What Kind of Railroad to Model???

[Kisatchie]

Now that I've decided to sell most of my N scale freight cars and forego my dream layout in favor of a much smaller layout, I got to wondering what kind of railroad to model.

I was thinking of coming up with a fantasy bridge line railroad, connecting major railroads. Like the former Wisconsin Central. See:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridge_line

I was wondering how to do that. I have room for two "cities" plus a good run between them, so it might work.

Any thoughts, ideas, questions, etc.?


Hmm... for a second there,
I thought Kiz wanted
to model the 4.35 mile
long railroad bridge at
New Orleans...

[OldEastRR]

Glad to see you decided not to quit N scale. Spend a couple of months doodling up track plans, checking out track plan resources, and looking at other layouts. You'll feel charged up about railroading again.

[Dave V]

You had a cool idea for a freelanced railroad (Kisatchie, Gulf & Northern)...why not stick with it?  Instead of doing the whole thing, why not model a subdivision or branchline of the same?

Now ask yourself...  What did the KG&N do?  Did it move stuff from the Gulf to the midwest (like KCS does today)?  What were the online industries?  If you're talking southern Louisiana, you're almost certainly talking petrochemicals.  You might also have some mineral traffic in the form of salt or sulphur.  Or farther north, pulp and paper.  Maybe your layout is the branchline that connects a sulphur mine and its associated town to the mainline (at a junction town).

However, if you want to put more of your fleet to work, then chose a subdivision between two cities (a fictional town of Kisatchie and some city the size of, say, Lake Charles or Lafayette where there's an interchange with MoPac or KCS or something).  But I still suggest some sort of online industry that is instantly associated with Louisiana.

Don't forget a proper po'boy shack somewhere near the tracks!

[MichaelWinicki]

I like Dave V's suggestion.

I think a bridge route is always a good choice...

Interchanges... plenty of switching opportunities.

Yeah, engine facilities could be needed, but not necessarily a classification yard.

For a "lone-wolf" type scenario I think it would be grand.

[Philip H]

If you wanted to go prototype you could do the Louisiana and Delta or the Delta Southern, or even the New Orleans Gulf Coast. All are former class one branches in south louisiNa and all interchange with our favorite class ones. If you really want to stick to 1972 or so, up your way it would have been MoPac , KCS and ICG. Up state Forrest products and soybeans would dominate.

[ednadolski]

Have you ever checked out Paul Brennecke's Grand Road?

Ed

[Dave V]

If you stick with your KG&N, then ask yourself what kind of financial condition it would be in during 1972.  That will help inform your locomotive purchases (beat-up first generation locos, maybe even paint-outs from the larger Class Is or clean second generation locos in clean company paint) and whether you bury your track in weeds or groom the mainline.  1972 was a strange year.  Railroads were failing in the Northeast and yet were doing great out West.  I don't know what the railroad scene in your region looked in 1972.

[Kisatchie]

You had a cool idea for a freelanced railroad (Kisatchie, Gulf & Northern)...why not stick with it?  Instead of doing the whole thing, why not model a subdivision or branchline of the same?

Now ask yourself...  What did the KG&N do?  Did it move stuff from the Gulf to the midwest (like KCS does today)?  What were the online industries?  If you're talking southern Louisiana, you're almost certainly talking petrochemicals.  You might also have some mineral traffic in the form of salt or sulphur.  Or farther north, pulp and paper.  Maybe your layout is the branchline that connects a sulphur mine and its associated town to the mainline (at a junction town).

However, if you want to put more of your fleet to work, then chose a subdivision between two cities (a fictional town of Kisatchie and some city the size of, say, Lake Charles or Lafayette where there's an interchange with MoPac or KCS or something).  But I still suggest some sort of online industry that is instantly associated with Louisiana.

Don't forget a proper po'boy shack somewhere near the tracks!

The Kisatchie, Gulf & Northern was never really developed. I painted a bunch of cars for it and put dimensional data decals on, but never ordered the KG&N decals to finish the cars. Best to just let it fade away LOL.

The KG&N would have served the Gulf coast, the Kisatchie forest in mid Louisiana, and extending up to Ohio or so... never got to finalize plans. Now that I think of it, I really wouldn't want to model the petrochemical industry with all the spaghetti tangles of piping and valves and storage tanks. I could still model the logging industry (I have plenty of log cars), but I think I'd rather do lots of switching. That's where I got the idea for a bridge line... switch industries in one city, then transfer the cars to industries in the second city.

I really like the Southern Railway's SD24 and SD35 locos. There are still SD35s available from the last Atlas run, and Atlas is coming out with a new run of SD24s later this year.  If I could find a bridge line somewhere that connected the Southern with another railroad, that would be ideal. No idea how to search for that... Maybe Google "Southern Rwy" and "bridge line"...?

Now that I finally decided to sell most of my cars, I can hopefully get rid of my cars that have 1972 build dates. I think I'll model 1968 - that's the year I graduated from high school and really started getting interested in railroading.

Oh well, let me reply to a couple of other posts here.


Hmm... Kiz done screwed
up his available space.
He has 1/2 foot less
room than he thought...

[Kisatchie]

If you wanted to go prototype you could do the Louisiana and Delta or the Delta Southern, or even the New Orleans Gulf Coast. All are former class one branches in south louisiNa and all interchange with our favorite class ones. If you really want to stick to 1972 or so, up your way it would have been MoPac , KCS and ICG. Up state Forrest products and soybeans would dominate.

I think I'll model an eastern road, preferably the Southern. See my post above.

If I modeled Louisiana, I'd feel obligated to model New Orleans and its hodge podge of different railroads serving it. No room for that!


Hmm... the Hodge Podge
and Southern...?

[Kisatchie]

Have you ever checked out Paul Brennecke's Grand Road?

I just googled it, and I see it's a two level layout. There's no way I could do two levels, especially needing a helix. I'm stuck with a single level with maybe an upward slope of 6-8 inches.


Hmm... have a cliff you
can run trains off too...

[Ed Kapuscinski]

You had a cool idea for a freelanced railroad (Kisatchie, Gulf & Northern)...why not stick with it?  Instead of doing the whole thing, why not model a subdivision or branchline of the same?

This. I think a single branchline or secondary main could make for a great layout. Keep it simple man.

[jmlaboda]

Yeah, engine facilities could be needed, but not necessarily a classification yard.

A lot has changed with regard to "local" engine facilities with a lot of towns and cities not seeing an actual facilities at all but rather a twin-bay covered hopper providing sand through hoses to the engines and a local fuel dealer providing diesel by truck.  In fact, this sort of scenario has been common for way before the late-60s, especially since running repairs and servicing could be done at a shop not too far from your location.  Some of the busier ones even erected a simply sanding tower while still receiving fuel from the local dealer and some shortlines and even branchlines went without a hopper or tower, using bagged sand kept in an old boxcar which was put into buckets and then poured into the locomotives.  A lot of examples exist where minimal was normal.

[johnb]

Well...since you like the Southern SD24's...why not paint  them like a Southern unit, except you should replace the green with Dee Orange?

[nkalanaga]

If you really like the Southern locos, why not just make your KG&N a subsidiary of the Southern?  They had plenty of them, and the only evidence was the initials on the locos.  You could use the Southern locos and rolling stock as-is, but still freelance the railroad itself. 

That's basically what I did with my BN.  A line from Helena to Kalispell, MT, was never built, but both ends were on the GN, the route is practical, and probably economically viable a century ago, so why not? 

[GimpLizard]

I think I'll model an eastern road, preferably the Southern. See my post above.

If I modeled Louisiana, I'd feel obligated to model New Orleans and its hodge podge of different railroads serving it. No room for that!

Well that kills my idea. I was gonna suggest the Wisconsin Southern. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wisconsin_and_Southern_Railroad)

Although... the Wisconsin & Calumet (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wisconsin_and_Calumet_Railroad), which preceded the WS, had a cooler paint scheme... and a BL-2. I love BL-2's.