The Bellefonte Central... in N?

[bsoplinger]

One could have a flexible era, too.  BC rostered an SW9 and an SW1200.  Could the Kato NW2 be a good DCC-ready mechanism for a bash?

What about the Proto2000 SW9/SW1200 ?

The Life Like SW series aren't particularly easy to convert to DCC. And the Kato NW2 has that nice looking open cab to boot.

[Dave V]

Cool thoughts, everyone...

It still makes me wonder if there'd be enough ops to be satisfying though.

I love those topos!

Yeah, Steve, you get the impression that the ole' L&T (Montandon Secondary) was PRR's way of staking a claim "just in case" some other upstart railroad wanted to stake a claim in Pennsy territory.

[asciibaron]

Yeah, Steve, you get the impression that the ole' L&T (Montandon Secondary) was PRR's way of staking a claim "just in case" some other upstart railroad wanted to stake a claim in Pennsy territory.

the line was dead between Mifflinburg and Lemont - 4 line side customers are listed in the 1945 CT 1000 between those points and none of them are big traffic generators.  seems it was swallowed up into the PRR camp to keep someone else from building in the area, just in case there was a traffic boom.

-Steve

[RS-27]

A day late and a dollar short...   In the early 70's, we made many a trip down I-80 (and US 224) between Findlay OH and northern NJ.  Never took the State College exit.

A decade before that, MR had a few articles/plans for Bellefonte/Snowshoe RRs.  Not my cup of tea, but you might check them out.

Bob in IDaho, who is 2500 miles from his muse.

[randgust]

The data I've seen indicates that the Bellefonte & Snowshoe branch climbed roughly 900 feet vertically with all the switchbacks between Gum Stump and Snowshoe.  That's five and a half vertical feet in N!  More than the typical helix, anyway.

So, Dave, I think the solution is that you just put it on the top of the Middle Division! ;D

And yeah, that's not the B-C, but I bet you could see the B-C from up there...

I took a side trip up to Snowshoe once just to see what was there.  That's when the PRR line to Clearfield was still there via Wallaceton.  Bellefonte was such a pretty town, I was imagining something equally interesting or odd up there.

What a dissapointment!  Like most of the surviving Clearfield Coal district branches, you had a spur, maybe a passing siding, and a truck dump for coal.  Nothing else.

But the line segment name was cool on the PC and CR maps.  It was called the Snowshoe Secondary Track.  What a great name for a layout....

[Dave V]

Tempting though the BC is, I'm just not sure it has all I want in terms of variety.  Limestone and lime made up over 80% of its traffic in later years...

I'm terrible about dreaming about the future...  I have 8 years this month before I can retire from the Air Force and have a reasonable expectation of a decent layout space.

I've wondered aloud before about doing the PRR Northern Central around York.  I keep coming back to that.  Perhaps a 'round the walls, starting at Baltimore (kitbashed Walthers Union Station as a Penn Station foobie?) heading north through Parkton (passing siding, depot, etc.), next to New Freedom (and the interchange with the Stewartstown RR), then to Hannover Jct (wave hellow to the WM!), followed by York (much selective compression here), then the York Haven line to Harrisburg/Enola staging.  Both Baltimore and the York Haven line would have a little catenary to scratch my GG1 itch.

I'd shied away from the NCRR because after 1954 much of it was single-tracked...  But I'm thinking I want to do more than just drill two trains in circles.  If I want to run more than one train at once, I'll need to set up meets just like the prototype.  Thanks, DCC!

The NCRR gives me passenger traffic as well as freight.  My recently kitbashed M1 would not be welcome on the NCRR (except for visitors), but my L1s and H10sb would be right at home.

Again, just musing aloud.  By the way, thanks Ed for the photos you showed me of the NCRR the last time I talked about modeling it.

If you haven't already seen it, you can follow the Pennsylvania side of the NCRR using "bird's eye view" on http://maps.live.com/

New Freedom:  http://maps.live.com/#JnE9eXAubmV3K2ZyZWVkb20lMmMrcGElN2Vzc3QuMCU3ZXBnLjEmYmI9MzkuNzExNjc2NjMzNDE4JTdlLTc2LjUwNjM4NTgwMzIyMjclN2UzOS41ODEwODQwOTk4NDU2JTdlLTc2LjgwNTc2MzI0NDYyODk=

[asciibaron]

i liked your idea of the Sunbury area (i think that was you)

-steve

[Ed Kapuscinski]

You know I like the NCR idea.

And you don't have to mess with those walthers kits, Custom Model Railroads MAKES Penn Station:
http://www.cmrtrain.com/station.html

And here are more NCR pics for you:
http://picasaweb.google.com/ed.kapuscinski/NCRYResearchBaltimoreCountyMonkton
http://picasaweb.google.com/ed.kapuscinski/NCRYResearchBaltimoreWoodBerry
http://picasaweb.google.com/ed.kapuscinski/NCRYResearchBaltimoreCountyFreeland
http://picasaweb.google.com/ed.kapuscinski/YorkPAWithLee
http://picasaweb.google.com/ed.kapuscinski/NCRYResearchBaltimoreCountySparksRd

[Dave V]

Niiiiiiiiiiice....!

[Ed Kapuscinski]

And if you are following the line and want pics of something, I'll be glad to go shoot it for you. I also have a friend in York who has TONS of drawings, diagrams, etc... I still haven't been to his place to check them all out, but it's not for lack of trying. I'm sure he'd be more than happy to help.

[Dave V]

Ed,

I enjoyed the pics!  I think the Northern Central would be a great layout subject.  Unfortunately there's no coal mine on the line, but there are plenty of industries in York and even New Freedom for switching.

I thought about including the Baltimore to Parkton segment so as to add the Parkton Local to the operating scheme.  Bachmann's doodlebug would make a decentstand-in.  I have one; just need to DCC-it.

I was discussing this with my wife, and she asked the same thing...  "you're talking 8 years from now, right?"  Right.

But what I build and buy over those next 8 years is in part driven by what I want the "big one" to look like.

For example, I have enough hoppers now to do the NCRR (not exactly unit coal train country, was it?).  But if I did the Northern Division around Shamokin, I'd need many, many more.

Also, which towers should I build?  YORK tower doesn't exactly look like KASE or HUNT... 

So planning ahead maximizes the hobby dollar.

Maybe with a few dormers I can turn that Walthers Pella depot I just built into a stand-in for the Parkton station!

[cv_acr]

I was discussing this with my wife, and she asked the same thing...  "you're talking 8 years from now, right?"  Right.

But what I build and buy over those next 8 years is in part driven by what I want the "big one" to look like.

Yep.

I have no idea when I'll actually build a layout (I'm single and live in a tiny basement apartment with my cat), but I can dream, research, and build/aquire appropriate equipment so that when the day comes I have some stuff prepared to run on it. I think I've got my paper boxcar fleet decently covered, but I'm fairly lacking in gondolas, of which I'll need quite a few (steel mill).

In the meantime I work on constructing the club layout, and get my operating fixes there and a layout built by another member of the club (actually, I was at his place last night for an op. session).

[wm3798]

There wasn't a mine on line, but I'll bet a lot of coal moved to the Port of Baltimore over the NCR.  Gobs of it still move over the Port Road to get to Canton.

Lee

[3rdrail]

There wasn't a mine on line, but I'll bet a lot of coal moved to the Port of Baltimore over the NCR.  Gobs of it still move over the Port Road to get to Canton.

Lee

Nah, it all moved over the Port Road, starting prior to WW II. The only non-local freight run on the NC Ry were the TrucTrains, everything else moved over the Port Road - it was electrified.

[Dave V]

Cool!  TrucTrains=GOOD since I've just purchased two of the Alan Curtis F30d cars (plus I've been reworking those Atlas cars).

So, local freights, a local passenger that only goes half-way, several through passenger trains plus a hotshot TT....  Looks like it really could keep an op session hopping!

This is sounding better and better. ;D

If ONLY AMB would release their New Freedom, PA station kit in N scale... >