Why model 1972?

[mcjaco]

I wonder sometimes if anyone other than me has two completely and distinctly separate modeling interests, with the previous 1972 ATSF, but also with 1920's Pennsylvania logging.   

How about four?

When I work on my Dad's HO layout, it's 1930 - 40's Northern California rolling hills, with SP and ATSF with a freelance branch.  When I was in my twenties, I modeled the SP/ATSF/SPSF in the 80's.  That's what I grew up loving to railfan when we'd visit my grandparents.

As I moved to N, I tried "modern" BNSF, but it just didn't get me excited.  Met the Modutrak Crew, and that gave me a creative outlet to go in a totally new direction.  I love lesser midwest lines, so my first foray was the C&EI, then over to the Soo Line.  I still want to do some EJ&E, and Illinois Midland. 

For my future N layout, if it ever happens, I want to head back to Northern California and model the California Northern/Northwestern Pacific in the mid 90s.  The small loco fleet, and the roughly 100 mile line is perfect for modeling. 

[Tom Todd]

I was born in 1953, but my modeling is around 1956.  That's when steam to diesel was about completed on the Main Lines.  Steam persisted on small independent lines.
Tom Todd

[KSTXFLID]

I apparently can’t stick to one era. While primarily late 70’s early 80’s SC Kansas, I’ve suddenly noticed a lot of modern Amtrak appearing.
I do keep them separated but recent rail travels have rekindled an interest in both the Amtrak of my youth but also the modern that I currently travel occasionally.

For me at least interests evolve as experiences come and go.

[wm3798]

I guess I'm all over the place, but more and more I'm doing the time slip to an era I never witnessed.
Started out doing the Conrail patch era, since that's what I did see early on, and still have a soft spot in my heart for such things.
Shifted to my first iteration Laurel Valley, of the same era, theorizing a shortline emerging from the CR period of shedding low density lines, and still able to utilize what little CR equipment I had accumulated, plus and Amtrak train or two.
Also, took advantage of the very few models that were available, which could be 100% accurate for a totally fictional railroad.
As N scale began to take itself more seriously, and several cutting edge models (for the time) fit the WM roster nicely, I was able to pivot to a childhood favorite, again, modeling an era that I just missed.  Introduction of the First Generation Atlas/Kato RS3 and LL BL2 was probably the first shift in the CR/WM fault line, then the Atlas SD35 in factory RWB paint pushed me all the way in.
Diesel Era Laurel Valley continued to have a presence, expanding from a former CR branch line to a regional route with connections to both CR and WM.  (A bridge route not only for shippers, but for my modeling interests).

And then the antiquities of N bit me hard.  Now, I model more and more mid to late steam.  But does it count since most of my engines were made around 1972?

Lee

[Maletrain]

I think wm3798's journey is probably a common one for N scale, where availability of models has a lot to do with what people choose to put their emphasis on.

I really grew-up with the B&O transition from steam, actually remembering snippets of the steam and liking them.

But, trying to model them when I got into N scale from HO (with a 50 year hiatus), I was disappointed in what was then available for B&O prototype models in N. 

So, I went with the idea that, for a layout intended to support interesting and sort-of-prototypical operations, I would "freelance" a fictional short line with an interconnection to the B&O.  That would allow me to plausibly use whatever was available in the time period of interest, including what was B&O where I could get it.  And, the transition era had rolling stock mostly in the 33' to 50' range, so I could run trains with more prototypical numbers of cars in limited space, compared to the 60' to 85' car lengths of the modern eras.  (Oh, and did I mention that I hate graffiti?! )

The fictional short line would have the "feel" of the times, as best I could glean from readings about the B&O, Buffalo Creek & Gauley, Maryland and Pennsylvania, and Western Maryland.

But, real life has gotten in the way of "the ultimate layout" that I have been accumulating the rolling stock and buildings for, and I now realize that my to-do list exceeds my life expectancy.  So, these trains that are too long for my little home layout will now be getting showcased on a club layout that is far from prototypical of the locales I have been imagining.

But, I am still enjoying the hobby - and that is what counts for me.

[nkalanaga]

Lee:  Most of your engines have lasted longer than the prototypes.

Don't laugh, my oldest operating one (not regularly used) is a 1969 Arnold-Rapido FA, and my mining company is still using an early 70s Minitrix FM.  Both have new wheels, but the rest is original.

[davefoxx]

Why model 1972?  Because mainline passenger service looked like this.  Amtrak (or AMTK) is barely one year old in the spring of 1972.  Many locomotives and rolling stock purchased from the freight roads have not even been patched yet, let alone repainted in Amtrak’s Phase I paint scheme.  Begging forgiveness for the horribly selectively compressed consist, I’ve put together a prototype-ish consist (the Penn Central [PC] car isn’t 100% accurate- see below) for an Amtrak East Coast train in 1972.  You may notice that there’s no Amtrak identification on any of the locomotive or cars.  This is correct.



1) I have photographic evidence of the prototype, former Seaboard Coast Line (SCL) E8A No. 593, in full SCL livery at Broad Street Station in Richmond, Virginia, on March 12, 1972!  It was even still carrying its SCL herald on its nose.

2) The SCL 10-6 sleeper “Miami” did go to Amtrak, eventually becoming AMTK No. 2701 until retirement in September 1981.

3) The PC 10-6 sleeper decorated as No. 4350 (“Octoraro Rapids”) is, unfortunately, incorrect.  None of the decals included in this Walthers’ car (mostly from the “Rapids” class) were for rolling stock that made it to Amtrak.  That said, a number of PC 10-6 sleepers did go to Amtrak with a few of these cars surviving on the roster up to 1991.

4) The Union Pacific (UP) Club-Lounge car No. 6202 (once known as the UP “Columbia River”) did go to Amtrak, eventually becoming AMTK No. 3370 and receiving the blunt arrow Phase I scheme before being retired in July 1981.

DFF

[nkalanaga]

Amtrak was still using BN/GN/NP Fs on the Empire Builder in 1974, when an SDP40F wasn't available.  Most were leased, so never repainted by Amtrak.  They also leased a bunch of cars from BN, including a large batch of NP baggage cars.  I suspect that the Empire Builder was one of, if not the, last long-distance tain to be completely repainted.

In 1972 it still looked like a BN passenger train, mostly GN and NP, a few BN, CB&Q and SP&S cars on occasion, and almost always one, if not two, UP "Pacific" series 10-6 sleepers.  There would be other sleepers, but those UP cars were a daily fixture in the mostly-BN train.