Guidelines for Freelance?

[brakie]

ScottyB said:The only rule I have for my freelance railroad is that it has to have a REASON to be there. Doesn't matter what it is.
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Absolutely! All railroads have a reason for being..IMHO that should be done during the design phase of the layout regardless of size. :thumb:

 

[Wabash Banks]

Here is what "I have done" on the freelancing idea.
I decided what kind of railroad I want. I chose a shortline.
Then I picked where I wanted it to be. I picked Southern Indiana.
Now that I have a place and a type of railroad done I decided how I wanted it to function. I then began to make up a story about why my railroad existed as it does. That has significantly changed since then, but it gave me a starting direction. The story has provided what type of equipment I am using and where it came from. My railroad is certainly not rich enough to purchase a new engine.
Once I had decided on motive power, an old pacific that is barely hanging in there and a plymouth switcher to handle the light switching at a couple industries, I could choose an era. I decided the late 40's was the ticket. The pacific is really aging and the plymouth is about 13 years old itself. The Pacific came from the nickel plate. The plymouth was an industrial engine that just wasn't big enough. It has been painted with the railroad livery and all traces of it's former owner is gone.
I decided I wanted it to have an outside connection, and that the connection should be with the Monon. Then I used Google Earth to show me the line for Monon and I just panned around southern Indiana. Once I found an area I liked and worked for the connecting to the Monon, I had my location. In this case I chose to freelance a city that does not exist for my main layout. I will at some point later be creating another city on the route and I have decided to use a real place for it. I decided I will scratch the buildings and it will look like the city being modeled, or prototypical. I like agriculture and decided that my line would be serving some form of it. There are two shortlines in my home town that do that kind of work so a prototype exists to learn from. I looked through an old MR and found the model Duffy's Coal. I decided I liked the idea of the grain elevator, coal and lumber dealer. I added heating oil into the mix and another major industry, a furniture company and I had my primary industries. I developed the rest of my layout idea from that.

There is a lot more that I have done to arrive where I am at with my layout, and I can tell you it has been far more planning than anything else, but when I set out to work on the thing, I know exactly where I am going and make changes when needed. If you are interested in hearing more you can PM me and I will be happy to discuss it further. I agree with the plausibilty idea that has been proposed and I hope this shows you how you can achieve that and answer all the other freelance questions at the same time.

 

[ross31r]

You can probably freelance using any general commercial locos as long as you steer clear of the ones that are really identified with one road--Pennsy types, streamliners, Cab aheads and big UP articulateds. Some of these could be justified with a bit of storytelling. (Your road went cheap and bought an add-on to someone else's order.) If you're modelling a road around Lima, everything they built could be tested on it or shipped out on it -- with or without lettering.

well dont even have to do that, the Long Island RailRoad had its types provided from standard pennsy designs so you could suppose what i did and say the Pennsy is the "parent" road for your shortline and thus use their types - just dont use anything that would be really unsuitable for your road or its local/era etc

 

[Tileguy]

Looks like youve been given a wealth of information here by some very good sources that have been there.
Between that and the link I gave you it looks like youve got enough to get a good start on making a Plan

Good Luck!!!

 

[2-8-2]

Looks like youve been given a wealth of information here by some very good sources that have been there.
Between that and the link I gave you it looks like youve got enough to get a good start on making a Plan

Good Luck!!!

Yep, sure do!

I'm getting started on an outline for my railroad, which suprisingly, is also helping me with the layout itself. Once I get all my thoughts organized, I'll keep everyone posted on the progress (or lack thereof )

 

[brakie]

One more point on a believable freelance short line..This will work for other types of railroads as well.
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The Columbus & Hocking Valley Ry is owned and operated by the CDB Industries and is one of 7 short lines owned by CDBI.The C&HV came into existence in 1978 when CDBI bought the old Athens sub-division of the Chessie System.During this purchase 2 other short lines was bought,the Parkersburg & Ohio Valley RR that ran from Parkersburg WV to Athens Oh and the Ohio Midland Ry that ran from Jackson,Oh to Newark,Oh.These 2 roads was quickly merged into the new C&HV.By purchasing these roads the CBDI finally had the long sought after southern Ohio coal fields and industries.The CDBI relaid the track from Nelsonville to Athens which had been removed by the C&O some years ago.The old Logan yards was rebuilt and upgraded during this time as it would serve as the home shops and the only major yard on the C&HV since it was centrally located on the line.The second yard would be located in the old C&O(nee CHV&T) Mound Street yard and would require trackage rights over the Chessie to reach..A agreement was struck with the Chessie for those rights.The former P&OV yard in Parkersburg was upgraded as was the OM yards at Jackson and Newark.
The C&HV connects with the following roads.
Chessie(c&o) at Columbus.
N&W at Columbus.
DT&I at Jackson
Chessie(b&o) at Newark.
Scioto Valley Lines at Lancaster.
Ironton Northern at Athens.
Chessie(b&o) at Athens.
Conrail at Columbus.
Commodities haul: Grain,Lumber,coal,coke,steel,fly-ash,food stuffs,sand,glass,corn sweetener,corn starch,vegetable oils,scrap,pipe,chemicals,paints,news print,pulpwood,wood chips and other general freight.Total cars handle 32,584 a year
Thanks to a aggressive marketing team freight traffic has climb a staggering 33% since the CDBI started the C&HV.

CDBI owns the following roads.
Cumberland,Dickersonville & Bristol Ry.Cumberland to Bristol VA.The CD&B is the flagship road.The CDB in CDB Industries is the same.
Kentucky Central.Cumberland Ky to Maysville Ky.
Artemus-Jellico Artemus,Ky to Jellico TN.
Toledo & Southwestern. Maumee Oh to Fort Wayne IN
Cincinnati & Lake Erie.Cincinnati to Toledo.
Detroit Connecting.Detroit MI.
Columbus & Hocking Valley Ry.
The CDBI is looking at the 8th road but this is still in the negotiations stage...
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[2-8-2]

Wow! You've had some time to really think that through, haven't ya? I started my outline last night, but I'm just getting started. I can tell that the company "history" is going to be the hardest part of the process. That's very well done, brakie...I can only hope that I do as well.

:thumb:

 

[brakie]

Well,its not so hard..I cheated some by using Kalmbah's Short Line guide for company history and a study of Rail America and R.J.Corman operations and customer base and some research on the old C&HV..Plus,I am very well acquainted with C&O,'s former Athens Sub.