Layout Idea: Detroit & Mackinac and the TankTrain™

Even though I am focused on my office shelf layout at the moment, I still like to look for ideas to use on my future layouts. Someday I would like to have at least part of a layout dedicated to the Detroit & Mackinac and their Michigan operations during the late 80's and early 90's. I have a good start on some rolling stock, but nothing when it comes to locomotives yet. That layout wouldn't be for quite a while, so I have some time to work on accumulating more pieces for my D&M collection. In the meantime, I am always on the lookout for ideas that would work on a D&M layout. 

Today I came across something interesting when looking through all the pictures I have for #1280. The picture below shows it in front of two CM units and another unknown fourth locomotive, but the most interesting part is what's behind that last one. If you look close, you can see several tank cars. These are not just any tank cars though, they are actually part of the TankTrain™ from GATX (Great American Transportation Corporation).

DM 1280 leading three other units somewhere in Michigan.

Here is the description from the GATX website: "TankTrain™ System - A string of interconnected tank cars with flexible hoses, developed exclusively by GATX’s research and development team, allows for quick loading and unloading of commodities including crude petroleum oil, benzene, light fuel oil and phosphoric acid." 

A better look at the TankTrain cars in real life.

The best part is there are several models out there for these specific tank cars. I found a great example from Athearn. They can be bought as individual intermediate cars or as an A/B set of two. For my purposes, I would probably go with three cars total to match the picture shown above. Here are some pictures I found of these models.  

A look at one of the Athearn models.

A look at two of the units connected to each other.

A closer look at the connecting hose between the two units.

These would definitely look good on a layout with some D&M locomotives pulling them around. I'll have to do some more research to see where exactly these things would've been used in Michigan. I'm assuming it is somewhere within D&M or CM's trackage, but that's a large area so it may take some time to figure out for sure.

Ideas for a Freelance Model Railroad

One of the things I've been thinking about lately is what type of railroad I want to build when I decide to go big and make something larger than a 3-foot shelf layout, I'm talking at least a 4' x 8' layout in my basement. The problem I have is not knowing which prototype railroad to model. My ideal layout would be based on the Detroit & Mackinac, but there is definitely some degree of limitation that comes with a railroad like that. I want to have more freedom than just trying to replicate something in the real world. That leaves me the option of coming up with a freelance model railroad.

Doing a freelance railroad opens up all kinds of possibilities, everything from custom painted locomotives and rolling stock to unique structures and scenery. I know I'm just getting started in all of this and have a lot to learn, but I think it would be a lot more fun and enjoyable to create something of my own. I already have a lot of ideas in my head for different industries and locations that could be part of a fictional freelance model railroad. Here's some basic info:

Railroad name: Michigan Consolidated (MCON)
Location: Michigan
Era: 1980's - Present Day (Diesel Only)
Possible Industries: Automotive, Consumer Goods, Manufacturing

An example of some real life industry supported by rail in Michigan (Chrysler Assembly Plant)

That's a pretty good start at setting some parameters for my future long term layout. For the short term, I'm thinking I can work this into my office shelf layout project and come up with something along those lines. I'm planning on taking my SD40-2 project and making that my first custom locomotive for my freelance railroad. Beyond that I have an old Union Pacific SW1500 and Norfolk Southern GP50 that would make for some additional locomotive customization practice.

Before I can do anything with painting these locomotives with a custom scheme, I need to come up with said custom scheme. I'm working on some ideas now, nothing too complex, and it's coming along nicely so far. I'm hoping to have some ideas ready to post here soon. Until then, I will continue researching what I want this freelance railroad to be and hopefully get a better start on my office shelf layout with this new theme in mind. 

Layout Ideas: Detroit & Mackinac (Rolling Stock)

In my last post I showed off some locomotives available in HO with Detroit & Mackinac paint schemes. There wasn't much to choose from and they are nearly impossible to track down. This post however, will focus on D&M rolling stock, some of which is available through various online retailers.

We'll start with a common 50' box car. There were plenty of these on the D&M roster with varying groups of road numbers. From what I've seen online so far, most of these box cars were the dark red color shown below. They typically had the "Detroit & Mackinac" text in white on the right side and the "DM" on the left with the road number just below that.

50' Box Car, Detroit & Mackinac #2275

Here is a look at the model I found from Athearn. At first glance, it looks to pretty close to the prototype shown above. This one is even in the 2200's just like the one shown. The main elements all seem to match up, there is just some small text here and there missing on the model. The one thing that may be off is the roof on the model. It is shown as grey, but the prototype looks to have a dark red roof. Maybe its just the lighting, but definitely something I would like to confirm.

Athearn RTR 50' Box Car, Detroit & Mackinac #2217

Up next we have another box car, this time a 50' double door round roof box car. This one appears to be the same color scheme as the first, but the condenser "DM" on the left side has been replaced with a more spread out "D & M" lettering.

50' Round Roof Box Car, Detroit & Mackinac #3418

Here is a look at the model I found from Bowser on the Walthers website. It looks to be pretty close to the prototype other than the color of the roof and a few small markings on either side of the doors. It would be neat if the doors opened, but I don't think that is the case.

Bowser 50' Double Door Box Car, Detroit & Mackinac #3433

Now we have a covered hopper car. These are a bit shorter than the 50' box cars and come in a black and white paint scheme. I like the way they have the large "D" for Detroit and "M" for Mackinac, it makes it pretty easy to identity them. The one shown here is pretty beat up and would make for a great looking weathered model.

Covered Hopper Car, Detroit & Mackinac #6126

Here is a look at the model I found, this time from the Athearn ready to roll series. This one also looks very much like the prototype other than a few small details. This one would just need some weathering and it would be good to go.

Athearn Covered Hopper Car, Detroit & Mackinac #6114

The last one we have for today is a 2-bay offset side hopper car. These were open on the top and came in a black paint scheme with white lettering. These are pretty nice looking if you ask me, especially with the way the rivets are visible all along the side.

2-Bay Offset Side Hopper Car, Detroit & Mackinac #7033

Here's a look at the model I found from Atlas. Overall, it is pretty close to the prototype, but there are some differences with the text. The placement seems to be lower on the model and the "Detroit & Mackinac" font seems to be much smaller. Then there is what looks like a large white placard on the mode that is not seen on the prototype.

Atlas Trainman 2-Bay Offset Side Hopper, Detroit & Mackinac #5006

That's it for now. There are some other pieces out there, but I will save them for another day. If I ever happen to land one of the locomotives, these will not be far behind, especially the 50' box cars as I remember seeing tons of them as a kid when I would watch the D&M trains roll through northern Michigan.

Layout Ideas: Detroit & Mackinac (Locomotives)

When I first decided to get back into model railroading, I really wanted to come up with a layout based on the Detroit & Mackinac Railway. One of the reasons was the fact that I kind of grew up around this railroad at my family's lakefront cottage in northern Michigan, right along the D&M branch between Tawas and Alpena. I remember always looking forward to seeing the trains come through town and at the rural crossings closer to the cottage. It was one of the things that really helped get me interested in trains in the first place. 

While doing some research over the summer, I came across some HO scale models of D&M locomotives and rolling stock, which brought back a lot of good memories from my childhood. My first thought was I need to have these for any layout that I put together. I mean how neat would it be to base a layout on an area that I actually visited frequently when I was younger? 

Well, that was the plan until I discovered that it was virtually impossible to find any of the D&M locomotives for sale. I did find plenty of pictures of them and links to other people who had them, but none that were available. At first I figured it was no big deal and I would just keep looking. Well, fast forward a few months and there was still nothing to be found. 

There were however several pieces of rolling stock available, but it wouldn't feel right to just have a few boxcars with the D&M paint scheme. I wanted to have the actual replicas of the trains I saw in-person as a kid. Since it appeared I wouldn't find what I was looking for any time soon, it was at that point I decided to put the idea of a D&M themed layout on the back burner. Who know's, maybe a few of these will surface someday and I can get back to what I originally wanted. 

Until that happens, I thought I would put together a kind of wish list post showing everything that I have found so far featuring the D&M name. Let's start with the locomotives.

The first one is D&M #381, an Alco C425. Here is a look at the prototype. It's an amazing looking piece of equipment if you ask me. I love the black and gold paint scheme, especially the little bit of red trim along the center stripe. The striped nose is pretty neat too, definitely hard to miss.

Alco C425, Detroit & Mackinac #381

Now here is a look at the model I found from Atlas. It actually looks a lot like the prototype. The overall look is there, its just missing some of the minor details. These are things like the small American flag log above the front steps as well as the snow plow on the front end.

Atlas Master Line Alco C425, Detroit & Mackinac #381

Up next is D&M #181, another Alco C425. This one is pretty much the same as #381 other than the obvious difference in road number and the lack of red trim along the center stripe.

Alco C425, Detroit & Mackinac #181

Here is a look at the corresponding model from Atlas. It appears to be identical to the #381 model other than the road number. It actually even has the red trim that is not shown on the prototype. I wonder what the reason was for the difference there.

Atlas Master Line Alco C425, Detroit & Mackinac #181

There are actually two other C425's out there, but I cannot find pictures of the models, so here is a look at the prototypes for D&M #281 and #1280. These both look just like #381 with the red trim along the center stripe. Overall, these four make for a great looking set of locomotives.

Alco C425, Detroit & Mackinac #281

Alco C425, Detroit & Mackinac #1280

That's it as far as HO scale locomotives that have been produced in the Detroit & Mackinac paint scheme. Any information on where to buy any of these would be greatly appreciated. I think I will leave the rolling stock for another day, at least there is more there and some of it is readily available.

Layout Ideas: Locomotives

Part of the planning stage for my layout will be deciding which locomotives I want to add to my roster. Since I am not focusing on any one railroad in particular, there will be plenty to choose from. That being said, I thought I would put together a quick list of some that have caught my eye recently.

While the road numbers are not exact, these all match pictures taken of prototype locomotives that have passed through the state of Michigan at some point. Ideally I would like to get some of these and renumber them to match what I can find on the RRPictureArchives.net website.

The first one is an Athearn GE AC4400CW in a Canadian Pacific paint scheme. Aside from the red and white striped band around the platform and the position of the ditch lights, this one looks pretty similar to the prototype. Of course there are some smaller details missing like the wiper blades and the hoses on the front end, but overall its a pretty nice looking locomotive.

Athearn GE AC4400CW, Canadian Pacific Railway #9502

The next one I came across was an Athearn Genesis EMD GP38-2 in a Norfolk Southern paint scheme. This one appears to be much closer to the prototype than the one above. The only detail that sticks out right away is the blacked out circles underneath the number boards on the front end. In the model they appear to be white.

Athearn Genesis EMD GP38-2, Norfolk Southern #5029

The third one is this MTH EMD SD70ACe in CSX's "dark future" paint scheme. From what I can see in the pictures, this one also looks pretty close to the prototype. I was even lucky enough to find one only six numbers off for the road number.

MTH EMD SD70ACe, CSX #4847

The last one I have for now is an Atlas EMD GP38-2 in a Grand Trunk Western paint scheme. This one is quite a bit different than the prototype in the picture. A few things I noticed include the lack of ditch lights, wiper blades, and the yellow stripe along the side on the model. Overall it's not a bad looking model, unless you want it to be 100% accurate, but for $49.99 that can't be expected. 

Atlas Trainman EMD GP38-2, Grand Trunk Western #5812

I hope to have a few more posts like this in the future before I get to buying locomotives for my layout. For now these are all just ideas and they may or may not end up as a part of my future layout.

Layout Ideas: Choosing a Theme

Now that I am fully moved into my new house, I can start thinking more about what theme I want my future HO scale layout to have. While I still don't have the time to start actually building anything just yet, it definitely can't hurt to have some ideas in place beforehand. Plus, I really don't want to just blindly start building something then get halfway through just to change my mind anyway.

Originally I thought about doing something solely based on the Detroit and Mackinac railway, but several weeks of finding little to nothing in terms of locomotives or rolling stock for sale has made change my mind a bit. Rather than focus on one small railroad, I thought I would come up with a layout based on Michigan railroads, which opens up all kinds of possibilities. 

Here are some of the criteria I've been thinking of going with:

Scale

I've stated this above and in my first post, but just to be thorough here, I am going with HO. This will not be changing since I've always been an HO scale modeler and there is just so much out there in terms of locomotives, rolling stock, scenery, supplies, etc.

A typical HO scale locomotive from ModelTrainStuff.com

Time Period

The era of choice would most likely be anything from the 1980's through present day. This allows a lot of flexibility as far as choices of railroads as well as types of locomotives, rolling stock and scenery. Plus, I grew up fascinated with trains in the early to mid 90's, so this kind of works out perfectly.

Pictures of various trains in Michigan from RRPictureArchives.net

Location
When I say location, I mean the real life areas I would like to model after. For me this means the state of Michigan. I don't plan on modeling any specific city or anything, but I would like to maintain the look and feel of my home state. This will likely mean a small town feel along with some industry and metropolitan areas. Other than that I would just like to get some nice wooded areas.

Layout Size

In the space I have set aside for myself, I can really do anything from a simple 4' x 8' rectangle to a complete around-the-room style layout. I am kind of leaning toward doing a small starter layout, this way I can get a feel for what I'm doing before going all in with a big layout.