About

What is the TERMINAL Railroad?

Being a child of the Cold War, like many of my generation I grew up believing that any day the Russians were going to blow us all up. World War III was just around the corner. Global Thermonuclear War was eminent. Duck & Cover.

Growing up watching movies like Soylent Green, Logan’s Run, and Blade Runner, (“I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe”); reading books like Fahrenheit 451, The Crying of Lot 49, and Ender’s Game; this left me with, well, a grim outlook on the future of humanity.  At least I had some great music to listen to.

It seems that one large appeal of model railroading has to do with nostalgia. Some modelers model the short-line their grandfather worked on. Some model the big monster railroads they grew up reading about. Some model very realistic lines that never existed. I chose to model the era I grew up dreaming about, one that takes place in my mind, one of a dystopian future.

The TERMINAL Railroad is a fictitious railroad operating in an alternate future. A future where humanity struggles with morality, in a time when recycling has gone too far.

Now that you know I model a railroad in a dystopian future, let me explain what the Terminal Railroad is.

The TERMINAL railroad is no different than any other railroad. It’s trains move cargo from point to point along its tracks. Cargo is moved in the cheapest most efficient way possible, hopefully. Like many model railroads there’s a grain elevator, there’s a refinery, there’s a freight house, a rail yard, passing sidings, tunnels, bridges, roads, trees, etc. etc. with one distinction… It’s People!

For your enjoyment, please follow along as I build the Terminal Railroad @ ModelRailroading.net