I am considering building a small HO-scale layout set during the American Civil War. Ideally, it would be based in one of the Confederate States (we won’t worry about 5ft gauge at the moment) but that’s not a showstopper. I’ve no desire to scratch-build and am pretty rubbish at making kits, so any locomotives will have to be commercially available ready-to-run models. Does any manufacturer produce a suitable civil war period loco? I know that Bachmann make several ‘American’ 4-4-0s, although they seem to be a decade or two too late (Union Pacific etc.). I guess I could modify them to an early 1860s guise.
On a wider point, has anyone seen (or even modelled!) a civil war-period or themed layout? Are there any back issues of railway modelling magazines that might contain something along those lines?
Civil War Layouts
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Civil War Layouts
Last edited by david_heath899 on Tue Aug 30, 2016 10:45 am, edited 1 time in total.
David Heath
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Re: Civil War Layouts
If you put the words "Civil War" (keeping the inverted commas), layout and HO into Google and click, you'll find loads of stuff. It's a niche modelling subject, but lots of people have done various things, and will have travelled the path and done the learning about what's available.
Good luck.
Good luck.
Brian Moore
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Re: Civil War Layouts
It looks as if Bachmann produced a Confederate Railroad 'set' (and one of "The General"!) a few years back. However, the reviews on amazon.com are dreadful! Although it would provide some useful ready-to-run stock, it sounds as if it's something to avoid like the plague. And I wouldn't want the track or the controller, of course.
David Heath
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Re: Civil War Layouts
David Heath
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Re: Civil War Layouts
The October 2019 issue of MODEL RAILROADER magazine is now available from UK stockists and features Bernard Kempinski’s O scale United States Military RR ‘Aquia Line’ layout, set in Civil War-era Virginia (see previous posting for Bernard's blog). This is actually quite a technical article and details how innovations such as battery power, laser cutting, 3-D printing, photo-etching and spin casting helped bring the layout to life:
http://mrr.trains.com/issues/2019/october-2019
http://mrr.trains.com/issues/2019/october-2019
David Heath