Autorack Woes and Assorted Time Issues

I’ve said it before, my layout, although strongly based on Baltimore, will not be an exact replica. In fact, I look at it more as an alter-ego than anything else, with the freedom to change things based on my needs (and whims).

General Motors is no exception. In the GM Background post, I gave a very brief history of the plant. What I didn’t mention was that during the specific time frame I model— the seven days between July 11 and July 17, 1984—the plant wasn’t building anything:

The Baltimore Plant built its last car on March 31, 1984. In September 1982 [GM] started [a] Plant modernization and expansion program in preparation for the new van that would be produced at Baltimore in the fall of 1984 for the start of the 1985 model year… Baltimore built the first M Van on September 13, 1984 less than 6 months after a massive retooling undertaking.

It should be noted that every year most auto assembly plants are down for a little while to do minor retools for model-year changes. The July time frame I’d chosen falls right at the end of that window, but I was willing to overlook that. But this was worse. Yes, during my modeling time frame the production floor was smack dab in the middle of a massive. months-long retooling project to build the “M Van” (that’s the Chevy Astro and GMC Safari minivans to me and you). And from that point on, they would only build minivans there until the plant closed in 2005.

So, I had a few options:

1. Change my modeling time frame
2. Ignore this little tidbit and go on as if the plant was still building cars
3. Ignore this little tidbit and go on as if the plant was already building vans

I was pretty set on the time frame, so something else was going to have to give.

But I had another issue. The problem was those Walthers Autoracks I previously mentioned. See, I’d purchased those in both the bi-level and tri-level variants. For those that don’t know, (as I didn’t when I bought them) the bi-level cars are used for taller vehicles like vans and trucks, while the tri-levels are for cars.

So, I had a few options:

1. Change my modeling time frame
2. Ignore the autorack type and mix and match at will
3. Make up a story

We covered the time frame thing. And I’m too anal to ignore the car type; I wasn’t going to be happy with that. And that meant… it was story time!

Maybe in Baltimore they were retooling the plant, but I knew that in the past, the Baltimore plant had built cars and trucks at the same time (as seen in the photo to the right). So in Monument City, they were still building cars (probably Impalas, because I have a bunch of Classic Metal Works models of early-80s Impalas) and pickups. (Autorack problem solved.)

And in this version of reality, the design changes were minimal, therefore the plant was gearing up 1985 model year production a little early. (Plant shutdown timing problem solved.)

This last fabrication, in addition to allowing gondolas and flatcars to show up during operations, also has the benefit of explaining why the automobile-related traffic to my plant doesn’t come close to the level required by a plant of that size: since they’re just gearing up, production numbers are still low. (Woefully-low-number-of-railcars-in-and-out-each-day problem solved.)

That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.

The point is, don’t get bogged down in trying to replicate everything perfectly. You can’t do it anyway. Instead, come up with a reasonable explanation of why things are the way they are. The rivet counters may balk, but at the end of the day, it’s your railroad, not theirs. It has to satisfy you and no one else. And if they don’t like it, they don’t have to stay.

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