Black River & Western

[Smike]

I really love how this whole plan has evolved. To see scenes in my own backyard come to modeling life makes it that much better.  I can picture just about every inch. One design aspect I love of the plan is very little perpendicular lines, everything is at a slight angle to the bench work. 

I hope you model J.B. Kline's in Lambertville. That was my all time favorite hobby shop as a kid.   

Reading the history is pretty fascinating. I'm quite amazed at who much RR'ing was going on in that town at one time. I always seemed to focus on the other side of the river where in terms of RR stuff. 

Mike

[DKS]

I hope you model J.B. Kline's in Lambertville. That was my all time favorite hobby shop as a kid.   

Reading the history is pretty fascinating. I'm quite amazed at who much RR'ing was going on in that town at one time. I always seemed to focus on the other side of the river where in terms of RR stuff.

I will indeed be modeling J.B. Kline. Spent quite a few Saturdays there as a kid--got to know J.B., and he allowed me to poke around behind the counters and in the back rooms. What a wonderful gentleman.

As for Lambertville, it was once a railroading mecca--the shops along the canal once manufactured rail cars and locomotives for the PRR. When @DMetz pointed me to the Sanborn maps of Flemington, I also found a set for Lambertville. To place its history in context, I superimposed some of the maps over satellite images. The results were quite illuminating:





The first one shows all of the industrial sidings on the north end of town. The second one shows PRR's shops, just below the station. The vast majority of the houses on the 1912 maps still exist, but all of the industries are gone, and of course the shops. The yellow lines highlight track that still exists, although it's been abandoned since around 2000.

 

[Chris333]

Here I thought J.B. Kline was just MB Kline that was re-named because it was a fantasy location 

[DKS]

Here I thought J.B. Kline was just MB Kline that was re-named because it was a fantasy location 

Well, to be fair, it's something I might be tempted to do. But in this case, I didn't have to. J.B. Kline & Son was established in 1875 and has evolved over the years from one sort of store to another. When I was a kid, it was crafts and hobbies (with plenty of trains, including 1st gen N Scale). Today, it's fine art and musical instruments. They're also now renting 2/3 of the building to other shops--in this case, antiques and coffee. They're located about a block east of the train station.

[mcjaco]

Well, to be fair, it's something I might be tempted to do. But in this case, I didn't have to. J.B. Kline & Son was established in 1875 and has evolved over the years from one sort of store to another. When I was a kid, it was crafts and hobbies (with plenty of trains, including 1st gen N Scale). Today, it's fine art and musical instruments.

It's amazing how structures change just in our lifetimes.  The TV repair shop just north of the depot in Northbrook, IL used to also be a "hobby shop" of sorts.  My Dad would throw me on the back on his bike and we'd ride up to watch the CTA/Metra trains, Amtraks Turbo, and the Milwaukee Road, and always poke into the TV shop to look at the model trains he had out.  That building, which was reaching 70 years old back then, is long gone. 

[Smike]

I will indeed be modeling J.B. Kline. Spent quite a few Saturdays there as a kid--got to know J.B., and he allowed me to poke around behind the counters and in the back rooms. What a wonderful gentleman.

Can't agree more.

And those maps... never would have guessed a roundhouse was in that location.

[DKS]

I've updated my modeling website with detailed information on the real BR&W, as well as the towns and structures planned for the layout.

Start here, and use the link toward the bottom of the page to drill down into the details: http://davidksmith.com/modeling/reading-central/rcr-6.htm

[DKS]

Question for the Conrail experts... Since I've shifted my layout's temporal setting to the 70s-90s (I know, kinda broad), it's now squarely in the Conrail era. At the time, they operated the former Lehigh Valley that ran through Three Bridges. What sort of locomotive power/freight consists would have been seen there?

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Question for the Conrail experts... Since I've shifted my layout's temporal setting to the 70s-90s (I know, kinda broad), it's now squarely in the Conrail era. At the time, they operated the former Lehigh Valley that ran through Three Bridges. What sort of locomotive power/freight consists would have been seen there?

You can get a good overview here: http://conrailphotos.thecrhs.org/OnLocationWithConrail/LehighLine

The Lower Lehigh Line was a pretty hot ***** piece of railroad. It was Conrail's main funnel for NYC area traffic heading west.

So basically most any type of mainline train is appropriate. I'm not sure if unit coal trains made it that far east, but other than that the world's your oyster.

As for the most common power, it's tough to go wrong with the ubiquitous SD40-2. They were present from 1978-1999 in numerous paint schemes, but the plain can opener scheme with black number boards would be best for your era since it spanned the most years. It was applied from 1978-1990 but stuck around quite a bit later. After that units started getting white number boards, then white frame stripes, then the lettering changed over to the Conrail Quality scheme. Intermountain makes Conrail SD40-2s. I have four of em, and they're a good starting point for accurate models (and soon will be much easier to make way MORE accurate).

After the SD40-2, I'd say other generic second gen EMDs are good calls:
http://conrailphotos.thecrhs.org/Images/CR-6334-Bethlehem-PA-12-1988-0

You can sneak in some GEs (Conrail only had a handful of C30-7s but B23-7s were plentiful). Avoid the SD45-2 though. During that era they were exiled to Horseshoe Curve helper service. The new ScaleTrains units are BEAUTIFUL but might be a bit spendy for some scenery.

It's also tough to go wrong with a pair of GP38-2s or a GP38 though. They were pretty ubiquitous units as well.
http://conrailphotos.thecrhs.org/Images/CR-7870-leads-ENOI-at-Freemansburg-PA-8192

When you get your CR power, I'll be happy to send you the appropriate detail parts for it. Generally it needs three things to look "Conrail": a snow plow, a sinclair antenna and a cab signal box.

[DKS]

Most excellent. Thank you!

Follow-up: Tried to use the interactive map to find photos in the Three Bridges area--got hit with "This page can't load Google Maps" followed by "503 Service Temporarily Unavailable."

But I still got to see a few images... this one is HAWT--



OMG, some of those crazy lashups with RDG, LV, EL and PC patches... the possibilities are endless.

 

[jpec]

Ed throws things at me when I mention CR  patch jobs...

Most excellent. Thank you!

Follow-up: Tried to use the interactive map to find photos in the Three Bridges area--got hit with "This page can't load Google Maps" followed by "503 Service Temporarily Unavailable."

But I still got to see a few images... this one is HAWT--



OMG, some of those crazy lashups with RDG, LV, EL and PC patches... the possibilities are endless.

[DKS]

Ed throws things at me when I mention CR  patch jobs...

Well, if he throws a patched CR loco, I wouldn't complain...

[Point353]

For the early '90s, you'd want a C39-8, an SD50 and a B23-7:

[DKS]

For the early '90s, you'd want a C39-8, an SD50 and a B23-7:

Awesome!

[DKS]

@jpec, I just noticed this...

Patiently waiting for the Reading Central local to come switch this warehouse...

Does that mean what I think it means?