2000. Ive got no idea what the difference is? I’m guessing more/less details and extras?

On the ‘sourcing items’ front. 
Ive actually already noticed that US outline stuff isn’t particularly well catered for here. There’s some stuff available but certainly not a comprehensive range like you get with OO. 
The HO Alco I got was already in the U.K., but the GP7 is actually coming over from Illinois! 
To be honest, getting stuff from the US isn’t a problem for me. I know it takes a while to get here and the postage can add up but it is what it is. 
Ive actually got an American car, which I bought in the US and shipped over here so I’m already familiar with getting parts etc etc from the US and so far had no problems. 
 

 

While I think about what exactly I’m going to do, a couple more questions if I may!?

 

I assume HO couplings are all the same and compatible with different manufacturers, in a similar way U.K. outline OO gauge ones do?

 

Track. I’ve seen some specific US style track from various companies and Peco’s normal track should work too, but what’s considered best?

 

[barkingdigger]

1 hour ago, 40 058 said:

I assume HO couplings are all the same and compatible with different manufacturers, in a similar way U.K. outline OO gauge ones do?

Well, yes and no.  The metal "knuckle" style of couplers made famous by Kadee are mostly compatible with other knuckle couplers, but even so there can be issues between the newer brands that sprang up when Kadee's patents expired.  Several manufacturers such as McHenry offer their own versions, mostly in plastic rather than metal, and these are often found on high-end locos and stock, but I prefer using only Kadees on my stock.  Be aware that the standard original Kadees are a tad overscale to make them reliable, and they also offer "scale" ones that are not really compatible with the originals due to their smaller size.  There are other styles of unrealistic plastic "toy train" couplers that come with some brands of rolling stock - known as horn-hook - but these look terrible and are not at all compatible with knuckle types so need replaced.

 

 

1 hour ago, 40 058 said:

 

 

[slow8dirty]

Hi,

 

very much in the same position as you but opted for N. Some inspiration from these pages if you haven't already found them.

 

 

Your space is perfect for some kind of small( US small!) switching layout Due to the way US railroads operating  a shunting/switching plank offers much more operational interest than the same amount of UK real estate. (Although you're modelling the weekly visit rather than a days operation, possibly).

If you haven't already found him, look up Lance Mindheim and his models and books. An interesting change of pace from the basement empires we foreigners assume is all the Americans model.

This youtube channel I've found is good for getting the feel of a modern shortline and I've learnt loads from watching the daily activities of the CCET. The host is very much a good old boy!

 

[PaulRhB]

58 minutes ago, slow8dirty said:

This youtube channel I've found is good for getting the feel of a modern shortline and I've learnt loads from watching the daily activities of the CCET. The host is very much a good old boy!

The stills at 8:20 are good for details too. 

[mdvle]

2 hours ago, 40 058 said:

I do like the idea of making the layout a bit generic. From what I gather so far most companies had their own track and routes so different companies using the same track seems less plausible on a small space branch line?? (I might be well off with this of course!). 

 

Yes. Each railroad owns and maintains their own track (hence the issues Amtrak/VIA have attempting to run to schedule when they are on freight railroad owned tracks), though as noted there are times when they find it to their advantage (or perhaps the regulator stepped in) to allow access to a different railroad.

 

Unlikely on a rural branchline, probably - but there likely is an exception out there somewhere.

 

Of course nothing says you have to do a rural branchline - inner city could also be an option.

 

2 hours ago, 40 058 said:

At least going for a more generic look would allow, eventually, a few different companies stock to be used depending on what I fancy running.

 

Yep, and as long as you avoid a passenger station or freight shed (easy on a layout your size) you avoid anything that might have the identity of a specific railroad.

 

2 hours ago, 40 058 said:

When I said Alco, I’ve actually bought a second one! This is HO Walthers Proto 1000. The GP7 is Proto 2000. Ive got no idea what the difference is? I’m guessing more/less details and extras?

 

About 20 years ago Walthers bought out Life Like, who had 3 product lines.

 

Life Like (toys), Proto 1000 (less detail) and Proto 2000 (detail and accuracy).

 

Similarly, going from less detail to more detail and accuracy for current manufacturers

 

ScaleTrains - Operator / Rivet Counter / Museum Quality

Athearn - Roundhouse / RTR / Genesis / Genesis 2.0

 

Note: Bachmann US does not have the same reputation as Bachmann UK - while their products will run well enough, they aren't necessarily all that detailed as Bachmann US aims more for the mass market/toy end of the spectrum.

 

If you want to buy new releases then you should watch the manufacturers (or watch the thread at the top of this forum) as many either don't make lots of extra for inventory or they only announce when it is in stock (Tangent) and so can sell out quick.

 

2 hours ago, 40 058 said:

On the ‘sourcing items’ front. 
Ive actually already noticed that US outline stuff isn’t particularly well catered for here. There’s some stuff available but certainly not a comprehensive range like you get with OO. 

 

As noted in another thread Rails of Sheffield has started doing North American stuff, but are learning.

 

A good resource is the Walthers website (not only do they make trains, but they are also a long standing distributor of other companies products, and carry hundreds of different companies products.  If you can find it on the Walthers website and it is in stock, any UK retailer that deals with Walthers should be able to order it for you.  Rails of Sheffield and Gaugemaster are 2 (there may be more) who deal with Walthers.  This can be more important if you start needing smaller items where the shipping becomes more troublesome.

 

2 hours ago, 40 058 said:

I assume HO couplings are all the same and compatible with different manufacturers, in a similar way U.K. outline OO gauge ones do?

 

Initially (which you will only run into if you get some really old (25+ years) stuff on say eBay) the horn hook coupler (aka X2F) was used but about 25 years ago in a short time everyone switched over to knuckle style couplers that are all supposed to be (and generally are) compatible with each other.  As noted though, some of them are made of plastic, which many don't like.

 

2 hours ago, 40 058 said:

Track. I’ve seen some specific US style track from various companies and Peco’s normal track should work too, but what’s considered best?

 

Peco's Code 83 line is held in high regard, and would be more than okay for your layout.  It might be a bit big for a small 1950/1960 branch line with Code 70 being more appropriate, but Peco's Code 70 track is behind schedule.

 

Microengineering is also good, as is Atlas (if not necessarily quite as accurate.  But in your case, if it is available you are likely better off simply using Peco as it is local.

 

 

[mdvle]

Another though, though this will depend on your goals.

 

If you want to operate prototypically then consider DCC/Sound.  A large part of US operations are based on sound (and in the modern era lights) - things like using the horn for every road crossing, using the bell to indicate you are going to start moving, and in the pre-radio era using the horn to communicate with crew on the ground I think.

[40 058]

5 minutes ago, mdvle said:

Another though, though this will depend on your goals.

 

If you want to operate prototypically then consider DCC/Sound.  A large part of US operations are based on sound (and in the modern era lights) - things like using the horn for every road crossing, using the bell to indicate you are going to start moving, and in the pre-radio era using the horn to communicate with crew on the ground I think.

 

This did cross my mind actually. I’ve never used DCC for my U.K. models, mainly because I’ve got absolutely loads of it and equipping it all with DCC would be eye wateringly expensive. Plus the layout is already wired for DC.

 

Starting this project however means I should probably join the modern age and just design it and build it with DCC in mind from the beginning?
Plus, it’s probable that I’ll be having significantly fewer US locomotives to fit DCC decoders into. At least for some time!

 

I guess fitting decoders to most US models is a simple plug & play job similar to U.K. locomotives from the last few decades?

 

Its interesting you mention Bachmann US. I was actually looking at a few of their new locomotives and, though they did look nice, there was something a bit ‘off’ with them. Details seemed a bit basic and lacking and the underframe on their RS2 looked very flat and basic. 
Are Walthers locomotives good then? The ones I’ve seen so far look superb…

 

Generally, when it comes to rolling stock and locomotives I’m keen to go with the high(er) end of the spectrum. I’ll take quality over quantity I think!
 

[John M Upton]

A word to the wise regarding Proto 2000 locos, lovely things to work with, look good and fairly cheap to source but are prone to a notorious gear split problem on certain models, easily fixed though if you can get the parts.

 

Sometimes worth picking up a couple of cheap spares/repair ones to supply spare bits if you can find them cheaply enough.

 

Also be aware that based on my recent experiences, Proto 2000 GP's have an irritating habit of being converted into a kit of parts by the Royal Mail if the seller has not secured it in the box properly...

[D9020 Nimbus]

Some additional suggestions for reading. The 2021 issue of Model Railroad Planning (an annual magazine produced by the publishers of Model Railroader) contained an article on a layout featuring two ATSF branch lines in Kansas. You should be able to get an electronic copy via Zinio; you may be able to get a paper copy via SPV (it was published back in January).

 

There is a DVD featuring the first 25 years of Model Railroad Planning. If there are any still left, it'll be available from KalmbachHobbyStore.com. It includes PDFs for the issues of MRP from 1995–2019 inclusive.

[Monkersson]

I might get shot here, but I find modelling US Railroads much less 'restrictive' than my usual UK and German outline.  Main reason is lack of familiarity.  Although I am probably even less familiar with German outline!  Even though I say to myself that 'if it looks right, it is right', I can sometimes get really hung up on insignificant details, whereas with US outline, the lack of cab interiors in some loco's doesn't bother me!

 

From looking at pictures (Fallen Flags website) it seemed that anything goes was the order of the day with rolling stock!  The freight stock in any given formation (on manifest services) could come from any of the surrounding railroads, and indeed further afield.  

 

I've been slowly building up stock for Chicago based urban Rock Island layout, set in the mid 70's, around 8ft by 15in.  Reason, I like the red body/yellow nose livery!  I have 2 loco's  RS-3 and GP35 (I think) by Atlas and Athearn respectively.  The Athearn loco is a ready to roll DCC plug and play, the Atlas is from the Classics range and the DCC chip is incorporated in a replacement circuit board that needs soldered in place - not a huge deal.

 

Wagons are mostly blue box Athearn and Roundhouse products, but some others are there too.  All couplings are Kadee, which either came with the stock, or I'm replacing with.  I'd say I have 70% boxcars vs 20% powder/grain hoppers and the rest are gondola's and tanks.  No cabeese though, need to get a couple. There were still a lot of 40 and 50ft long boxcars in my chosen period, and a mix of short/full height access laddering.

 

If you are aiming for the higher end loco's, keep in mind that that some Walthers loco's are very old tooling, but a simple look of a picture will tell you that.  Likewise some Atlas products are old tooling - though these are in the Classics range as touched on above (even older Atlas products can be quite crude too so keep a keen eye, and a google search will help).  As you mention, Bachmann are a bit short on detail (though their newer Amtrak loco's are quite incredible).  Some P2000 loco's suffer from split gears - there are replacement axles available though, and its easy to swap them out.  Scale Trains and Rapido loco's are works of art!

 

Bits and pieces can be quite hard to source, but you'll be able find/order them at the importers mentioned up thread.

 

Have fun!

 

 

 

 

Edited August 21, 2021 by Monkersson

[mdvle]

6 hours ago, 40 058 said:

Starting this project however means I should probably join the modern age and just design it and build it with DCC in mind from the beginning?

 

I mentioned it because as you noted there isn't the all at once financial hit when starting out that exists when you already have a sizeable fleet.

 

But at the end of the day it is up to you to decide whether the financial cost (not just the decoders, but the control system) is worth it.

 

6 hours ago, 40 058 said:

Plus, it’s probable that I’ll be having significantly fewer US locomotives to fit DCC decoders into. At least for some time!

 

I think a lot of us say that...

 

Myself, after about 25 years, with no layout, have 7 locos and 2 steam locos and a TurboTrains.

 

6 hours ago, 40 058 said:

I guess fitting decoders to most US models is a simple plug & play job similar to U.K. locomotives from the last few decades?

 

Not sure.  For the last 10 years I would say yes, but beyond that I don't know - particularly for some of the older tooling.

 

And of course if going for sound there is always the issue of finding space for the speaker if the designer didn't plan for sound.

 

6 hours ago, 40 058 said:

Its interesting you mention Bachmann US. I was actually looking at a few of their new locomotives and, though they did look nice, there was something a bit ‘off’ with them. Details seemed a bit basic and lacking and the underframe on their RS2 looked very flat and basic. 

 

As you noted, they can be a bit basic - though some of their stuff (more steam) is actually reasonable if not up to the level of other manufactuers.  And interesting that you noticed the underframe - many people are currently raving about Bachmann's new-ish model of the SIemens Charger (the latest passenger loco) and I look at the videos and the body is okay but the trucks are 2 dimensional.

 

They problem of course is that in some cases they are the only option.

 

6 hours ago, 40 058 said:

Are Walthers locomotives good then? The ones I’ve seen so far look superb…

 

Generally yes.  Walthers is known to have very good mechanisms, and of course one can look at pictures to decide if the model looks good enough.

 

6 hours ago, 40 058 said:

Generally, when it comes to rolling stock and locomotives I’m keen to go with the high(er) end of the spectrum. I’ll take quality over quantity I think!

 

It's a good philosophy, particularly when one only has a smallish shelf layout where you can justify spending more on fewer items.

 

If you want to go higher end then your first stop should be Tangent, Arrowhead Models, Rapido, Athearn Genesis 2.0(*), ScaleTrains Rivet Counter or Museum, and possibly Atlas Master.

 

The problem of course is that there were so many railroads - who all liked to do their own thing - that you can't always get what you need from those product lines.

 

I also had another thought about cabooses - you potentially could get away without one - just claim/pretend that the road crew left it a bit up the line (off scene) to do the switching.

 

* - Athearn introduced their Genesis line about 20 years ago, and several years ago introduced Genesis 2.0 - this was because Genesis was starting to show it's age, so it is a way to differentiate the better details, better lighting effects of modern tooling - whether new item or where they upgrade/replace existing Genesis tooling.

[mdvle]

1 hour ago, Monkersson said:

From looking at pictures (Fallen Flags website) it seemed that anything goes was the order of the day with rolling stock!  The freight stock in any given formation (on manifest services) could come from any of the surrounding railroads, and indeed further afield. 

 

I suspect that is one of the bigger differences/surprises for those coming from European trains.

 

It might be a bit of an over generalization as I'm not familiar with mainland Europe, but since about WW2 for the most part each country only had 1 railway - and even the last couple of decades of privatization and open access haven't really changed things all that much.

 

The US was much more different (Canada has essentially only had 2 major railroads since CN was created by the government in 1919 with a small number of regional railroads) and had quite a few railroads.

 

This means that one can see lots of foreign road cars - because it all depends on where the goods originated.  Example, Canada use to be a big player in paper, particularly newsprint - so you could see CN or CP boxcars even into the southern US.  Or in the steam era north eastern US coal hoppers were seen in Canada because that was where the coal was sourced.

 

Or in some cases - more in the automotive manufacturing - when moving parts between the maker of parts and the assembly factory the railroads the trains would move across would create a pool of cars - so certain paths would have 30% from A, 20% from B, 10% from C and 40% from D for example and the cars where entirely interchangeable on that service.  This Tangent page for their 86' High Cube Boxcars starts to get into the pooling topic https://www.tangentscalemodels.com/greenville-86-high-cube-double-plug-door-box-car/

 

Even today I (living in Canada in southern Ontario) can regularly see not just US freight cars on CN, but even Mexican - and even US locos.

 

 

 

 

[40 058]

So in theory then, there’s nothing wrong with me having a collection of Santa Fe locomotives, and using a mixture of other companies cargo cars behind them? That would be completely normal?

Id guess though that in a normal train the majority of freight cars would also be Santa Fe cars, since it’s Santa Fe’s network?

 

Just seems a bit odd coming from British Rail where everything was owned by one company and went pretty much anywhere without changing into other companies networks. 

[barkingdigger]

Freight-car loading was based on rules that meant railroads tried to use up any local empty "foreign" cars to send them back home as a priority over using their own cars, so if you have active customers on your layout they may well see a mix of cars from other roads depending on where their products are headed.  (That's part of the fun of US modelling!)

 

On the P2K split gears issue, their GPs can use Athearn gears as replacements - these are more robust and not prone to splitting.  IIRC the issue was that the P2K gears were a fraction too tight on the metal axles, causing them to split...

[mdvle]

2 hours ago, 40 058 said:

So in theory then, there’s nothing wrong with me having a collection of Santa Fe locomotives, and using a mixture of other companies cargo cars behind them? That would be completely normal?

Id guess though that in a normal train the majority of freight cars would also be Santa Fe cars, since it’s Santa Fe’s network?

 

Yes, that's normal.  You would expect that (at a rough guess) say 50% of the freight cars would be SF - because SF would both originate stuff on the SF that would be going onto other railroads, and because there would be at least some traffic that originated and ended on the SF network.

 

2 hours ago, 40 058 said:

Just seems a bit odd coming from British Rail where everything was owned by one company and went pretty much anywhere without changing into other companies networks. 

 

The key point is that the US never had any 1 railroad that served the entire country.  Thus at some point freight needed to change railroads, and the easiest way was to simply allow the freight car continue the journey (the alternative, to transship the cargo from say a SF boxcar to a NYC boxcar, really doesn't make sense.

 

This was particularly the case for time sensitive / fragile stuff like fruit/vegetables, and fruit is itself an interesting subject.  Even back then California was a major producer, and obviously had to find a way to get the produce across the country.  Hence the development of the Reefer, a specialized boxcar that was insulated and had bunkers for ice to keep the insides cool.  ATSF had a fleet of their own Reefers (coming at some point from Rapido in one set of variations), but other railroads formed partnerships like PFE (Pacific Fruit Express - mainly UP/SP) to own / manage the fleet of Reefers.

 

 

[BR60103]

The US RRs tend to stop somewhere around Chicago (or a line south from there). There were eastern lines and western lines.  Lines going the same way were competitors and rivals for business. A car originating on ATSF destined for a UP served siding would be kept on the SF as long as possible as they were paid by distance.  Unless the shipper had specified a different routing.  There would be a different consideration for roads that had an end-to-end connection; they had to pass the car on.

 

There was a colourful era -- the 70s? -- when a car shortage produced what were called "per diem" boxcars whose purpose was to be given to other roads so as to collect the daily rental rate.  The co-operative one was Railbox but a lot of shortlines were reputed to have more boxcars than they had track. (Pickens, St Lawrence come to mind).

 

Couplings: Kadee make a lot of different mountings to cater for a lot of different cars to mount them on. The working ends are all compatible (except for "scale" and "old-timey" variations). Kadee held their patent closely until it expired and then all sorts of people started to make clones. The NMRA/X2f/horn-hook was royalty free, but not always  made to spec. (there are a bunch of threads about Kadee on here. Also a few about Kaydee.   )

 

[Nearholmer]

Donkeys years ago, Model Railroader used to publish what would now be called a bookazine containing about twenty very well explained layout ideas - I think it was a collection of ‘plans of the month’. It explained the layout concept, and a fair bit about the prototype that inspired each, and covered a lot of different styles of railroad. I found it a very useful primer, and although I didn’t build any of the suggested layouts, I nicked a lot of good ideas from it.

 

Worth looking out for a copy, and hopefully somebody will remember what it was called!

 

The result BTW, was a 15ft x 500mm (yes, mixed units!) layout, and the FY was behind a scenic section at one end, so all 15ft was scenery, and various tracks straggled all the way along. Plenty of switching without looking at all crowded. Inspiration was this line c1955-65 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belfast_and_Moosehead_Lake_Railroad_(1871–2007) Until 1960, they operated one or two car passenger trains, so the equivalent of a U.K. BLT layout was entirely practical.

 

 

Edited August 22, 2021 by Nearholmer

[barkingdigger]

Model Railroader magazine (or rather its parent company) has published books called Model Railroad Planning pretty much every year, with a mix of layout plans based on what they saw during the year.  They are very useful for ideas!

[long island jack]

this may help 

 

http://www.jomrd.com/index.php