Barry Melek Electric Train Sets

Southern Railroad

Model Railroading - Themes

Model railroad themes tie the trains, buildings and scenery together, telling the story of the train display and explaining its premise. Themes can range from historical to winter holiday, with everything else in between. A theme is truly a matter of individual preference and can be as simple or as elaborate as you want it to be, depending on how many resources you may have available to develop it.

Establishing a theme is critical prior to constructing a model railroad display, as all trains and accessories depend on it. Whatever model railroad theme you decide, choose one that best interests you because you will have more enjoyment researching the era and building the accompanying display than a theme that does not interest you. Some general considerations for themes include the purpose, location, season and time period.

Purpose

The purpose of a train display helps to develop the model railroad theme. The purpose can be whatever you want - moving passengers from one busy city to another, carrying livestock across the countryside or even just showcasing a variety of different trains in a relatively scenery-free environment. Basically, the purpose answers this question: What is it that you want to convey in your train display?

Location

In addition to the display's purpose, the location serves as one of the primary elements in a model railroad theme. With no location, there can really be no theme. The location can be anywhere you want, whether you choose the North Pole, the American Midwest, a desert, a jungle or any busy metropolitan city. Consider a location that interests you so that your research is most satisfying.

Season

Once you have determined the purpose and location, the next consideration is season, or time of year. If you have chosen upstate New York in wintertime, then you would probably want to add synthetic snow, frozen ponds and lakes and perhaps some holiday decorated pine trees. For a summertime theme in the southern United States, you may choose to include mountainsides full of lush green trees, sidewalks lined with flowers and people swimming and picnicking at a beach.

Time Period

The time period also helps to achieve a model railroad theme. Typically, hobbyists choose a time period between the 1800s and present day; however, there are no set rules as to which era a model railroad display has to represent. The time period, though, determines which kinds of trains and accessorizing buildings and scenery to use. For example, a city theme in the 1990s may include an Amtrak train traveling past shopping centers, arenas and densely populated residential neighborhoods. On the other hand, a late 1800s theme would move a steam engine through wide countryside and sparsely populated frontier towns.

Examples of themes

Some possible railway themes may be:

• West Virginia in the autumn of the 1950s
• Modern day New York City at Christmastime
• American Midwest in the summer of the late 1800s

About the Author

Johan became fascinated with trains when he was a toddler.  "My mom took my brother and me on Stone Mountain's Scenic Railroad.  In those days they still operated a steam locomotive.  I loved that old fashioned smokestack!"  Blushing, Johan added, "And I was devastated when I learned my engineer dad didn't operate trains."  For more information and to join a fun community, please visit Model Railroading for Beginners.

South for Winter Sunshine, Southern Railroad $59.99 South for Winter Sunshine, Southern Railroad - Wall Decal

Southern Pacific Railroad Motor Car $39.99 Southern Pacific Railroad Motor Car - Giclee Print

Southern Pacific Railroad $26.57 A colorful look at the great American railroad - the Southern Pacific. The Southern Pacific Railroad is one of the most important railroads in the US. In its heyday, Southern Pacific operating revenues were overshadowed only by the New York Central and Pennsylvania Railroad. Southern Pacific is famous for participating in the building of the transcontinental railroad, its fleet of Daylight streamlined passenger trains, and its 200 "Cab-Forward" steam locomotives. Information-packed

The Southern Railroad Boxcar Showing Logo $79.99 The Southern Railroad Boxcar Showing Logo - Premium Photographic Print

Sacramento Southern Railroad $95.59 High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles The Sacramento Southern Railroad is a heritage railroad owned by the California State Railroad Museum which operates excursion trains on it. The railroad extends from the museum property located in Old Sacramento south along the east bank of the Sacramento River levee. The original Sacramento Southern Railroad ran south 24.3 miles to Walnut Grove, California via Freeport and was a nonoperating subsidiary of the Southern Pacific Company. Author: Surhone, Lambert M./ Timpledon, Miriam T./ Marseken, Susan F. Binding Type: Paperback Number of Pages: 138 Publication Date: 2010/08/10 Language: English Dimensions: 6.00 x 9.02 x 0.32 inches

Railroad Depots of Southern Indiana $21.38 Did you know that Greene County in Indiana has one of the longest land-crossing railroad trestles in the Midwest? Are you aware that the Southern Railway once used half of the railroad tunnels in the state? Indiana's first railroad, built in Shelbyville, was only a mile long, but in 1847, completion of a major steam railroad from Madison to Indianapolis made the state's capital a center of transportation. Unlike canals, railroads could be built just about anywhere. Southern Indiana's quickly growing network of rail lines was able to haul tons of goods at low cost, and enabled settlers to travel great distances in a single day. Railroad Depots of Southern Indiana takes the reader on a journey through the towns and cities that shape Indiana's railroad lore. Images depict regional rail history from the inner workings of now demolished depots to one of the oldest "short lines" in Indiana. Through more than 200 vintage photographs, author David E. Longest documents locomotives, rail equipment, the moving of stock, depots, rail stations, and freight houses, and finishes with a tour of the rail museums and excursions that still allow tourists and aficionados to "ride the rails."

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The Monon Railroad in Southern Indiana $21.37 In the spring of 1847, James Brooks met with six associates in Providence to forever change the face of transportation in Indiana. The New Albany and Salem Rail Road Company was born as a result of this historic meeting. Today this railroad, most often called the Monon, is only a memory of a time when trains streaked across the hills and farmland of southern Indiana. The Monon Railroad in Southern Indiana examines the real purpose of railroads as movers of people and the products they devoted their lives to producing and focuses on areas from New Albany to Bloomington. It identifies the only two counties in Indiana that were a part of the Salem limestone district and gives a glimpse of how the stone was removed from the earth and eventually formed into some of the nationas most beloved buildings and structures. It also takes a look at the history of several lumber-based industries and the famed products that they manufactured. New Albany was once known across America as a key producer of hardwood plywood, used in custom cabinetry, and the Showers Brothers Furniture Company of Bloomington was once the largest manufacturer of furniture in America. This book talks about the industries that created the cities and towns that many Hoosiers called home.

Southern Pacific Railroad: See Mexico This Year, c.1935 $24.99 Maurice Lorand Southern Pacific Railroad: See Mexico This Year, c.1935 - Giclee Print

Southern Pacific Railroad in Eastern Texas $17.67 The Southern Pacific Railroad and its predecessors served Texas from 1853 to 1996. Stretching from El Paso to the Louisiana border and from the Rio Grande Valley to the Red River, Southern Pacific opened up vast areas of the state to settlement by transporting people, building materials, and livestock. The railroad fueled Texas's economy by moving oil, timber, agricultural commodities, coal, automobiles, petrochemicals, cement, steel, consumer goods, and myriad other products. It hauled the marble that built the state capitol in Austin and the materials to build the massive seawall in Galveston. Southern Pacific also played an important role in developing the ports of Beaumont, Galveston, Houston, and Corpus Christi. This book is a photographic record of Southern Pacific in eastern Texas during the 50-year period following World War II to the 1996 merger with the Union Pacific Railroad.

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Predecessors of the Long Island Rail Road: Southern Railroad of Long Island, Nassau Electric Railroad, Atlantic Avenue Railroad, N $31.52 Purchase includes free access to book updates online and a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Chapters: Southern Railroad of Long Island, Nassau Electric Railroad, Atlantic Avenue Railroad, New York, Bay Ridge and Jamaica Railroad, New York and Manhattan Beach Railway, Glendale and East River Railroad, Hunter's Point and South Side Railroad, Long Island City and Manhattan Beach Railroad, New York, Brooklyn and Manhattan Beach Railway, South Side Railroad of Long Island, New York and Jamaica Railroad, Central Railroad of Long Island, Hicksville and Cold Spring Branch Railroad, Brooklyn and Montauk Railroad, Brooklyn Central and Jamaica Railroad, Great Neck and Port Washington Railroad, New York, Woodhaven and Rockaway Railroad, Smithtown and Port Jefferson Railroad, New York and Rockaway Beach Railway, New York Bay Extension Railroad, Brooklyn and Jamaica Railroad, Brooklyn and Jamaica Railway, Far Rockaway Branch Railroad, Jamaica and South Shore Railroad, Oyster Bay Extension Railroad, New York and Long Beach Railroad, New York and Rockaway Railroad, Montauk Extension Railroad, Flushing and North Side Railroad, Long Island Rail Road North Shore Branch. Excerpt: The Southern Railroad of Long Island was a railroad company in the U.S. state of New York. Chartered in 1860 and first opened in 1867 as the South Side Railroad, a competitor to the Long Island Rail Road, it was reorganized in 1874 as the Southern Railroad and leased in 1876 to the LIRR. After a reorganization as the Brooklyn and Montauk Railroad in 1879 (immediately after which it was again leased to the LIRR) it was merged in 1889. The main line of the Southern Railroad is now the Montauk Branch of the LIRR from Long Island City to Jamaica, the Atlantic Branch from Jamaica to Valley Stream, and the Montauk Branch again from Valley Stream to Patchogue. The Brooklyn and Montauk extend... More: http://booksllc.net/?id=8520768

Black Smoke Billowing from Steam Engine of the Southern Railroad System $79.99 Alfred Eisenstaedt Black Smoke Billowing from Steam Engine of the Southern Railroad System - Premium Photographic Print

Refrigerated Box Car with the Union Pacific Railroad Logo and Southern Pacific Line $79.99 Walker Evans Refrigerated Box Car with the Union Pacific Railroad Logo and Southern Pacific Line - Premium Photographic Print

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Excellent of Southern Pacific Railroad Tracks Stretching Off Into the Distance $79.99 Frank Scherschel Excellent of Southern Pacific Railroad Tracks Stretching Off Into the Distance - Premium Photographic Print

The True Southern Pacific Railroad Versus the Texas Pacific Railroad: Speech of John W. Johnston, of Virginia, in the Senate of th $16.6 Contrasting The Plan Of A Genuine Southern Transcontinental Railroad, As Laid Down In S. Bill 1186.

Underground Railroad $16.49 The Underground Railroad The Underground Railroad, published by the National Park Service and bestseller for United States Government Printing Office, is a colorful Park Service handbook that provides details of the many ways that blacks took to escape slavery in the Southern United States before the Civil War. The Underground Railroad provided an opportunity for sympathetic white Americans to play a role in resisting slavery, and brought together, men and women of both races to begin to set aside assumptions about the other race and to work together on issues of mutual concern.