Model Forum / General / Railroads / December 2005

Ok, I understand. You have set yourself a very large project, I think.
In your enthusiasm, you've gone at it backwards, however. First, you
research railroads that run through desert country. Then you choose one,
and also the era (in your case from the middle 1800s to about 1910).
Then you design a layout to suit your decision. Or use some track plan
that appeals to you, and design desert scenery to go with it.

Here's a list of some of the RRs that run or ran through the desert
country of the southwestern and western USA. Some are no longer in
existence, some have been merged with bigger railroads. Many people who
model these have used desert scenery on part or all of their layouts.
But, I repeat, any track plan will do. Google on the railroad names to
find out more. And get a good atlas. :-)

Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe (ATSF)
Union Pacific (UP)
Southern Pacific (SP)
San Diego and Arizona Eastern (SD&AE)
Texas & Pacific (T&P)
Nevada Northern
Denver and Rio Grande Western (D&GRW)
Missouri, Kansas, Texas Railway (MKT)
Missouri Pacific (MP)

There were also many narrow gauge railroads, especially in the
Nevada-Colorado region.

By the way: if you have never built a layout before, I _strongly_ advise
you to build a small one first. And I mean small: 4ft x 8ft (120cm x
240cm) is a common size for a first layout. Practice your scenery
building techniques on it, as the scenery is what will make your layout
convincing. It's not easy to make convincing desert scenery. Also, think
about the backdrop (back scene): can you paint one that will suggests
vast distances? Or do you have a friend who can painty one for you?

You could ask people to post pictures of trains in the desert on the
newsgroup alt.binaries.pictures.railroad.

HTH