Penn Central Stockton Branch Micro-Layout

[conrail1973]

If you're looking at Northeastern New Jersey during the 90s, I would go with SW-1500, GP38, GP38-2, or B23-7.  The following link has the following locomotive assignments prior to the split.  This might help with your choice of locomotives.

http://centralnjfan.railfan.net/njsaa.html

Adam

[DKS]

Ok, freight cars... what a topic.

What industries do you have?

Well, as it happens... none. All of the industries are long-abandoned, as well as their sidings. This is a roundy-rounder in its purest form: the train would essentially be "just passing through." So, I'm thinking a few two-bay covered hoppers? I'd like to keep the cars as short as possible given the absurdly tight curves. I also have an ESM PC box patched for CR, but that may be too old. And I have a PC caboose, which will be totally rusted out and abandoned on one of the sidings. That's it for now, but thanks again for the guidance.

And thanks to all for pointers on the locos--looks like an SW-1500 may be my pick.

 

[Philip H]

For fun you could do a mixed freight of two bay covered hoppers, beer can tank cars, and 40ft High cube boxcars.

[Point353]

--looks like an SW-1500 may be my pick.

Conrail loco rosters for 1994 and 1995:
http://crcyc.railfan.net/locos/misc/rosters/roster-94.html
http://crcyc.railfan.net/locos/misc/rosters/roster-95.html

Besides the other locos mentioned above, the GP10 (Intermountain) would be another option.
https://www.intermountain-railway.com/n/nloco/nlocgp10.htm

Roster of active Conrail caboose/cabin cars in 1996:
http://crcaboose.railfan.net/activelist.htm

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I like the 2 bay covered hopper idea.
Ooh! The Trainworx covered hoppers might be a good fit:
http://conrailphotos.thecrhs.org/node/23913
http://conrailphotos.thecrhs.org/node/24627

I'd avoid the beercan tank cars. They're a bit cliche.

Corn syrup cars, on the other hand, are about the same size and much nicer looking.
Plus... in Morrisville there's a branchline from the NEC to a huge corn syrup plant.

/>

[davefoxx]

There was this interesting lashup of locos in RF&P, CSX, Seaboard system and Chessie system paint schemes photographed at West Trenton in 1987:
http://www.railpictures.net/photo/548651/

Splooge.

[Dave V]

Splooge.

+1...

[DKS]

Plus... in Morrisville there's a branchline from the NEC to a huge corn syrup plant.

/>

Oh yes, been there many times. I love that crazy on-again-off-again street running.

http://davidksmith.com/modeling-reference/rcr_07-110.htm

By happy coincidence, I have CR 9594 from MT. Plus a set of pre-weathered 2-bay covered hoppers that I'll hit with graf.

And I happen to have some corn syrup cars, too, so I think I'm good to go. So far, $0 spent. It's a good day.

So, new question. There are tons of graf decals available, but I know zero about any of them. Who makes the best graf decals?

 

[eric220]

Who makes the best graf decals?

Paul?

[davefoxx]

Ba-dum-tiss.

[coosvalley]

So, new question. There are tons of graf decals available, but I know zero about any of them. Who makes the best graf decals?

The newer ones from Blair Line are quite nice, much better resolution than their original ones(the designs are the same). I also have some great ICH/ICHABOD ones from Weathering Solutions.

[peteski]

DKS, I could print some for you on my Alps printer.  You did the artwork for the ICH skulls and the girl and I'm working on few on my own (but those are in limbo). Come to think of it. I was going to print another batch of the ICH decals, but was told that I made them slightly too small for the car.  Resizing them is also on my to-do list. 

But the best graffiti hands down is the stuff MTL ink-jet-prints on their weathered cars.  I can't even come close to that quality-wise.  Maybe they should start making graffiti decals?

That's for railroad car graffiti. Microscale makes several generic graffiti decal sets that can be used on buildings, but being silk-screened, they are not all that great quality-wise.  Ink jet printers (with the way they deal with halftones) are the best for images like graffiti.

[mu26aeh]

I too have some from Weathering Solutions, albeit just the rattle can scribble. 

20160401_091155 by Adam Henry, on Flickr

[coosvalley]

I've never seen these in person, but they have some pretty cool stuff, ghost signs too, might be worth checking out:

https://t2decals.ecrater.com/

[DKS]

Think this will pass the Conrail authenticity test?



I was lucky and found I already owned all of this stuff.