Recently I decided to better support those who like late steam or early diesel by converting one of my layouts (the Indiana Western), which I had to update anyway, into a North American 1950s only layout. This conversion process is still ongoing but should be completed in about another week or two.
The 1950’s is considered the glory years of rail and was a time where both late steam and early diesel co-existed side-by-side. By 1960 steam was largely gone.
In deciding to make a 1950’s North American layout I had to do some research on what it would take to make a layout to look and feel like the North American 1950s.
Invaluable in that effort was a Model Railroader Magazine publication titled, appropriately enough, “Modeling the 50s – The Glory Years of Rail”. This was an excellent and helpful reference on the subject! One place you can obtain it at:
http://www.amazon.com/Modeling-50s-...d=1357320269&sr=1-1&keywords=Modeling+the+50s
Making a 1950’s themed layout turned out to require a fair degree of work, and I am not sure I still have it all right, although I think it’s close.
One of the major items I had to build from scratch to make such a layout possible was a new region asset which provided 40 authentic 1950’s vehicles from built-in or DLS assets as traffic on the roads. This is now available for download for use in your own 1950s North American layouts at:
1950s Glory Years USA Region:
https://www.auran.com/DLS/DLS_downloadasset.php?DownloadID=624308
I invite other Trainz layout designers to contribute their experiences in building a 1950’s themed North American based layout to this thread and help us all understand how to make a 1950’s North American themed layout.
Bob (MSGSapper)
The 1950’s is considered the glory years of rail and was a time where both late steam and early diesel co-existed side-by-side. By 1960 steam was largely gone.
In deciding to make a 1950’s North American layout I had to do some research on what it would take to make a layout to look and feel like the North American 1950s.
Invaluable in that effort was a Model Railroader Magazine publication titled, appropriately enough, “Modeling the 50s – The Glory Years of Rail”. This was an excellent and helpful reference on the subject! One place you can obtain it at:
http://www.amazon.com/Modeling-50s-...d=1357320269&sr=1-1&keywords=Modeling+the+50s
Making a 1950’s themed layout turned out to require a fair degree of work, and I am not sure I still have it all right, although I think it’s close.
One of the major items I had to build from scratch to make such a layout possible was a new region asset which provided 40 authentic 1950’s vehicles from built-in or DLS assets as traffic on the roads. This is now available for download for use in your own 1950s North American layouts at:
1950s Glory Years USA Region:
https://www.auran.com/DLS/DLS_downloadasset.php?DownloadID=624308
I invite other Trainz layout designers to contribute their experiences in building a 1950’s themed North American based layout to this thread and help us all understand how to make a 1950’s North American themed layout.
Bob (MSGSapper)
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