To help aid in understanding the concept of this modular
freelance layout, it would be best to look at what I am modelling and give a
back story on how it was created, what its purpose is, and its general history.
There are a never-ending list of advantages and disadvantages to deciding to
modeling a freelance model railroad. The key advantage to modeling a freelanced
model railroad is that you get complete creative freedom with every aspect of
the railroad, this also proves to be the disadvantage because you must come up
with everything and create it on your own. There is no concrete guide line to
follow unless you model your railroad by implementing other existing railroads
rules and procedures. I have had around 10 years of development of the Omaha
and Saint Louis Railway before I have attempt to model a layout that is solely
about this freelance railroad. Not to say that you need a decade before you cut
the first piece of lumber for the train layout, but it does help to have a
strong idea before you take on a freelance railroad layout. This article won’t
be about how to develop a freelance railroad but it will cover the fictional
brief back story of the O&SL, the type of equipment, region it operates in,
and how the idea started in the first place.
How It All Began
It is funny how an idea starts, most have a direct and
obvious connect to a problem and some just come out of the blue. Back around
2006 or 2007 I was really getting into Microsoft Train Simulator, and still
enjoy it, I was getting a handle on using third party generate routes,
rolling stock, and locomotives. I was starting to understand how to paint and
was beginning to learn how to create my own routes for the program. I can
honestly say that it is a tough program to work with and is somewhat unstable
to build routes with. The idea for the Omaha and Saint Louis railway began here
in what is known a V scale or Virtual scale. The route idea came from wanting
to create something of my own and the limitlessness of V scale was inviting to
a freelance modeler because if you wanted to you can model the whole route and
every single piece of equipment your railroad has without spending next to
nothing, the only thing wasted would be time to create anything you wanted.
Sounds like the best thing in the world, right? I was very eager to begin this
route, the name for the railroad comes from the two end points of the entire
route. The region is a favorite of mine and that is the reasoning for the its
location, simple as that, it is a different landscape than what I prefer to
model with my Burlington Northern equipment (Montana region) and I have family
that lives in the southern Missouri area and once I had first traveled there
six years after conceiving this railroad, I found the Missouri area to be a
great landscape to model. Then, the problem with V scale came around; it is a
tough scale to master, it is very complex to build a route from scratch in this
form and the interest in doing so was lost in a few months but the idea of the
O&SL concept stuck with me as I began to design the paint scheme and my
modelling effort for the railroad transferred over to HO scale and so began the
ten plus year development of the railroad.
What is the O&SL?
My fictional back story begins in 1878 with the creation of
the Omaha and Saint Louis Railway beginning chartered to build a line first in
between Omaha, Nebraska and Kansas City, Missouri to create a line to move
livestock and perishables. The railroad is in direct competition with the
surrounding railroads and its main selling point was that they tended to be the
cheaper of the surrounding railroads for shipping costs. Naturally as business
grew so did the line and by 1903 they had reached the large railroad terminal
of Saint Louis, Missouri. Seeing how established the other railroads were in
the densely populated city, the O&SL struck a deal with the Chicago
Burlington and Quincy (later, Burlington Northern) to use their year as an eastern endpoint. Once that deal
had progressed the O&SL entered into another venture, they provided an
alternate route option for other railroads. The O&SL isn’t as large
as say the Union Pacific but they can offer up a dedicated, well maintained
rail line from three major rail hubs in the central Midwest; Omaha, Nebraska,
Kansas City, Missouri and Saint Louis, Missouri.
During the 1960’s the O&SL began to change its corporate
image starting with its paint scheme. Originally the locomotive and a few
railcars were painted in a light blue and black scheme with the entire Omaha
& Saint Louis spelt out. As the 1960’s progressed into the 1970’s the full
name began to disappear and the current scheme retains the light blue and black
paint but with a simplified “O&SL” lettering on the equipment. One thing
that stands out on all locomotives and cabooses is an American flag with the
stars always facing the front of the equipment. Another spotting feature on the
locomotives and cabooses also began receiving the Operation Life Saver logos by
the early 1980’s. My history for the railroad stops here in the late 1980’s/
early 1990’s. It stops here because of my general interesting in railroading, I
tended to shy away from overly graffitied freight cars and large modern
locomotives. For the Omaha and Saint Louis in the early 1990’s the railroad has
evened out with its route and customers, they have a great balance between
money coming in and going out. During 1990, the railroad began itself first
full on investment of itself by replacing railroad ties and improving
maintenance on its buildings that have be neglected do to keeping its profits
at a point where the railroad can survive any down turn in business.
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| The early Omaha and Saint Louis Locomotives featured this scheme with the name spelt out. |
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| As the railroad progressed into the 1970's, the locomotives featured the name still spelt out but the "O&SL" enlarged. |
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| The last of paint scheme changes for the lettering feature plain "O&SL." |
My plans for this proto freelance railroad is to evolve it
into something that a causal model railroad will look at and almost second
guess that it was a real railroad at some point. In the past, I have that joy
in hearing if that is a really railroad just based on the locomotive that I
have. It is a rewarding question to hear, to know that you have nearly fooled
someone into believe that the model railroad is in fact a real railroad. I hope
to enhance this experience by creating a very believable layout to show case
the Omaha and Saint Louis. As this blog continues, the layout construction will
begin and the track plan will take shape. Until next time, don’t play with
trains; model railroads. TRWBM.
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