Themed Stock vs. Generic Stock

[Sir TophamHatt]

I note a lot of people buy into a theme or era with their stock.  While I'm more of a modern image person, I probably have more steam than diesel at the moment!

But my layout, currently could house either steam or diesel and neither would look out of place.

 

I get the number one rule with modelling but a great example is wagons:

 

I have an opportunity to buy some Bachmann EWS hoppers at £10 less per wagon than retail.  But £280 odd is a fair amount to invest with something I'd only be able to use with EWS locos (of which I have only an 08 shunter at the moment).

 

I have a DRS Class 68, and plan to buy a Hattons EWS 66 when they're released; although I'm not really a freight person.  But it'll be a bit more interesting to run something other than just passenger all the time.

 

So do I think about something more generic that I could run with the 68 as well?  I originally thought about the yellow Dapol IOA wagons as I can run them with anything.  But at £35 a pop, quite a lot for a rake of 10.  And they're bright!

 

So if you lock yourself in to a theme or era, are you afraid of not being able to run certain things?

Or do you tend to stick to more generic locos/wagons that could run with anything?

[St. Simon]

Hi,

 

In this situation, I tend to use 1 of 3 excuses:

 

1. The loco is on long term hire from another company (quite prevalent at one stage a few years ago)
2. The loco is covering for another failed loco (I do this with my Southern 4-CEPs, where a 'heritage unit' is covering for a failed Electrostar)
3. The loco is waiting a repaint into a different livery (useful where you have old BR liveried locos)

It is a problem, particularly with diesel / electric era stock whereby the liveries are now much more 'branded' than steam stuff, so it's harder to get away with 'generic' stock. But of course, there are expections to rules that DB locos run DB trains and DRS locos run DRS trains. One of the most common is engineering trains, where any engineering stock (NR liveried or in DB / EWS livery) is hauled by almost any loco, some with inspection trains.

 

It's really up to what you prefer and what you are willing to spend on it.

 

Simon

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

...So if you lock yourself in to a theme or era, are you afraid of not being able to run certain things?

 

Herr Doctor advises: Zis proplem iss eliminated by ze Modeleisenbahn off ze interesting epoche off ze historiches Britishes Eisenbahn. Vich is everyzing until fifty-vun years ago.

 

Leave 200Gns with the receptionist as you depart... (Kein aksent, viel Geld.)

[Kris]

I do only purchase things that fit my modelling era and location, unless I intend to sell the item on. It doesn't worry me at all that I can't run some items. I can't afford to buy everything so by being focused on era and location I remove this pressure.

[Catkins]

I always remember the following rules:-

Rule 1, It's my railway, I'll run what I like with what I want.
Rule 2, see rule 1

[The Johnster]

I do only purchase things that fit my modelling era and location, unless I intend to sell the item on. It doesn't worry me at all that I can't run some items. I can't afford to buy everything so by being focused on era and location I remove this pressure.

[Steamport Southport]

This pretty much sums up my philosophy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jason

[The Black Hat]

I note a lot of people buy into a theme or era with their stock.  While I'm more of a modern image person, I probably have more steam than diesel at the moment!

But my layout, currently could house either steam or diesel and neither would look out of place.

 

I get the number one rule with modelling but a great example is wagons:

 

I have an opportunity to buy some Bachmann EWS hoppers at £10 less per wagon than retail.  But £280 odd is a fair amount to invest with something I'd only be able to use with EWS locos (of which I have only an 08 shunter at the moment).

 

I have a DRS Class 68, and plan to buy a Hattons EWS 66 when they're released; although I'm not really a freight person.  But it'll be a bit more interesting to run something other than just passenger all the time.

 

So do I think about something more generic that I could run with the 68 as well?  I originally thought about the yellow Dapol IOA wagons as I can run them with anything.  But at £35 a pop, quite a lot for a rake of 10.  And they're bright!

 

So if you lock yourself in to a theme or era, are you afraid of not being able to run certain things?

Or do you tend to stick to more generic locos/wagons that could run with anything?

 

Id say your going about everything the right way.

 

Sometimes some stock can be used by different operators - Mk. 2s in Blue and Grey for charter work and lots of engineers stock for different FOCs are the obvious ones - however some 4 wheel wagons from EWS have been mixed in with others like Railtrack PNA's and been seen on the network used behind different FOC engines. Some tanks like Petroluem that are in the company livery rather than the FOC can be hauled by different operators pending on contract. Drax wagons are hauled by GBRf and DBC, the latter still having engines in EWS on this working. Cement wagons could be Freightliner or Colas pending on the area. Stone traffic could be DBC/GBRf pending on wagons used.

 

Most other wagons such as Coal ones tend to go for each individual operator, although Freightliner ones unbranded where hired to Colas.

 

Don't forget that your steam engines would have been largely used with just WCRC a few years ago. Now with Sophos/Icons of Steam and Vintage trains coming into the market, some engines are getting tied up to these operators instead and they have different coloured stock to match.

 

Hope that helps.

[Sir TophamHatt]

Hmm.

 

Well, it's pay day tomorrow and I have some extra money left over from Christmas, so I guess we'll see.

Potentially the yellow Network Rail wagons could be added to Christmas lists as I'm not in any particular need for them!

 

Have a feeling I'm going to spend a good while looking at my layout and working out whether I'd really need/want that many (of the EWS) wagons.

 

Thanks for the thoughts

[johnlambert]

I prefer to stick to a theme, albeit a broad one.  I've found that it's a good way to reduce impulse buying of things that look pretty but don't generally fit the scene I want to create.

 

When I started I was clear that my focus (in N gauge) was BR Western Region in the late 1950s and early 1960s as seen on the Banbury-Birmingham area.  That meant late crest locos, maroon coaches and green diesels/DMUs.  Of course some locos carried the early British Railways emblem well into the 1960s, so I "had" to have some early emblem locos.  Then there were crimson and cream coaches running with maroon stock in the early 1960s so that was more stock I could justify and if I wanted to portray an early 1950s scene I could even mix GWR-liveried items with those carrying early British Railways colours.

 

Most of my BR Mk1 coaches carry the 'W' prefix although there are a few 'M' and 'E' coaches too, which I understand could happen.  I haven't bothered to check whether the coaches I've got would have operated in the Birmingham area, neither have I checked whether the locos I've got were allocated to local sheds, at some point I'll do some re-numbering as I've got an idea which engines were based at local sheds and I've tried to stick to classes that were working in the area.  Surprisingly, this meant that I can't justify the current Graham Farish pannier tank as it was allocated to a different area.

 

Goods stock tends to be generic grey or brown wagons, I should really make sure my brake vans have the right markings but I've not done so.

[The Black Hat]

Hmm.

 

Well, it's pay day tomorrow and I have some extra money left over from Christmas, so I guess we'll see.

Potentially the yellow Network Rail wagons could be added to Christmas lists as I'm not in any particular need for them!

 

Have a feeling I'm going to spend a good while looking at my layout and working out whether I'd really need/want that many (of the EWS) wagons.

 

Thanks for the thoughts

 

The thing is that you do have a theme for your layout, as you have set an area and time. So that gives you a list of things that can be run and you have some passenger that can. Adding freight could be interesting for you, but you don't always need to have the full rake. You can have 7 or 8 full bogie wagons, or 10 or 12 shorter wagons behind the engine and most people would realise that this would be a full train, but that is often not feasible to model fully. A full freight train can be massive by comparison and hard to model. You don't always need to model a full length train which could be massive by comparison.

[Steven B]

Being more prototypical can cost money (and room in your stock boxes)!

 

For years I ran trains that looked OK for the region and period I model (Greater Mancheste/Lancashire in the late 1980s). Lately I've been trying to make my trains more prototypcial. Rather than reducing the level of stock I have it's actually increased.

 

Instead of one generic train of Intercity Mk1s I now have three - a charter set, a Motorail set and a mixed livery train for my North Wales trains; So instead of having 7 I/C Mk1 coaches I now have more than double that!

 

Another rake of Mk2s has increased in length by 50% to give me something prototypical.

 

It's not as though I was dissatisfied with what I was running before, so I'm no better off than when I ran more generic trains.

[cypherman]

Hi all,

In the main when I can get a layout together I run what I feel like running. Admittedly I am mainly steam based in my loco's with a few early BR green diesels so I do not run any modern wagons. Well anything past the early 70's. Although again all the loco repaints I have done over the past couple of years have been in 1960's BR colours. My excuse is that any layout I run is the biggest preservation railway in the country that still runs regular freight and passenger services as a business.

[HonestTom]

The problem for me is that often it's the specific types of traffic that prompt my interest in a modelling subject. I became interested in the Port of London Authority railways because of their interesting traffic flow. Obviously the majority of wagons passing through would have been generic opens and vans, but I wanted to be able to run stuff like banana trains, meat trains, grain hoppers, unusual wagonloads and internal user wagons. So now I have a box of generic wagons and another of PLA-specifics.

[GreenGiraffe22]

I started out with a strict WW2 East Sussex theme but it became so difficult and items like the Merchant Navy and 1937 condition H2 arrived and I thought sod it. So my layout is now anywhere between 1937-47 East or West Sussex depending on what's running.

Edited January 16, 2019 by GreenGiraffe22

[Ray Von]

I run BR Blue-grey circa 1975-80, and although I've never done it - I don't see any reason why I shouldn't run any previous era train (steam passenger, goods or otherwise) as a tourist attraction, publicity stunt or similar.

 

Anything after 1984ish would be in the realms of Star Trek...

[Torn-on-the-platform]

When I get onto scenics, my layout will have an era and theme and I have built up a collection of locos and rolling stock around, but that probably makes up less than a third of my whole collection. I can justify a few other members of my collection as occasional interlopers, but for those that I can't - my layout is behind closed doors, no one is going to see, I can run what I like! A set of crimson/cream Mk1s goes aesthetically quite well with anything in my opinion... even ornate pre-grouping liveries or BR blue diesels (I think that the BR Blue class 66 would look pretty smashing with some c/c carriages!). I know that its not prototypical... but as mentioned above - Rule 1!

 

I do quite enjoy thinking about the back story/justification for anachronisms regarding locomotives ending up in unusual places. It seems others do too!

Edited January 24, 2019 by Torn-on-the-platform

[Pete the Elaner]

The stock I like varies from late 30s to early 90s. They ran in the same location though.

I am therefore building a layout suitable for the 30s but once I have this looking reasonable, which will hopefully take 3-4 years the plan is to store the scenic boards & repeat the layout in 1990s guise with concrete sleeper track & the addition of OLE has forced some other changes such as a new bridge & station building.

I should only need to change a few minor things like signage to bring this up to date.

[Edge]

Hi,

 

In this situation, I tend to use 1 of 3 excuses:

 

1. The loco is on long term hire from another company (quite prevalent at one stage a few years ago)
2. The loco is covering for another failed loco (I do this with my Southern 4-CEPs, where a 'heritage unit' is covering for a failed Electrostar)
3. The loco is waiting a repaint into a different livery (useful where you have old BR liveried locos)

It is a problem, particularly with diesel / electric era stock whereby the liveries are now much more 'branded' than steam stuff, so it's harder to get away with 'generic' stock. But of course, there are expections to rules that DB locos run DB trains and DRS locos run DRS trains. One of the most common is engineering trains, where any engineering stock (NR liveried or in DB / EWS livery) is hauled by almost any loco, some with inspection trains.

 

It's really up to what you prefer and what you are willing to spend on it.

 

Simon

 

 

I would add to the three reasons above with:

 

4. Loco is on a railtour / preserved railway jaunt. This allows you to run it with anything - saw a network rail yellow 73 running on the SVR with a  teak coach in tow (think it was Great Northern), so literally anything goes it will also allow you to run according to your preference for passenger stuff

[jonny777]

My era is late 50s and, because there were only small infrastructure changes during that time, I think I can get away with moving into the early 60s and running the few early diesels  that I have. 

 

I don't purchase anything which I could not make an excuse for (so no locos with small yellow panels - for instance) and have to exercise a fair amount of restraint to temptation. 

 

It is difficult with wagons, because a lot of newly constructed varieties appeared around that time. However, I try to stick to the rules which mean (for example) no bauxite 16t minerals.