off the deep end

[asciibaron]

i must have been drinking the MR Kool-Aid this weekend... i am trying to decide what i want out of a model railroad and more and more it's becoming clear that the PRR/PC no longer interests me.  I can't really get too jazzed up with Conrail - it's too much of a conglomeration of so much heritage that it really doesn't have much of a self image until the mid 1980's and i'm not really interested in that era of railroading.  it was still the sum of it's parts in the late 1970's until the railroad started to really trim the fat in the 82-87 time frame.

i'm very interested in capturing the worn out, overused, and neglected railroading of the 1970's and what better railroad than the Milwaukee Road in western Montana, Idaho, and Washington.  I have been interested in the MILW for several years and i've always been intrigued by the electrified lines - Little Joe's and big SD power grinding up and through the rugged mountains - it's damn near impossible to comprehend the scale of effort and engineering when compared to the PRR's crossing of the Allegheny Range and how torturous that seems.  i'm drawn to the electrics of the MILW and GN, but the MILW keep the electrics into the 1970's (and some argue they f'd up when they pulled the plug, and thus killed the railroad).

i have been looking at pictures in books and from websites and i am just drawn to the railroad.  i can't put my finger on it, but it inspires me to see the orange and black scheme crossing massive trestles and piercing the rugged terrain through countless tunnels and cuts.  i'm not interested in the granger side of the railroad and find that rather boring, i'm just interested in the railroad from Harlowton, MT to Seattle and Tacoma, WA. 



this picture speaks to me in a way that no PRR picture can or will ever be able to - this is a whole different type of railroading.  the killer is the lack of Little Joe's - Overland made them a few years ago, but at $850 a pop, ouch.  until I can afford that or someone puts out another run, i'm happy to model the line right after the electric was pulled and the decline started.

it's time to do more research, and look deeper - do i really want to cast off the PRR and jump into the unknown?

-Steve

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Keep the PRR stuff, but follow your curiosity. It's not like it'll get you a rash or anything.

[Walkercolt]

Look into the big "EF Boxcabs" the Milwaukee Road had. I love the Santa Fe and Frisco, but if brass "box-cabs" ever come out, I might re-mortgage my house, sell a kidney, and take a down payment on my other organs and build N-TRAK modules 2 feet from the floor with mountains and trestles up to 8' tall for 12 miles of Montana scenery with overhead wire. If you don't have the Pentrex DVD's of the Milwaukee Road, buy them and you'll be ruined. The original film quality from the 60's isn't perfect, but 150' pine or fir trees and trestles 300' tall make up for it, and then some.

[Dave V]

The sign outside Steve's train room:

[tom mann]

Oh yeah, Lines West is great stuff.  I look forward to the day that affordable Little Joes come out.  However, E78 was wrecked and rebuilt with F7 cabs, so a kitbash is possible...

[asciibaron]

If you don't have the Pentrex DVD's of the Milwaukee Road, buy them and you'll be ruined.

from an email at 11:13am today...

This email is to confirm the receipt of your recent order from Pentrex

i hope they arrive by Thursday so i can start building this weekend

-Steve

[asciibaron]

sign outside Dave's train closet...




hotlink might burn me...

-Steve

[wcfn100]

Overland made them a few years ago, but at $850 a pop

Doesn't see like too much when you compare it to the $5000 for the Olympian set of cars.  Had I known that Overland was doing the Little Joe, I would have paid more attention to the passenger cars but now there all gone except for a few orphans.



Jason

[Dave V]

hotlink might burn me...

-Steve

Funny you mention that...  I have a sign outside my trainroom not unlike that.  I did another video tour that shows it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBGIQ7ZuuiU

[asciibaron]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBGIQ7ZuuiU

try harder- too obvious....

[Walkercolt]

Steve, watch for the place in the videos where you can see three high trestles in one shot! 3% grades, curves than work out to about 26" scale, trestles every mile or so, almost perfect for a bedroom sized model railroad, and all single tracked, and not that many sidings. You could build scenery from the floor to the ceiling and it would be UNDER-SIZED!!! But you'd have to love to make evergreen trees.....millions of them. Woodland Scenics would have to double their production of tree armatures.

[Ryan87]

hotlink might burn me...
-Steve

Funny you mention that...  I have a sign outside my trainroom not unlike that.  I did another video tour that shows it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBGIQ7ZuuiU

Dave Vollmer DAMN YOU!!!! 

Milwaukee... look at the area between Butte & East portal yummy!

[ryourstone]

I've walked the old ROW over Snoqualmie pass a couple times and was actually just at Rattlesnake lake yesterday. Yet somehow within the midst of all this scenic splendor my modeling interests are still grounded in the semi-urban industrial wastelands of Northeastern NJ... go figure!

[brokemoto]

If you want beat up and neglected equipment, CMStP&P of the 1970s ain't a bad choice. 

There is also SP of the 1970s.  No electric, there, but you can do your own painting and if you mess up the alignment of the decals, it will look even more prototypical.  You can also do misspellings such as 'SOUTHERN PICIFAC' to reflect doors that the shop forces  replaced in improper order.  Spill some alcohol or sprinkle a bit of brake fluid onto the equipment for an even more realistic look.  There are mountains and deserts and all sorts of other terrain.

In Horrendiferously Oversized, Athearn is selling yard goats in CMStP&P colors but with MStP&SSM paintovers.  The paint job is even pre-crummified (is there such a word?) with scratches, dirt and other interesting touches. Can N scale be far behind?

I rode many trains in the 1970s, but for some reason, that era in railroading does not ignite too much modelling interest for me.   Still, I can see why those who like beat up equipment might like it; the 1970s was not a good decade for many railroads, thus they did not have large amounts of funds to spend on cosmetics. 

While there were some exceptions; the Hill Lines and All Tramps Sent Free seemed to do allright (the former's merger may have been amoung  the grand contributors to the demise of CMStP&P), many roads lost money and there was the spectacular wreck of the NYCS, PRR and NYNH&H combine, known affectionately to most of us as PC, that started the decade.

I also rode many trains during the 1960s, but even that decade ignites only a mild modelling interest, and only the early part of it.  I barely remember steam as a VERY small child, but that is what really ignites my modelling interest.  My parents were not even thought of in the nineteenth century, an era that is tempting me more and more as time passes.  We all have different reasons for what we like to model or would like to do.  One thing about changing eras and roads, though is that it is quite the expensive proposition.  You may br able to raise some funds by selling off what you have, but even much of what you originally spent is lost there.  If you must sell first, what do you do in the interim?

[DKS]

Hey, Steve, got a track plan suggestion for you. Nice rugged mountains around Harlowton... seedy, run-down industrial area near Tacoma...