Prototypes Someone Else Should Model

[sirenwerks]

Early BN, Vancouver BC to Seattle-ish. Lot's of short trains, covered wagons in all sorts of colors with Milwaukee patrols wandering about, and that Twin Peaks vibe everywhere.

[mecgp7]

The George's Valley Railroad (later Knox Railroad) started in 1889 and ran from Union, Maine a whopping eight miles to the interchange with the Knox and Lincoln RR Rockland branch (later the Maine Central) in Warren, Maine. Primary operation was hauling lime in wooden casks in gondolas and on flatcars. There was also a large casket factory on the line (still in business into the last '70s. At the interchange was a shoe manufacturer. The road also had passenger service and ran specials for the ladies to travel to Union to pick blueberries.
For an eight mile railroad it had a handful of locos all 4-4-0s numbered 1, 2, 3.... One was converted from a narrow gauge loco. Later the Knox RR had a 2-6-2T tanker and became the lone loco on the line. Toward the end of the railroad it could only be operated in reverse when hauling cars as the drivers were so worn. The road was demolished in 1939.
Tons of railroading to be done.

[PiperguyUMD]

I've always liked the idea of modelling SPSF shortly post merger. I realize this doesn't exactly fit the brief, but they put some much effort into it publicly that we can all imagine what those trains would look like.

Along those lines, I’ve always thought that an Alphabet Route merger would be an interesting thing to contemplate. NKP, P&WV, WM, Reading, CNJ. They worked together to give the big railroads fits. I wonder if they had ended up being one of the big class Is if they could have continued operations in the same way.

[signalmaintainer]

The Southern Ry. and Saluda Grade.  Unit coal trains with a lot of power, including radio-control cars and mid-train helpers.  Mixed manifests tripling the hill.  Setting retainers.  A timing section and a runaway track.  Mountain railroading at its finest.  Of course, there's kudzu a plenty!

DFF

Had I the space, that's what I'd be modeling. ...

And if anyone has technical information on the timing circuit -- as in engineering prints, etc. -- I'm in search of those for an article.

[learmoia]

I'll throw in Conrail between Buffalo, NY and Niagara Falls, NY..

Back in it's hay-day - NYC, Erie, and LV all a spaghetti bowl of track more or less along the same ROW to get between the 2 cities and across the river into Canada to connect with CN and CP with tons of passenger service for Niagara Falls, plus C&O, TH&B and I think Wabash had trackage rights.  Plus the Niagara Junction electric

By the mid 1980s, everything had been consolidated down to a secondary main line about 15 miles of single track, and approx 5 miles of double track with with some basic signals.
Very few industries, but the CN/CP Connection remained with a big yard in Niagara Falls.

Plus the trackage rights remained, so you had Conrail plus CSX (C&O), CP Rail (TH&B), and occasionally NS (Wabash) run through trains.. Plus 2 Amtrak trains per day.
.. The line was advertised to shippers as a short cut through Canada to Detroit/Chicago (without having to go around  Lake Erie), so it would handle some intermodal, but I believe the tunnels in Detroit would limit use of double stacks.

I elected to focus on the Falls Road secondary which was an NYC shortcut between Rochester and Niagara Falls that by-passed Buffalo.  More Industry, shorter trains, less equipment needs.

[prr7161]

North end of the Bessemer and Lake Erie, any era.  Climbing up out of the Conneaut ore piers to Albion, then the Osgood trestle and the Greenville shop area.  It has pretty much all the features folks like - a heavy grade, big locomotives, a roundhouse, a bit of local switching, and even some passenger service that lasted surprisingly long.

[NorsemanJack]

Endless list of possibilities....

CGW St. Charles to Dubuque (with Winston Tunnel of course)?

[Chris333]

http://monon.org/bygone_site/mines/CIL33149LittleBettyLinton-0001.jpg

[Angus Shops]

New Westminster, BC. Depending on your era, GN, BN, BNSF, CP, CP Rail, CN, CN Noodle, BC Hydro, SR of BC, transcon passenger, local passenger, local freight, unit trains of all kinds, big bridges, little bridges (timber trestles and swing spans), industrial switching, mainline traffic, several junctions (including the classic RIP track in the wye)(at Sapperton Junction, a place name that deserves modelling just because of the name), deep sea shipping, paper mills, sawmills, all in an urban setting on the Fraser River.

[Specter3]

Newburgh Dutchess and Columbia or Central New England from Dutchess Junction on the NYC just below Beacon NY to Hopewell Junction(where my mom still lives) where crossed the New Haven line that went over the Hudson in Poughkeepsie. Huge yard and car float operation on the river sending cars across to the Erie. Decent yard in Hopewell. Time could anytime up to about 1920. 4-4-0s and small wooden cars. So much going on at this time.

[transitionalman]

Galena IL to Dubuque IA in the 1960s-1970s:

1) CBQ -> BN
2) IC -> ICG
3) CGW -> CNW (I'd change history with this one)
4) MILW
5) Amtrak Blackhawk

[basementcalling]

New Westminster, BC. Depending on your era, GN, BN, BNSF, CP, CP Rail, CN, CN Noodle, BC Hydro, SR of BC, transcon passenger, local passenger, local freight, unit trains of all kinds, big bridges, little bridges (timber trestles and swing spans), industrial switching, mainline traffic, several junctions (including the classic RIP track in the wye)(at Sapperton Junction, a place name that deserves modelling just because of the name), deep sea shipping, paper mills, sawmills, all in an urban setting on the Fraser River.

Amazing how much railroading is packed into Vancover. Where else is there a suspension bridge for rail service?

[Rossford Yard]

Haven't read the entire thread, but the answer is probably, "all of them."  As long as it's someone else's money and time, is there a railroad (or segment thereof) current or past that DOESN'T deserve to be modeled? 

[basementcalling]

Haven't read the entire thread, but the answer is probably, "all of them."  As long as it's someone else's money and time, is there a railroad (or segment thereof) current or past that DOESN'T deserve to be modeled?

Well, depends what you want to model, but some stretches are pretty boring to model even from a JFRT perspective. I used to think I wanted to model Sherman Hill ala early 80s. Actually when it comes to running trains, a pretty dull time period to do it in model form on that stretch of UP.

[Angus Shops]

Amazing how much railroading is packed into Vancover. Where else is there a suspension bridge for rail service?

The bridge is a through truss with multiple spans, with a mix of truss types. One of the center spans is a swing span and the north end of the bridge has a wye with two legs of the wye on the bridge. Super model worthy. Built in 1904. At the south end the tracks diverge in 3 directions, all on timber trestles: curving (sharply) to the east is CN, straight is SRBC, and curving to the west is BNSF. On a good summer day you might see a 30 car Canadian creep over the bridge.