Do you fudge the truth?

[wcfn100]

Yeah, I know.  Picky.

Not picky at all.  I was going to write something similar. 

I say I model 1966-68.  This is a natural cutoff for the CGW as it includes the last diesel purchase (which also includes the last F unit trade ins) up to the end.  I suppose I could say (and some do) I model June 30th, 1968 or the last day of the railroad.  The issue is that there just aren't enough photos available to be so specific so I have to do the best I can.  Also, the train lists I have are from 1965, so I have to extrapolate any changes from there like more covered hoppers for grain.

One deviation I've afforded myself in regards to the CGW is to model one passenger train.  Unfortunately, the last passenger train through Waterloo was 1962.

Modeling Waterloo also means modeling the Rock Island which has it's own set of issues.  The RI is much more interesting in regards to motive power than the CGW and I've stowed away several projects that would be fun to do.  But a 1966 start time means I can't use my FTs or BL2.  While ultimately I will probably be okay without these, I won't be selling any of the donor locos any time soon.


There's one situation I haven't been able to resolve yet regarding RI paint schemes, namely the wing scheme (and spark arrestors)-



Totally legitimate for my end time frame, but also totally out of place for the beginning.  Which shows that even a three year time frame involves 'fudging'.

Jason

[Kisatchie]

I would never fudge. I'm going to model 1971, even though I have a few cars dated 1972. Those cars will be repainted for my private road (Kisatchie Gulf & Northern). I check to make sure the prototypes of any cars I buy were built in 1971 or earlier, even though they might have been shopped in 1972 or later.


Hmm... I love banana
fudge...

[davefoxx]

Oh, three years can definitely be a "fudging."  On the Seaboard System (which resulted from the merger of the Family Lines' roads in 1983), certain locomotive series were renumbered in 1983 or 1984.  However, the very plentiful B36-7s didn't arrive until 1985 or '86.  To be absolutely correct, I would have to decide what side of those divides I would want to be on.  Or, I could do as I am and saying that anything that appeared on the SBD during 1983-86 is fair game.  In other words, I can ignore the renumbering but still run the locomotives that showed up on the property just before the CSX merger.

DFF

[Freight Train]

Fudging it?.....I guess I could be called " The Doctor Who of Model Railroading ” of sorts. I like to model some of the railroads of my youth circa 1968 to 1972. I mainly focus on the Monon Railroad with some of the other roads sprinkled in. I run Monon passenger trains but they ceased operations in 1956. I also run as a excusion the Bud RDC demostrator but the actual road tested it but never bought any RDC's. And if any purdist reading this see's the timeline stop at 1972 knows the road in real life merges with the L&N in 1971 which in my world hasn't taken place yet. " Yes K-9....we might be free of the Daleks but this railroad is out of the dimential timeline of sorts. Will need to get Captain Jack Harkness and the Torchwood gang on this pronto! ”

[nkalanaga]

Certainly.  Since my route is freelanced, what's a minor adjustment of dates?  There are two main reasons for not sticking to mid-1974:  Lack of availability and inconvenient history.

For availability, it can still be hard to find what's needed.  I'm slowly replacing too-modern cars with appropriate ones, but not all of what I would need is available.  Information can also be hard to find, as in "was this car still running in 1974, and was it repainted for BN yet?".

For history, my BN has a MILW interchange, under wire.  That's the only reason I have it, is to run electrics.  The MILW turned the power off in mid June, 1974, and never electrified a branchline.  Mine is still running electrics, and has a more extensive electrified district, allowing mw to have my motors.  My history assumes that the MILW actually FINISHED their electrification! 

[Baronjutter]

My layout is set in the near future so almost anything can be excused!

[JMaurer1]

When I was married, fudging the truth is the only thing that kept me married. Now I can CHOOSE to fudge or not to fudge. I model the NorthWestern Pacific in June 1954...it's just a much stronger and profitable NWP. That's not fudging, I'm just modeling how is should have been...

[altohorn25]

My home layout is set in 1952 and nothing newer goes on the layout during operations.  That being said, I have more modern equipment that I will run on our modular layout at train shows.

Nate

[jnevis]

<<<Has multiple personality disorder when it comes to equipment (and lacation), whom I kidding I run whatever wherever, since the "layout" is a 2x4 oval.

I'm TRYING to only buy modern-ish equipment 90's+ but MUST run the CZ and El Cap with F units, although I could put the WP FP7A in front of a P42 pulling a half dozen CZ cars and be right for 2010, the museum did it for the WP Centennial Convention.

[jimmo]

I like to think of my efforts as "era flexible". Figuring that era is based on the newest recognizable item on your layout, mine would be "contemporary." In other words, I am reluctant to try and pin it down to a specific timeframe. Since I model an industrial shortline, all the motive power is second or third hand. I'm not an expert when it comes to specific railcar eras but what I have looks like what I still see out there on the mainlines.

My layout is an industrial road during the week and a railroad museum on the weekends and holidays. This allows me to run pretty much whatever I like (within reason). Inspired by a local tourist road, the Filmore & Western and the Trona Railway. It combines a lot of my favorite railroady things. Ancient diesels pulling long trains of center flow hoppers, steam-powered passenger trains, doodlebugs, switchers, movie trains, just to name a few. Probably the newest recognizable things on the layout are the vehicles, which define the era as within the last 10 or so years.

[Ike the BN Freak]

My main fudge is I model BN from 1992-94, closer to late 92.

However I love SD/F45s, and in the real world, those units were all retired/sold off by 1986, however the late 80s and early 90s, BN was big in capital rebuild programs.  So my little world, BN had some of the SD/F45s rebuilt to SD40-2 specs, much like SP did with theirs.

Also have a bunch of Kato passenger equipment, plus a trio of E8s, which for now are my foobie business fleet.

[Rossford Yard]

Business trains, re-routed trains from other railroads due to derailments or washouts, and excursions are "freebies of the fudged foobies N scale world," are they not?  I mean, c'mon, who doesn't use those?

Funny, how I can make a distinction between legitimate foobs and non legit ones....I think I am overthinking this one....

[u18b]

I guess I'm in the minority.

I admit that I don't fudge when it comes to paint schemes and time period.

I model premillennial CSX.  My locomotive roster consists mostly of that.  Anything else I have is because
1. I have done an article on it.
2. I plan to do an article on it one day.
3. It is an interesting piece- I might keep as part of the collection- but I don't run it with CSX locos.
4. I keep it as a "railfan excursion"- like the Clinchfield Challenger
5. It was a gift.

As an example of not fudging- It is so disappointing how often Kato has gotten CSX locos wrong.  I love their products, but I just can't run (for example) a CSX Transportation SD40 with the wrong road number (why couldn't they have just gotten the number correct?).

If I wanted to fudge, I definitely would add a Family Lines big ALCO - but alas!  Seaboard System retired them all before the CSX merger.

So I guess that almost makes me a rivet counter.   

[robert3985]

I model the U.P. "helper district" between Ogden and the top of the grade at Wahsatch, where the helpers would cut off most of the time.  My era is a ten year section which is 1947 through 1956 with an absolute cut-off of Dec. 31, 1956.

I've decided on different standards for structures, since there were both operational and equipment changes during my era that changed significant structures in my geographical "slice", so I've set the structures at a more specific date (1953) in order to include the SP roundhouse in Ogden and coal-fired engines and their related facilities on the Wasatch Grade.

There were several interesting transitions during this ten year era, including the transition of U.P.'s FEF's (as well as Challengers and other engines) from the two-tone-gray paint scheme to black (1953-1955), the transition from oxide red cabooses to Armour yellow (1949-1951), the transition from steam to diesel mainline power, the transition from coal to oil steam mainline power, the transition on passenger trains to the entire passenger fleet being painted from various schemes to Amour yellow and other more esoteric transitions.  My time period allows me to run examples of both pre and post transition items with believability.

Choosing this ten-year period has been very interesting for me, causing me to do a lot of research about it all, and revealing that many of my long-held assumptions were erroneous.

From an operations standpoint, I compromise in both freight operations and passenger operations, simply because it would be very difficult to incorporate the true volume of traffic that passed through Echo and Weber Canyons in my era.  For example there were 48 passenger and mail trains arriving and leaving Ogden Union Station on a typical day in 1953.  I'll represent those with a selection of both east and west-bound City trains and mail trains as my passenger equipment roster increases.

From a freight operations standpoint, there was usually only one out of the 25 Big Boys being serviced on a typical day, the rest of them were either pulling 4,000 ton freights out of Ogden/Riverdale or returning from Green River through Echo and Weber Canyons.  Other freights were pulled by Challengers being helped by either TTT 2-10-2's or 3700 Class Challengers . Two daily locals were pulled by Consolidations (Park City Local) and MacArthurs (Evanston Local).  Additional freights were pulled by F3/F7, FA/FB, GP-7/GP-9 and by Standard Turbines (with or without oil tenders) or Veranda Turbines (with or without tenders).  Both steam and diesel/turbine power were present on this section of mainline simultaneously, with the latest Turbine power regularly being helped over Wahsatch by an oil-fired 3700 Challenger on the rear.  However, the sheer volume of trains present daily on this section would be difficult and expensive to reproduce, so I select the most interesting from both an operational and visual standpoint to run on my rendition of the Wasatch Grade.  This selection changes as I continually add to my freight motive power roster and build my collection of IMR reefer kits.

I've also elected to not model the majority of Weber Canyon and concentrate on Echo Canyon simply because I don't foresee ever having enough space to do both.  However, my modular layout design will allow inclusion if I ever have sufficient space and time to model Weber/Morgan. I also have more historical information about the pre-freeway Echo Canyon vs Weber Canyon.  As I find more photos and old maps, I'll get more confident about modeling Weber Canyon correctly.

So...yup...I compromise, but within strict guidelines that I've created for myself.  I suppose you could call this "fudging".

Here's an overview of what I've got planned so far for my complete layout.  Several sections are nearing completion, including Echo and Curvo, with Devil's Slide and Wilhemina Pass getting ready for benchwork construction:

[reinhardtjh]

I'll be fudging fairly big time.  My plans are to model the PRR Buffalo line from somewhere around Arcade Junction (My home area) south past Olean and the Keating Summit hopefully to Emporium or Driftwood, PA.  Time-wise I want the transition era around 1956 during the last gasp of steam on the PRR and with diesels around.  The problem is, that steam was dead and gone on the Buffalo Line by 1952-53, the turntable was removed and the engine house converted to diesel use at that time so no steam. Even during the comeback year 1956.  Or very little.  So I'll be re-writing history somewhat.

The other fudge will be that I like the modern/now period on the same line with the WNY&P/NS and the ALCos running the Summit between Driftwood and Olean.  It won't be so much of a rolling stock fudge (although there will be some), but a facility fudge since Conrail removed the PRR Olean yard and facilities and made use of the Erie/EL yard across the river, which is what the WNY&P uses now.  For me to to have both eras I'll have to pretend Conrail kept the PRR yard and dismantled the Erie side.  And, of course, the yard will be a lot bigger and include a turntable, roundhouse, etc.  Currently, due to the decline in coal traffic to power stations in the area, the coal trains NS ran over the WNY&P have been suspended for about 2 years.  I'll keep them going so I can run modern NS power when I want.