Hello all, I just joined this forum because my long term plans for my dream layout would be blasphemy on my current forum. I love N-scale, and I will keep modeling it, and always appreciate it. The modeling community is also great at nscale.net, and I will always be over there with our 160. But after numerous discussions and research, my plans are better in HO scale.
Backstory:
My dad grew up in Columbia, PA, a small river town along the Susquehanna. As a kid (along with permission), I was always down at the tracks foaming at trains. It was an interesting area with an interesting history. The main part being my obsession with catenary. I never saw any pictures of catenary up, nor the E44s, E33s, and GG1s that frequently passed through there. Only the remnants of the catenary poles. This is until I obtained the fantastic book of Triumph II by David Messer. Numerous photos of the area with P5s, modifieds, and G's in PRR paint, along with Penn Central and Conrail.
I was hooked immediately, and decided that was going to be "my railway".
Planning:
I would like to do full catenary, and based around 1975-77 when Conrail had ownership, but all the locomotives were unmarked PRR, the minimal CR black, and a few new blues. Andy Rubbo has a great technique and artistry for his catenary that was featured in model railroader, and I was able to find a few articles of his in the Keystone Modeler. The route would start at the Chickies creek bridge before Lake Siding begins, go through Columbia yard, past Cola tower, Manor Siding, the flyover at Creswell, and end at the double bridges at Safe Harbor. Then, also including the Columbia Secondary that goes to Lancaster yard in another room or something (information and pictures of this will be in the next post). This would allow to do some great through traffic from two main lines (Port Road and the Low Grade), and then do some switching and ops (Columbia Secondary with numerous industries and Lancaster yard).
Due to the complexity of the route, the infrastructure (mainly the catenary), and obtaining E44s, I figured this could be a lifelong project. I've done more research, and tracked down one of the photographers of the Columbia area in Triumph II, and talked to him. He told me about three more books I should buy, and he happened to be a tower operator at Cola during the time. He was able to give me detailed explanations of operations, signaling, traffic, and answered any questions I had.
In terms of construction, I figured I would go modular. Most is either double tracked or three tracks. I could start with simple sections, especially for practice on the catenary. Then I would graduate to the serious "nets" in the Columbia area, which are irresistible to me. I could also do all the interlockings, then when the time comes, just connect them all with the straight and curved sections of track. This would allow me to work on all sides of the track, and not worry about destroying catenary working on scenery or anything. Along with being able to run trains on the modules until I have the amount of space to make the layout. I figured the switch machines I could build into them, signaling pre wired, and track power wired. Then just plug the modules into the rest of the system.
Conclusion:
I probably wouldn't have anything major done for a while. As I'm still in school, and have limited funds, space, time, etc. But I feel like good discussions early on would help immensely, and it would be fun planning a layout of this region. I can probably start small, and build study models of catenary poles, trackwork, and signals. Then maybe start the module of the crossover, and turnout onto Manor Siding.
Looking forward to your replies and input!
-Mitch
