Where and why do you model a geographical area?

[Talltim]

Following on from the poll about eras and ages, I thought it would be interesting see how people choose where they model. I’ve purposely kept geographic area open to interpretation, it might be as large as a continent or as small as a siding. Period doesn’t matter.

I’ve made it about modelling rather than layouts to include those people who are planning, or just have stock etc. (And for the pedantic, I’m including owning unmodified RTR as modelling in this case)

Both questions can have multiple answers, plenty of people have more than one railway modelling interest.

Edited June 1, 2018 by Talltim

[Talltim]

Also something I thought of last night, but forgot to mention.

For people who have created an imaginary location for their layout, that location could still be in a real area, or somewhere completely made up (eg Sodor).

Edited January 24, 2018 by Talltim

[The Johnster]

I model a railway set in the South Wales Coalfield because of family connection, childhood memory, and familiarity.  I cannot imagine modelling a non Welsh prototype, probably due to national pride and the need that I have to provide a backstory for my railway; I am not familiar enough with areas outside the Principality to do this to my satisfaction. 

 

I chose a real location, a South Wales valley never in reality developed or exploited for mining or industrial purposes that preserves a little of the sylvan loveliness of 2 and half centuries ago, farmland and forest surrounded by mountain grazing.  In my model world, it is the 1950s and a coal mine, the village around it, and various other small industries and businesses provide the traffic; Tondu shed provides the locos.

[bike2steam]

Similar(ish) to above but North side of the Black Country & South Staffs. Not so much 'I model an area I know well', but more, 'I model an area I KNEW well' 1950/60's.   

[The Stationmaster]

The $64,000 question for me was choosing between two runners that were top of the league (my idea of a league that is) hence my choice between them was influenced by two factors so thanks for allowing more than one to be chosen.  I wonder how many people will have been influenced by more than one factor?

[johnlambert]

I can't remember now which factor came higher in my priorities but I wanted to model an area I knew and somewhere that was well supported with ready-to-run models (in N gauge where there is slightly less variety).  Modelling a location near me in Warwickshire on the former GWR line to Birmingham felt like a natural choice.  Every time I travell on the line from Leamington to Birmingham I find myself imaginging what it must have been like in the 1950s and 60s, big 4-6-0s on the expresses, big trains of mineral wagons from Banbury, through trains from the South East (oil tankers and passenger services) plus steam or first-generation DMU local passenger services.  It's fair to say that this has inspired me to try and re-create these scenes in minature.

[APOLLO]

I have three model railways.

 

My O gauge North American layout is located in the Rocky mountains just west of Colorado Springs, I've never been there, nor did the Rock Island Railroad !! (it did get to Colorado springs though). I like to model the mountain scenery, sharp curves and fierce grades.

 

My main loft layout is based on the North Notts area, A mix of GC / GN / MR - LNER LMS. All are my favourite railways, also I like to model industrial grot. Mine is an imaginary GC / GN joint line north of Nottinghan, which splits, GC to Sheffield & GN to Doncaster - MR is the high level goods lines - I can therfore run almost anything LMS / LNER / BR !!.

 

My smaller loft layout is pure Wigan (well Ince actually), Half of it is the GC Wigan Central line modelled from Darlington St Goods to Lower Ince Station, the other half is the LNWR Springs Branch modelled from Central Wagon at Manchester Road to Kirkless Works. Both of these lines crossed and connected (but not quite as I have modelled !!).

I knew this area very well as a kid, I wasn't born or grown up there, but my mother was, and Ince railways always interested me when visiting grandparents etc.

 

Brit15

Edited January 24, 2018 by APOLLO

[Ozexpatriate]

I wonder how many people will have been influenced by more than one factor?

The second question (why) easily has multiple valid answers.

 

Voting for the first question only has multiple valid answers when one has multiple and different regional modelling interests, but that is a valid outcome.

[MarcD]

I have cheated I have created a layout that can change location depending on the stock running on it and the buildings in use. The layout can run as Furness, Great Eastern (Wisbech and Upwell), LBSCR/LSWR or Cambrian/Manchester and  Milford and North Eastern/North Sunderland. 

 

We change stock, buildings and the Name. We will be taking the layout to Bristol Model Railway Show in May and the NEC in November in these cases we will be running as Lowick Furness Rly.

 

 

Marc

 

[Talltim]

The second question (why) easily has multiple valid answers.

 

Voting for the first question only has multiple valid answers when one has multiple and different regional modelling interests, but that is a valid outcome.

I do, thats why I made multiple votes possible!

[Zomboid]

Louisiana. Because I want to model the Southern Pacific, and DanielB of this forum made me aware of a particular place in Louisiana which was served by the SP, is highly modelgenic and could be compressed into my available space without losing its character.

It's a "loosely inspired by" model, rather than anything accurate.

[newbryford]

I mostly model what I do because it's within an hour of my doorstep.

Current day North West England. So far, I think I'm on layout number 6 (not all mine, I hasten to add)

 

If the information isn't already available on the internet, I go and photograph it - simples.

 

As a result, the vast majority of my stock is suitable for such a location, but a particular subject - yellow test trains  - means I am now building a layout to promote that particular interest with my Deadmans Lane project.

 

I'm always thinking two layouts ahead and one of them is on the back of a holiday and an almost chance encounter with a US shortline.............

The web is a great resource for research -particularly when it comes to recent/current operations worldwide

 

My voting may be a bit eclectic.

 

Cheers,

Mick

[PaulRhB]

 

My voting may be a bit eclectic.

Not half as mine

I model such a variety that I fit most of the categories, some I know well others I've made up based on a few photos to capture the feel. I don't really understand myself what exactly 'hits the spot' as some is modern, others old, some close to home and others thousands of miles away. Add to that Steam, diesel and electric and a variety of liveries

[Talltim]

Pretty much all my interests have been sparked by a single photo of that subject

[Andy Hayter]

I have answered with respect to my UK layout.  Had I answered for the continental ones the answers would have been different - perhaps diametrically opposed.

 

However I can sum up all of them by saying that they either represent a real place that had no railway, or real railways where the place is invented (within the geographical context of the railway).

[sir douglas]

many boxes were ticked with me as i want to model my local area but i also want to model my favourite locos that worked on the other side of the world, ive never been there and might never get to go but i know those places well from photos, books and maps

[GreenGiraffe22]

I model East Sussex because my family comes from Brighton /Lewes/Eastbourne and all the towns in between for generations and I have a fascination with local history =)

 

I found a couple of distant ancestral cousins on the LBSCR employment records, they were station porters at Lewes =)

Edited January 25, 2018 by GreenGiraffe22

[Steamport Southport]

My loft layout is based on a LMS/GWR Joint line on the English/Welsh border. This was decided by what I liked and what was available at the time, mainly it was Mainline with a bit of Airfix and Hornby. With kits making up the rest. I have a bit of knowledge of the area.

 

My planned layout, which is not yet built but which I have been building and buying stock for, is a Southern Region suburban station in the late 1950s up to the mid 1960s. Mostly EMUs with occasional SR steam. This started when I bought a DC Kits 2EPB. That was before the RTR manufacturers started to make EMUs. I have no connections to the area and have only vaguely visited "south of the river" a couple of times.

 

In both cases I think it's the stock that mattered rather than the actual location.

 

 

 

Jason

[Torper]

I model my local area, but in an alternative universe. This means that while keeping things largely recognisable I can if I so fancy depart a bit from what might normally be expected and still have a perfectly good answer to any criticism (well, I think it's a good answer).

 

DT

[Nearholmer]

In the past, I’ve modelled a US short line in a place I’ve never been to (and never had a railroad), because the place looked so attractive and because it allowed me to use diesel locos that were, at the time, vastly better quality than the UK r-t-r ones.

 

My current 0 gauge train-set is inspired by Wealden East Sussex, where I grew up, and where the Bluebell keeps the flame alive for the Real Southern Railway, and East London, where work has taken me occasionally, and the atmosphere of workaday urban bustle and intrigue is still tangible in places. (Actually, the layout is mostly grey plywood so far, but you know what I mean.)

 

In between, all sorts of other things.

 

I do wonder whether the business of coming round, eventually, to modelling the area one knew as a child might be part of some sort of “book-ending” of life experiences.

[45568]

 Every time I travell on the line from Leamington to Birmingham I find myself imaginging what it must have been like in the 1950s and 60s, big 4-6-0s on the expresses, big trains of mineral wagons from Banbury, through trains from the South East (oil tankers and passenger services) plus steam or first-generation DMU local passenger services.  It's fair to say that this has inspired me to try and re-create these scenes in minature.

It was bl00dy marvellous, believe me!!

Cheers from Oz,

Peter C.

[Colin_McLeod]

I am one of the 8 voters who dont model a particular area but the software then insisted I answer the second question even though it was irrelevant.

 

 

Interesting results and discussion though.

[pharrc20]

I am slowly building up a model based on Railfreight operations in the Peak District area between 1989 and 1991 mainly based on my own few memories of visits to Buxton and Peak Forest plus freights originating from there passing through my home patch Hazel Grove.

 

Having had the baseboards built, track laid, wired, tested and ballasted and tested I am now in the stock collecting phase to bolster my existing Buxton based 37/5 fleet and visiting locos plus the relevant BR and Private Owner wagons that were used around this time. Some of these are rtr, converted rtr or scratchbuilt to suit. The availability of photos on Flickr and videos on YouTube all contribute to ensuring the scene is set correctly.

 

Although not based on a real place I have drawn inspiration from the main quarries in the area with a suitable track layout to suit. A lack of room precludes me from having the layout up to work on at present.

 

Paul

[F-UnitMad]

I'm surprised that in Q2, the last option of "I like the railways that run there" is currently trailing somewhat behind two other options.

 

What's the point of modelling somewhere if you don't like the trains themselves..??

[Andy Hayter]

If you chose another answer, it does not mean you do not like the railways that ran there, just that that was not the (prime) reason why you model there.

 

I like the PLM railway of France.  It stretches between Paris and the Italian Mediterranean border.  I chose to model somewhere in the Central Massif because it is an area I know and like.  It also allows me to legitimately model the PLM.  I could equally have modelled Paris, or Nice.  These are neither areas that I know nor like but would still allow me to model the PLM - but I don't for the simple reason that I don't know them and could not model them with justice.