Layout Woes

2-8-2

Member
Thanks for all the help guys! It's nice to have a resource like The Gauge at my disposal. The planning process has been very hard for me, and I thank you for your patience.

I've abandoned the peanut industry. When trying to get all my paperwork organized last night, I stumbled across a piece of notebook paper where I had scrawled down my original ideas of what I had hoped to accomplish with this layout. Goal #1 was to model my railroad (or based upon) a fallen flag in my home state of Ohio. I've gotten away from that, as peanuts are a southern crop and I think I would end up with something that I wouldn't be happy with.

My original idea was to use the Erie Lackawanna as inspiration, but after doing more research, I'm going to go with NKP instead. There were a lot of factors that influenced this decision, the biggest being the availability of N scale locos and rolling stock. I have a lot more options with NKP. I'm also considering an era change. My initial plan was to do 1920s-1930s and use all steam power. I might move things forward a bit to include diesel...but I'm not sure yet.

So, it's back to basics. Before I spend another night designing yet another track plan that I won't like anyway, I'm going to sit down and get all my ducks in a row.
 

2-8-2

Member
Update...

The industry research continues on, but I've made progress in other areas. Looking at my notepad, I see that one of my original goals was to produce a model of a fallen flag Ohio railroad. My focus has shifted from the N&SS to the Erie Lackwanna to NKP, but the spirit has remained the same. The NKP main yard was located in Bellevue, OH and also had a strong presence in the Cleveland area. Other stops on my layout might include Buffalo and Pittsburgh.

I mentioned progress...

I've always liked steam locos, which I why I had planned to model the 1920s era. But I've always had a soft spot for early diesel, specifically the ALCo PA. I've decided to move things forward a bit to the 1950s, so I can include both on my layout. The NKP purchased 10 PA's from ALCo in 1947, but was not fully diesel until 1960.

My N scale research keeps leading me to Kato products, and in a shift of good luck, Kato offers an NKP Mikado AND an ALCo PA-1. The Mike is available with NKP road lettering, though the PA isn't. NKP PAs were called "Bluebirds" and had a very nice paint scheme, so I'll have to invest some additional cash to have it painted. I think going with a diesel switcher for my yard will be much easier to use, though I'm having trouble locating an N scale model that the NKP actually had in service.
 
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