What to do with the steam engines?

[badattitude77]

Steam engines haven't been used since the 1960's.  The game has some nice steam engines, early passenger cars, and roundhouses, but very few buildings, no people in appropriate clothing, and no vehicles that can be used to model a 1900 - 1960 eras railroad.  So what do you do with all of the steam engines, roundhouses, and passenger cars?  How about putting a railroad museum on your layout?

 

The Railway Museum at Port Susan Junction.  This module is roughed in right now, so there's still a lot of landscaping and details to add to make it blend in as the layout progresses.

My Port Susan Junction layout has a modern freight and interchange yard, so I "converted" the nearby roundhouse, water tower, coaling tower, freight house and passenger station into a railway museum since these items are outdated and would be out of place on a modern layout.  This also justifies all of the old equipment looking new since the museum would have had everything restored.

The Railway Museum allows me to use all of the old passenger cars on the modern layout.  Along with a bus tour, there are walkways added so guests can take a full walking tour of the old rail yard and equipment. 

Adding the museum also gives me a reason to add some old rail that is no longer in use, creating a nice visual effect.  There's also a section of the old track that has been maintained for an operating steam engine and passenger consist that serves as a tourist ride now.

Since the old rail crosses a road, I added a section of road that has been repaired a few times, and an old style crossing light that is now "out of service".  I'll be weathering the road to blend it in with the repaired section as I work on the layout more.