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I think that someone needs to model the L&NE. The diesel fleet wasn't very big and the steam fleet wasn't huge either. The large bridges through the water gap were spectacular and if you like big railyards you can certainly include Maybrook.
W&OD, Circa 1955 maybe?
I have been there, but it has been a while. As I recall, the railroad needs the snappers only one way, Railroad West. This is different from some of the well known hills in the West: Raton, Tehachapi or Sherman's, where the railroads need helpers both ways. I forget exactly, but is it the Eastbound on Raton that is the nastier of the two grades? One of them is nastier than the other, which requires even more power to help. I would guess that now, as it is mostly AMTRAK that uses it, BNSF does not need to station as much power there as it used to. If you consider that ATSF started bypassing it with the opening of the Belen Cutoff in 1908...........but, I stray........The snappers came on at Altoona for the climb to Gallitzin, correct? I am guessing that the snappers came off at Gallitzin or somewhere around there. Did they return to Altoona light or did they wait for an Eastbound and attach them selves to it subsequently to come off once the Eastbound reached Altoona?ATSF generally kept the power balanced, although in favour of the Western side of the pass, as the Eastbound was the nastier of the grades. This meant that it did have to send power the other way light and in reverse. This was, in fact, why it invented the 2-10-2, It was using 2-10-0s as helpers. The railroad noted that the tires on the aft two driver pairs were wearing more quickly than the others. It resolved this by adding a trailing truck to guide the locomotive in reverse. This is one reason why the trailing truck on many 2-8-8-2s looks like an aftterthought. Its only real purpose is to guide the locomotive over a hill in reverse. It is how Rivarossi got away with selling a 2-8-8-0 that was really a USRA 2-8--8-2 without its trailer.The real estate requirement for the main line and the shops would be large. Most modellers do not have that space. Was there a test track at Juniata (as there was at Pittsburgh)? Further, it would be too much for one modeller to operate both shops and main line. Even the main line would be too much for one modeller. The equipment requirements would be expensive. It might work for a club layout, but for an individual? If you started to build it when you were twenty-eight, you might finish it by the time that you reached sixty.
Yes, helpers from Altoona would generally just work west to Gallitzin where they'd cut off and usually return light.
But... the issue with Altoona was that, in addition to being a helper base, it was also a huge shop and classification facility. At the turn of the century it had something like 5 different hump yards.Here they are in 1905:
Right. I am guessing that the steam helpers were not turned; they returned to Altoona in reverse. I am guessing that it used 2-10-2s and 2-8-2s from the First World War era to the early 1950s. I do not know if it used 4-8-2s as helpers, ever. It did not have many articulateds. As the four cylinders had problems making steam and the curve would have been hard on those rigid frame things, I am guessing that they did not work as helpers, either. Before the era of the First World War, I would guess that it used 2-8-0s, which meant that the shops were kept busy replacing tires on the aftmost driver pairs. By the early 1950s, the Centipedes and late phase F-3s would have been available, all but obviating the need for steam there. From what I have read, the crews liked those late phase F-3s the best.I am guessing that there would not be that much difference in 1955. By 1958, or so, some of the trackage might have started to fall into disuse. Still, even in the modern era, it would require large amounts of real estate. The real estate for modelling it would be too much and it would be far too much for even two or three to operate it. You could get away with populating the shops with old Arnold steam locomotives or B-mann junky F-units, Mehano FAs and C-C hood units. You could get away with C-C or Lima passenger cars for the passenger car shops, although you would have to erase the Lima/MP markings, as the font is incorrect for P-70/PBM-whatever-it-was. You could get away with a few stripped and primered, only painted the Tuscan or even partially lettered, as they are in the shop. You could use anything for freight cars. For cabooses, that gets expensive, as only Bowser sells real Penn prototypes. I suppose that you could blank out some windows take the cupola off some of the others and have them in various states of being worked on. It gets expensive just acquiring the yard queens. We have not even gotten to the equipment that actually is going to be running. You are going to spend more on that.
Ok, I get the west coast is what “everybody “ does. But what about the Midwest?, you have the GB&W, E&LS, WC, Algoma Central. Also there are nice spots you can model, Dayton’s Bluff in the twin cities,,or Byron Hill on the Soo Line that required helpers. Could even model the twin ports of Duluth and Superior. Erie mining,,LTV, DM&IR. You get the picture. TC
The Railwire is not your personal army.
It was originally 2-8-0s and then 2-10-0s.
Interestingly enough, the engines WERE usually turned before heading back down. There was a big loop in Gallitzin where they'd cut off and head back down the mountain in either direction.
Remember, the PRR's mainline was a lot busier than most mountain lines.
This book is a great read on the subject, if anyone's interested: https://www.ronsbooks.com/PENNSYLVANIA-RAILROADS-MULESHOE-HORSESHOE-ALTOONA-AND-BEYOND_p_32049.html
It wasn't in a modeling rag, but rather in a trade journal my dad used to get at work... Railway Age.
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Topic: Prototypes Someone Else Should Model (Read 10495 times)
