What OTHER railroads are you interested in?

[wm3798]

I kind of already did this exercise when I shifted gears from mid-1980's Conrail to late 60's/early 70's WM.  One of the things that really attracted me to the WM was the interchange traffic with the N&W and Reading, and the proximity to the B&O and Penn Central.  So really, I got 5 for the price of 1.

However, that being said... If I was to radically shift gears, I would like to do a scenery intense shelf layout of the Ma & Pa from roughly Towson to Bel Air in HO set in the mid 1940's.

Lee

[Dave Schneider]

For me my main interest is the Milwaukee Road in the early 1970s.

Other loves include:
1) The Copper Range: A mostly mining line in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan where I went to grad school. A wonderful web site by the late great Kevin Musser (http://www.copperrange.org/)
Baldwin diesels, 2-8-0 steamers, a school train.


2) The Soo Line in Northern WI and MI. Just love the Northwoods scenery, the red/grey colors, and the billboard boxcars and pulpwood gondolas.

3) The Alaska Railroad. My current location...passenger trains, intermodal, car ferry, RDC's, cabooses in service, oh, and it has some nice scenery as well. Plus, this RR knows how to party. The winter ski train has a serious dance party in a baggage car that must be experienced at least once.

4) Finally, the Maine Central. I have never modeled this, but I just love the Orange locos and cars with the Pine Tree logo.

I guess my loves are all a bit "boreal-centric". Or at least in need of a snow plow every now and then.

[Mark5]

WM, VGN, SOUTHERN,
C&O, B&O, Ma & Pa, Rio Grande

Railroad archaeology seems to interest me as well. I lived near the remnants of the old B&O Weverton branch for a while and also the old Cumberland Valley branch that ran through Fort Loudon PA (the old depot there is now a Library). Now I live near the old Catonsville branch of the PRR.

Over the years I've found that there's something to like about just any railroad ...

Mark

[sirenwerks]

Western Pacific
Northwestern Pacific
Modesto & Empire Traction
Milwaukee Road West
Vermont Railway System

[Denver Road Doug]

Currently modeling: 2003 Trinity Railway Express, BNSF, UP
Primary Interest: 1997-2001 BNSF Wichita Falls Sub

So outside of that... (and without being a weenie and saying BN and ATSF)
1. 1980's MKT- 50% of my railfanning as a teen was the OKKT.  Just an eclectic mix of power, unique freight cars/consists, lot of grain, and major rock crushers in the area.  Traffic was sparse at best, but it was all interesting.
2. 1980's MoPac- Loved their cabooses and tough looking motive power paint scheme.  I would run piggyback trains till the--umm--cows come home.
3. 1940's Fort Worth & Denver- I don't have a great interest in steam era, but if I ever modeled it this would be the one.  Decent model availability, they partly dieselized early so I could run some E5's and NW2's, plus Doodlebugs for short range passenger/mail.  All well documented in a few outstanding books.
4. Honorable mentions: D&RGW (Craig Branch or the Joint Line), MRL, Rock Island, Southern, Colorado & Wyoming

Yes, I know...not really expanding my horizons much.  It is true though that I've probably considered modelling just about every railroad in North Americia at some point or another.  And with ATSF or BN, pieces of just about their entire systems.  But above is the "short" list.

You can bet the farm that if MR did a "Railroad You Can Model" type article on a railroad, I took it personally.  At least for a month.  

[Erik W]

- D&RGW narrow gauge

Dave, I always knew there was something I liked about you.

[Walkercolt]

As mainly an ATSF and Frisco fan, I would go crazy-kookoo if somebody ever made a Milwaukee Road 1934 Otto Kuhn Hiawatha with the White Atlantic engine and those great Art-Deco cars. I'd be even worse if they ever made the Milwaukee's EF-5/7 Box-Cab electrics. I'd string overhead and model the Bitteroots with mountains from floor to ceiling, grinding along at 25 SMPH. That Pentrex video of the Milwaukee Road got me on those Box-Cab's. If I win the $200 million lottery I never enter...

[Nato]

  A Bizillion Roads, as a Passenger train Nut Fanzee my choices get even greater. Roads however that I'am regularly modeling on my Western U.S area layout are first off those I grew up with as a kid here in Utah. Union Pacific, Denver & Rio Grande Western, and Southern Pacific. Then my list gets rather extensive. Other western /mid western roads include GN,NP, Milwaukee,as a closet Pennsy Fanzee I have alot of both PRR freight & Passenger equipment, in contrast only a small amount of NYC. one RS3 and four passenger cars, and a streamlined J3a Hudson. Now FEC on the otherhand , I have BL2's GP9's E Uniits and Budd Passenger cars also two new era GP's in the DK blue scheme. Seaboard Airline, always liked em have Citrus schemed E6's Freight FT's GP-9's even two Alco S2 switchers and some RS3/2's . MT did a 3 pack of wood Seaboard lettered cabeese with safety slogans years ago and after I got these cars I had to have locos to go with so the S2's were only factory painted locos at the time. I have an Erie passenger train in two tone green with LL E-8's Mo Pac passenger trains, I was responsible for suggesting to Con Cor that they do a Limited Edition set with PA's in early gray & blue scheme. I have Amquack in various phases, both Pooperliner and regular cars, Santa Fe lots of passenger & freight trains , and just for LEE WM BL2's R's a caboose and a semi accurate Bachmann 2-8-0. I loved RFP so I got LL RFP E-8 locos and Con Cor RFP Budd cars. Gee the list just goes on and on SR passenger trains both steam and diesel, Frisco Katy Texas Special train, modern John Deer Green diesels & MT Caboose, CN & CP trains both freight and Pass, C&NW, RI including some yeech Blue locos, Via Rail, B&0,C&O, a DMIR SD-9 I painted and decaled,a Kennocott Copper SD24,(home road of sorts),I will stop before this becomes a blogg (it already is!) there are more I could mention EL,S.P&S. .Currently sitting in the engine service facility on my layout among the Western Road locos is a 2 Unit A-B Seaboard FT and the Baldwin VO switchers used in the yard are United States Army. Nate Goodman (Nato).Oh and lots of Conrail as run through power.

[Ian MacMillan]

- Boston & Maine
- Maine Central
- Milwaukee Road (Industrial switching areas in Chicago)
- Rutland
- Rio Grande (1970's-1980's)
- C&NW (1970's-1980's)
- Soo (1970's-1980's)

[asarge]

I used to stay very focused on modeling the C&O and L&N in Cincinnati in the 50's and early 60's.

HOWEVER, I always really liked the railroads in Northern Indiana and NW Ohio and I really like Grain Hoppers. So I have beomne more and more afflicted with the multi-Era and multi-location disorder with rolling stock and loco's. And since I operate on HO Railroads based on the CNW and SOO, I have gotten a hankerin' too. I will not buy loco's with modern schemes unless it's regionals or shortlines, but freight cars and modeling era's is a different story altogether.

BTW, I should really blame Bluford Shops and FVM for cheating era's their cars are too nice to turn down completely.

[Kiasutha]

Currently try to model western PA. standard gauge; steam era.
Oddly, the other interests are all narrow-gauge, mostly western.

1-Tionesta Valley Ry.(w.PA.)
2-Denver and Rio Grande
3-Rio Grande Southern
4-Denver,South Park & Pacific

And I have a strong interest in the early/pre-20th century era.
I guess that's one of the reasons I'm not modelling them... 

[oakcreekco]

Other than DRGW:

ATSF...up to the BN merger. Just love the red and silver warbonnets

NS.....caught the "horse bug" after moving to the KC area

SP......it just goes with the DRGW

I would love to model the Craig branch, mid 60's, so I could run the "Yampa Valley Flyer". Half of my family lives in Oak Creek, and I remember that spit shined PA chuggin' through the Yampa Valley with the mail.

[wazzou]

I model both the Northern Pacific Railway and the Milwaukee Road because they both had branches to the area I am modeling in SW Washington.

I sprinkle in a little Great Northern and Union Pacific because they share trackage rights with the Northern Pacific on the Portland-Seattle main that the branch departs from.  I also have a small amount of SP power because in the late 60's they ran through on Northern Pacific trains from Portland to Seattle.
I have a fair number of Western Pacific freight cars as well just because of the connection with the Great Northern at Bieber, CA.

So, in summary...
1) Northern Pacific, 2) Milwaukee Road,.......................3) Great Northern,............................................
4) Union Pacific,...........................................5) Southern Pacific,...6) Western Pacific

The Northern Pacific is dominant, the Milwaukee Road is roughly 50%, I have just a few full Great Northern trains, and 2-3 locomotives each from the UP and SP and only freight cars from the WP though I'd like to have a Orange/Silver GP-35.

[asciibaron]

i am a student of all North American railroads.  i find them all interesting and have studied for the past 27 years many railroads from birth to death or merger. i have always been fond of the coal roads in Pennsylvania, but no one railroad is king with me, except maybe the Baltimore and Ohio since it was the first.

as for modeling, i have gone through many possibilities and have settled on the Lehigh and Hudson River.  while the physical plant is small compared to all the railroads that surround it, it was a needed link to move traffic across the larger lines.

-Steve

[Caleb Austin]

I currently model CSX in the late 80's and eary 90's and ATSF in New Mexico.

 Other RRs include:
 
 - C&O in the early 70's ( DaveFoxx's fault .)
 - NS, ever since my family rented a house right by a massive NS trestle on NS's Shenandoah valley line.
 - BNSF modern, in Arizona.
 - Conrail, it keeps calling to me!