Okay, so I started on a new story last night?

I am trying to write a novel (rather than my normal short stories), and from answers to a previous question...stick to what you like and know. My problem is, I prefer reading historical time period based books, but I am completely clueless as to writing that way. I did start my story, with the intentions of it taking place long ago...but need help in an area I should pinpoint on to do a bit of research. For example, small town, women still mainly wear dresses, local market... society still stresses and expects girls to marry, and families expect them to marry well. I am planning on having a train station being present at some point in the book. So far pretty general. Do I need to focus on a specific time period? And make that more evident? Or is it okay to not be so specific? And if I should make the time period more specific, any ideas of what time period I should do a bit of research on to encorporate it into my story a bit more?