~ Andy
It has been ten years since we started building the layout. We're not done, but there is enough completed track work to allow us to run some trains. After working much of Christmas break getting the Chessie staging yard powered and switch motors installed, we were ready for our first operating session. Charlie had also entered a number of freight cars and locos, as well as industries and siding lengths, into the JMRI software, so everything was in place for this milestone. We have heard from a number of people that it is wise to operate your layout before doing any scenery in case you discover any glitches or track problems, so this was a chance to do just that, The session went well - here are some photos. ~ Andy
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On December 30th with school out for Christmas break, Charlie and I attended the regular Wednesday evening operating session at Roy Ward's West Virginia Central & Pittsburg Railway in Ruffsdale, PA. It was only our second visit to operate Roy's layout, but this time we had a much better perspective as we get closer to operating our own Pittsburgh Mainline layout. Roy's basement layout is approximately 24' x 24' and operates with the MRC DCC system, using a written train order system and car cards. The most unique aspect of his layout is that the dispatcher is actually located in a separate outbuilding, completely removed from the layout and totally dependent on radio/phone communications with the crews and yardmaster, as would be the case on a prototype railroad. See our October 2012 blog post for photos of this stand-alone dispatch office. We enjoyed great operations and fellowship, and we appreciate the invitation to participate. Below are some photos. ~ Andy Thanks for including us Roy! Your scenery is fantastic and I did not have a single problem with track work, the locomotives or electrical connectivity the entire evening - everything ran like clockwork. Roy told me "This isn't the first layout I've built, but it is my last." Why mess with perfection???
Lighting above Johnstown Yard has been a perplexing problem with no good solution. I had initially installed two work boxes in the bulkhead when I framed in the heating ducts, intending to come back later on and install track lighting. What I forgot to consider is that track lighting is not a good option for downward lighting. Furthermore, since I placed the work boxes midway from the back wall to the front of the bulkhead, the light heads would be lighting the wall, not the yard. As a temporary light source, I had installed two porcelain bases with plain light bulbs, but these were not particularly attractive and gave off a lot of glare. I had finally concluded that the best option might be a vertical valance with a fluorescent tube behind it, even though I do not like this look. This past Saturday I was at my favorite store, Home Depot, and came across this new product in the electrical department. It is a surface mount LED fixture that only needs a work box to connect. It does not need the 7 or 8 inches of space that recessed lights require. This looked like a great option for our situation. They are available in both 4 and 6-inch diameters (I chose the larger size). They give off a soft white color and are dimmable. These sell for $30.97 at our local Home Depot. Not cheap, but they are projected to last 22 years and are a perfect solution for our application! Over the Thanksgiving Break from school, I worked on two covered hoppers that I have been wanting to do for a while. As you may know, I have a small bedroom switching layout depicting Conrail's Allegheny Industrial track. I wanted to modify these two Bowser hoppers, factory decorated for Clinchfield and Erie Lackawanna, to be "patch-out" cars for an industry on my layout called Davidson Aggregates. See the following pictures for a more in depth explanation. I enjoyed this project and it was my first real experience decaling and weathering. -Charlie On November 29th, I saw on Heritageunits.com that Union Pacific #1988, the MKT or Katy heritage unit, was trailing on NS empty coal train 553 moving south down the Mon Line. My dad and I made our way to the railroad crossing in Duquesne, PA to catch the train. We caught it and its colorful consist. The leading unit was NS #7020, the newest SD60E at the time, followed by an ex-UP SD90MAC and the Katy unit, our first sighting of a UP heritage unit. See the pictures and video below. Due to the winter weather, the skies were rather overcast. -Charlie Several weeks ago on Saturday I made a trip to Construction Junction in Homewood to donate two surplus light fixtures to this resale store. Having heard that Pittsburgh plans to replace the Negley Avenue bridge in 2016, I also wanted to get some photos of it before it was gone. We want this bridge to be a signature scene on the PML layout, so it is important to get it right. My trip turned into an all afternoon adventure, hence this blog post. ~ Andy Here is a side view of the 110 foot long Negley Avenue bridge taken from the East Busway, which passes below the bridge. Two tracks of the Norfolk Southern Pittsburgh Division pass through as well. According to an article from the 2/2/2015 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, this bridge was built in 1924 and is rated "structurally deficient." It is scheduled for replacement in 2018 at a cost of $6.2 million. I turned my attention to what the background looks like to help plan our layout backdrop. This street view image from Google Earth (on the left) shows that apartment buildings dominate the area. I also recently learned about the birds eye feature in Google Maps, which gave me the view on the right. The Carlyle Arms Apartments are on the left and the Kenilworth Apartments on the right. These would make perfect background building flats. I decided to try photographing the Carlyle Arms building from the opposite side of Centre Avenue. Not surprisingly, it was too large to get in one frame, so I took a shot of each end. Inspired by my apartment building photos, I took a few more of possible candidates for background buildings - this grand old church (Albright United Methodist) on Centre Avenue that was just purchased by a developer and will soon be gone, and this manufacturing plant on Liberty Avenue in the Strip District. And my last stop was to take this series of photos along Braddock Avenue in Braddock Borough. We hope to have a block or two of the business district on the layout adjacent to the USS Edgar Thomson Works steel mill.
Here's my take on our stay at the Station Inn. Coming from me, I'll be focusing on, SURPRISE, the TRAINS! While sitting on the porch is relaxing, going to more photogenic locations is just as appealing. I'll take you on a tour of our railfanning adventures for the weekend, covering the mainline from Huntingdon, PA to Summerhill, PA. Enjoy the pictures and videos below! ~ Charlie Day 1 Rt 53 Bridge
Carney's Crossing - Night Shots Day 2 The Front Porch Hollidaysburg, PA
Huntingdon, PA Spruce Creek, PA Tipton, PA Fostoria, PA Altoona, PA
Gallitzin, PA The overlook at Gallitzin is a little overgrown, but we still caught a train popping out of the New Portage Tunnel. The intermodal is now descending "The Slide", the steepest section of track on the mountain. The Slide brings track 1, which uses the higher New Portage Tunnel, back to the grade established by the Allegheny Tunnel. Cresson, PA Day 3 Bennington Curve (Gallitzin, PA)
Lilly, PA Cassandra, PA Portage, PA Summerhill, PA (The Rocks) Thanks for reading!
For Father's Day this year, my family surprised me with the gift of a weekend at the Station Inn Bed & Breakfast in Cresson, PA. I have known about the inn for seven or eight years, but could never justify the expense of staying somewhere within driving distance of home. I didn't know what I was missing - it was pretty close to the perfect weekend and I hope to make this an annual event. Charlie carefully planned every aspect of the trip and had printed out maps and directions to all the best railfanning spots between Huntingdon and Johnstown. He even accounted for the angle of the sun to put us in the best light for photos. Here is a review of our weekend, with a concentration on the Inn. I expect that Charlie will follow up with a post about the trains we saw. ~ Andy
This video shows both the overhead crane in action and the export locomotive being moved out of the assembly area on a flat car. GE Transportation's sprawling facility covers 340 acres and parts of it date back 100 years or more. There is a two-mile test track along the eastern edge of the plant where locomotives are tested for different durations, depending upon the customer's requirements. With 5,500 current employees, it is the largest employer in the Erie region, but there are often layoffs when orders are slow. 2015 is shaping up to be their biggest year yet with a projected 500 locomotives produced. Below is a detailed map of the facility. On three consecutive days (July 5th-July 7th), my dad and I saw three special trains. The first two were heritage units, but the third train was the crown of the railroad, the Norfolk Southern Office Car Special, running with all four locomotives and fourteen cars. Pictures, videos, and more in depth descriptions are below. Enjoy! -Charlie A mixed freight came while waiting for the Conrail heritage unit in Larimer, PA. In the lead was an SD80MAC. Conrail was the only railroad to purchase SD80MAC units and although they were split between NS and CSX at the demise of Conrail, they have recently been reunited on NS after a trade with CSX. Triple Crown Services was a joint venture between Conrail and Norfolk Southern, utilizing the idea of eliminating flatcars from intermodal trains and just having the specially-equipped trailers ride on trucks to reduce weight. The service is now wholly-owned by NS. This trailer with mismatched panels has seen better days. The Office Car Special came through in all its glory with the sun cooperating for a perfect photo! The train was coming east from Chicago and had stopped in Cleveland the night before. The train only had three locomotives going to Chicago and back to Cleveland, but one of the B units was sent west from Altoona the night before to be added. Executives get what they want I guess! As it passed, the lead unit had a few extra people in it and had the side doors open. |
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December 2023
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