Hi guys!
I’m Tony, I live in England and I am new to American Model railroads â€" but have been dabbling with the British stuff for many years.
Is there a definitive listing anywhere of Bachmann E-Z track showing all available sizes and radii?
I have purchased enough nickel silver track (26†radius curves) to make a fairly large oval on which to run my 4-8-4 Niagara and coaching stock (the largest available British sectional track curves are approx 22½†radius). Now I’ve been bitten by the bug, I’m looking to add a second track with another loco hauling a freight consist but I’m not sure which is the “next size up†from 26†radius.
Also â€" on an historical note â€" The period I’ve chosen is obviously late forties and fifties, looking at the wealth of freight stock to choose from, how can I be sure that the freight stock I buy is contemporary with my chosen modelling period? Any good tips and pointers gratefully received.
Tony.
Tony,
Welcome. I hope you are ready to be over whelmed with info, because you will likely receive lots of it on here.
I don't know how much you know about North American railroads, so I will start with some basics and keep them in the time period you mentioned. Some of this may seem very basic, but things are/where different here so I just want to give you a good foundation.
For all practical purposes, US railroads of that era operated with very little government input. Regulations controlled rates charged and safety issues, EVERYTHING else was determined by industry associations and each individual line, of which there where many. Competing lines paralleled each other all over the country, some big (New York Central, Union Pacific, Pennsylvania, etc) some small (Maryland & Pennsylvania, Ann Arbor, etc).
In the American Association of Railroads listed over 400 lines which owned 300 freight cars or more.
Rolling stock - we use some different terms over here, so if you not sure, please ask. Box cars (wagons), mostly steel by the late 40's, generally 40' or 50' long and a capacity of 50 tons. Many other types similar in size and weight.
Freight trains normally 50-70 cars in those days, but most modelers even with big layouts stay in the 20-30 car range to try to simulate those trains.
Locos - Any steam built after or so was likely to still be in service somewhere or some kind of line. Diesels took over quickly after WWII and by represented 70% or more of the power. By steam was basicly gone.
Early Diesels - EMD - F3, F7, E6, E7, E8, GP7, GP9, SD7, SD9, BL2; ALCO - FA1, FA2, PA1, and lots more but this should give you a start when looking at the offerings from the various model manufacturers.
OK, digest this, ask some questions, I will write more latter. I'm sure other will offer help as well.
Good luck,
Sheldon
Thanks Sheldon,
that's very informative (yours too, Guilford Guy).
I have done a little research on the subject and it seemed to me to be a bit anything goes (within reason). Over here the railway companies built their own designs, or had them built, I guess in the US the companies bought in standard designs.
I will read and digest...
Tony.Quote from: Atlantic Central on February 27, , 09:20:06 AM
Tony,
Welcome. I hope you are ready to be over whelmed with info, because you will likely receive lots of it on here.
Tony,
Like Guilford Guy said, diesels where and are standard catalog type items, there would be a few options to tailor it to the railroads needs, but basicly and EMD F3 is a EMD F3, on the Santa Fe or the Baltimore & Ohio.
Steam was a little different. By the Early 20Th century there where just a few major builders, Badwin, ALCO, Lima. They had both standard designs AND they built designs provided to them or developed jointly with the railroads.
This makes for lots of different, but similar locomotives. Each builder had standard parts it used where it could and, outside vendors supplied the same parts to all the builders for some items.
Also, many large to medium sized railroads, especially in the industrial east and upper midwest, operated large shops and build some or most of their own power.
Notable railroads that build their own locos include:
Norfork and Western
Pennsylvania
Baltimore & Ohio
Reading
To give you some idea of the large scope of railroading on a continent this large, locomotive ownership by Class I railroads in the US was nearly 44,000 units in , most of those steam. By it had fallen to 32,000 units and only 6,000 where steam. Because diesels required less maintenance, fewer locos where needed to move the same tonage of freight.
The "average" steam loco in the US was built in groups of 10 to 25 at a time, to specifications set by the railroad in question, even if it was based on a "standard" design from one of the makers.
Depite the flashy locos that get all the press (Big Boy's, N&W J class, SP GS4, PRR K4, etc), most of the locos of the work a day world where 2-8-0's and 2-8-2's built in the teens and twenties and upgraded over the years.
Many of the "flashy" locos existed in very small quanities for very short times because, while they may have been the ulimate refinement of the steam loco, they where still no match for diesels.
Well, there is some more think about - glad to help
Sheldon
Hi, Tony,
You chosen a great time period. You've received sound advice from both GG and Sheldon. Have you decided WHERE you want to model? One might assume the Northeast based on the NYC Niagra, but that may not be the case. Eastern mountains equal articulated locos, while the Mid-west had few of them.
In general a small loco of any sort looks better on a small layout than the monsters. Th American standard layout - the 4x8 really looks better with nothing larger than a 2-8-2 on it - maybe a light 4-8-2, but nothing bigger.
Your biggest clue to the correct era of cars is to look for roof walks and full ladders on the box cars. These were outlawed some time after . You might also look around for paint schemes and see when they changed. For instance, you won't see any C&O donuts before and that design changed at least twice after introduction.
Gene
Quote from: Atlantic Central on February 27, , 02:44:07 PM
Norfork and Western
Pennsylvania
Baltimore & Ohio
Reading
The Texas & Pacific built a few steam locomotives of their own, but not very many.
Tony,
The s is a great time period to model. The trasition between steam and diesel locomotives was well under way, and cabooses were still on trains. Almost any steam locomotive would be OK period-wise, because usually the smaller,older steam locomotives actually stayed around longer than the newer, longer steam ocomotives because the old steam locomotives weren't able to switch as well as the shorter locos.
Try searching for "
transition era train america prototype info", or something to that effect, on a search engine like Google. You should find a lot.