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The PWRR 1 - 30th Street Station Journals/Blogs
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Regular poster 374 posts royhoffman Regular poster 374 posts
royhoffman

                                             PHILADELPHIA TO HARRISBURG DIVISION, PART 1

The best starting point in the Penn Western story would be the model of the PRR/Amtrak 30th Street Station. The Phila/Harrisburg division maintains passenger service from there to a station in Harrisburg. There is also a commuter line running from Phila to Allentown based roughly on the SEPTA line running from the prototype station.

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The actual station was opened in 1933, shortly after an expansion by the former Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) and is a fine expression of the art deco style of that time. It was meant to eventually replace the Broad Street Station due to an increase in passenger and rail traffic. The Broad Street Station was a hub terminal with what was known as the "chinese wall" connecting it to the PRR's main line between New York and Washington. The 30th Street Station is right on that main line. The Broad Street Station ceased its service in 1952. As a kid I remember the wall as I rode the PTC route 13 trolley into town from West Philly.

From 1992 to 1996 I worked for Conrail in Philadelphia and it was only a short walk down JFK boulevard to the station. It was natural then to take photographs and draw up plans for an S scale model of it. I was actually helped by a model of the station that was in the prototypes ticket area. The S scale version measures 33" X 45" and that is considering the fact that I did some selective compression. I wanted to do a big city station with as many of its features that I could model including interior detail. I left it open ended at the side of the layout for easy viewing. I borrowed that idea from a now defunct HO club layout in Lansdale, PA.

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The Allentown Commuter line is based on the SEPTA line at the prototype station. That's the Schuylkill Expressway running underneath, better known to the locals as the "Surekill Crawlway."

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The back of the parking lot at the prototype is a great train-watching spot.

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Our PW freight is working it's way down the Highline. The Tasty Baking Company is a Philly landmark industry. The model was made from four HO Heljan bakerys bashed together.

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The station is scratchbuilt out of heavy cardboard and has already survived a move from NJ to it present PA location.  The cornice is from a piece of Tru-scale HO tie strip cut down the middle. The columns are wedding cake decorations.

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The open-ended interior details. The light fixtures are HO street lights inverted. There's more to do to the interior and I have plans to model a food court and ticket windows some day.

  Part 2 will be the Delaware River waterfront.

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Roy Hoffman

The S/Sn3 Scale Penn Western Railroad -
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dfandrews Prolific poster 1,038 posts
dfandrews

Wow

Wow!  That is beautiful work.  Thanks, Roy, for sharing this.  Your creative and innovative use of materials has gotten me thinking out of the box:  what stuff do I have that would solve a modelling problem not related to that stuff.

Don - CEO, MOW super.

Rincon Pacific Railroad, 1960.  - Admin.offices in Ventura County

HO scale std. gauge - interchanges with SP; serves the regional agriculture and oil industries

DCC-NCE, Rasp PI 3 connected to CMRI, JMRI -  ABS searchlight signals
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BlueHillsCPR
BlueHillsCPR

I'll second that

WOW!!

Incredible stuff Roy.  Thanks for sharing your sources of modeling materials.  As Don said, it's gets one thinking outside the box!

Looking forward to more.
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Rio Grande Dan Prolific poster 2,307 posts
Rio Grande Dan

I love excessive details on

I love excessive details on models and lots of people does bring models to life. Thanks for the insperation photos.

Dan

Rio Grande Dan
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ac_catenary New member 2 posts
ac_catenary

30th street Station

That is a Really nice rendition of 30th street station in S scale. I really like the Interior of the station. I too am modeling 30th st station, Broad street station, Center city and The City hall area in HO scale complete with Live Catenary and many Surface Trolley Routes. Check it Out http://www.prrnortheastcorridor.com In my model city because of space I was unable to recreate the upper level of 30th st but I was able to make a two track highline with catenary and large transmission lines. In the future I plan to build the Steam plant that was just knocked down.
Steve Smith 1:1 Railroad Architect 1:87 Railroad Architect PRR foamer Philadelphia PA http://www.prrnortheastcorridor.com
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royhoffman Regular poster 374 posts
royhoffman

Catenary

Yo Steve,

Your catenary work is fantastic. I hope you can share some of your techniques. I lack catenary and would like to begin adding it to the highline, etc. I run to Harrisburg and would just keep on going.

I saw an N scale model of the Broad St. station at a convention and it was awesome. Good luck with yours.

I'm guessing that you're modeling somewhere within the 1930-1953 time frame.

 

 

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Roy Hoffman

The S/Sn3 Scale Penn Western Railroad -
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ac_catenary New member 2 posts
ac_catenary

catenary

Roy Thanks for the catenary compliments I had pictures of That N scale model of Broad Street Station but I lost them. I have been looking around the Net but cant find any. I model between 1970s and the present but around the broad street station area theres a time warp back to the 50s. I am currently building the headhouse and the shed is finished. It currently holds 4 tracks under wire. The rest of the city is very modern with skyscrappers, high rise apartments, factories and houses. Setup is DCC with live catenary and live trolley wire.
Steve Smith 1:1 Railroad Architect 1:87 Railroad Architect PRR foamer Philadelphia PA http://www.prrnortheastcorridor.com
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royhoffman Regular poster 374 posts
royhoffman

A New Food Court

 For quite some time now, I've wanted to add a food court to my 30th Street Station model similar to the prototype. The biggest problem was providing the necessary number of tables and chairs to handle all those hungry passengers. Then along came a Canadian firm called Imagine That Laser Art. They make a set of S scale patio furniture that includes 4 tables and 16 chairs. I obtained 4 sets giving me a total of 16 tables and 64 chairs. It took some time but I assembled them all after first painting them black. For the people, I got a bag of MTH unpainted figures. They are rated for O scale, but are smaller in size in order to fit O27 passengers cars. Most of them are seated figures, so they filled the bill. Now I finally have a food court for the station.


 

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Roy Hoffman

The S/Sn3 Scale Penn Western Railroad -
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skiwiggy Prolific poster 1,164 posts
skiwiggy

30th Street Staion! WOW so close to home!

Hi Roy,

  Very Awesome model of 30th St Station.  I live in Philadelphia and work down town and end up taking SEPTA and Amtrak from time to time!  Makes me think  about going to work everyday and how I have to get out the door early so I am not caught up in the traffic jam on I-76 and I-676.  You also made me hungry for some Tasty Cake products.  

The interior detailing is absolutely superb!  Great work and I can't wait to see some more 

 

GREG
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sjconrail Active Member 31 posts
sjconrail

 Roy, this is an awesome

Roy, this is an awesome model of 30th St.!! I can't wait to see more updates,

Phil
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jeffshultz MRH Staff 7,986 posts
jeffshultz

Imagine That Laser Art

They are pretty wonderful aren't they - I was positively drooling over their products when I interviewed them.

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Jeff Shultz - MRH Technical Assistant
DCC Features Matrix/My blog index
Modeling a fictional GWI shortline combining three separate areas into one freelance-ish railroad.
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royhoffman Regular poster 374 posts
royhoffman

The Hotel LaWOW

I'll say. Actually it was your interview that led me to their website where I noticed that the patio furniture was part of the Hotel LaWOW. I asked them if they would sell the furniture separately and they were kind enough to comply.

They make great kits in 4 scales.

 

pwrrpic.jpg 

Roy Hoffman

The S/Sn3 Scale Penn Western Railroad -
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