Andre,
Your layout idea has a credibility that works. A city with several
railroads owning part of a local switching railroad to serve the industries
and yard needs. WP, Santa Fe and SP had their fingers in two railroads in
California and it wasn't unusual to see owner railroad power on them while
the short line switching railroad power was laid up or in the shop.
Cabooses would come and go for an interesting mix also. The
proto-freelancing with that in mind can lead to some very realistic model
railroading. Another nice thing about a multi owned switching railroad is
the use of the home roads equipment for filling the needs of the customer.
Also independent short lines with just a few diesels seldom had rolling
stock of their own, at least till the late 70's and early 80's anyway in
California. But having said that, there are plenty of examples of class one
railroad cars cast off to short lines to fill their needs too. So really is
there a right or wrong?
I've seen layouts modeled after prototype railroads fail miserably for
operation. So just following a prototype isn't a guarantee that it will be
a successful layout. Whether a layout works/succeeds is dependent on the
modeler. Also the layout that doesn't work for one person just may fill the
bill of the owner.
A friend of mine was commenting on the real needs of model railroading.
He's built large HO, On30 and garden railroads. He said he's overwhelmed at
times. Guess what; he was talking about a small shelf layout in S with a GE
44 tonner and maybe 10 cars. He figured he could build a switching layout
with some running space in the middle between industry areas to fill his
need to watch a train run and the need to switch. I don't know if he'll
really do that but his minimalist needs for equipment with the heavy
switching and detailing is a good idea IMO. He likes DCC and sound and if
he has operation sessions he limits the participants to one maybe two other
people. That way the off topic discussions don't drown out the task at hand
or the sounds of miniature railroading.
A comment on paint schemes as to plausibility is in order. When class one
roads were spinning of branch lines, even mainlines new railroads started
popping up with old cast off power. One railroad used Milwaukee F units
painted in orange and blue. The orange and silver of WP was their
inspiration, substituting blue for silver. The old nay sayers about using
proto paint schemes with new colors had a nail in that excuses coffin
pounded in. When Montana Rail Link was formed, they used the BN green and
black substituting blue for green. The end stripes were changed soon after
but the blue and black was inspired by BN still. When CCT in California
bought two Reading GP7's, they were painted in cherry red with white
stripes, just like the WP green and orange. The only difference was an
additional thin white stripe ala Santa Fe original blue and yellow, at the
top of the hood. Also when railroads started to repaint their engines, easy
masking points and simplified paint became the norm so a modeler doing the
same on his freelance railroad was really following prototype practice.
Funny how the great nay sayers in the modeling world were getting nails in
that coffin early and often.
If one looks to Australia, which has a lot of US looking diesels, their
paint schemes of the 80's and on were colorful and wild to the conservative
paint schemes they replaced. Today they are even wilder in some instances.
Greg Elems
Reno, NV
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