Most Popular Railway to Model, Most Popular Era

Members of the Canadian Railway Modellers group on Facebook are an eclectic lot, with people modelling all sorts of Canadian roads.

Recently, someone asked group members to indicate what railways they modelled. A poll was created; 702 people responded. Here are the results.

CN: 32%

CP: 23.7%

VIA: 12%

PGE: 6.2%

Freelance: 5.6%
ONR: 4.7%

TH&B: 2.4%

Others that were noted, all under 3%, were GO, GTW, ACR, E & N, NAR, SRRB.C., AMT, DAR, OS, NBS, QNSL, OCR, CBNS, Cartier, DWP, G & E, Windsor & Jantsport, GWWD, Saugenay, CEMR and Huron Central.

At the same time that poll appeared, another one was created about eras. 294 people replied.

The most popular era was 1980-89 at 25.1%. The others were as follows:

1980-89: 25.1%
1970-79: 21.4%

Today: 21.4%

Transition (1950-59): 12.9%

1990-99: 7.8%

2000-09: 7.4%

1960-69: 5.7%

No era (anything goes): 3.4%

Pre-1930: 2%

1940-49: 1%

1930-39: 0.3%

This is just a small sample, of course, and very unscientific. But the answers are interesting. Who would have thought the 70s and 80s were so popular?

Conventional wisdom is that the transition era (steam to diesel) is the most popular. But those who belong to this Facebook group might be on the younger side, thus skewing the results. On the other hand, those who remember steam are getting older . . . .

As for the M & M Sub., it is set in the 1990-99 period. Although when I started it in 1994 it was the modern era!

Photo at top by Christian Vazzaz.

Modelling the Transition Era on the Manitoba & Minnesota Sub.

When people ask what era I'm modelling, I tell them: "The transition era."

No, not that transition era--the time when diesels were replacing steam locomotives in the 1950s.

I'm talking about the early to mid-1990s, when newer power like the AC4400s and the SD70s and 80s were beginning to appear on the scene, challenging the ubiquitous SD40-2s.

The CP Rail Manitoba & Minnesota Sub. is set in the early 1990s, with a cut-off date of 1995. Almost all the mainline power on the layout are SD40-2 units; two new AC400s are the only sign of changes to come.

For me, the SD40-2 is what railroading is all about; the newer units, for some reason, leave me cold--they are big and imposing, but souless, in a way I can't describe.

(I wonder if this is how model railroaders of the previous generation felt about diesels?)

At first, I thought the newer power was the ugliest thing I had ever seen. I've gotten used to them by now. But it still is special to see an SD40-2 in a consist when out railfanning.

The real world may have moved on to newer power, but in my basement the SD40-2 still rules. I wouldn't have it any other way.

Unique Locomotives on the CP Rail Manitoba & Minnesota Subdivision

Modelling the mid-1990s gives me a chance to model a varied assortment of power on the CP Rail Manitoba & Minnesota Subdivision. This includes three unique units of U.S. ancestry that found their way to CP Rail.

First up is SD40-2 5417, (ex-KCS 672) which was acquired by the railway in 1992. To make it, I followed the example of the prototype. I bought a KCS unit (Athearn blue box), and proceeded to remove the KCS lettering and numbers.

I then masked the area below the cab windows and gave it a patch of primer, after which I added the numbers. CP Rail lettering was also applied to the body. Photos of the prototype can be found at http://www.trainweb.org/galt-stn/cproster/locomotive/5400s/cp5417.htm



Next up is SD40-2 5422 (ex-MP 3164, ex-UP 4164). Once again, I followed the prototype by purchasing an Union Pacific unit (once again, an Athearn blue box).

I removed the Union Pacific lettering and numbers and replaced it with CP Rail lettering and numbers. Photos of the prototype can be found at http://www.trainweb.org/galt-stn/cproster/locomotive/5400s/cp5422.htm



Finally, we have SD40-2 5480. This unit was built as Southern 3249 in 1975, then became NS 3249, then GATX 3249 before being sold to CP Rail in 1992. In this case, I didn't do any of the work on this unit.

I bought it from friend Marty Weeks, who added the high nose to the unit; it was painted and decaled by another model railroad friend, David Enns. Prototype photos can be found at http://www.trainweb.org/galt-stn/cproster/locomotive/5400s/cp5480.htm

I'm nothing special when it comes to modelling. But having these three units on the roster adds a bit of variety to the layout, and often prompts visitors to ask whether there really was a prototype. Plus, they were fun to make.

New Use For Old Cabooses

A couple of vans on their way to the scrapper
on the CP Rail Manitoba & Minnesota Sub.

Since the CP Rail Manitoba & Minnesota Sub. is set in the early to mid-1990s, there are no cabooses (or vans, as we call them in Canada) at the end of trains. But that doesn’t mean you won’t find them on the layout—you will. They just aren’t where you’d expect them to be. They are in the middle of trains, on their way to the scrapper.

In this case, the cabooses from around northwestern Ontario and southern Manitoba (the area I model) are being gathered up and are traveling over the M & M Sub. to off-line scrap yards. The cabooses I use are from various manufacturers, and don't look anything like the real ones (something that will change once the new vans from Rapido Trains come out).

To show that these cabooses have been stricken from the roster, I simply run a white line from a dry transfer set or gel pen through each car’s numbers. I also add the letter “D,” for "Derelict."

But where should derelict cabooses on their way to the scrapper be placed in a train? Photos of the prototype suggest they can be located in the front, middle or near the end—it doesn’t matter. A retired CN employee confirmed this, saying that there didn’t seem to be any rules regarding placement of cabooses in consists when he worked for that railway.

At first, seeing cabooses in the middle of a train looked strange. But I got used to it, just as I got used to not seeing them on the end of trains.

P.S. Thanks to Adam Meeks for pointing out that there are restrictions on caboose placement in a train. It seems a caboose headed for the scrapper could indeed be placed at various points in a train, provided the tonnage did not exceed a certain amount of tonnage behind it. (See his full comment below.)

Choosing A Region, Railway and Era for the CP Rail Manitoba & Minnesota Sub.

Locomotives in different early-1990s schemes on the
M & M Sub.

The CP Rail Manitoba & Minnesota Subdivision is set in the early to mid-1990s in Manitoba and Minnesota. Why that railway, time and place? And why choose to fix a model railroad in time and place at all?

My choice of CP Rail is sort of accidental. I grew up in a CN town in southern Ontario--a CN branchline ran near my house, and I never saw a CP Rail train until I moved to Winnipeg. You'd think that would fix my decision on which railway to model, but when I got back into model railroading in 1987 after an 11-year absence, there were more inexpensive CP Rail models on the market than CN. Since I wanted to model a Canadian railway, that fixed it.

Why Manitoba and Minnesota? It's partly because I want to model the region I live in, and also partly because I want to model cross-border traffic--have some unique American freight cars in the consists. Plus, I model a line running from Winnipeg to Duluth, Minnesota. (More on that in a future post.)

Why the early to mid-1990s? That's partly because I really like SD40-2 locomotives, of which CP Rail had many. But it's also because I really disliked the newer power when it came out--I found the AC4400s and the SD70s and higher to be, well, ugly. (I've since grown more accustomed to them, but they still aren't my favourite units.)

By halting my layout's time period at 1995, I can run a couple of the newer AC4400 units, which were introduced about that time. But the mainstay of my fleet are the ubiquitous SD$0-2 locomotives, along with GP38s and SD60s.

Another reason for choosing this time period is that I can run a variety of locomotive schemes--multimark, no multimark, Twin Flags, plus SOO white and red and "candy apple." I can also run some unique units, such as a patched KCS unit or a Union Pacfic SD40-2 with the red CP Rail on the sides. (More about my roster in a future post.)

In the end, it all contributes the plausibility I am striving for in my modelling--I want the layout to look like it is a certain time and place. Keeping railway, era and region in mind helps me achieve that goal.

Finally, there is the financial reason for fixing a layout on a railway, date and place. No matter how good a model looks, if it doesn't fit the railway, place or era I model, the wallet stays in the pocket.