History of My LDD Railroads

[Murdoch17]

I started this topic to get some feedback on some creations I have made. Basically, the pictures are just to show the paint schemes, and the rest is some writing I did in about 3 hours. None of these has been constructed yet except for the Brick Railway Systems engines, whle the others may never be built. (But they can be be built in real life, and if you want the files of all the diesels (NO 2-8-4 Berkshire!) together, please tell me!)

Anyway, here they are:

FEDERAL RAILWAY

(FDR)

The Federal Railway, otherwise known as FDR, started out in the early 1900's as a Government owned entity, but soon broke free of government ownership to become a Company in it's own right. In the early 30's, it became the first Imperial railway to order diesels and was impressed by their power. Over the next forty years the railway carried out a seek-and-destroy policy towards steam, and became steam-free in 1970. However, in 1975, the oil embargo struck, crippling half the diesel fleet. With the other railways using their steam powered trains taking away their business, FDR shrank, firing hundreds of employees. These employees, embittered by their company firing them all without any notice, started a boycott of the railway. Because of this, by 1980 the company was little more than a shell of it's former self. By the time the government took back control in 1987, Federal Railway was bankrupt and totally devoid of leadership. The government then offered to merge the company with Brick Railways, but was denied. With everything coming to pieces around them, the company finally jumped off the ledge: the government, desperate for help, finally shed itself of the problems by transferring power back to the company, & let the Railway fail. In December 1992, the company was liquidated, assets sold, and motive power scrapped or sold to museums at 1/4 the original builders price. The company's tracks and infrastructure, though, were bought by Brick Railway Systems at rock-bottom prices. In all, the money made by sales and such was just enough to cover 3/4 of the debt owed. The rest came out of private donations from people trying to give the issue some final closure.

EDISON ELECTRIC RAILWAY

(EER)

The Edison Electric Railway (EER), contrary to it's name, is not able to be driven on by electric locomotives. The name comes from the power company that own the engines: Edison Electric. Three coal-powered plants in close proximity to each other caused confusion with the original coal supplier, Brick Railway Systems. This led to the creation of Edison Electric Railway in the early 90's. When Brick Railway trains enter the 20 mile area surrounding the plants, anyone of the eight engines can take over the train and pull it to it's correct destination. The two classes of engine seen above are the only types EER uses in it's operations. Steam trains would take coal from the hungry furnaces, and electric engines would take away power from customers. The green colors of the paints scheme reflect the ideals of the company: white for modified low-emission diesel engines, and green for the future of the company, which is looking to be more environmentally friendly.

BRICK RAILWAY SYSTEMS

(BRS)

Brick Railway Systems (BRS) was constructed in the early 1870's from pieces of other roads, Brick Railway Systems is the only native-owned Class I Road left in the Empire. It began small, with only 120 miles of track laid as of 1873. (Note: Only 57 of those miles were actually constructed by BRS, not by the former component roads) By 1910, BRS had rose through the ranks of the other roads to become the top freight hauler in the country. However, In World War One, the railway was was run into the ground by government control via the Imperial Railroad Administration (IRA), which took over control of all railroads in 1914 and kept them until 1920. Upon return of the company to it's civilian owners, the railroad itself was in shambles The company responded by trimming the unnecessary trains that had been kept running during the war years even though they were practically useless. By 1928, the company had remade itself so much so that it had electrified most of it's main line between Glencoe, Ironwood, & Fort Legoredo. This cut back majorly on some of the costs of steam engine fuel and maintenance for the railroad. The benefit of this was not evident immediately, but later payed for itself when the Great Depression hit. By the the Second World War, BRS was even better off than had been projected in the depths of the depression The war traffic barely affected the system, as the 1920's upgrades had unexpectedly prepared the system for the surge in goods and soldiers. In the late 40's, while several other roads had started getting rid of their steam engines for diesels, BRS was resisting the flow by building more steam, and experimenting with more advanced designs such as duplexes, triplexes, & Garrett’s These efforts never payed off, but the they did give the BRS engineers valuable advice on what to do and what not to do with steam. Meanwhile, diesels were on the railroad from starting around 1936, but not in great numbers until the late '60's. 'The System' (as she is sometimes called) was doing fine at this time, while other roads were struggling. By the '70's, diesel fuel prices had put a stop to the diesel takeover, and optimism was high. This feeling continued right up until 1987. The main competitor, Federal Railways, had gone up for sale and Brick Railway Systems was getting a ring-side seat on what could happen if a road got out of hand. Before their eyes, the road was torn apart by lack of leadership, (not helped by the fact the Federal Railway / Brick Railway Systems merger was denied) lack of funds and working motive power. Then, in late 1992, the railway was finally gone, eaten up by hungry debtors and rival railroads alike. (some of it was eventually bought by BRS) The other half of the '90's & the early 2000's had Brick Railway Systems wondering if the same financial breakdown would happen to it. By 2010 the shock had worn off, and the optimism had returned, albeit with a little more caution.

Edited December 15, 2012 by Murdoch17

[Electricsteam]

I love useing red and back as a color scheme.Red as the domanaint color. Most of the time... My goal is to have a red/black stripe on all of the coaches.

[Murdoch17]

@Electricstream: 90% of my stuff is black w/ red stripe. Here is some of the stuff I don't have (yet):

[Lazarus]

I like that steam loco would like those plans Murdoch, i like a lot of the stuff you have done.

I have all the parts for the switching tower you did and just waiting on the parts for my double shed that you helpped with and then i will put up some pics. Also about got about 70% of the parts for the MOW train so should have pics of that in the new year.

[Murdoch17]

@Lazarus: That steam engine is actually a modified version of Antohny Sava's 2-8-4 Berkshire. The instructions are avalible on Bricklink. Here is the link to his store where I bought it: http://www.bricklink.com/store.asp?p=AggieSava&itemID=21320629