Construction of the Philly & Scranton

[otiscnj]

the last two photos I posted above, are located as follows:
Left-Above crossover leading into the yard at the bottom of Wilkes-Barre(right side of plan). Train is about 15 cars long, and a mix of 40' & 50' cars + 2 locos, and a caboose.
Right-Taken from the aisle, between Scranton, & the Reading peninsulas, looking toward the wye, where Outer Station is located in Reading.

I still have to build the Tamaqua peninsula, + the benchwork, for the the transition from the end of the Reading yard, all the way up to Port Clinton. I've got some track laid out between Port Clinton thru the Tamaqua Yard, but have to make 3 adjustments to the benchwork. Taking my time, as I'd prefer to do it right the first time.

 

[Rico]

Wow that is quite the mainline!
Can't wait to see how it progresses...

 

[otiscnj]

FWIW, Rico, my goal is to get finished building the benchwork, and get the mainline in, & be able to run something all the way around by the end of the year. Time will tell is I'm successful or not. I left out one sub-roadbed thing above, also, the transition from Wilkes-Barre up the 'Back Track.'

 

[otiscnj]

Latest:

Didn't get to work much on the layout this weekend. Inspite of that, I did try and start figuring out the staging yard, from the south end of the layout(Philly, down the mainline, or the Cross Line out towards Harrisburg, and the WM/B&O connections.

Here are some photos. Was figuring on 10 tracks, but may only fit 9. Using Atlas #6's in a 'compound yard' configuration. One section of flex track beyond the switches. Freight house will not be there in the future. Plan to place drapes, or enclose with sliding doors, when its finished, down the line. The track curving off to the left, in the foreground, represents the mainline from Philly, where as the crossovers are more on the crossline, in West Reading.

Lower photo is my version of Wilkes-Barre, PA. The elevated line is the 'passenger line' to Scranton, and the EL connection. The lower line, partially blocked by the lumber, is the former CNJ line, which on the P&S, connects with the D&H/NYS&W. Brothers Yard (Taylor/Hudson hybrid) is in the lower center of the photo. This will be where the wire ends.

Right photo is at the northern end of Reading Yard. Out of sight to the right is Belt Line Junction. Still working on figuring out the heights of the roadbed, and surrounding ground here. Belt Line Junction will be curved on the P&S mainline, instead of the more straight configuration on the prototype. That's due to space limitations in my basement.

See the trackplan below to get an idea of the relative locations of these shots.

 

[otiscnj]

Current 'working' plan.

Rt. - Schluykill Haven

Bottom L. - Tamaqua station area.

Bottom R. - Tamaqua freight yard. Track to the right, on the hillside, simulates a double tracked L&NE Tamaqua Extension, however on the P&S, is actually the passenger mainline from Pottsville.

 

[logandsawman]

Thanks for posting these photos of your massive layout!!! lasm

 

[otiscnj]

Its been a while.

Here's a photo of the current mock up of Reading, PA. At the near end will be the Outer Station area, with the freight yards. beyond.

I have a new plan/arrangement at this point, that goes back to one of the designs I came up with, after moving into the house, just over 5 years ago. At some point after my last post, I went back to this, as I wasn't completely happy with the last version I came up with. I probably started to rearrange the assorted tables and such, roughly at the beginning of 2016. I hope to return to posting on a regular basis of the progress I'm making, going forward.

Thanks for checking in.

 

[Bruette]

Thanks for sharing your work with us, I love this stuff!

 

[otiscnj]

Thanks, Bruette! Still dabbling in O, too (currently running on the floor in one room, upstairs), but looking to move forward with the P&S, and get back to posting regularly, maybe even again some, this weekend, or early next week.

On the plan above, in the upper left hand corner, I'm looking to incorporate some variation, with larger curves, and double track, this Atlas HO layout design. I'll try and post some more photos, shortly. It may be flipped somewhat, but basically, it was the inspiration.

 

[otiscnj]

So, here is some of what I've done in the last couple of days.

Two shots are views of the Reading Freight Yards, Outer Station, and 'West Reading,' or along the Belt Line, heading towards East Penn/Belt Line Jct. Hope you enjoy.

Next photo is a shot of what will be Franklin St. Station in Reading, with an old shop building across the street, with Klaperthall Curve in the distance(selectively compressed, dare I say).

This is the north/west end of the Philly Freight Yard for the P&S:BrofNEC. Sort of resembles RG Tower, and there is going to be a bridge at the other end, behind me. Here's some of the power that's specific to the P&S, although not repainted, or remotored, yet into trainmaster chassis, with RDG paint of varying sorts. In the right hand corner, the passenger line will pass over the freight line, on a concrete viaduct, similar to the one on the old PRR line into Manyunk, and on the P&S will connect with Klapperthall Curve, and Franklin St. Station. The freight line will run behind it, and connect with the mainline, at East Penn/Belt Line Jct. That's my version of the 9th St. Branch, behind the freight yard.

 

[otiscnj]

A few more photos, while I'm at it.

First one is from the Franklin St. Station area of Reading, looking towards Klapperthal Curve.

Next couple of photos are looking towards East Penn/Belt Line Jct. One has the Outer Station in it, the other is from the back aisle with the Jct adjacent.

There's also a view of the 'West Reading/Belt Line tangent. Lighting could be improved some.

 

[otiscnj]

Here's a view of what will be Port Clinton.

Next two photos are of what will eventually be bilevel 50' autoracks, similar in nature to the Reading/AMC Motors operation, along the Low Grade Line, running up to Temple(?) from Low Grade Jct, north of Reading, beyond Belt Line Jct, back in the early 70's. Read about either in the RT&HS article, FD&S, or maybe Railpace magazines/publications. On the P&S/Br. ot NEC, will be located between the main Reading Freight Yard, and Belt Line Jct, in what I term 'West Reading.' 'West Reading' has a photo in one of my posts immediately above.

 

[otiscnj]

In keeping with an effort to keep things moving, I've decided to consolidate the Port Clinton yard, along with the Tamaqua Freight Yard. Port Clinton will have the main tracks running along the river, with 1 track along the main, for loading/unloading TOFC/COFC cars, and another along the hillside (edge of layout), below the former PRR Main. There will also be a somewhat modern 'station' building, (one of the Atlas Trainman station kits), as a crew/office facility, with the 'ramp/pad between the 2 tracks. Management in considering installing a couple of fixed cranes(instead of circus style TOFC loading), as the 'modern/rapid' way of loading/unloading trailser.

Port Clinton isn't to far from I81, or I78, so if the RBM&N hadn't purchased the line from Conrail, etc, maybe it would have been a good TOFC/COFC sight. Might end up putting a bridge right across the river to Rt 61, for 'ease of access.'

Below is a photo of the power swap at Port Clinton between south/westbound electric PC(E60CFs), RDG CC-1(Tyco GG-1 on Athearn Trainmaster chasis), with United Atlantic Lines diesels; WM, RDG, and Oak Mountain power for heading south/west to Haggerstown, and beyond.

The next two photos are of Greenwood Jct. and the Greenwood Station (Tamaqua, in the real world). Here the passenger line ties back into the freight line.

The last photo is of the Haz Coal loader, as its currently known. It loads trainloads of anthracite black diamonds, just beyond Hazleton.

 

[otiscnj]

Here's the current trackplan.

 

[KB02]

Good Lord, Man! Where are you going to stand? That's an awful lot of track!

 

[otiscnj]

There is actually more space between the left and center peninsulas, than shows up here. Most of the aisles are 36" or better. The left and center peninsulas, are somewhat double decked, although it doesn't show up well on this plan.

 

[otiscnj]

New photos of what will be the Hazleton mushroom. Hazleton will be on the inside. The Tamaqua yard will be on one outer side, and Schuykill Haven will be on the other outer side of the mushroom.

Update, 11/11/2016
Actually, as of last weekend, I decided to place Schuylkill Haven, and Hazelton on the inside of the mushroom. Will post some new photos in the next week or two.

 

[new guy]

HOLY WAA! You GO MAN! Ambitious much? That's a doozy! How long did you take planning that monster?

 

[otiscnj]

How long have I been planning this layout? The first sketches I made in 1981, when I was a sophomore in engineering school based on a ride from Reading Terminal to Pottsville & back, when I was in high school, about 77 or '78. This particular layout or version I began planning in earnest about 2011, when we bought our current house. I've been buying equipment to use on the layout going back to Stewart's RS-3s, and AS16's, and Tyco's GG-1s back in the 1980's. I've stepped up some of my purchasing since then, particularly in the last 10 years.

From about the Summer of 2011 until late last year, I was still experimenting with different arrangements(town placements) to get the best mainline I could envision. I went back to one of my earliest plans, as it was least complicated in some ways, which after years of trying other things, I went back to revisit, and use, because I liked it when I came up with it.

My goal is to from Reading to Tamaqua running by the end of 2016. Won't be much in the way of scenery, and no catenary up yet, I think getting basic wiring done will be possible.

I had a separate thread entitled 'Philly & Scranton HO Trackplan,' that I started on 5/17/2011, 5 days before we moved into our current house. My focus in that thread was to get forum member's comments on my track plan, prior to starting to build the actual layout. At that time, my joke was 5 years to design it, 5 years to build it, and 6 years to run it. If you check out that thread, you'll see I went thru a number of iterations over the years, before I settled down on.

At this point, I do face a choice however, to get something running by the end of 2016, or wait to get things running until I get the mainline thru from Hazleton to Scranton. My feeling is that getting something running makes more sense, in case there are problems with the design (which wouldn't surprise me) that I won't find out about until things start running.

This is my 'Oregon Rail System,' or 'ultimate layout.'

 

[otiscnj]

Here's some of the 'new power' that will be used on the P&S, E60CFs. From closest to furthest: New Haven, Conrail, and Milwaukee Road. Several tracks over in the distance are a couple of CC-1s (Tyco GG-1s), along with an Athearn Trainmaster, which will be used as the power for the CC-1s. The location of the photo are the Reading Yards. Eventually, there will be shops in front of the backdrop. The E60's still need pans, as well as the catenary needs to be strung.

Next photo is of the GE EF/P 3/4 dual purpose locomotive, in the experimental blue scheme, in the 'short/West Yard' in Reading. Company officials are on the fence with this scheme, and may repaint it into the F unit black/green/yellow scheme.

The other photo is of the Tamaqua/Greenwood station. Tracks behind the station connect with the mainline thru Schuylkill Haven. The bridge passing over the station area, is the in the Hazleton area.