# Wanting to do a mid 1800's railroad..need suggestions



## bbcford (Jan 18, 2015)

Hello..I'm new but have been doing model railroads since I was a kid. I've taken a break for several years but I'd like to get back into it again. My father got me started with his American Flyer S gauge set, that he got as a kid in the mid 1950s. I was over at his place a few weeks ago and appreciated how he still puts it up at Christmas time, with his Plasticville houses. It kinda gave me the bug again...

I used to have a good size platform up year round (almost 3- 4x8 sheets of plywood)... HO scale Tyco stuff. I think I'd like to do something totally different. I'm thinking a American western style railroad from around the mid 1800's. 

I love look of the old steam locomotives but I admit I really don't know much about that era when it comes to finding a locomotive that looks period correct and aesthetic at the same time. Since I started browsing I've seen a few locomotives that look kinda cheap and more toy-like then what I'm hoping to find. 

I might just start with a basic track...maybe just an oval and add to it. I'm not sure yet but I'm hoping for some suggestions as far as scale. I'd love something like S scale ...but I doubt I'm going to find old time looking locomotives and cars. I could do HO scale again but it just seems a little small to me this time around. 
Any suggestions?


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## Shadowplayer (Oct 31, 2014)

There is always LGB!














there are some nice O scale options out there as well


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## cole226 (Feb 8, 2013)

check On30,
o scale that runs on ho track.


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## wvgca (Jan 21, 2013)

On30 might be a good choice for you, and it's less expensive [in general] than O or S scale.. and there is some nice stuff from Bachmann in that scale.. I have one On30 porter that I ocassionally run on my layout, mid 1800's didn't have much choice for loco's, mainly 4-4-0, I went with around 1890, that lets me use geared steam like shay's, climax, heislers, as well as a bit of 0-6-0, and 2-6-0 / 4-6-0 locos ..plus by then normal couplers were starting to be used, rather than link/pin couplers ... rolling stock is a little harder to find to fit that era, pretty much all were the truss rod style... I try to hold to that, but I'm not a strong 'rivet counter', and try to get older appearing stuff..


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## Old Bill (Nov 28, 2013)

Look up on30 videos lots of information.


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## dave1905 (Jul 7, 2013)

Both of those engines are way too new for a mid 1800's layout. I would search for Civil war era modeling info and then backdate it a decade. Mid 1800's (1840-1860) would limit the railroads to mostly east of Chicago.

The V&T wasn't started until 1869.


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## Old_Hobo (Feb 20, 2014)

Maybe that railroad wasn't around, but 4-4-0 locomotives were.......although they may not have looked like the ones above.

Here is the first one built (1836 or 37):


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## bbcford (Jan 18, 2015)

Lots of options out there. Ive been researching more on locomotives that are available from that era and really appreciate the posts

I really need to decide on which scale to go with.


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

bbcford said:


> I really need to decide on which scale to go with.


First thing you should figure out is how much room you can devote to the table?
Also how good are your eyes and hands for working with a smaller scaled train?


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