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New York Central railroad Falls Road as it appeared in the MID 1950's. Dream and design
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New member 4 posts TJK-1945 New member 4 posts
TJK-1945

I am an older model railroader approaching retirement in 8 months. 

I have been arm chairing for quite a few years. My last layout was in my teens

I grew up in North Tonawanda, NY but am currently living in Snohomish, WA.

Upon retirement I plan on building an accurate version of the New York Central railroad Falls Road as it appeared in the MID 1950's. 

I am currently in the research, planning and acquisitions (rolling stock) stages.

I have acquired Sanborn Fire insurance maps, railroad valuation maps, Rand McNally Commercial Atlas (1954).  

I am looking for photos, track plans, motive power used, through freights, local turns, passenger trains and operations information for NYC Falls Branch for the 1950’s era.


I am especially interested concerning Sanborn, NY and Eagle Harbor, NY.   

I have not been able to locate much info.
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Chuck P Prolific poster 1,012 posts
Chuck P

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Sign up on http://www.railroad.net and post to the NY State forum. There are a lot of WNY people there and you'll find a ton of information. Plus you can search for earlier threads on the subject.

Charles

 
HO - Western New York - 1987 era

"When your memories are greater than your dreams, joy will begin to fade."
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Kent Smith GN Cascade Regular poster 184 posts
Kent Smith GN Cascade

Geographic help

A great map tool is located here: USGS Historical Topographic Map Explorer

You can look up current map with topography and it includes a tool which allows you to overlay historic maps which often will show you railroad grades, yard locations, and sometimes specific trackwork. A very useful way to help cross reference information from other sources, I have found it immensely helpful.

 
Kent Smith - Great Northern Railway Cascade Division 1955 HO
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Geoff Bunza geoffb MRH Author and Moderator 2,502 posts
Geoff Bunza geoffb

NYC Info

Hi TJK,

If you haven't found these already, they all would be likely sources of help:

The New York Central System Historical Society: http://nycshs.org/

which has a free on line Modeling Magazine, offers NYC models in its online store, as well as NYC historical documents, and reference materials. It is also an advertiser here in MRH.

Correspondingly there are 3 NYC email groups: one for the society:

https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/NYCSHS-Members/info

A public forum:

https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/NYC-Railroad/info

and a modeling forum:

https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/NYC-Modeler/info

Enjoy.

Best Regards,

Geoff Bunza

Geoff Bunza's Blog Index: https://mrhmag.com/blog/geoff-bunza
More Scale Model Animation videos at: https://www.youtube.com/user/DrGeoffB
Home page: http://www.scalemodelanimation.com
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TJK-1945 New member 4 posts
TJK-1945

New York Central railroad Falls Road

Hi Charles,

Thanks for the tip.

I have visited the site, but was not aware of the forum.

Regards,

Tom Kloch

 

 
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TJK-1945 New member 4 posts
TJK-1945

New York Central railroad Falls Road

Hi Kent,

Thanks for the info.   I will definitely look into it.

Regards,

Tom Kloch

 
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TJK-1945 New member 4 posts
TJK-1945

New York Central railroad Falls Road

Hi Geoff,

I am a member of the NYCSHS, so I have gleaned a lot of info there.

I though I had posted to one of the forums, but apparently I had not.

I guess its my 'early oldtimers' creeping in,

Thanks for a reminder.

Regards,

Tom Kloch

 
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Chuck P Prolific poster 1,012 posts
Chuck P

Specifically here

http://www.railroad.net/forums/viewforum.php?f=128&sid=a9b320859ac48b70e5890953a244277c

It's very active with tons of old photos being posted.

Charles

 
HO - Western New York - 1987 era

"When your memories are greater than your dreams, joy will begin to fade."
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pschmidt700 Prolific poster 2,584 posts
pschmidt700

Watch that flooding!

Supposed to be a wet weekend up here, Tom, but nothing the Water Level Route couldn't cope with!
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