When I was a kid I wanted modern diesels, at 24 years old I want old steam engines. The more I age, the cooler the vintage trains are, this fantastic! Very nice work. Inspiring too, I might have to pick me up and old timer steam engine
I'm so glad you enjoyed it. When I saw it I knew I had to share. It really is so interesting to see more out of the ordinary paths of modeling. There is such a long history of railroads I am really happy to see more of those areas explored.
I have always enjoyed the difference of the 19th century railroads versus later eras. It is certainly unusual to see a whole layout following it. I guess the more people try it the more manufacturers will offer it. I am slowly finding enough equipment to make one but it is slow going.
Yes Thom does a great job researching and he will go back into a scene and rework it if he finds conflicting information. He is really working hard researching operations right now.
Always have been interested in the story of the "Great Locomotive Chase" from the time I was a young child. Now I am getting interested in a train set that looks authentic and it a quality set. I have the Bachman set to start with. Just have something to show. This is incredible to say the least! The time and knowledge of putting this together is an act of love for sure! So nice! Must have taken a lot of time and patience to produce it! You could film a movie using this set! Just so nice, so nice!
It is always interesting to me how a single event can so capture peoples imaginations so even many years later it still resonates an inspires. Good luck with your set I would be interested in seeing how it progresses.
That would be quite a layout. I’m sure Gettysburg would be quite interesting to model. It helps that the Northern Central in New Freedom has their period replica York as well as their original station to visit. Also the station building at Gettysburg still exists as well. Consider asking the folks at American Civil War Railroad Special Interest Group for pointers. Many members(like Thom) there really have done the research.
Yes it really was fun to sight-see as the train moved through. There was a lot to see. Little hidden scenes all over the layout. So many little people working away.
Thank you Gerald! I think Thom's Layout makes it very easy to get good footage. He has done such a nice job on it I think it would be hard to get a bad image anywhere on it. I hope you have a great holiday as well.
The W&ARR is in my top 3 favorite Railroads because of its history in the area that I live and this layout is probably the closest thing to what the W&ARR actually looked like!
I agree Thom's layout really is amazing and he is always tinkering with it improving it with research. The soil he uses is all sifted soil he brought back from his visits to the area for instance.
I have a question. How long were the Railroad Boxcars during the Civil War Era? I know about different Boxcar lengths from older 40ft Box cars, to 50ft, 60ft, and up to 86ft. All I inquire is to know the length of Civil War era Boxcars.
In the Civil War Era is that the sizes varied a lot and many were home built by the railroads instead of car builders. My understanding is that 40 foot car was a long one. 30 foot cars were closer to an average size but they could be even smaller. I recommend John Whites book "The American Railroad Freight Car" for plans and to get an idea of what they looked like.
The engines of the time seemed like they were operated by a single crew. Since it was "their" engine they took some real pride in it and kept it clean and the brass polished. Engineers did things like commission landscape scenes painted on the sides of the headlight. These were the high tech plaything of the day so there was some show off quality to it.
As mentioned those aren't teepees; they are large military tents that slept numerous soldiers and would often have a stove in the center. Soldiers would sleep in a circle with their feet towards the center. I love how the locks have been modified to match engines on the W&ARR. Where did you find all of the period rolling stock though?
I’m sorry you feel that way. The point of this video was to explain some of the early era operations of the layout and talking is the best way I have found to get that across. I’m sure I’ll have more from Thom’s in the future.
