# Why do you model what you model ?



## Joe Fullager (Jan 22, 2012)

Im always interested in hearing why people decide to model what they do.
A lot of people model what they saw when they were young...

I enjoy modeling the British Rail "blue" era, I have memories of 37's hauling coal through my village and like many am very interested In recreating what I saw.

However I am also interested in modeling new Zealand railways as that's where I currently reside, theres a local line that runs right through the small city of which I live. 

What about you?


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## jzrouterman (Nov 27, 2010)

I have loved trains all of my life. I remember the last days of the steam engines and the growing up of the diesels. There were several railroads near me back then. They were Union Pacific, Southern Pacific, Western Pacific, Santa Fe and Rio Grande.

Though the steam engines were awesome to watch go by, my interest soon turned toward the diesels. I would marvel at how several engines would be pulling a train. The Rio Grande would soon become my favorite. I don't know, maybe it was the stripes, but it always seemed to be so massive and powerful as it would rumble by with four or five engines slowly pulling a freight that almost never seemed to end. Though their engines were no larger than the engines of other railroads, it always seemed like they were. To me, they always looked so proud.

The other railraod I loved was Santa Fe. The way their paint scheme was with their yellow war bonnets on their freight engines, to me they looked like great dragons moving across the land. And let us not forget the most beautiful train of all, the red and silver Super Chief. It seemed like the fastest thing on the rails by the way it would fly by. People back then used to call it the train of the stars. And it really was. 

For me, both Rio Grande and Santa Fe have always stood apart from the rest. Though they both were totally awesome, there was always a kind of loneliness about them. I remember when the ends came for both Rio Grande and Santa Fe. Rio Grande first, then several years later, Santa Fe. Both ends were very sad. It was like the loss of two great friends. Though historically, they both died, Today, both railroads live on in my layout. 

In my modeling I try to bring alive a little of the past as how I remember the way it was. Not only for my enjoyment but a chance for maybe others that to take a short glimpse into a wonderful era of how these two railroads once existed and what they ment to the communty they served but have since become lost in time. 

Routerman


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## Joe Fullager (Jan 22, 2012)

A great story routerman, thank you for sharing it.
I've allways been interested in what got people into modelling what they do.
I think the urge to re-create for ourselves and others must be somewhat amongst us all ?

Would also love to hear from some narrow guage guys, I see a lot of people modelling remote narrow guage railways that they are unlikely ever to have seen.


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## cabledawg (Nov 30, 2010)

I grew up in Burlington Northern territory and ironically enough, I dont have but one BN car on my layout. My grandma introduced model trains to me when I was about 10 and its been there ever since. I lost all my childhood stuff in a fire about 13 years ago and just recently got back into model RRing.

I originally loved SF for the same reasons that JZ does. The colors, the granduer (sp?) of a SF freight train running through the desert and the RR has been around long enough to have steam locos. My big train book has a huge section dedicated to SF, second only to UP. Alot of our country was built via ATSF and to me that's just cool.

Right now I actually have UP, SF, CP Rail, Amtrak, Sodor RW, and about 20 other names. It's a hodge podge really. I just get what the kids like. I personally have started collecting Spirit of 76/Bicentennial stuff and anything Air Force themed.


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## raleets (Jan 2, 2011)

I've only been into model RR a little over a year. My layout consists of four independent main lines, each with a different "leader".
One freight oval is headed up by a CN diesel with a CN caboose. Lots of CN traffic goes thru Flint, MI and I see them every day.
Another freight is Conrail front and rear. Don't know why, just thought the color and markings were cool.
There's also a D&RGW steamer passenger train. A dash of the past in yellow and black.
Then, the pride of my fleet.......AMTRAK! Dual diesels pulling 14 gleaming silver cars, including seven Superliners. The Mrs. and I took Amtrak to Arizona a couple of times in the mid-80's, so I wanted to relive some wonderful memories of those great rides and sleeper cars.
My "towns" are also nostalic memories of early Flint, Niles, MI, South Bend, IN, and all the "long gone" stores of yesteryear.
The way the world is currently spinning, living in the past is pretty nice! 
Bob


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## Massey (Apr 16, 2011)

Well I have always loved trains and I grew up in BN country when I was a kid. At 5 or 6 my dad bought a Tyco Chatanooga Choo Choo Diesel set for the X-mas tree. That train was well loved and finally a friend of my sisters gave me a bag of old train stuff he had. In that bag was a well loved Tyco BN diesel that was the same as mine. I made the 2 engines into one that ran like a top (both were broken by this time) and that engine followed me for the next 20 or so years from place to place and always had a piece of track to sit on. Fast forward to 2004/5 I am settling down with my wife, I have a great career in the Navy and I want to get into trains and finally fufill a childhood dream of having my own layout. I find hobby stores, and lots of purty stuff but no BN stuff... CSX, NS, B&O, Chessie, UP, SP but not BN or BNSF. I finally decide on a Athearn BB CSX SD40-2, I take it home and finish the assembly and give it a new home on my dresser. The next set I buy is a Spectrum B&O passenger set with 3 heavyweight cars and a 2-8-0. I start researching the B&O and CSX and find out all sorts of goodies and not so good things. In my research I also discover a railroad that I thought was just a regional called the Norfolk Southern. Living in Norfolk and all this got me interested so I started doing some reading about this road and where it came from. It has a great history, it was a class 1, yadda yadda and this road really got my interests going. I liked the simple paint scheme it was classy, it stood out with the black and white, and the best part is the horse in the logo could be considered part of the railroad heritage as horses were the first locomotives when railroads were being invented. All and all the more I read about the NS the more I liked the road. Around this time the UP was not allowing model makers to use their name, or imagry in models after some one sued the UP for an injury caused by some one throwing a model UP train at them. (thankfully the judge was smart enough to throw that one out of court) I up until reciently have not purchased any UP equipment or equipment from any of the fallen flags that are now part of the UP system. This changed when UP did their heritage schemes to honor the roads that make up the UP today. Since I was living on the east side of the country getting stuff for the BN or BNSF was not usually easy, most of it had to be bought on e-bay or ordered as the local stores stocked the trains from the roads that were on that side of the country. Today I am on the left side of the country and I get to see BNSF and UP more and more and I have been adding them to my fleet as I can. My layout is freelance, my road is freelance and since I like both the BNSF and NS and want to run their trains I have placed my town in a fictional location that is close enough to both the BNSF and NS to interchange with them. I am also discovering that if my fictional town were to be close enough for both the BNSF and NS it would have to be some where near where the KCS is as well. Maybe sometime soon my fictional managers in my fictional road will work out a deal to move some traffic through that system as well. Who knows...

Massey


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## gandy dancer#1 (Jan 21, 2012)

*why do you model what you do*

As a kid we had a small side track in my home town farming community in texas, lot of freight trains, had small depot,with morgan mistletoe and a few other operating off the docks. 3 times a week a passenger train would streak through dont know where it cam from, but never stopped big shiny cars could see people in dining cars ect. was all exciting. Had some wind up trains as toys wish had them now!! Any when youngest grand son came along he spotted the trains that run just west of my home maybe 1/2 blk and hecould here it coming 4 miles away at snyder,ok, and would run tothe door and holler train pa,and we wouldgoout and watch it go by. he is crazy about trains, and he has ridden several times on the special train that comes to town every summer for town celebration.So from there we now have our own train, andhe is really getting into it and wants to build and learn, so we are learning together.:thumbsup:


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## pookybear (Feb 3, 2011)

Easy,

The real thing costs too much and takes way to much space. 

Pookybear


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## flyvemaskin (Nov 19, 2011)

I model tha old Sante Fe and have done so since the late 70's. I was married with kids when I got interested in trains. Living in a 10X50 trailer early in my life, I had little room so it was N scale, and I'm still in N scale. 
I've railfaned the SF from Gallup, NM to Flagstaff, AZ. Spent a lot of time at Diablo Canyon and the Winslow, AZ yard. The SF is, or was about an hour drive from where I lived, and Winslow was one and one half hours, another hour on to Flagstaff. This railfaning the SF is why I model it and love the SF. When it turned into the BNSF, the Burlington Northern people were and are not railfan friendly, I lost a lot of places I once took pictures from. These people were rude, and there was no talking to them, unlike the SF folks. So the Sante Fe is my favorite road, also like the paint schemes they used.


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## jzrouterman (Nov 27, 2010)

flyvemaskin said:


> When it turned into the BNSF, the Burlington Northern people were and are not railfan friendly, I lost a lot of places I once took pictures from. These people were rude, and there was no talking to them, unlike the SF folks. So the Sante Fe is my favorite road, also like the paint schemes they used.


Because of all the terroristic threats going around from time to time, here in Georgia if one wants to take photos of the Norfolk Southern trains or the operations, one MUST have a permit before doing so. At some places, even standing along side and watching is frowned upon. The sheriff will drive up and ask what you're doing and then ask for your permit. If one doesn't have one, law enforcement can and have hauled violators to jail. I don't know if it's the same with CSX railway here or not.

Routerman


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## flyvemaskin (Nov 19, 2011)

And some folks think we live in a free country still....................not so. Sure is sad. I got pushed around for standing on the outside of the fence along the BNSF tracks, on public land. We had quite an arguement over rights that day. A few minutes later the BNSF people got stuck in a mud puddle in their pickup, then had the gaul to ask me to pull em out. I didn't, told em I could be sued if I broke something on their pickup. Funny as heck. I laughed all the way home that day.


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## Massey (Apr 16, 2011)

You guys that are getting pushed around by others when you are railfanning need to do a couple of things.

First search for and find a document called the Photographer's Rights. It is a document that grants a photographer permission to photograph anything anywhere so long as the photographer is on public land. The rights on private land are different and you may need a permit or written permission.
Second in order for you to be protected by this document you need to make sure that you are on public land and not on railroad owned property. Do not get snippy with the people but kindly tell them that you are allowed to photograph trains as long as you are on public land (an make sure you are on public land)

a few years back I found a BNSF GP38-2 waiting near the road I was driving on. The engine still wore the BN green and black and I stopped, took out my camera and snapped a few pics. The conductor hung out the window and asked me what I was doing. I told him I loved trains and have never had the chance to get this close to one before. He said I could get closer if I wanted and even invited me up into the cab for a look-see. He and the engineer were really cool and let me snap a few pics inside the cab as well. I did get kicked out once they got the call to move the train. So far I have not had much problem with my railfanning anywhere I have been. I have simply kept myself on public land and a respectful distance from the trains and when questioned I have always been polite and no one has given me any grief. CSX even allowed me on the maintenance road next to the mainline but told me to stay off the main no matter what.

Massey


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## Southern (Nov 17, 2008)

I model Southern Railway and Sea Broad Cost Line, Because those are the two lines that ran through the town that I grew up it. The reason that I put so much time in to the worlds greatest hobby is that it keeps my from wasting my money on wild women and drinking.


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## shaygetz (Sep 23, 2007)

If rivet counters get hives and purists find themselves sobbing like school girls moments after seeing my layout, then I know I'm in top modeling form... :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:


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## Conductorjoe (Dec 1, 2011)

Well said jzrouterman. :thumbsup:

I have always liked trains since I was a kid. Lionel, then HO then about 12 years old got my first N scale set. Been modeling Santa Fe and Southern Pacific for most of my life since I grew up in So Cal.
All I see here now is the Green and Orange of BNSF and occasional UP when I travel.
Last few years I wanted a change and have been collecting CP Rail and all the Eastern roads that connect with it. My wife loves the CP Rail Pacman logo. The colors of the roads I have are nice.
It always helps to have wife that supports the hobby so most of my layout now is CP Rail.
CP Rail is also fun to model if you want to stay close to prototype. They run equipment longer then the US Rail Companies. I have seen Geeps and switchers running longer there than anywhere so you have a wide variety of power and still be close to real thing. They also have many paint schemes from the Pacman to Canadian Pacific logos including the Dual Flags.
So if you like to paint or just collect there are many different schemes .


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## flyvemaskin (Nov 19, 2011)

Hey Southern, does that line work about spending time on your layout instead of wild women and drink? I tried it a long time ago, but it didn't work. ha ha


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## Southern (Nov 17, 2008)

The older you get the better it works.


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## flyvemaskin (Nov 19, 2011)

Well, I guess you're right, the older I get the less she worries, pays no attention when I tell her I'm going out to check out the babes, she know's i'm headed for the hobby shop. Stinks when they know ya that well.


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## Railtunes (Jun 19, 2012)

Maybe it was just a serendipitous typo [Sea *BROAD COST* Line}, but I couldn't decide whether it referred to the money spent on wild women [the cost of 'broads"], or the large expenditure on your models!


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## New Berlin RR (Feb 11, 2012)

I model what I like, and my road is freelance, my trains are mostly a mix of BN, BNSF, Amtrak, and a few other odd balls from euro-countries (germany mostly) one I know if french maybe another, however I have no name for it so its a name less one till I find someone who can tell me what it is...anyways I have mine based in a fictional city/town and its where a few lines meet (for the most part) and I have decided to model from WW2 to present day simply because I love the WW2 era and studied it a lot in high school so I figured might as well combine my interest in that time frame with my other favorite addiction, trains...having the train hobby is my way to unwind and distress from the worries of life...sadly the dreams of my layout are on hold but i won't be stopping my trains from running the rails  every day (or at least every other day) you can hear the little GP38-2 with its little drive motor running the rails just making a simple oval so nothing special there, but it helps me be happy and im still proud of that little engine, even after its sat in an attic for about 6+ years, it still works and just needed a tiny amount of oil and she still pulls like a power house puller...

I personially have loved trains since I got to see my first train (a majestic steamer) when I was five and even rode the train, sadly I forget where it was but I loved trains from that moment on


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## dablaze (Apr 17, 2012)

For me I grew up around model trains more so than the prototype. My father was a big fan of the CPR and modeled around where he was born, Mattawa, Ontario (Near North Bay) When I got into it, I wanted to interchange with him and started to Model the Ontario Northland. Then I wanted to do a 44 tonner and due to my rivet counting father, could not do ONR or CPR (the cpr ran a different body style, the ONR did not run them at all) so I did a CNR 44 tonner in green and yellow. That started me into splitting my interest between the two lines. My dad and I did a lot of railfanning together until I moved away for work about 10 years ago. He passed away a little while ago and I promised him that I would "keep the KIP running" (KIP is the name of his fictional line that interchanges with the above 3) I also now find myself being drawn into the CPR. (Something to do with having a few hundred cool CPR diesels around I guess,lol)

Craig


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## Railtunes (Jun 19, 2012)

I model five different branch lines from very different places, all on the same layout. What makes this viable is the shared concept - a branch line - and that everything is truly modular (not sectional) - the layout baseboard pieces, the structures, some of the scenery areas - so that I can change these out when I'm running different equipment from the five railways or different era trains from the same prototype. Being modular, I can set up a variety of different layout arrangements to suit whatever space I'm living in as well as sharing the layout at train shows.
I have rolling stock from the early steam era to fairly modern (mainly ending in the 1980s-ish, with a few more modern pieces), with a focus on the transition era for each prototype.
Why a branchline? First, it's a practical choice where space is limited, even in N scale, my chosen modeling scale. I am probably also influenced in this choice by the fact that I grew up at the end of a branch line - the end of the line was literally in my back yard. I got to see the daily train delivering stuff to our local industries and the businesses of people I knew. The railroad was truly "up close and personal". I've also always been interested to see how railways around the world did things and have collected N scale rolling stock from each of my prototypes. 
All the branch lines I've chosen have similar geographic settings - located on islands (or otherwise isolated), with water features (ports, rail barges), a good mix of traffic (not just single commodities), and with some level of passsenger service (either modest length passenger trains or mixed trains), so changing out scenery and trains is easy. I've also chosen at least one "signature scene" from each line to preserve some semblance of prototype recognition.
Here are the five lines and their signature scenes and steam-to-Diesel transition dates:
Canadian Pacific Nakusp Subdivision, southeastern British Columbia: Signature scene: Rosebery and the Slocan Lake rail barge operation. Transition era: Mid-1950s.
LMS/British Rail Kyle of Lochalsh line in Scotland. Signature scene: Kyle of Lochalsh pier terminal and locomotive shed at the end of the line: Transition: 1961.
Taiwan Railway Pingxi branchline: Originally a coal mining branch, now a tourist line: Signature Scenes: Shifen town and station, where the line runs down the middle of the street, and the Shifen waterfall. Transition: around 1970.
New South Wales, Australia Murwillumbah line: Agricultural goods, bananas, timber, sugar mill. Signature scene: Still choosing, but the Condong sugar mill stands out. Transition: 1950s-60s.
Japan Kyushu Ibusuki - Makurazaki line, the southern most rail line in Japan. Almost exclusively a local passenger service line and now a tourist ralfan destination. Signature scene: line along the seashore. Transition: 1970s.
Each of these scenes can become another real place on each of the other branch lines by swapping out the structures and scenery.
Great fun and definitely keeps things interesting - especially when I mix things up to spite the rivet counters!
- Paul Ingraham


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## Murv2 (Nov 5, 2017)

My dad had a model railroad but he gave it up because too many kids meant no time. My brother took over and built huge layouts that were cobbled together and usually didn't work well. I always enjoyed building things more than running trains. After I joined the Navy I took up wargaming and didn't have space for trains either (everything I owned fit in a car for 7 years). Now most of my kids are grown up and I'm approaching retirement, so I'm building things again. My railroad is Unitrack, simple as I could make it but most of the buildings, engines and rolling stock are either made or repaired by me. I'm fond of the B&O because my dad was and they have the oldest engines, the only car I have that my dad used on his RR is a B&O caboose. I don't only model the B&O though, I've gone crazy buying beat up antique steam engines and repairing them, oldest I have (now) is a lionel Pacific with a cast metal shell that has to date from the earliest time they produced them (most have plastic shells). Trying to stay away from diesels but they're worse than cockroaches. Trying to stay away from plastic too but it's worse than diesels. The one rule I haven't broken yet is no automobiles on the layout, all ground traffic is by horse.
My pride and joy is this EMC 1800 B-B boxcab I built by stretching an RS-3 chassis and scratchbuilding the superstructure. This is as close as I could get to the 1935 configuration.


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## Lee Willis (Jan 1, 2014)

Wow. Nice question. The answers above were very interesting. I really enjoyed reading all of them. This is a diverse hobby with many ways people get a rich experieince that is greatly personal from it. Fantastic!!

_Why do I model . . . the 1950s on my train layout? _The buildings and details (billboards, road signs and such) on my layout represent the mid 1950s. I was a kid then and I never considered modeling any other time. I think most of us model what we grew up with . . . 

_Why do I model in O-Gauge?_ Because I had that size toy train when I was a kid, and because the locos are bigger so they can have more detail and features than in N or HO.

_Why do I model . . . or buy the type of model locos I do _- very detailed and almost exclusively 1:48 scale, not tradtiional O-Gauge? Because I love detail on a model and I like scale - scale locos are bigger and makes the locos that much more fun. 

_Why do I model locomtives from any era when my layout is set up for the 1950s? Because I buy locos and rolling stock I like!! I collect and run the model locomotives and rolling stock I like - that simple. _While the layout is nomially set up for the mid 1950s, I own locos from as early as civil war era up to the present day. It is purely if I like the loco - I then buy rolling stock to run with it, so I have rolling stock dating from the civil war to modern times, too. 

I take the question posted here to implicitly be restricted to our model trains and why our layout depicts what it does, but . . . to a great extent my layout and model train and cars that go with it, all exist so I can have modeling projects for that layout. 
_I make the models I make because  they are a challenge to build _and/or I want to models. I build lots of model ships but that is for another place and time. 
I build models of locomotives like 1171 below (first photo). It is a 1:48 model of one of the few bendable-boiler locmotives ever made. ATSF 1171 was not only articulated in its drivers, but the entire loco body bent at the middle with a type of bellows for its boiler. The loco is a scratch build body entirely, mounted on two scale Lionel LC+ steamer chassis. It was a real challenge to own, and I have never seen another model of it, in any scale, certainly not O.
And models of other interesting and challenging things in 1:48 scale, because Ii want the model, and it seems a challenge to make it. Second photo shows: back right: 1:48 model of the US Antarctic Service's 1939 Snow Cruiser, with full interior modeled (all scratch-built, although the plane it carried is a kit). back left, early (grey) and later (blue) express "buses" that the Nairn Transportation company ran at 75 mph acorss the Arbain Desert from Beirut to Bagdad in the 1930s, to serve the developing oil industry in Iraq and Saudi Arabia, and front,a model of a set up a friend in Germany had, a sailplane that disassembled to fit in a trailer he could pull behind his Prosche 911 and park in his driveway when. The Porsche is a kit but all else is entirely scratch built except for the wheels and tires on the trailer and trucks, which I bought.


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