Freelance Lines

[brokemoto]

I believe that Kato recently released another run of NW2's and prices are about $100 now from the dealer or webstore of your choice.

Thank you for the update.  I found one and ordered it.

[carlso]

Here Are some images of my " Home Road ", the CD&WJV. That is the Chama Draw & Western Jemez Valley RR.

1st - the only diesels I have done :









The only steamer that I have done is this Bmann EM-1 bash job.



PS - I got the name by using the 1st letter of each family members 1st name :

     Carl, Diane, & Wes, James, Virginia
       Be well !




   

[Bruce Archer]

Hi All!
    My home road is the Delaware and Atlantic. In my world the D&A formed a stratigic partnership with the D&H(so I can still have lots of D&H) in the 1920s Since the D&A had lines to NYC, Philadelphia, Southern NJ and eventually buying LNE and O&W routes.  Because of the partnership, each road fed traffic to each other which allowed both roads to remain solvent during the 30s and 60s. The partnership continued through Doreco, it was very heavily strained during Guilford and became a partner with CP Rail. As it is my road I can run what I want (including many junk box cars).

Bruce Archer
Modeler of the D&A, D&H and LNE

[randgust]

How about a main line railroad that was chartered, built but never ran?

I came across an abandoned roadbed through my daughter-in-law's parents property just east of Canton, PA.  Clearly railroad, and built like a main line with cuts and deeper fills.   Sure not a logging grade, not PRR, and none of my historic railroad maps showed it.   Puzzled, baffled I researched......

How about a railroad with a big corporate name that went bankrupt immediately after construction?  The Pittsburg, Binghamton & Eastern......

https://www.joycetice.com/articles/illstar.htm
https://forestandfield.blogspot.com/2021/06/the-railroad-that-never-ran.html

They had a bunch of burly 2-8-0's on order from Rhode Island, never got delivered, ended up on BAR, one was the 170.   Bachmann 2-8-0's, essentially.   And it was built late, things didn't crater until 1907.
https://railroad.net/pittsburgh-binghamton-eastern-rr-t37368.html

That would make a great model railroad concept, you have all those eastern connections, and they already had locomotives that were built but never delivered....

[Ike the BN Freak]

I don't have my own home road, but I like getting decals from fellow modelers and painting up 50' boxcars to add to my fleet. I got the decals and cars, but I just need to spend the time to paint the cars up and decal them.

[dem34]

How about a main line railroad that was chartered, built but never ran?

I came across an abandoned roadbed through my daughter-in-law's parents property just east of Canton, PA.  Clearly railroad, and built like a main line with cuts and deeper fills.   Sure not a logging grade, not PRR, and none of my historic railroad maps showed it.   Puzzled, baffled I researched......

How about a railroad with a big corporate name that went bankrupt immediately after construction?  The Pittsburg, Binghamton & Eastern......

https://www.joycetice.com/articles/illstar.htm
https://forestandfield.blogspot.com/2021/06/the-railroad-that-never-ran.html

They had a bunch of burly 2-8-0's on order from Rhode Island, never got delivered, ended up on BAR, one was the 170.   Bachmann 2-8-0's, essentially.   And it was built late, things didn't crater until 1907.
https://railroad.net/pittsburgh-binghamton-eastern-rr-t37368.html

That would make a great model railroad concept, you have all those eastern connections, and they already had locomotives that were built but never delivered....

If you want this but electrified. The Trenton and Atlantic which was similar. Trees cleared, Roadbed graded, Ties laid, Catenary strung debates between if it got between Point Pleasant and Trenton or just Lakewood won't quite be solvable with the lack of good sources. But unfortunately Imperial Russia needed rails and the USRA determined the railroad's staging yard was good source of war material. Company probably wouldn't have survived the 20s if it did get build completely but the ROW still sort of survives intact as a High Tension Power line.

[TinyTurner]

I am trying out the protolancing technique, based on Milw practice rather than total freelancing.
Without deliberate constraints, the challenge is not there. 
It makes it fun to see what I can get into a limited space, yet keep it scale, getting the atmosphere right for what I think it should be, even down to the smells!  The aroma of engineering oil fills the room from 1:1 machine tools and sets the scene.  Evocative 
It involves a lot of how I would do it 'if I were a railroad manager' perspective, coupled with the theme I would like in the space I have available. 
What freight do I ship and how do I turn a profit?
My first thoughts towards this were from playing Railroad Tycoon games, which are basic simulations that got me thinking about how to work ops vs train set running.

There is room for a fictional road colour scheme sometime and maybe even new locomotive classes, which takes models full circle back to the original use for model engineering, developing 1:1 technology.
 
I take inspiration from various sources, including movies and video games, which are all art as far as I am concerned.
Transarctica for example, massive trains through a frigid snowscape, dwarfing even the bigboys on ultra broad gauge. 
Or the forest of Boland light railway, ran by Gnomes.  Someone actually modelled this way back, an accurate fantasy light railway from a children's book. 

Artists take scenes, compress them together to get the desired effect and boom, pull of a convincing scene.
It works this way with models too. 
Don't need to be too rigid, even when aiming for a specific location.  It can be refreshing to try something new. 
Serious fun 

[Westcoast_Trains]

I have a Freelance Railroad, IndustRail Services, primarily a first and last mile service provider.
Thanks to a club member and my time listening to around the layout and other such podcasts, I was inspired to create a backstory for IndustRail which has continually expanded. Once you start it can be kind of addicting haha.
IndustRail's locomotive roster currently includes: x2 ex Guilford SD26's, x2 MP15DC's 1 ex BN and 1 ex L&N, as well as x2 SD38-2 ex BC Hydro. I have a SD40-3 arriving soon, as well as an order for 2 of the undecorated GP-20C Eco's that Prairie Shadows is doing.
It all started with a SD26 my wife bought me for Christmas, I model primarily the western USA and Guildford Rail systems didnt exactly fit. An acquaintance of mine was discussing his freelance one day at our club and it got the wheels turning. I did some research and listened to a few episodes of around the layout and the second section as mentioned, and now I find myself 9 locomotives in, along with a few cabooses and MOW equipment. All of that and I dont even have a layout hahaha. I have an acquired taste for patched locomotives and lease units, so most of the locomotives in the fleet are patched out from the previous owners. Except for 2, one of the SD26's is receiving a new paint job (75% done) and an operation life saver decal, and one of the MP15's is in line for a new paint job as well. The SD40-3 and the x2 GP-20c's will all get painted when they arrive.

[sirenwerks]

I'm doing something similar to Brokemoto. I've rewrote history (the BN loses the SP&S in the merger) and modeling a portion of that railroad - from the industrial hinterlands of Portland to Eugene - and absorbing SP branches. And now it's an Alco paradise (Baldwins too, if anyone ever makes any). I absorb local historical and industrial elements when they're available but am not letting them weed me. The key is getting the flavor of the Willamette River valley and model scenes that seem plausible, if not real.

[Dave V]

The last line I freelanced, I tore up in 2002... It was a 1910s-ish Pennsylvania coal-hauler called the Johnstown & Broad Top RR. Loosely based on both the East Broad Top and the Huntingdon & Broad Top Mountain, it connected the Broad Top coal fields with the steel mills at Johnstown.

It was HO and a shelf-style layout. I had built in modularly with the intent of expanding it someday. I had modeled the engine terminal at Duncanville, PA, where it connected with the Pennsylvania RR's Holidaysburg & Petersburg Secondary.

Sadly, no photos of the finished product exist.

[robert3985]

The last line I freelanced, I tore up in 2002... It was a 1910s-ish Pennsylvania coal-hauler called the Johnstown & Broad Top RR. Loosely based on both the East Broad Top and the Huntingdon & Broad Top Mountain, it connected the Broad Top coal fields with the steel mills at Johnstown.

It was HO and a shelf-style layout. I had built in modularly with the intent of expanding it someday. I had modeled the engine terminal at Duncanville, PA, where it connected with the Pennsylvania RR's Holidaysburg & Petersburg Secondary.

Sadly, no photos of the finished product exist.

Oh, that IS sad!

Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore

[Dave V]

Oh, that IS sad!

Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore

Heh, you didn't miss much. I was a long way from where I am now in terms of scenery skills.