PRR/Conrail Juniata Division Engineering Report

[mcjaco]

Dave, nice write up.  I think you captured just about every model railroader's issues with any of their layouts.  No one can capture every ounce of the prototype, and for many that's OK, but we still kick ourselves because we want too. 

I don't even have space for a layout right now, but even looking at my one MiNi module, there's items I still need to finish, and other things I had to leave out, because it just want possible if I wanted it to be 100% accurate. 

Ten years ago I went prototype fidelity nuts.   I wanted everything perfectly accurate....it led me to completely stall out on most of my projects.  As time constraints have been placed upon me (sily kids), I'm finding that any modeling I do is rewarding, and close enough is good enough.  I need to enjoy what I'm doing, warts and all.

The Juniata layout is one of the first layouts I saw via Atlas, when I made the jump to N scale.  It captured my imagination on what could be accomplished in N, along with Lee's WM, Bill Denton's Kingsbury, and the Skibbe's CGW layouts.  I'd still be playing in HO primarily if it weren't for you guys.  So thank you! 

PS: I still play with HO.  A train is a train IMO.   

[MVW]

6.  I hope I have not established unrealistic expectations for others.

I've wrestled far more from the original door layout plan than I ever should have.  But that's not to say such a strategy will work every time.  Lou Sassi's plan is not readily translatable to every situation, and neither is it always (or often) advisable to attempt massive mainline railroad infrastructure in the space of a hollow-core door.  For example, I would never try to fit Rockville Bridge or Horseshoe Curve on the door because gargantuan size is such an integral part of both scenes.  The scenes I've modeled (Spruce Creek, Lewistown) are much more manageable, and even then, I've applied so much selective compression they're only marginally recognizable.  In 2' x 6'8" I've added what is essentially a tiny little yard, but called it Enola.  Enola was, in the era I model, the largest railroad classification yard on the planet.

... I recognize the Juniata Division's shortcomings.  I fix those I can and accept, if begrudgingly, those I cannot.  Someday almost assuredly it will be recycled, and every tree, telephone pole, and plastic citizen will find itself on another iteration of the Standard Railroad of the World...one that will be so much better because of the countless lessons I've learned from the Juniata Division.

Dave, if new model railroaders didn't have unrealistic expectations, they'd never get started in the hobby. 

I think at least some of the popularity of your railroad can be traced to the fact that it's a brilliant display of the "art of the possible." An HCD takes up little space, and it provides a sturdy base so it can move with its owner (as you've proved, and proved, and proved). And that little space can be made to look incredibly attractive ... over time, and if the owner is willing to keep working and re-working and improving his skills. Your work on your original layout and expansion is part of what convinced me to switch from HO to N a few years back. I can pack more railroading in a given space (although I still can't have everything), and I have a layout built in such a way that I'll never be forced to abandon it because of a move.

So congratulations on the attention your work has received! You may have had more modest intentions, but your work has provided a considerable amount of enjoyment and inspiration to lots of folks ... and that's a good thing.

Jim

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I really think the point about caricatures is important, including your great statement elsewhere about the importance of building a model of the prototype instead of of another model railroad, and how easy of a trap that is to fall into.

A few years ago there was a layout that got lots of photo exposure on the various forums that always struck me as a representation of an O gauge store layout in N scale, as opposed to a model of the real world. I always thought that was a shame, because otherwise the guy who built it was quite the craftsman.

[Lemosteam]

Dave, I loved the writeup.

Let me first say that when I discovered the Juniata, it was on YouTube in late 2009, early 2010.  It was the first time I'd seen it after collecting PRR equipment for 20+ years.  I was hooked.

Your scenes are so recognizable as PRR I think most can close their eyes and simply imagine the rest of the railroad without it being there.

Your layout proved that you don't need the full basement to capture signature elements of the PRR and still feel the area.

Anyway the elements that struck me the most were not the towns or the buildings (except for that new exceptional station the DKS built) it was the way you capture the essence of rural Appalachian Pennsylvania, the viaduct, trees, hills and the colors and the locos in those scenes.

Your layout, warts and all, defines what many others aspire to, even if you can't imagine why it is aspiring.  Congratulations on the GMR contract, you and your layout deserve it.

Thanks for inspiring me with that beauty.

Sincerely,

[unittrain]

Your layout is awesome I enjoy the videos and photos that are taken from a trackside (railfanning perspective) which is how most of us view the prototype from one location at a given time, so how do you accomplish this, you make those few scenes well detailed and researched from the accurate structures, signals on down to the lines on the line poles. The scene pulls you in because there is a lot of detail to see in that scene. We don't view miles of the prototype @ one time we view it scene by scene (location by location). So a small layout can convey a really convincing scene with all the accuracy and attention to detail.

[DKS]

5.  I'm still dumbfounded by how popular the Juniata Division is.

http://www.trainboard.com/grapevine/showthread.php?150159-Help-on-layout-design&p=918398#post918398

[Dave V]

Starting formal preparations for shipping the Juniata Division to Colorado. Today will include removing trains, vehicles, and other loose details from the layout, placing protective covers on the signal circuitry underneath the layout, and cleaning up the workbench.

[Scottl]

It would be interesting to see how you do this with photos.  Hopefully you can snap a few as you do your preparations. 

[Dave V]

This is how it travels:

[Scottl]

Neat, thanks for the photo.  Sad in a way, but great to know it will see the light of day again.

[eric220]

Speak for yourself, I'm ecstatic!  There's actually a chance that I might see the Juniata Division in person after the move to CO!

[Dave V]

The trains, two whole eras' worth, are packed and ready.



Rubbermaid sandwich containers protect the delicate wiring and circuit boards for the signals.

[VonRyan]

Sad to see you leave the east coast.

Y'all come back now, ya'hear. 


-Cody F.

[mcjaco]

This is how it travels:

Is the antenna for tracking the layout?   

[Philip H]

Dave,
What's your EOD for the Academy?
Philip