Minutiae

Building a model railroad like the Allegheny Eastern isn't just about hammers, saws and flex track. It's about railroads and history. One of my favorite areas is the research on these subjects in general and the Pennsylvania Railroad in particular. This research is tedious to some, but for someone who likes to read (me for instance) it can actually be "fun" (of sorts). It requires reading a great many things on a variety of subjects. a kind of cross discipline study that fits in well with a "jack of all trades" hobby

The research focuses on railroads, of course, but because I am setting the layout in a certain time period I also have to look at what was going on in the world in general. I am essentially creating a set for the trains to perform on. There all sorts of tiny details that can be added to make the stage more believable. Way back in the day Frank Ellison, a model railroad pioneer who created Delta Lines, wrote a series of articles called "The Art of Model Railroading". He stressed this "actors on a stage" approach to the hobby. This was at a time when most model railroads were little more than a card table and an oval of track.

Delta Lines Boxcar

Case in point, suppose I want to model a theater in downtown Keystone. It helps to know what movies should be listed on the marquee. What films were running in local theaters in the late 1940's?

Bogart and Bacall "Key Largo"

There were Bogart films like "Key Largo" and "The Treasure of Sierra Madre". John Wayne was starring in the "Three Godfathers". Other films my N scale townspeople might want to see include "Johnny Belinda", "The Boy With Green Hair", "Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein" and Laurence Olivier in "Hamlet". There were quite a few others. Putting one of those titles on the outside adds a sense of where and when to the place.

In 1948 Harry S. Truman was running for re-election against Thomas E. Dewey. That was the year when the morning papers proclaimed "Dewey Defeats Truman". Advertisements and billboards would have displayed campaign slogans for both parties hoping to gain a few more votes.

Truman Re-Elected Despite the Chicago Tribune

In the streets of the N scale city of Keystone there should be men wearing suits and ties. They wore a suit for work. They also wore them when going out. It didn't matter if it was a date, dinner or a movie.

 Guys Wear for 1948

Blue collar workers could be found in less formal attire in their daily jobs. Some, like railroaders might wear some sort of overall. Very few, if any, adult males wore blue jeans like we wear today. Their work clothes looked pretty much the same as their suits but without the tie and jacket. Almost all men wore a hat out of doors, taking them off in church, the office or at home.

Women and girls wore skirts or dresses, even around the house. It was the way things were done.

Sears Catalog 1948 

Teenagers in that time dressed pretty much the same as their parents. The casual look was for actually being casual. Even then it was pretty dressy by today's standards.

The cars and trucks in the streets also need to reflect the period. In searching catalogs for N scale vehicles I find that I can use more of what's available than I thought. Chevy and Ford trucks looked the same from the late 40's into the early 50's. The 1950 Chevy Fleetline sedan looks pretty much the same as the the 1949. Same with the 1949-1950 Ford. A lot of the cars on the street were older models, most working stiffs had second hand automobiles. Cars from the early 40's were common and because of the war used pretty much the same body style throughout that decade.

Traffic in 1948

For trucks I can use the older vehicles for the same reason. They stayed the same year after year. The cab-over White looked the same from 1948 to 1953. So did the cab over trucks made by GMC. The International R series that's used on just about every transition era layout appeared in 1950, a little late to be cruising the streets of Keystone. The earlier models looked more like a 1940-41 Ford. The Chevy and GMC small trucks used the same body style between 1948 and 1954..

1948 Chevy Pickup

1954 Chevy pickup

There are an endless number of small details that can be added to set the stage for any model railroad. Plenty of material can be found in old newspapers, magazines, websites. Google Books is a great place to look. You can find old issues of Look, Popular Science and several other magazines. I even search E-Bay for old pictures, postcards and magazine ads.

Regards,
Frank Musick
Chief Cook and Bottle Washer

Allegheny Eastern Railroad