{"id":14081,"date":"2024-08-09T15:25:37","date_gmt":"2024-08-09T19:25:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/allnationline.com\/WP\/?p=14081"},"modified":"2024-08-09T17:14:17","modified_gmt":"2024-08-09T21:14:17","slug":"imagine-that-model-railroading-is-fun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/allnationline.com\/WP\/?p=14081","title":{"rendered":"Imagine That! Model Railroading Is Fun!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Freelancing:\u00a0 In the September 1947 issue of Model Railroader on page 703, John Page wrote an editorial comment in the column \u201cat the THROTTLE\u201d titled \u201cFreelancing \u2013 A Lost Art?. Written 77 years ago, the question remains the same today in our hobby. The gist of the editorial is around the fact that all to often when we visit a fellow model rail or a club one finds nothing more than the same trite collection of manufacturers’ locomotives, ready to run rolling stock etc., that we have seen on dozens of other layouts. However, over the years in my experience, some of the most memorable or even celebrated model rail layouts have been the freelancers. John Allen -Gorre & Daphetid, John Armstrong \u2013Canadaigua Southern, Frank Ellison \u2013O Scale Delta Lines, Bob Hegge \u2013Crooked Mountain Lines, Lorell Joiner \u2013Great Southern Railroad, and current day David Stewart -Appalachian & Ohio Railroad have been profound influencers and inspirations in our hobby, including Miniatur Wunderland, where modeling to standards is mixed with free lance creations, making for a delightful visit.<\/span><\/p>\n

The historical path of model building, i.e., doing it from scratch to craftsman kits to manufactured ready-to-run (rtr) out-of-the box models, has made it easy to get started in the hobby. RTR typically leaves me wanting more out of the hobby after a short while. Even the dedication to fidelity in Proto48 model building to specific roads and equipment does not fall into the category of free-lance model building but that does not mean in P48 one can’t take a sudden or spontaneous deviation from a fixed type specification and, in short, borrow to model some tricks to put an end to the dreary uniformity of standardization. Perhaps the notion of free lance model railroading is fundamentally more contagious today within the traction or narrow gauge communities, as for example, a logging road that was more or less dictated by geography in order to get timber to market.<\/span><\/p>\n

Our hobby of model railroading rightfully takes pride in its initiative, resourcefulness, and imagination, so why not free lance? Even if it is only a tiny scene on our layout, give it a try.<\/span><\/p>\n

Imagineering<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

What’s in Naming Your Railroad?<\/span><\/p>\n

The All-Nation Line Railroad<\/span><\/p>\n

The All-Nation Railway Line<\/span><\/p>\n

The All-Nation Line RailNet – Serving the Globe<\/span><\/p>\n

The Flat Stack Railroad Car<\/b><\/u><\/span><\/p>\n

The imaginary All-Nation Line Railroad owns 12,232 container flat cars transporting loads nationwide as dedicated unit trains. Specializing in logistics for optimized delivery to shippers and customers alike, the ultimate optimization and utilization was achieved right after piggyback services came into being as a Chicago Great Western (CGW) innovation. Today, the entire consist of flat cars have been standardize to enhance further innovation by the company.<\/span><\/p>\n

Like every rail transportation company, freight cars are not earning revenue without a load. Therefore, if sitting idle in a yard, in storage for any period, or empties are sitting in the Midwest when they are needed on the West Coast, it is a problem. In order to get a string of flat cars with no containers from Chicago to LA, it was not uncommon to see a 2-mile-long priority train sailing across Iowa with 3 motors on the front end and 1 in the middle or end of the train pushing the speed limits.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Flat Stack Cars in the fleet came into being as a solution to optimize this pipeline problem. The result was a drastic reduction in empty transport costs. The key was to standardize the construction of the car such that the railroad could split the train in half and use the Rack Stacker Ramp to load an empty string of flat stack container cars as a layer-by-layer deposition, i.e., the lower layer supporting the upper layer of empty flat cars.<\/span><\/p>\n

The key feature of the flat stack car comes in a standard 89′ length, light rail head integrated into the car’s bed, automatic adjustable wheel air brake clamps, automated retractable bridge plates between car couplings, and the Rack Stacker Ramp, a rise-over-run means of quickly loading the empties on top of the lower layer of flat cars. The Rack Stacker Ramp can be in tow to any location to offload or load another set of cars.<\/span><\/p>\n

Key advantages:<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n