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Post by atsfgp7u on Jul 3, 2016 16:36:08 GMT -8
I model 1985 on the Santa Fe Plains Division.
GP50s are the newest 4 axle locos and still plenty of Chop Nose GP7Us and GP9Us and CF7s about.
ATSF six axle power is SD26s, SD39s, SD40s & -2s, SD45s & -2s the ex AMTRAK SDP40FUs, although the SD60 demonstrators are currently touring the railroad.
Way cars are still in regular service and the move to TOFC hubs has not yet occurred so local TOFC ramps are still in use.
Too late for passenger red & silver warbonnets and too early for Superfleet, so yellow and blue warbonnets are the flavor of the day.
(I picked 1985 because Joe McMillan's Santa Fe Diesel Fleet book listed the diesel roster in October 1985 and 1985 was also one of the years listed in the freight car live list published by the SFH&MS).
cheers
Dave
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Post by fr8kar on Jul 3, 2016 20:38:14 GMT -8
I model 1985 on the Santa Fe Plains Division. SNIP (I picked 1985 because Joe McMillan's Santa Fe Diesel Fleet book listed the diesel roster in October 1985 and 1985 was also one of the years listed in the freight car live list published by the SFH&MS). cheers Dave That's a great book. I got it a couple years after it came out and still use it as a resource for my modeling. At the time the outlook for the new SPSF was bright and all but certain and the book seemed to cast no doubt on what would actually come to be. It's not only a great and informative snapshot in time, but a springboard for those who dreamed "what if?" about the SPSF (at that time I was certainly in that camp). |
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Post by bdhicks on Jul 4, 2016 12:23:03 GMT -8
At least nowadays people admit that everyone tends to pick their era due to their personal history. Used to be you'd get the transition era modelers going on and on about how their era was objectively the best era and it was just a coincidence that they were a teenager during that time.
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Post by csxt8400 on Jul 4, 2016 13:47:17 GMT -8
1995-1999 for me. Really a 1998-2001 timeframe, but im not a complete 100% stickler. Gathering rolling stock and locomotives for a Chicago CSX to Wisconsin (FDL) WC. Both ends of the layout will fan towards other destinations to keep trains from getting captive.
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Post by rapidotrains on Jul 4, 2016 16:39:31 GMT -8
If I asked this question at any hobby shop within 100 miles of Rapido's office, 40% or more of respondents would say 1955-1959.
Based on the threads it is not surprising at how few people on this forum - and most other general HO forums - model that era.
But it is what sells.
-Jason
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Post by fr8kar on Jul 4, 2016 17:09:17 GMT -8
Interesting, Jason. Most of the modelers I know in this area aren't active on forums. And many of those model the transition era.
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Post by drolsen on Jul 7, 2016 6:24:11 GMT -8
Jason, I had the slightly amusing but sad thought that it's nice that you can say, "any hobby shop within a 100 miles." I think many people are lucky to have even one hobby shop within 100 miles! Train-related hobby shop, at least.
Always interesting to see these polls. Thanks for organizing it!
Dave
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Post by riogrande on Jul 8, 2016 5:19:04 GMT -8
Ryan,
It makes sense on one level that transition era folks aren't as active on forums; assuming transition era is something like 1940-1955 (broadly), those who are still alive to remember steam to diesel transition well are mostly "up there" in age and as is often the case, older folks are less likely to be on-line. Naturally there are a percentage of folks from that age range and era which are online and can count themselves in polls where they are to be found. For example, on the MR forums there are a number of steam or steam to diesel transition people where as on this forum, it seems to be mostly diesel era folks.
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Post by jacobpaul81 on Jul 13, 2016 5:10:12 GMT -8
Ryan, It makes sense on one level that transition era folks aren't as active on forums; assuming transition era is something like 1940-1955 (broadly), those who are still alive to remember steam to diesel transition well are mostly "up there" in age and as is often the case, older folks are less likely to be on-line. Naturally there are a percentage of folks from that age range and era which are online and can count themselves in polls where they are to be found. For example, on the MR forums there are a number of steam or steam to diesel transition people where as on this forum, it seems to be mostly diesel era folks. Spend some time on the OGR forum - this poll over there would be flipped on its head - O scale, 3RS, Hi-Rail, O27 all are heavy on Transition modelers. Very few "modern era" modelers over there. As you say - Baby Boomers who grew up with transition era railroads - but also grew up in the early days of Lionel. I was modelling 68-72 in 3RS - a tough feat given the lack of models and cost. So certainly scale/ gauge also has a lot to do with it. That the O crowd has a really great forum might minimize their involvement in other forums (I know I wasn't looking much outside the OGR forums before I decided to change gauge and I was a baby at OGR). I've cleaned out my O inventory and am ready to begin HO - was going to stay to my period, but have got a hankering for steam and f7s - guess I'm going to be the odd one out again. 😁 |
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Post by riogrande on Jul 15, 2016 12:03:41 GMT -8
There is almost always an odd one out!
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Post by Deleted on Jul 16, 2016 13:18:02 GMT -8
Results of the polls (here & two other sites) will be posted in a few days. I got hit with a lot of new work at the same time Frontier "Communications" decided to wreak my internet access.
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Post by Great-Northern-Willmar Div on Jul 16, 2016 13:21:51 GMT -8
Results of the polls (here & two other sites) will be posted in a few days. I got hit with a lot of new work at the same time Frontier "Communications" decided to wreak my internet access. I had Frontier for my telephone land line when I first moved to Wisconsin. I referred to it as "paper cup with a string". |
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Post by riogrande on Jul 16, 2016 17:31:44 GMT -8
Spend some time on the OGR forum - this poll over there would be flipped on its head - O scale, 3RS, Hi-Rail, O27 all are heavy on Transition modelers. Very few "modern era" modelers over there. As you say - Baby Boomers who grew up with transition era railroads - but also grew up in the early days of Lionel. I was modelling 68-72 in 3RS - a tough feat given the lack of models and cost. So certainly scale/ gauge also has a lot to do with it. That the O crowd has a really great forum might minimize their involvement in other forums (I know I wasn't looking much outside the OGR forums before I decided to change gauge and I was a baby at OGR). I've cleaned out my O inventory and am ready to begin HO - was going to stay to my period, but have got a hankering for steam and f7s - guess I'm going to be the odd one out again. 😁 Help me out, what is the OGR forums? Been on the internet since 1994 and haven't heard of that one? If it's O/O27/S etc. I might have glanced at it and moved on since I have very little interest in non-scale trains but as I noted, it depends on the forum what kind of poll results you will get. It does seem that the steam/diesel transition will slowly erode as people who had a personal connection to those days become fewer. |
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Post by jacobpaul81 on Jul 18, 2016 4:10:54 GMT -8
Spend some time on the OGR forum - this poll over there would be flipped on its head - O scale, 3RS, Hi-Rail, O27 all are heavy on Transition modelers. Very few "modern era" modelers over there. As you say - Baby Boomers who grew up with transition era railroads - but also grew up in the early days of Lionel. I was modelling 68-72 in 3RS - a tough feat given the lack of models and cost. So certainly scale/ gauge also has a lot to do with it. That the O crowd has a really great forum might minimize their involvement in other forums (I know I wasn't looking much outside the OGR forums before I decided to change gauge and I was a baby at OGR). I've cleaned out my O inventory and am ready to begin HO - was going to stay to my period, but have got a hankering for steam and f7s - guess I'm going to be the odd one out again. 😁 Help me out, what is the OGR forums? Been on the internet since 1994 and haven't heard of that one? If it's O/O27/S etc. I might have glanced at it and moved on since I have very little interest in non-scale trains but as I noted, it depends on the forum what kind of poll results you will get. It does seem that the steam/diesel transition will slowly erode as people who had a personal connection to those days become fewer. OGR - O Gauge Railroading Online Forum - it's the forum tied to O Gauge Magazine and Ameri-towne products - by far the most active model railroad forum on the web that I've found - all the HO / N forums move at a snail's pace compared to OGR. Forum participants over there are mostly steam and Transition with a few modern modellers. As they have such an active forum, I'm not surprised they don't traffic other forums much - though I do see a few of them pop up here or there. While it isn't "HO Scale" there are quite a bit of O scale modellers these days doing both 2 and 3 rail work. I was doing it myself before life forced me to sell out of the ultra expensive O Scale. Ill be 35 in a few weeks - I have zero interest in modern trains - I might just be odd. 😀 |
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Post by riogrande on Jul 18, 2016 16:11:29 GMT -8
Thanks. Must be a passionate bunch O guagers since it's always been my impression that HO was the highest percentage in scale followed by the other scales.
You are in good company, such as with Paul Cuttler, also a not so old guy who is into pre 1960's modeling. I don't have much interest in modern trains other than there is still some drama in seeing the big beasts in person, but they certainly don't look the same as what watched for most of my earlier years.
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Post by jacobpaul81 on Jul 20, 2016 4:29:58 GMT -8
Thanks. Must be a passionate bunch O guagers since it's always been my impression that HO was the highest percentage in scale followed by the other scales. You are in good company, such as with Paul Cuttler, also a not so old guy who is into pre 1960's modeling. I don't have much interest in modern trains other than there is still some drama in seeing the big beasts in person, but they certainly don't look the same as what watched for most of my earlier years. HO certainly out sells O by a longshot -but while they are lesser in number, I wonder if due to the expense and collectibles market that there is more personal investment in O - hence a more active forum. |
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Post by riogrande on Jul 20, 2016 5:10:20 GMT -8
Could be. If I had an aircraft hanger and a lot of money, I'd be all over O scale like a rash. But reality is, I barely have enough space for HO.
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Post by metroredline on Feb 11, 2017 1:03:42 GMT -8
I model the modern era, always have. Even since the early 1980s (when I thought the trains I owned were modern, but I learned later on they were prototypes of an older era). I like the challenge of keeping up with current trends and technologies in railroads. Railfanning inspires me to model what I see. One big challenge was mergers - I was always a big Southern Pacific fan, and the UP merger hit me hard. I even hated the UP for a while. But then for other reasons I became inactive with the hobby. Around a decade ago I switched to N scale and suddenly got excited about model railroading again, and by then I already grew out of my dislike of the UP, and now I'm a UP fan with yellow and grey locos all over the place  |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 11, 2017 7:55:53 GMT -8
I model the modern era, always have. Even since the early 1980s (when I thought the trains I owned were modern, but I learned later on they were prototypes of an older era). I like the challenge of keeping up with current trends and technologies in railroads. Railfanning inspires me to model what I see. One big challenge was mergers - I was always a big Southern Pacific fan, and the UP merger hit me hard. I even hated the UP for a while. But then for other reasons I became inactive with the hobby. Around a decade ago I switched to N scale and suddenly got excited about model railroading again, and by then I already grew out of my dislike of the UP, and now I'm a UP fan with yellow and grey locos all over the place I apologize for not publishing the results of this survey conducted last June. Got busy, forgot. I'll get to it soon. Nugget: About 54% of ARF respondents said they model the 20 year period 1965 - 1984. |
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Post by riogrande on Feb 12, 2017 10:47:43 GMT -8
If I asked this question at any hobby shop within 100 miles of Rapido's office, 40% or more of respondents would say 1955-1959. Based on the threads it is not surprising at how few people on this forum - and most other general HO forums - model that era. But it is what sells. -Jason There is no denying what sells, but I wonder how much longer that will remain true, maybe 5 or 10 years? To even remember the 1950's, even is a young kid, the lower end of the age range would be approaching 70's. That said, there are some who aren't old enough to remember before 1960 but still model but it's hard to say if that makes up a significant percentage of the overall pre 60-'s fans. |
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Post by roadkill on Feb 12, 2017 15:14:59 GMT -8
Well, my world stopped dead in its tracks at midnight March 31, 1976. I'd say I go back to about '65-'66 with some of my passenger train modeling.
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Post by riogrande on Feb 12, 2017 15:47:53 GMT -8
There certainly is an appeal to 1950's since passenger trains seemed to be still in decent shape; that said, I do have some rolling stock for some mid-1960's action including the California Zephyr with D&RGW single stripe F3's to pull it, along with Chinese red GP30's and GP35's which pooled over the Rockies on the CD freight (Chicago-Denver). Some cool photo's of them in the Rockies in some of my books. Frankly, if you've grown up watching freight trains with cabooses, they just look wrong without them so I'm sticking with Caboose era. If I had to narrow down to a 6 year period, it would be 1977-1982.
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Post by alcoc430 on Feb 14, 2017 8:50:30 GMT -8
I currently model the conrail era 1976 to 1997. Which is crazy given how different the railroad looked in 76 compared to 1997 which thank god that I don't have to worried anything past a 8-40CW/SD70. Although I feeling that I will have more emphasis in the first 10 years with patched locos/ freight cars and Alcos
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