Several months ago we agreed to host a Thursday night operating session during the 2017 Railroad Prototype Modelers (RPM) Meet in Greensburg. We had been using JMRI software for operations, but Charlie was not pleased with the way JMRI handled the classification yard, so we decided to switch to a traditional car card and waybill system. This is not as easy a task as it may sound. It involved creating hundreds of car cards and waybills for all of our freight cars. Realistic shippers and receivers for each car had to include industries on our layout, such as Cambria Iron Works, National Biscuit Company, Rolling Rock Brewery, Kopp Glass, Union Switch & Signal, etc. We spent many evenings researching industries online and creating routing for freight and materials. We decided to have a "practice" operating session on 3/10/17, two weeks prior to the RPM, with our regular crew.
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Charlie and I both gave presentations at the Railroad Prototype Modelers Meet in Greensburg, Pa last weekend. I spoke about the design of our model railroad - how it started, how it evolved, and how it has been built. One of the obvious questions was why Conrail? I explained that I returned to Pittsburgh in 1979 after graduating from college and was struck by the gleaming blue Conrail locomotives pulling piggyback and coal trains up the Turtle Creek Valley. After giving my presentation (of course), I found this photo which captures the view looking up the valley from Greensburg Pike at Aliquippa Street - a view of the valley you could not get from any other location. I have annotated the photo with a red line to show the path of Union Railroad and a blue line to show the path of the Conrail (now NS) main line on the opposite side of the valley. The Greensburg Pike Bridge (the "blue bridge"), which has now been replaced, is in the center of the photo. Truly the photo that launched a layout... ~ Andy Here is a current (2/11/17) shot taken from the same location. Being a digital photo, rather than a scan of an old print, this one has much better resolution and with the leaves off the trees allows a better view of the Union Railroad trestle immediately below. The replacement Greensburg Pike Bridge and Turtle Creek are visible at the center of the picture. The prominent yellow brick brick building is an old school I believe, now the Human Services Center. The taller building to the left is the Senior Citizen high rise apartments. It seems like every river town around Pittsburgh built one of these buildings in the late 1960s/early 1970s. This valley will always have a draw on me. These photos have been sitting in the archives waiting to be posted. Charlie and I saw this unique Norfolk Southern MOW car on the siding in Trafford last summer. If passing through town, we usually drive down along the tracks to see if there is anything interesting. NS uses the lead track to the now-defunct Turtle Creek Railroad as a place to store MOW equipment to get it off the mainline. We had never seen one of these before and stopped to get some pictures. ~ Andy Two weeks ago Charlie saw reports of a Sperry Rail Service Inspection Car on the siding in Trafford, which was a "must see." We were not able to go during the work week, because it is now dark by 5 pm. We held our breath hoping it would still be there Saturday morning so that we could get some photos. The word was that they were doing track inspection/testing on the NS Pittsburgh Division at night when traffic was low, and parking the unit on the former Turtle Creek Railroad siding in Trafford during the day. We got our wish when we arrived Saturday morning, but saw some other neat things too. It was well worth the effort on this very cold morning! ~ Andy Although the Magnuson Models Power House kit is similar to the Wabtec manufacturing plant, I think it might be possible to stitch these three photos together to make a credible photo building flat. I need to use a step ladder to get a little more elevation - the rails are always blocking the bottom of the building! We usually drive home through Wilmerding on Pennsylvania Avenue past Pitcairn Yard. We got lucky today as not one, but two, sets of NS Eco-Units were in the yard. The one set was in a perfect position to get good photos. Norfolk Southern designed and built about thirty pairs of these locomotives over the past few years using government subsidies. These units have flared radiators to increase the length of cooling tubes and decrease heat and particulate pollution. Two sets are assigned to Pittsburgh, as denoted by the map on the locomotives, which usually work out of Pitcairn Yard. Last weekend we enjoyed a fabulous meal at The Supper Club, located in the historic Greensburg, Pa. Train Station. This building is an architectural gem which still serves Amtrak's Pennsylvanian train twice each day. If you have never dined here, there is no time to waste. The Tribune-Review reports that the restaurant will close at the end of January 2017 as its lease was not renewed by Stone Kim Properties, the owner of the building. The restaurant's owner, Deborah Driggers, offered to buy the station from the Westmoreland Cultural Trust last year for $800,000 after putting $500,000 into the restaurant. The Trust declined her offer, choosing instead to sell it to Stone Kim Properties for just $525,000. I'm sure it's just a coincidence that the developer sits on the board of the Cultural Trust. The restaurant has an imaginative menu, great service, and of course a primo location. It will be missed. ~ Andy The Greensburg Train Station was designed by architect William Cookman and built in 1912. The building was named to the National Register of Historic Places in 1977. The Supper Club is on the left in the former passenger station, while Amtrak passengers reach the platform through the former freight depot on the right. (Westmoreland County website photo) An old friend sent me this link to a great collection of photos and illustrations of Amtrak locomotives through their 45 year history. There is a paragraph accompanying each illustration giving some background. The series includes some old advertisements and posters in addition to the photos. Well worth a look - I really enjoyed it. The link is:
http://usat.ly/2gjZkDV You can copy and paste this into your browser. ~ Andy We thought you might enjoy seeing a project we just completed for the layout room and how it was done. The results are fantastic! ~ Andy Credit for this project goes to Bruce and Charlie (about all I did was buy the lights six years ago). It was Bruce that came up with the concept and figured out how to build it, and Charlie that worked out the wiring. Really a fun project that greatly enhances the layout room. Thanks for your hard work guys!
Although not on such a grand scale, Charlie and I were very happy to complete our two-track Conrail mainline on Tuesday evening, October 4, 2016! I started designing the layout with Bob Dengler and Tom Gaus in 2003 and we started construction in 2006, so it has been a long time coming. I credit Charlie with keeping the project moving forward on weekends and evenings when I'd rather have relaxed with a magazine or newspaper. ~ Andy Here Charlie drives the "golden spike" (okay, it was just a track nail painted gold) in the eastbound track as Conrail SD40-2 #6366 waits to make the first entire loop around the layout. This loco was lightly weathered, tuned and had sound and DCC added by our friend Mike Garber from Midlothian, VA, so it was very appropriate that this would be the first loco to make the complete run. The final spike was driven in front of what will be Westinghouse Airbrake (now Wabtec) in Wilmerding. I hope George Westinghouse is looking down and smiling! Here is a photo of the "new" room where the tracks met. This room will represent the Turtle Creek Valley, starting with Braddock on the left and finishing with Trafford on the right. This picture was taken about four weeks ago, just after the backdrop painting was complete. With the main line connected, a complete run around the layout takes 14-1/2 minutes at normal operating speed. We have worked really hard this summer to get the mainline completed for our NMRA open house on October 16, 2016 and we are so glad we made it, We've not taken time to update the web site since mid-July, so now that the open house is behind us, watch for some catching up and updates on our Progress and Blog pages. Thanks for your patience.
We were pleased to again co-host the NMRA MCR Division 2 meeting today with Bob Prehoda at the Norwin Library. Thanks to all who stopped by our layout before or after the meeting. Here are a few pictures. Two other very nice entries; the one on the left by Alden McBee and on the right by Marge Meehan. Both Alden and Marge are frequent winners of the monthly contests with their excellent entries. Everything was ready at Pittsburgh Mainline for our visitors. The layout tour sign was in the yard, the Conrail flag unfurled, refreshments set out and the guest towels in the bathroom. Bob Prehoda, also a North Huntingdon resident, is always very gracious to open his layout for visitors during the October NMRA meeting which he co-hosts with us. Unfortunately, as a result we rarely get to visit or photograph his layout since we are open at the same time. However, please click on the link below for a video tour of his magnificent finished layout, the Huntingdon Northern. Credit: TrainsOnBrains Youtube Channel Quite out of the blue, Charlie announced two weeks ago that he had seen some refurbished steam engines on Broadway Limited's web site, and he thought we should get one for the layout. A post-war PRR K4 had his eye, priced at 40% off MSRP. Not sure where this came from - this is the young man who, when he learned that room fresheners came in different scents, asked his mother if they made them in diesel fuel scent! I figured we could maybe use it for fan trips on the system...and after all, it was a Conrail predecessor railroad. So, the order was placed and our first steam engine arrived last week. So begins a new era. ~ Andy I couldn't get any photos as good as those on BLI's web site, so I copied these three images.
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