The MRH website pretty much exists to support the on-line magazine and as such does an excellent job. However, I got to thinking as I read my downloaded copy of MRH. I've been trying to come up with some ideas for articles that could be submitted to the magazine. One idea is the proverbial layout tour article. They are the easiest to write and the readers always seem to like them. I know I do.

But I have a rather large and complex layout. It would be hard to fit it in to a standard magazine article. I was thrilled and honored when Model Railroader ran my layout article in October of 2004, but they did some trimming and cut out large sections of the layout. The original article was written in 1999 and there've been many alterations and improvements since then. How would I go about writing another article now?

So, when I pondered about what to do about a layout article for MRH, I reasoned that this website is mostly made up by the readership of the magazine and there're a lot of nice options given to the registered members including the benefit of having their own blogs. So I thought that instead of trying to shoehorn the entire layout into an article, that I would use the power of the website and begin a series of articles in my blog. Another motivating factor is that I can share a lot more pictures of the layout this way.

The whole idea of this is to share over 50 years of model railroading with my fellow modelers and try to convey they enjoyment that model railroading in S scale has brought to me. By using my blog, I hope to interact with interested parties. I apprectiate MRH for everything it is doing in promoting the hobby of Model Railroading. I think that the magazine is still the primary vehicle and that a personal blog is only a secondary option.

Here's a summary of what I'll be doing on the blog.
The Penn Western could be broken down into several components. It is 29' X 45' overall and covers Eastern and Central PA and Southern NJ. I use a combination of structures and hand-painted background scenery to convey the look and feel of the area being modeled.
Here's a thumbnail look at the various elements of the PW.

The largest pod (13' X 19') represents Philadelphia, PA and three of the components eminate from there. A line connects Philly to the north and Allentown (9' X 17' pod) and another line goes west to Harrisburg (7' X 12' pod) and beyond. The pods are connected by a 3' X 22' run and a 3' X 30' run. The runs include Reading, PA, the Anthracite region and Blue Mountain. The Harrisburg line is the longer of the two and is powered by DCC. The Allentown line is still run by DC. A separate commuter line runs from Philly to Allentown. Southern New Jersey is represented by a 2' X 16' switching layout. The interchange with Philadelphia is maintained by a car float from one side of the Delaware River to the other. Also, there is a large portion of the Penn Western devoted to the East Broad Top RR in Sn3.

I'll begin by working on an article for the Philadelphia to Harrisburg section. There'll be lots of pictures as well as some tips that I picked up along the way. I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I'll enjoy creating it. We'll see how things go. Stay tuned.

 

The East Broad Top in Sn3 is in the foreground.

Here's the long view. The layout wraps around the heater.