Dual-era for the N scale PRR - planning for structures

[Dave V]

It's no secret I've been smitten with Early Conrail, and have been amassing a circa-1980 CR roster in N scale.  But I still love the Pennsy deeply, and don't want to part with my PRR stuff.  I've mused aloud before about how I might pull off two eras in one layout, but I figured I'd run some specifics past you guys.

Let's look at the current 1956 setup and see what we can do to make it possible to swap out a 1980 era.

Starting with the Lewisport Depot:



I would build a second Walthers Pella depot.  I'd modify the roof to remove the dormer again, but this time I'd tar-paper it.  I'd brick over the windows (and maybe even the doors) for the freight section.  Doors and trim would be peeling gray.  Signs would be CR or PC-style, with an Amtrak pointless arrow sign on the wall.  The platform would be empty save for some modern benches and a phone booth.

Now, moving to the Lewisport freight station:



I had thought about pulling the freight station out entirely, but then I remembered that the prototype (the D&H Scranton freight house) is still in existance, having been granted a second life as a lumberyard.  Why not do that here?  I would add removeable signs to hang over the existing PRR signs along the lines of "PENNSUPPLY Lumber and Building Materials" or something (in a late 70s font).  Then, in the former freight delivery truck area I'd add a few racks of lumber.  Here's the prototype in a copyrighted photo from http://www.west2k.com (I take no credit):





The Juniata Machine Tool Company may be replaced entirely...  But in the short term I think a removeable 70s style sign would help.



I would add a second set of these Walthers structures but in the two-tone gray with CR-style signage.  I'd also board over a few windows.



The Tichy tower will also be duplicated in something more Conrail.  This tower reminds me a bit of LEMO tower (now restored as J tower at Strasburg), which spent some time in PC green (seen here from pc.smellycat.com):



Not sure I'm ready to paint it that horrible color, but maybe...  If not, another two-tone gray with some boarded up windows would be in order.  Also, CR signage.  The passenger shelter will just be removed, with loose vegitation to hide the foundation.  Leaving the cinder platform is a good thing (shows evidence of the PRR past).

Downtown Lewisport needs help too.  Period-correct vehicles and removable signs are probably the best way to start... 



But one of these structures may find itself swapping out with a Pizza Hut or Burger King or something.

Overall the intent is to make switching back and forth between 1956 and 1980 relatively painless; something that could be accomplished in an evening, depending upon whether the PRR or CR bug is biting me.

Oh yeah, those PL signals have Alkem LED signals waiting to replace them, and I may redo the track to c55...

Lastly, I plan to stop referring to my layout as the Middle Division.  It's not.  Since it's fictional, I plan on calling it the Juniata Division.  And the Pennsy purists rejoice!

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I like it.

I think you may want to go another step on the station.

Just board it all up, or use it as a MOW base.

Then make yourself an Amshack to stand across the tracks from the station.

[CVSNE]

Dave,

I've been hearing people talk about "multiple eras" for their layouts for years but haven't seen anyone pull it off. I think you have a good chance at it though since your buildings are removable and you don't seem to have any heavy industry.  (I think you have one coal mine on the layout - for your later era I'd simply suggest piling some ground foam over the tracks, and maybe making a "portable" dirt pile of some sort that will say "this track is abandoned in place".

A McD's B-K or Taco Bell would really bump the era forward -- maybe too much.  I remember the first McD's opening in my home town in the early 70s - it was a big deal and the town was certainly not tucked away in the middle of nowhere - we were less than 60 miles from NYC.

Adding some modern signs to the stores would help set the scene - one could argue that you need to change the color of the lines on the road - and add the shoulder lines - but that would get problematic pretty quickly (it's with things like that, and road signs, that a lot of "multi-era layout" schemes I mentioned in the first paragraph tend to fall apart).  For the signs maybe glue some sort of small magnet inside the building and make the signs from metal (brass) so they would stay in place on the front of the building?

Looks like a neat way to get even more mileage out of a small layout.

Marty

[wcfn100]

Man, how are you going to make the trees taller?

Jason

[Dave V]

Well...

The road markings are an issue, sure.  I probably won't deal with them in the short term.  Modern-era road markings first started coming into being with the 1954 MUTCD, although most of those changes took many years to impliment.  A red stop sign is not "illegal" in 1954 (thanks to the MUTCD) but would be unusual, as most signs were still yellow (as are mine). 

I plan to leave my coal mine in operation.  I know the smaller mines were mostly gone (and Berwind-White was out of business) by 1980, but the trick here is to have fun.

Taco Hell is probably way too late for my era (central PA 1980) but some sort of fast-food joint would be credible.  If it's central PA, maybe I should add a HOSS's!

The layout overall will likely remain mainly PRR, so that should set the baseline.  The 1980 stuff is an alternate way of enjoying the PRR layout.  Those less obvious things (such as road markings, cinder ballast shoulder, etc.) are probably more trouble than fun to work around.

I enjoyed my time at Todd Treaster's back in May...  Large expanses of his layout are so era-neutral that my M1 looked as at-home ahead of a string of Fleet of Modernism cars as did Todd's SD80MACs with a coalporter drag.  That's the sort of fun I'm after.

If this experiment fails, then it will still have been fun!

[CVSNE]

Dave,

Wasn't trying to imply you shouldn't have fun but instead to keep in mind that era shifting is often unstable terrain at best .  . . I agree, era-neutral territory is ideal (Danneman's Rio Grande layout is that way - the Athearn Challenger looked as "at home" as his T-Ms do!!).

Oh, one thing you could add is a used car lot - great place to store all the vehicles from the earlier eras when they're not on the roads . . .  ;D

Be well,

Marty

[wcfn100]

I like it.

I think you may want to go another step on the station.

Just board it all up, or use it as a MOW base.

Then make yourself an Amshack to stand across the tracks from the station.

If you wanted to go the MOW route with the station you needn't make it run down.  The UP has a beautiful M&St.L depot in Mason City, IA that I think they use for such a purpose.  It about the size of your depot too.


Jason

[Bob Bufkin]

Dave:

Im' originally from southcentral PA and the building didn't change for years.  Went in the navy in 65 and PRR, Reading and WM was still around.  Went the west coast for a few years and when I returned it was PC.  First train I saw has 2 NYC GP-20's heading southbound thru town.  Anyhow.  Don't know if you have many people on you layout.  This would be the one thing that changed over the years - type of clothing.  Need to rid yourself of men with hats, add a few hippies, etc. 

When I get back to my old hometown now, It's just about all NS and the tracks thur town, stations, towers are all gone.

Bob

[DKS]

When I get back to my old hometown now, It's just about all NS and the tracks thur town, stations, towers are all gone.

Dave, I love were you're going with this, but Bob just touched on an interesting aspect I didn't see in your initial post. Some things you may not want to swap out--they might best just disappear (or get swapped out with a patch of weeds). And, vice-versa: there might be a patch of trees on the earlier era layout that sprouts new buildings, like a small strip mall, some apartment buildings or some such in the later era version.

Also, FWIW, there was a Mickey-D's in little ol' Ewing, NJ, since the 70s, so you ought to be OK with this on an 80s layout.

[Dave V]

I'm looking at roughly 1980...  Conrail did a major purge of interlocking towers in the early 1980s, but many towers (such as LEMO, ROCKVILLE, MG, etc.) were still in service in 1980.  I would ditch at most just one of the towers.

Along those lines, I bet the section house and watchman's shanty as well as the passenger shelter I mentioned in the first post should also be gone in 1980.  Another potential goner for 1980 is the waiting platform across from the station.

EDIT:  If I did remove a tower for 1980, in its place would go a large relay box with a CR sign for the interlocking.

[Bob Bufkin]

Dave - almost forgot.  Another thing that happened is a lot of double track became single over the years with the roadbed of the second track still visable for years before the weeds and nature took over.  This might be kind of hard to do on a layout.

[DKS]

Dave - almost forgot.  Another thing that happened is a lot of double track became single over the years with the roadbed of the second track still visable for years before the weeds and nature took over.  This might be kind of hard to do on a layout.

This could be suggested, perhaps, by operation. Might park a rusted hulk of a freight car or two somewhere along the disused ROW just to reinforce the illusion.

[Dave V]

Dave - almost forgot.  Another thing that happened is a lot of double track became single over the years with the roadbed of the second track still visable for years before the weeds and nature took over.  This might be kind of hard to do on a layout.

That's a good point, and perhaps the toughest sell...  I have two well-groomed mains representing what would be 4 tracks in 1956.  However, what one would see by the 1980s was two tracks with a series of controlled sidings and large expanses of empty roadbed.  So, should I then have 1 track?  That's going to have to be one of those modeler's license calls.  However, for what it's worth, CR didn't reduce the trackage at Horseshoe from 4 to 3 until 1981.  Also, the first 4 to 3 track reduction on the Middle Division was done in the 1950s by PRR itself.

If this works, I plan to do it on the basement-scale after I retire from the Air Force.  Perhaps then I'll do whole town panels that can be swapped out.  This will take care of all of the issues, from road striping to stop sign color to structures.  The good news is how much didn't change; PL signals were still in vogue in 1980, as were PRR stone arch bridges.

[keystonecrossings]

Okay, Dave, so you leave all the tracks in for Conrail... how you going to simulate all the grass growth between the rails?   ;D ;D ;D ;D

[Dave V]

Okay, Dave, so you leave all the tracks in for Conrail... how you going to simulate all the grass growth between the rails?   ;D ;D ;D ;D

I could keep a shaker jar of weeds for CR, and a dust-buster for PRR! ;D

The hard part would be doing PC...  How would you simulate the tracks sinking into the mud under the passing train?