This time we'll leave Philadelphia and head west to Harrisburg. The trip will take us through Reading and the Anthracite coal region.

We continue to roll through the Allentown area as we approach the station there. There has been a lot of interest in the use of foamcore for structures. There are other uses for it as I'll be pointing out. I don't know as yet how to go about doing an article on the subject. Anyway, let's continue our trip around the PWRR.

After leaving NJ, the Eastern end of the Penn Western, we cross back over the Delaware as we head to our next destination. The PW has two main lines, one northward to Allentown and one westward to Harrisburg via the Anthracite Coal Region. Some industries represent certain towns in PA that aren't geographically correct like Gettysburg, Shippensburg, Jim Thorpe and Mifflinburg, but the structures themself exist to keep the flavor of modeling PA. We'll next be heading to Allentown. The Allentown section occupies an 8' X 17' pod with 2 liftout sections for access.

Before we leave Philadelphia and begin our run through Eastern PA, let's take some time to visit the other side of the Delaware River. Southern NJ was largely served by the Pennsylvania/Reading Seashore Line. I model the first two cities heading east after the river; Camden and Collingswood. My parents moved to Collingswood from West Philly so I spent much of my youth there.

I commuted to my job at Conrail in Philly on the PATCO High Speed Line, one of the best run rail lines in the country. That's where I observed some of the industries that I modeled.

Obviousy, the most important thing about modeling a large city is to make it look like a large city. To create a small town atmosphere with the structures and call it Chicago is stretching it a bit. I'll describe some of the techniques I used to attempt to capture the look and feel of Philadelphia.

                                             PHILADELPHIA TO HARRISBURG DIVISION, PART 1

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.

The S Scale Penn Western will be part of an open house on October 17 & 18 from 1PM to 5PM.

We're participating in the NMRA MER South Mt. Division's hosting of the Western Maryland Transfer Convention in Hagerstown, MD. If you're attending, we hope to see you.

My current layout was begun in 1996 when we moved to South-Central PA. I bought a ranch house with a decent sized basement which has yielded a 29’ X 45’ S scale layout. I’ve made several improvements over the years. The track plan as it existed in 1999 is at:
http://www.trains.com/mrr/default.aspx?c=a&id=1343. There have been several changes since then, but the basic footprint is the same.